Artist Statement

These paintings, influenced by the radiance of Impressionism, the energy of Cubism and the elegance of Minimalism, take another direction, another pathway, in the exploration of time.

I am drawn to the clarity of geometry and the aesthetic potential of music and words. Combining these interests with the natural rhythms of land, sea and sky, I have translated them into optical events where spatial conflicts and their resolutions can occur. Abstraction liberates colour and form from representational functions. The simple shapes of squares and rectangles are transformed into thematic sequences of number theory, fragments of music or language. Altering their geometry by repeating the patterns horizontally allows the shapes to become more complex.

The rhythmic repetitive forms can suggest movement or meditation as they emerge from the layers and textures of pointillist colour. The shapes become positive or negative as colour, selected for its physical and expressive qualities, defines their position and direction. The picture plane becomes a place where the viewer may be part of the activity and adventure of form and colour.

But optical events are only part of the exploration. Within the confines of stability and instability (colour), stillness and movement (form), are the pathways of my search for order and balance – something beyond the material world.

Biography

My work has evolved from the discipline of a classical art education at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Mount Allison University, where I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and my experience as a graphics artist translating idea into image with CBC Television.

In my 1995 exhibition HORIZON PAINTINGS, at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, I explored the conflict of chronological time and the illusion of space. Time was resolved as autobiography and experience in my 2001 exhibition IN TRANSIT at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery.