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Life - in Colonel Samuel

Smith Park

by Irene Cholewka

Curated by Emma Pagacz

April 4, - July 21, 2018

Snowy Owl, Irene Cholewka, 2018

About the Exhibit

Artist Irene Cholewka has been an Etobicoke resident since 1974, and a local freelance nature photographer since 2009. 

Her passion for the birds, wildlife, and flora resident to Colonel Samuel Smith Park and the shores of Lake Ontario has been captured in the wide variety photographs that she has taken over the years. As an active member of the local community group, Friends of Sam Smith Park, Irene has run the photo booth during the Spring Bird Festival for the last six years.

Through this community involvement, she has had the opportunity to share her love for the park with festival attendees, birders, and photographers alike. Through persistence and hands-on experience, Irene has grown from a self-taught photographer into a master of digital photography, allowing her to portray the natural beauty and abundant wildlife of the park. 

With her photograph, The Coyote, Irene was the inaugural winner of the juried photography exhibition, Nature's Sanctuary, hosted by Friends of Sam Smith Park. Her work has been featured in the Bobcaygeon and Fenelen Falls tourism guides, as well as in numerous other print and online publications. 

Life - in Colonel Samuel Smith Park invited visitors to a decade-long journey through the park via the lens of Irene Cholewka.

Visit Irene online:

Instagram: @IreneCholewka

Flickr: @ravynne40

Interpretive Centre team:

Jennifer Bazar, Curator
Nadine Finlay, Curatorial Assistant
Emma Pagacz, Programming Intern & Exhibit Curator

Photo of Irene Cholewka.png

The Exhibition Launch

Exhibit visitor, 2018
Irene at the exhibit, 2018
Exhibit launch visitors, 2018
Exhibit launch visitors, 2018
Exhibit launch visitors, 2018
Irene at the launch, 2018
Exhibit launch visitors, 2018
Exhibit launch, 2018
Exhibit launch, 2018
Exhibit launch, 2018
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