Artist Statement
Art is my calling. I’m grumpy with myself and others if I can’t answer my calling.
My style combines representation with abstraction. For example, in a portrait, a person is recognizable literally but also in esoteric ways. A landscape simultaneously exists geographically and spiritually. Ordinary objects take on mysterious weight.
Lately I’ve been working in soft pastels and mixed media using paper and geological maps as my substrate. Prior to 2015, I lived in the Temagami wilderness where inevitably, a lot of landscape paintings came through me.
Now living in Meaford, fairy tales and popular icons are showing up in my work as I continue to explore the behaviours of people and the values of our times.
I’m working hard at not being grumpy.
Education
1980 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Halifax
1981 Commercial Art Diploma, George Brown College
Awards
2012 Ontario Arts Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
1997 Northern Ontario Artists Association, Katherine Burgman Memorial Award for watercolour: Indian Graveyard, Cape Crocker, 1995
Exhibitions
2024 Grey Gallery, Owen Sound, August
Walter’s Falls Group of Artists, Annual Show, August
Craig Gallery, Meaford 150, June
2013 RBC Dominion Securities “Art Impact”, Finalist
Temiskaming Art Gallery, Spiritual Paintings
2012 Lake Temagami Artists’ Exhibition, Bear Island, Temagami
2007 Gallery on the Grand, Agriculture & Art
1997 Northern Ontario Artists' Association, Annual Exhibition
1992 Lion’s Head Art Show, Lion’s Head, Ontario
Grand Trunk Railway Station, Wiarton, Ontario
National Ballet of Canada, O'Keefe Centre, Toronto
1991 The Royal Winter Fair, Tanbark Club, Toronto, Ontario
1990 The National Ballet of Canada, O'Keefe Centre, Toronto
1980 Grad Show, Anna Leonowins Gallery, Halifax
1979 Gallery 76, Toronto, Ontario
Teaching
1994–2012 Watercolour workshops, Smoothwater of Temagami, Ontario
2000-07 Temagami Public School, art teacher volunteer
1992-93 The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg, Ontario
1992 Mooredale House, Toronto, Ontario
1991-93 The Traveling Studio, Wiarton, Ontario
Community Arts
2024 Moving Water Performance for Save Georgian Bay, Meaford, Ontario
1995-2013 Arts Presenter/House Concerts, Smoothwater of Temagami, Ontario
2012 Masterclass/workshop, Silver Birch String Quartet, Smoothwater
2009-10 Board member, Temagami Artistic Collective
2008 Iceworks conception/execution with Temagami Public School
2007 Set designer/painter, The Pied Piper, Temagami Public School
Books
Wild Ontario: An Artist's And Photographer's Guide
By Rob Stimpson and Craig Thompson
In the Media
Girls Getaway To Canada Becomes Experimental in Art
By Judy Babcock Wylie, 2007
Canada's Temagami Region: Where Legends Have Sought Inspiration
By Priscilla Lister, 2007, Copley News Service
A Brush with Greatness In Canada: A Trip To Northern Ontario Brings Out Artist In Everyone
By Patti Nickell, 2007
Wild Canada Landscape Inspires Amateur Painters
By Verna Gates, 2007, Reuters
Artists Drawn To Nature's Inspiration
By Ann Kerr, 2003, Globe And Mail
