Upon moving to rural Nova Scotia, artist Carrie Phillips Kieser found herself disconnected from the life she had created in Calgary so she began to find comfort in discovering the plants growing in her new surroundings. This ritual of recording her findings during daily walks of investigation started to act as a daily meditative, contemplative and grounding practice. These small field sketches and notations of flowers and plants evolved into a larger investigation of the delicate ecosystem of lichens, liverworts and mosses that live amongst the native trees, rocks and soil. An Intimate Ecosystem is a collection of these larger finished drawings which incorporate embroidery and darning stitches as a symbol of healing and as a record of Phillips Kieser’s own physical presence within this microcosm.

Make an appointment and see Carrie Phillips Kieser’s exhibition An Intimate Ecosystem in the Corridor July 6 – 29, 2021. Can’t make it to the Corridor in person? Check out the video tour of the exhibition on YouTube:

Of her inspiration, Phillips Kieser writes:
Within my artistic practice, I am drawn to the micro/macro of our world. My main concerns are the environment and our shifting knowledge about it. Working from a nonhierarchical approach to observing and describing, I create images that are embedded in mystery, wonderment and unseen energy. Curiosity and imagination are poised between structure and categories. The occasional use of architectural tools and templates give structure and the marks from these tools are layered among the organic growth of drawing. Both fragility and intimacy are expressed as I aim to articulate current states of our world, but also unknown possibilities.

I am fascinated by what science offers in terms of new knowns and what art offers in new questions. Much of my work is rooted in the various techniques of print media, and has incorporated combinations of stitching, embroidery and perforations and am working with ideas of creating 3-d objects with my prints.

Carrie Phillips Kieser is a print media artist living and working in Nova Scotia. She holds a diploma in Architectural Drafting and Design from NSCC, a Bachelor of Arts Degree with distinction from Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada and has studied Art History at University of California Los Angeles, USA. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Between the years of 2014 and 2018 she was the Executive Director of Alberta Printmakers (A/P), a non-profit & artist-run centre in Calgary, Alberta. She has worked with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Learning Through the Arts program and taught art to children and adults in the evenings through a private Art Studio. With an interest in making art accessible to all, she served on the Calgary Public Art board for two years until her relocation to Nova Scotia in 2019.

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia office at the Halifax Seaport since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Kjipuktuk/ Halifax, NS, situated on unceded Mi’kmaq territory.

Due to COVID-19 the VANS office will be open to the public by appointment during this exhibition. All visitors to the office must wear a mask, practice distancing, and sanitize hands upon arrival. In consideration of the size of the office and the Corridor Gallery, only two visitors are permitted at a time.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia advances the visual arts through leadership, education, and communication.

High resolution image for press available via Dropbox. See more of Carrie Phillips Kieser’s work on her website carriephillipskieser.com and Instagram: @carrie.phillipskieser.

For further information or to make an appointment to view the exhibition please contact:
Carri MacKay
Programming Coordinator, Visual Arts Nova Scotia
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca | www.visualarts.ns.ca