Marilyn Lightstone Turns to iPad for Latest Art Exhibit

You may recognize her as Miss Muriel Stacey (Pettibone) from Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea, but Marilyn Lightstone has proven to be quite the Renaissance woman. The award-winning actress, who is also a writer as well as a broadcaster on 96.3 FM (a ZoomerMedia property), is preparing to show off her artistic side.

Lightstone’s artwork, which she created using an iPad, will be featured among the many installations at this year’s Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (TOAE). Inspired by paintings created by David Hockney using multiple Apple devices, Lightstone says she took the concept as inspiration for her own work.

“People have been making images on iPads for a long time, but I don’t think any of the artists were prepared to talk about it because people have a way of denigrating new media,” Lightstone told ZNews earlier this year. “I feel very much the way I did when I was 10 years old sitting at my parents’ kitchen table, drawing whatever came to-.my imagination.”

The TOAE, now in its 51st year, features hundreds of artists presenting contemporary fine art and crafts in what has become the nation’s largest juried outdoor art exhibition. Last year, artists took home a total of more than $30,000 thanks to the exhibition’s awards program.

The 2012 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition takes place from July 6-8, rain or shine, at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.torontooutdoorart.org.

-Mike Crisolago