Ghada Fasho, abstract and portrait artist

(My most recent column for the News Advertiser)

Get Ajax artist, Ghada Fasho talking about making abstract art and her enthusiasm is palpable and infectious. She is relatively new to the genre, having spent the better part of her career making small realistic pen and ink drawings and portraits in pastels and oils. But, following the stress surrounding the birth of her young son, she found herself bursting with creative energy that her relatively small realistic drawings and paintings just could not channel. So she threw herself into creating large-format oil on canvas explorations of colour in rectilinear patterns using a palette knife, created in a state of exuberant abandon. “The abstract is so freeing, so spontaneous, so mind opening, with progressions and appearances, moving from one spectrum to another,” she enthuses.

Originally from Jordan, Fasho was brought to Toronto by her parents at the age of 3 and attended school in Don Mills. And recalls developing a passion for creative expression as early as the age of 4, inspired by a neighbourhood lady who taught crafts in her kindergarten class. A deep interest in drawing and and architectural design surfaced and continued through public school and into the higher grades. However, she registers a common complaint by visual artists about high school art teachers, too many of whom they experience as having inhibited and restricted them with boring projects and unhelpful criticism -- and in her experience, even manifested outright jealousy of gifted students they were supposed to encourage and inspire. In spite of this, Ghada moved on to study fine art history at U of T, even progressing to several masters level courses.

After graduation she worked at a medical office and various other jobs, to survive, but augmented her income making portraits for friends and family. She was soon landing solo shows in Toronto and Scarborough and participating in various group shows across the GTA. Her work has been featured in a book and various magazines plus she belongs to several pastel and portrait groups as well as the local Pineridge Arts Council.

Along with her ongoing offerings of portrait work, Fasho’s future plans include online promotion and sales of her work, plus an expanded effort to find galleries and furnishing stores to carry her abstracts. See Ghada’s creations and find contact information on her web site at www.ghadafasho.com