Emerging Dartmouth based artist Alice MacLean exhibits a series of figurative works begun in Paris, on view in the corridor gallery May 11-28, 2015.

Examining social interaction and memory, MacLean describes the work and her practice:

The drawings in the series Semblance and Connection began in 2011 while on exchange in Paris. I began to observe my surroundings and record the people who came into contact with me. These glimpses of a figure, drawn on a page express some of the complexities of emotion I felt while in a different culture and observing myself, and others in social interaction. I remove the subject matter from its original context. I have continued this series, to explore composition, through devices such as mark making and colour to achieve a sense of movement and alteration of the figure. I am interested in the alterations of the image, and the moment of which the figure becomes lost in the environment of the work. Similarly, with oil painting I have been exploring a state between objective and non-representational imagery. The work expresses a gestural, intuitive approach. I enjoy taking something and pushing it, pushing the boundary of it removing it from the objective reality and into a subjective reality, as we might actually experience things. Just as memory functions, everything gets shifted around. Through colour, marks and gesture, building up something, a way of explaining an experience in the form of paint. I search to create new aesthetic realities.

Alice MacLean lives and works in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She completed her BFA in painting at NSCAD University. Alice creates work that involves drawing and painting practices. The pieces are built up in layers, using energetic mark making, creating complex compositions retaining their sense of immediacy. The initial impetus for her work begins with intuitive sketches and watercolour drawings. Each piece is a process of transmuting the directness achieved in a drawing, to the larger format on canvas. Similar to the act of recalling a memory, the pieces explore a fragility of reality, an expression of a recurring thought, leaving room for interpretation.

Recently, Alice returned from a year abroad in Scotland where she took part in an Artist in Residence, and exhibition opportunities in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Since returning to Nova Scotia, she has renovated a studio space in Dartmouth. She has upcoming opportunities planned in Halifax, teaches from her studio and is participating in the Halifax Art Battle finals in June.

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) 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, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

For further information regarding the exhibition contact:

Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
902.423.4694 1.866.225.8267 f: 902.422.0881
vans@visualarts.ns.ca