Justine Fernie

Justine Elizabeth Fernie was born in Toronto, Ontario on Christmas Day, 1970.  One of four children born to very artistic parents, Justine and her siblings grew up in the west end of Toronto.

Justine graduated with a degree in Honours Visual Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 1993.  Justine spent the following year living in the south of France, visiting and seeing in person the artwork she had studied intensely in school. Her favourite and most inspirational teacher at UWO was David Magee, who tragically, passed away in 2004.  David taught Justine to see the magic in faces and bodies that were not “normal”.  Her printmaking professor, Helmet Becker commented that she was definitely a “colour” girl.

After successfully pursuing a career in package design and working for several high end packaged goods design firms in the capacity of production manager, Justine left the field in 1999 shortly after her marriage to Sean Fernie.

Spurred on by her local community, Justine began creating custom portraiture for several of her friends.  Since the spring of 2006,  Justine has completed upwards of 200 custom portraits, ranging from family portrait compositions to cars to cottages and farms. 

Beginning in the spring of 2008, Justine began painting abstract works in her typical colour palette.  This new direction has been met with great enthusiasm from her clientele.

Justine is currently showing as part of a group show at Infusion Gallery in Los Angeles, CA for the month of June 2009 (opening June 11 at 7pm) Justine's next show will be part of a "pop-up gallery" via the The Village Gallery at a location tbd in Toronto, Ontario, opening on September 17, 2009.  In 2010, Justine is scheduled to show with Galerie Gora in Montreal, Quebec.