Visual Voice Art Fine Art http://www.visual-voice.ca/fineart/ 128 King St, Truro, NS B2N 1X6 Phone:(902) 843-9464, , , a Dart Gallery 127A Portland St. Dartmouth www.thedartgallery.com
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Coming soon - the "I am what I am" show celebrating diversity will be at the Archives in October!![]() A group show called "Endangered", portraying animals and plants at risk in Nova Scotia , is now showing at Art 1274 Hollis in Halifax. My painting is of a Roseate tern, which is only found in a few isolated colonies along our coast.
My paintings based on photographs I and a friend took during an artist residency on Brier Island are now available at Art1274Hollis. Here are some of the paintings on show.![]() Artist Statement and biography As a biologist and an artist, I feel that we are very much part of nature, and I am very aware of the wonder of the world around us. I find that nature is always unexpected, and am fascinated by the constantly changing appearance of lakes, woods, brooks and fields. When I first came to Canada, I was stunned by the magnificent blaze of red maples, yellow aspens and golden tamaracks in the fall and the interlacing shadows on sparkling snow in winter. These contrast with the piercingly blue sky of sunny fall and winter days, which I rarely saw in England. The relatively short but sunny summer means that there is a colourful parade of flowers to paint in my garden. After a fulfilling career as a research scientist, closure of my DFO laboratory in 1997 led me to pursue my lifetime love of painting, and I graduated from NSCAD in 2005 with a major in Fine Art. My main inspiration in portraying nature has been Tom Thomson, especially his plein air studies. Like him, I enjoy painting in the open air, surrounded by nature, and try to show the vitality of what I experience by using expressive brushwork and vibrant colours. My interest in living things extends to portraying some of the wonderful people I have met, painting either from life or from photographs, so that I can show them in relaxed poses in their own surroundings. Recently I painted portraits of victims of human rights abuse, and "Portraits of Injustice" was shown in the Harbourside Gallery of the Immigration Museum in Halifax. This project, which has since been shown in Antigonish, Port Hawkesbury and the St John Arts Centre, was awarded a NS creation grant. I painted portraits of drag performers for a show celebrating diversity. I asked Brandt Eisner to curate this show, which we decided to call "I am what I am". He brought in some amazing artists to join me. This show was supposed to be at the Archives in 2020, but was cancelled after the Archives were closed because of the pandemic. The show is now scheduled for this October! I received the Elizabeth Greenshield's Award for an emerging artist in 2005, and the NS Art Bank bought my work in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. My paintings are featured in Landscape Painters of Nova Scotia (Nimbus Press), edited by Dee Appleby. Link to review by Elissa Barnard. |