After 10 days in New York City, I am happy to return home and get back into the studio. The Affordable Art Fair New York City was a fabulous new experience and I was absolutely delighted with the overall turnout and feedback I received for my artwork.
I am excited to display this new series of paintings at Gibson Fine Art in Calgary, Alberta. This series explores the ever changing relationship and the conversations between the Land and Sky. As a visual artist, I am constantly inspired by this relationship of the ethereal sky and the tangible ground.
Artist Statement:
My work primarily focuses on the depiction of the Canadian landscape. The landscape of Canada and specifically that of Western Canada is in a constant state of change. From weather to the effect of human presence to the pastoral landscape, idyllic in the minds of prairie dwellers, there are never ending conversations of patterns, lights, and landscape horizons. I aim to capture the relationship between the sky and ground. This stark divisional line suggests a disconnect and yet neither sky nor ground would exist without the other. This balance of space defined by the horizon line is the simple definition of the Canadian landscape. I sketch and paint the views of Alberta and British Columbia from life, and transfer these ideas to larger scale canvas’ and boards. I document the shifting movement of the clouds and weather patterns with gestural brushwork, thick uses of both oil and acrylic paint and vivid color. I aim to capture the landscape not as a mimetic depiction, but as a gestural interpretation of the movement of the land itself, and its ever fluctuating subtleties of the natural, urban, growth, desolation, and regrowth.
This exhibition runs from February 25 – March 11, 2017
The opening reception will be March 4, 2017 1 – 3pm
Gibson Fine Art
628 11 Ave SW #102,
Calgary, AB T2R 0E2
For more information, please visit Gibson Fine Art or contact Samantha Williams-Chapelsky for exhibition images and pricing at samanthawilliams@live.ca
Affordable Art Fair New York
I will be travelling to New York City in late March to showcase a new body of work at the Affordable Art Fair held in Chelsea. The Show will run from March 29 – April 2, 2017. I am excited to attend and display my work along side fellow artist Jenny Keith. For more information, visit https://affordableartfair.com/ or for tickets to the event, contact Samantha
These two pieces will be travelling to New York to showcase at the Affordable Art Fair. I am experimenting with Golden Light Molding Paste and a few new palettes of colours to create a relationship between the sky and ground.
Still working away in my studio on this show – so stay tuned for new pieces!
New Series in Progress
My Abstract Landscapes on Tondo canvas’ are coming along – I am loving the shape and finally feeling confident in its challenges and opportunities!
As fall approaches, I am back in my studio painting from some of my recent summer travels around the world. I have to say, I was most inspired by the landscape of Iceland and I am so passionate about this latest series of work!
Stay tuned for more pieces on the way!
My newest series is in progress – and I have to say- I think it is one of my favorites!
These works are exploring a new subject for me but continuing on my exploration of cloudscapes.
This series of cloudscapes is a continuation on from my most recent work, which referenced the sky in abstract variations of color and texture. This series aims to create a gateway of space for the viewer to travel into a surreal world of clouds and sky through a shaped canvas called a Tondo.
The Tondo is an Italian word for a circular painting or relief. This style was popular during the Renaissance, but can be found in art history since antiquity. In the renaissance, the Tondo portrayed a window into a three dimensional space. Often it was used to depict mythological, classical or literary themes. Today, the term shaped canvas is particularly associated with certain works created mostly in New York after about 1960, during a period when a great variety and quantity of such works were produced.
Artists such as Frank Stella, Damien Hirst, and Tomokazu Matsuyama have used this unique shape to depict the object-like nature of art.
The challenge with this shape of canvas is that it has no axial orientation, leaving the artist to be in a constant state of shifting and changing its position. The Tondo shape is the perfect shape with a link to art history as well as recognition for the minimalist painters in the 1960s whose work has influenced so much of today’s contemporary art world.
This body of work aims to challenge the conventional rectangular shape of landscapes today, and entangle realism and surrealism. Through referencing artists such as JMW Turner, I aim to look for the awe in the weather patterns of the sky, and expectations of change in the clouds. By referencing artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, and Frank Stella, I shift the focus from capturing the realistic aspect of the cloudscape to one of layers of abstraction and nuance.
Acrylic on Canvas 19″ x 28″
