Our art collection
Inspired by a quote from Co-operators co-founder Albert Savage – “An acorn that will grow into one of the greatest oak trees of the co-operative movement” – the design of our workplaces focus on the natural elements of our deep-rooted history within Canada.
Our spaces balance our purpose, vision and values, the needs of our people and design principles that reflect our Co-operators history and roots with local elements and materials that make the communities we serve unique. The collection of featured art below is a reflection of our co-operative, sustainability and IDEA values in the worksplaces.
Featured artists and artwork
Michael Barber
Grandmother’s song
Mixed media, steel and rivets
An Indigenous artist (Upper Mohawk) from Port Dover, Ontario, Michael shares this note about the series: “These works are an extension of the messengers piece where birds and ravens represent prophecy and insight. I’m playing with layered timelines and visions that blur dream and reality, past and present. The victims of the residential school system continue to be an inspiration in my work. It somehow helps me on my personal path of healing.”
Greg Benz
Chords
Acrylic on wood
Based in London, Ontario, the abstract landscape works of Greg are usually based on photographs that he takes on his travels across Ontario, Canada. Spending lots of time on Lake Huron at his family cottage is one of the main influences on his work. His work is heavily textured and uses all sorts of mixed mediums and unconventional tools to create cracks and separations – mostly using acrylic paint to build up layers and layers until the landscape is complete.
Greg Benz
Mono 373
Acrylic and mixed media
Based in London, Ontario, the abstract landscape works of Greg are usually based on photographs that he takes on his travels across Ontario, Canada. Spending lots of time on Lake Huron at his family cottage is one of the main influences on his work. His work is heavily textured and uses all sorts of mixed mediums and unconventional tools to create cracks and separations – mostly using acrylic paint to build up layers and layers until the landscape is complete.
Mackenzie Brown
ê-nitomikot osâwâw (Inviting Yellow)
Acrylic on canvas
Co-operators commissioned original pieces from award-winning Cree artist Mackenzie Brown, from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Northern Alberta.
Mackenzie Brown
cîwêw sîpihkwâw (Calming Blue)
Acrylic on canvas
Co-operators commissioned original pieces from award-winning Cree artist Mackenzie Brown, from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Northern Alberta.
Mackenzie Brown
ohpikin askihtakwâw (Growing Green)
Acrylic on canvas
Co-operators commissioned original pieces from award-winning Cree artist Mackenzie Brown, from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Northern Alberta.
Mackenzie Brown
âniskômohcikan mihkwâw (Connecting Red)
Acrylic on canvas
Co-operators commissioned original pieces from award-winning Cree artist Mackenzie Brown, from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Northern Alberta.
Co-designed by Co-operators and HOK
Created in partnership with Label STEP, an internationally recognized non-profit organization for fair trade in handmade carpets. Creative Matters became its first licensed partner in North America in 2011 and is certified by STEP for committing to fair trade practices throughout their entire supply chain.
Laura Culic
Roam
Oil and cold wax on wood
Laura Culic is an award-winning painter, based in Toronto. She studied fine art and illustration at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, completing her studies in 1985. A professional painter for more than 30 years, Laura’s work resides internationally in many corporate, private and government collections including the Art Collection of the Government of Ontario.
Galen Felde
Song For Sleep No. 12
Acrylic on board
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Galen’s work explores issues around empathy, impermanence, and our difficult relationship with origins, adaptation and alteration of the landscape. Echoing familiar land-forms, her work is a complex and often disguised integration of natural and urban elements.
Carol Finkbeiner Thomas
Clouds at the Lake
Oil on panel with incised sgrafitto line work
From London, Ontario, Carol is an award-winning artist with a passion for painting with oil and non-traditional tools. Her unique and captivating works of art explore ideas of space, movement and memory through abstracted landscapes.
Joanna Gresik
On My Way
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
Based in Burlington, Ontario, Joanna is an abstract artist by night and corporate interior designer by day. Her gestural abstract landscape paintings are based on everyday scenes.
Gordon Harrison
Perhaps Love Collection 7
Oil on canvas
Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Gordon was enthralled by the natural Laurentian landscapes surrounding him as a young boy. He followed his passion, choosing to study landscape architecture at the University of Toronto.
Michaela Hoppe
Phoenix
Oil on canvas
A Saskatchewan-based artist, Michaela is drawn to the “romantic, whimsical, and the small hidden places that tell secrets and stories left by people long gone.” She adjusts the medium to suit the needs of the specific piece she’s creating.
Gina Jacklin
Delphinium
Mixed media
Colombian-born and now based in Guelph, Ontario, Gina is a visual artist whose work captures the intricate beauty of the botanical world through a scientific lens. Her art aspires to evoke joy, awe and wonder in those who seek beauty in the unexpected. Gina is a cancer survivor and since then, she sees the body as healing itself and her artwork now focuses on those healing cells.
Jamie Jardine
Alberta #3 (Post Cross Canada Trip)
Acrylic on board
Based in London, Ontario, Jamie has been painting and exhibiting his work in London and the surrounding area for 20 years. He has worked mainly on landscapes but more recently has made a shift to abstraction and minimalism.
Bryan Jesney
Inner Beauty of a Fragment
Acrylic on board
Based in London, Ontario, Bryan paints in the most surrealist dreamscape environments that surround us all. His perception and curiosity of how this current life connects to the afterlife, motivates his approach and drives him to explore various techniques and mediums, thus providing the viewer endless opportunities to connect with him as an artist. His dedication, commitment and attention to detail are evident in every piece Jesney has created to date.
KIAM
Albion
Water mixed media
Based in Guelph, Ontario, KIAM (KIel and AManda), studied and received their Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in studio art from the University of Guelph in 2010. Their collaborative painting uses thick layers of acrylic paint, gel mediums, photograph transfers and washes, resulting in paintings with two perspectives on one panel. Since 2010, they continue to make collaborative paintings as KIAM Studio.
Claudette Losier
At The Scene
Acrylic on canvas
Claudette’s paintings are rooted in the physical world but are altered through the process of layering until forms emerge from the boundary where light meets the dark, indicative of an underlying energy. These paintings border on abstraction of form, creating a dreamscape quality that could change at any given moment.
Patricia MacDonald
Forest Light
Acrylic
Based in Guelph, Ontario, Patricia uses vibrant colour, contrast, pattern, varied brushwork, exaggerated lines and stylized shapes. Working mainly with acrylic on canvas and spontaneously add collage papers, pastel, marker, and other media, Patricia thrives on change and variety in her work.
Chris Masoure
Shoal
Acrylic on canvas
Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Chris’ large calming landscapes work so well in any space. They can be ultra modern, farmhouse chic to somewhat traditional. He works in acrylic on canvas, applying many layers of thin washes to create a smooth atmospheric look. Usually large in scale, his minimal landscapes beg for a closer look.
Chris Masoure
Winter Moonlight Over Pond with Snowfence #2
Acrylic and mixed media
Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Chris’ large calming landscapes work so well in any space. They can be ultra modern, farmhouse chic to somewhat traditional. He works in acrylic on canvas, applying many layers of thin washes to create a smooth atmospheric look. Usually large in scale, his minimal landscapes beg for a closer look.
Suzanne McNenly
Ground 17 and 18
Encaustic, silver and 24 karat gold, watercolour
Originally from Ontario and now residing in Calgary, Alberta, Suzanne’s art captures that expansive feeling with two-dimensional assemblages of watercolour and precious metals set in a luxurious encaustic wax base. Simple, yet complex in origin, the works read as elegant paintings and invite us to come close and engage intimately with the details. Vast areas of dark or light allow room to set ourselves within the composition and come home to places we’ve never been before.
Michelle Mendlowitz
Medium Wall TIle #11
Ceramic
Based in Toronto, Ontario, Michelle’s work consists of both functional and sculptural objects. She is drawn to clay for its expressive nature as well as its ability to create utility. The forms and surfaces she creates are derived from landscapes and borrowed elements from nature, architecture and the human form.
Rosanne Morris
Essence of Being IV and V
Digital
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Rosanne has been painting for more than 40 years. She focuses on abstract work destined for contemporary spaces with her own process of digital painting. By transforming shape, adding colour and texture to closeup photos of light through glass and water, she creates something entirely new.
Shane Norrie
River Walk
Acrylic and mixed media on board
Based in Ontario, Shane is a well-established clay artist, and also a widely exhibited painter. His paintings frequently echo the signature organic, textural aesthetic of his ceramics. Ever evolving and experimenting, often his subject matter references local surroundings and familiar landscapes, while moving in the realm of abstraction.
Shane Norrie
Assorted pieces
Ceramic clay
Based in Ontario, Shane is a well-established clay artist, and also a widely exhibited painter. His paintings frequently echo the signature organic, textural aesthetic of his ceramics. Ever evolving and experimenting, often his subject matter references local surroundings and familiar landscapes, while moving in the realm of abstraction.
Alvin Ray
The Elk’s Walk
Water acrylic on board
Based in Oakville, Ontario, Alvin enjoys painting and experimenting with landscapes, cityscapes and abstract pieces. Letting go, and taking shapes and colour to another level is when he enjoys painting the most.
Jim Reid
Peel Plain 10
Water colour pastel graphite
Based in Ontario, Jim’s work is connected to the 19th century landscape painting tradition. At the same time, it indicates the profound shift that has taken place in our relationship with nature. For centuries, western culture has sought to demystify and control nature, and today no corner of the earth is unaltered by technology. Yet, nature remains beyond our control, infinitely complex and enigmatic, and also inseparable from our own journey.
Lisa Roy
Somewhere Along The Way
Acrylic on canvas
Born in Northern Ontario, Lisa is a graduate of Sheridan College’s fine art and graphic design programs. After 18 years as an art director and graphic designer in editorial design, branding and advertising, she left her career and lived as an expat in Ireland and Dubai. Inspired by her travels, upon returning to Canada, she studied intuitive abstract expressionism and discovered the energy that comes from painting intuitively rather than what she sees.
Nicole Schultz
Juniper Heartwood
Acrylic on board
Based in London, Ontario, Nicole works in various mediums including acrylic, ink and mixed media. Her signature minimalist aesthetic connects all of her work, including her single line ink drawings, bold hard edge paintings and sculptural wall constructions. Nicole's work channels emotion, dreams and mysticism with a sharp clean style that is always recognizably hers.
Jill Segal
Sacred Site and Symbols
Mixed media on paper
Based in Toronto, Ontario, Jill’s acrylic and mixed media paintings express her fascination with the natural beauty of the world around her. Her paintings are celebrations of life, reflecting the inherent energy in nature and the interconnectedness of all things.
Janet Stanley
One World
Oil on board
Based in Goderich, Ontario, Janet is a visual artist and transformational energy weaver. All of her work is heart centered and reflects her passionate commitment to bring beauty, balance and peace to all.
David Strauzz
Duality Series - Mirror, Mirror
Mixed media on canvas
Originally based in London, Ontario, David currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic where he has a full-time studio. His work explores the human experience through the use of mixed media and found objects in gallery exhibitions, urban interventions and large-scale exterior mural projects. David considers himself an ‘Urban Contemporary’ artist, combining his formal art education and his street art and graffiti pedigree.
David Strauzz
Civil Disobedience #1
Mixed media on canvas
Originally based in London, Ontario, David currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic where he has a full-time studio. His work explores the human experience through the use of mixed media and found objects in gallery exhibitions, urban interventions and large-scale exterior mural projects. David considers himself an ‘Urban Contemporary’ artist, combining his formal art education and his street art and graffiti pedigree.
Richard Sturgeon
Above The Dam
Steel, copper and stone
Based in Bayfield, Ontario, Richard creates interpretive abstract and landscape sculptures influenced by contrasts between natural and urban environments and a life shared between the dramatic landscapes of northern Ontario and the developed regions of the province’s southwest. His work examines the essence of our relationships to one another, to one's own make up and to our surroundings.
Sheila Thompson
Regenerate
Handmade felt
Sheila is known as a fibre artist and calls Guelph home since 2021. Her lifelong interest in ecology and environmental impact drives her art subject matter.
Helga Weigelin
Depth Perception
Acrylic oxydised metal
Based in Hamilton, Ontario, Helga is a multimedia artist and craftsperson who draws, paints and assembles. She incorporates materials collected from the locations that inspire her pieces, resulting in an expression of the essence of a place.
Preserved moss
Bringing natural elements indoors, preserved moss feeds off micronutrients in the air and doesn’t require watering. The moss is dyed to adapt to patterns that complement the design of the space it is created for. It offers a unique and contemporary aesthetic, with biophilic properties that take into account the acoustic considerations of designing a space, such as speech intelligibility, noise control and reverberation.
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