Intersections features painting and sculpture by three artists: Anna Curtin, Sam Dickie & Carole Thompson
at the Gage Gallery, 2031 Oak Bay Avenue October 27 - November 14, 2015.
at the Gage Gallery, 2031 Oak Bay Avenue October 27 - November 14, 2015.
One definition of intersection is the common ground between theories or phenomena. These three artists are connected by similar interests in consciousness, technology and nature.
Anna Curtin received her MA in Fine Art from the University of Gloucester in Cheltenham, England.
She graduated with a distinction in painting in 2014.
She graduated with a distinction in painting in 2014.
At Intersections, selected artworks from Anna Curtin’s MA project premiere in Canada. The mixed media works combine her personal experience of being in nature, with the phenomenon of GPS tracking and technology. Born and raised on the west coast, Curtin explains: “I’m very attached to the energetic beauty of land, sea and sky, and strive to express this essence in my paintings.” Curtin’s advisors encouraged her to juxtapose her personal experiences of environment with other lines of thought and viewpoints. She decided to take digital walks and bike rides around Cheltenham. Curtin used a handheld mapping device favoured by professional geologists to track her movements. The device records information using the Global Positioning System (GPS). Conceived and operated by the US military, the GPS radio-navigation system is a constellation of 24 satellites connected to ground stations. Cheltenham, located about two hours north of London, is the headquarters for British intelligence and security.
Curtin fed the GPS information into software that showed her movements as distinct meandering lines. She also used an architectural mapping software called ARCmap. ARCmap connected similar elevation points with straight lines, making grid-like patterns on her two dimensional maps. Curtin programmed a laser cutter at the university to burn grid lines into a wood panel, previously painted. “Creating these paintings was a journey in so many ways,” says Curtin.“
"I now have a different understanding of the world and ongoing questions about contemporary life and technology.”
Curtin fed the GPS information into software that showed her movements as distinct meandering lines. She also used an architectural mapping software called ARCmap. ARCmap connected similar elevation points with straight lines, making grid-like patterns on her two dimensional maps. Curtin programmed a laser cutter at the university to burn grid lines into a wood panel, previously painted. “Creating these paintings was a journey in so many ways,” says Curtin.“
"I now have a different understanding of the world and ongoing questions about contemporary life and technology.”
Samantha Dickie is a ceramic sculptor who creates textural forms in multi-component installations
In Intersections, Dickie exhibits a collection of porcelain forms with hand-carved holes in various sizes and shapes. The enigmatic organic forms are intact containers, devoid of content. “This work calls attention to space defining form,” says Dickie.
Dickie’s work investigates yogic practices and ancient philosophers, as well as the scientific study of the nervous system and brain. Our thought patterns that yogic practices seek to calm are called vrittis. The sense of pause or space between thoughts Dickie calls “a restless space between stillness and movement.”
Dickie began working with clay in 1996 and completed a Diploma in Ceramics from the Kootenay School of the Arts in 2001. After graduation, her unique talent with abstract sculpture and installations led to several artist residencies, project grants and exhibitions. Recently, she received full funding from the British Columbia Arts Council for a year long project. This ambitious installation experiments with various forms, structures and glazes. In this show, Dickie introduces several new pieces. “Each clay sculpture is a unique entity,” she says, “but when viewed with a group becomes part of an interactive narrative.”
Dickie’s work investigates yogic practices and ancient philosophers, as well as the scientific study of the nervous system and brain. Our thought patterns that yogic practices seek to calm are called vrittis. The sense of pause or space between thoughts Dickie calls “a restless space between stillness and movement.”
Dickie began working with clay in 1996 and completed a Diploma in Ceramics from the Kootenay School of the Arts in 2001. After graduation, her unique talent with abstract sculpture and installations led to several artist residencies, project grants and exhibitions. Recently, she received full funding from the British Columbia Arts Council for a year long project. This ambitious installation experiments with various forms, structures and glazes. In this show, Dickie introduces several new pieces. “Each clay sculpture is a unique entity,” she says, “but when viewed with a group becomes part of an interactive narrative.”
Carole Thompson’s acrylic paintings combine geometric forms, colour theory and metaphysical concepts.
Using square panels of various sizes, Carole Thompson builds an ambiguous visual space, suggesting movement and expansion. Her varied shapes include crystalline structures, cellular forms, oceanic shells and corals, often in multiple-point perspective. Macro and micro co-exist; patterns and symbols appear as coded messages. Meandering and energetic linework connects adjacent areas. “I like the sense of freedom in the free-flowing lines,” she says. New techniques used by the artist in this series include stencil designs, working wet on wet, and creating interesting shapes with acrylic pouring medium.
An accomplished colourist, the artist uses harmonious colour fields and split complementary relationships to kindle emotional engagement in the viewer. She notes that Russian artist Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935), also stressed the ability of colour to evoke a feeling response. Malevich was a leader in abstract art theories. He concluded the “pure feeling” of abstraction can propel the viewer beyond perceived reality into infinite or true reality. Famous for his black square on a white ground, he argued that shape and colour supersede image and narrative.
“I’ve begun to use a lot more white in my paintings,” Thompson says, “this furthers a fluid composition and sense of space.” Here the artist's shifting realities in paint intersect with quantum physics, which assures us that all matter is in motion, and has some puzzling paradoxical properties.
An accomplished colourist, the artist uses harmonious colour fields and split complementary relationships to kindle emotional engagement in the viewer. She notes that Russian artist Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935), also stressed the ability of colour to evoke a feeling response. Malevich was a leader in abstract art theories. He concluded the “pure feeling” of abstraction can propel the viewer beyond perceived reality into infinite or true reality. Famous for his black square on a white ground, he argued that shape and colour supersede image and narrative.
“I’ve begun to use a lot more white in my paintings,” Thompson says, “this furthers a fluid composition and sense of space.” Here the artist's shifting realities in paint intersect with quantum physics, which assures us that all matter is in motion, and has some puzzling paradoxical properties.
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