Artist Statement

Eva McCauley is known for vibrant, colourful paintings that seamlessly merge abstraction with figuration. Her paintings are enigmatic and evocative psychological takes on the traditional landscape genre. She is both a painter and printmaker, known for her atmospheric, expressive paintings of sky, water and shifting landscapes that incorporate human figures, exploring the passage of time and the transient and ephemeral nature of the spiritual and physical world. As a figurative artist she is fascinated with the human condition, and the fragility of our existence. She lives in L’sitkuk/Bear River, Nova Scotia. ,

Her work explores the process of recollection and how we process memories. Her focus is not on the recreation of a specific image or moment, but the creation of something informed by the act of remembering -- an act which renders past experiences as ephemeral, and constantly in flux, resulting in works which perpetually shift, their images lyrical, ghost-like, and ethereal.

She studied visual art at the Ontario College of Art and Design, receiving an O.C.A.D. diploma in drawing & painting (1983), a B.F.A. from University of Guelph (1994) and a M.F.A. from University of Waterloo (1996).

She has exhibited internationally and nationally, with solo exhibitions at the Rotunda Gallery in Kitchener, ON (Ruptured Landscapes, March/April 2024)), Galerie-Pere-Leger-Comeau at U. Ste. Anne in Church Point, N.S. (Les paysages bouleversés, 2023); Elora Centre for the Arts, Elora, ON (Splendid Isolation, 2022); ArtsPlace Gallery in Annapolis Royal, N.S., (Splendid Isolation, 2021), the Rotunda Gallery, Kitchener, ON (Face to Face Project, 2018), Artery Gallery, U. of Waterloo (Face to Face Project, 2017); St. Thomas Elgin Art Centre (World’s Edge, 2014); Lavit Gallery in Cork (In/Visible, Aug/Sept. 2012); Limerick Printmakers (In/Visible, August/Sept. 2010); Elora Centre for the Arts, Elora, Ontario, and Harbinger Gallery, Waterloo (Solas agus Scáth‎, 2009), Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery (Momento Mori, 2000); Open Studio, Toronto (Ruptured Time); Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto (Colour of Memory, Mutable as Water, Gaze); and solo and group exhibitions at Harbinger Gallery, Waterloo; Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery 2nd Biennale (2005); and the Castellani Museum in Lewiston, N.Y. (Crossing Borders). Her work is included in collections in Canadian Embassies all over the world and is part of a Canadian boxed set collection sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

McCauley is the recipient of many awards and scholarships, including the W.O. Forsythe Painting Award (1983), Bronfman Printmaking Award (1993), Warner Lambert Printmaking Scholarship (1994) "Best in Printmaking Award" at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (1996), "Ernst & Young Purchase Award" (1996), a Canada Council "Quest" Grant for Emerging Artists (2000), several Ontario Council Project Grants, as well as two Region of Waterloo Arts Fund grants in 2017 and 2019. Most recently, in 2022, she was awarded an Arts Nova Scotia “Creation” Grant to fund her painting project Ruptured Landscapes, that was recently exhibited at the Galerie-Pere-Leger-Comeau at U. Ste. Anne in Church Point, N.S. She will be showing this series of paintings at the St. John Art Centre in May/June 2026.

Her work can be found in many private and public collections such as the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Workers Art & Heritage Centre (Hamilton ON) , the Ernst & Young Canadian Print Collection, the UNB Art Centre Permanent Collection (Fredericton, NB) and the Nova Scotia Art Bank Collection.

Biography

Eva McCauley was born in London, Ontario. She is a painter & printmaker, and she lives in L’sitkuk/Bear River, Nova Scotia. She is also a musician, playing traditional Irish music on fiddle, mandolin and concertina. She studied visual art at the Ontario College of art and Design, receiving an O.C.A.D. diploma in drawing & painting (1983), a B.F.A. from University of Guelph (1994) and a M.F.A. from University of Waterloo (1996). She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is included in public collections such as the Nova Scotia Art Bank, UNB Art Centre Permanent Collection, Fredericton, N.B., Ernst & Young Canadian Print Collection, KW Art Gallery, and in Canadian embassies worldwide. She is working toward a solo exhibition at the Saint John Art Centre, NB in May/June 2026.