Katharine Geddes presents
Landscape and Memory
Gage Gallery Arts Collective March 5-24, 2024
Below are photos of the March 8 Opening
Landscape and Memory
Gage Gallery Arts Collective March 5-24, 2024
Below are photos of the March 8 Opening
Detail: Cottage Garden, oil and cold wax, 16x20 in, 2023
Katharine Geddes is a fine art painter dedicated to her profession. She has honed her skills at the Victoria College of Art and the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts. She received a Fine Art Certificate from Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA). Now a member of the Gage Gallery collective, she is surrounded by 22 talented and committed colleagues who offer support and inspiration.
Queen Anne’s Lace, Esquimalt Lagoon, oil and cold wax, diptych, 36x72 in, 2 panels
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Queen Anne’s Lace comes from a plein air sketch completed on the property of Pendray House in Colwood overlooking Esquimalt Lagoon. Geddes recalls gazing over a meadow of wildflowers at the lagoon beyond on a summer morning. While painting, she thought about the history and future of the 12 acre site. Purchased by settlers in the 1800s, the land has changed hands several times. First used for manufacturing, then farming, the grand Pendray mansion was built in 1925. The land is currently owned by developers and faces an uncertain future, likely altered by climate change and rising sea levels.
Thoughts about other kinds of changes, caused by war and migration, have recently impacted her artistic process. In May 2023, Geddes travelled to Ypres, Belgium to take part in a documentary called Ways We Remember War.
She painted on land once ravaged by the First World War - now restored countryside. Geddes followed the pathways forged by Canadian war artist Mary Riter Hamilton, who painted the devastation in 1919. “Now when I paint on site I think about the power of place,” she says. “I imagine both past and future, forging a continuum of moments in time.”
She painted on land once ravaged by the First World War - now restored countryside. Geddes followed the pathways forged by Canadian war artist Mary Riter Hamilton, who painted the devastation in 1919. “Now when I paint on site I think about the power of place,” she says. “I imagine both past and future, forging a continuum of moments in time.”
In Queen Anne’s Lace, the artist’s skills and confidence are evident. The misty horizon line and tranquil sea form a backdrop to the lively subject matter, thick twisting grasses and lace-like flower heads. The palette is rich and expressive. The golden-green meadow grasses vibrate with slashes of vermillion, purple, emerald green and rusty copper. Flower heads appear as snaps of creamy colour, built from the textural medium of oil and cold wax. Thrown across the canvas, the flower heads appear to sway in the sea-breeze.
Winter’s Down, oil and cold wax, 36x26in, 2023
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Where Two Worlds Meet, oil and cold wax, 36x36 in, 2023
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The plein air painting for Winter’s Down comes from Castle Mountain, Alberta. The 8x10 inch artwork was completed in sub-zero temperatures using water soluble oils. The larger painting was completed in-studio. “Painting on site allows me to recall the experience of a place,” she says. “By capturing a moment in time, I add greater vibrancy to a painting.” The snowy scene in Winter’s Down exudes warmth and is energized by a diagonal composition. The tangle of bushes that holds the tufts of snow are lively shades of deep purple moving into warm pinks. The artist delights in creating texture by applying thick buttery paint, made from mixing cold wax into oil paint. Geddes shows me her arsenal of scraping and scratching tools for working the surface. Each painting requires many layers that evolve over several days and multiple sessions.
In 2023, Geddes hiked along the southern coast of England near Beachy Head. The spectacular white cliffs that rise high above the ocean are geological wonders and and have a rich history complete with naval battles, smugglers, shipwrecks and ancient settlements. A million years ago these cliffs were under water, and may be again some day. Where Two Worlds Meet sports gestural brushwork that melds sea and shore in some places - perhaps referencing this antediluvian past. The painting’s vigorous, varied palette and high horizon line focus our attention on the dappled sea and curved cliff form.
Beaver Lake Ponds, plein air, oil and cold wax, 9x12 in, 2023
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Taking Time, oil and cold wax, 11x14 in, 2024
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Pedder Bay Marina, plein air, oil and cold wax,10x10 in, 2023
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Detail from poster: Cottage Garden, oil and cold wax, 16x20 in, 2023
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Pedder Bay Marina is located on a protected channel leading to the ocean. On the day she visited, many boats were moored at the marina. “I couldn’t paint them all,” she recalls, “so I used a series of white and gray dashes as descriptors and linear impressions for rigging." Geddes added vitality to the blue water and shoreline vegetation with a warm palette of rusts, greens and yellows. “Pedder Bay now lives on as a moment in time,” she says, “captured within the reflected light of warm summer colours.”
Cottage Garden graces the poster for Landscape and Memory. The painting shows a perennial garden with hollyhocks, daisies and lavender. In this work, the artist builds up flower forms using expressive brushwork, textural layering and complementary colours. Geddes is influenced by techniques used by Group of Seven co-founder JEH MacDonald. Like Geddes, MacDonald painted plein air, then completed larger artworks in-studio. MacDonald used a variety of painting tools and methods, including colour blending, detailed brushwork and strong compositions. The mixed-media artworks in this exhibition connect Geddes with other impressionistic landscape painters past and present. By visiting Gage Gallery we can celebrate her success as she moves into the future.
Katharine’s Opening on March 8 was a joyful well-attended event. Many friends, family and collectors gathered to celebrate her creative achievements. Several paintings sold throughout the evening. Enjoy these photos of the Opening.
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Katharine welcome your comments. To arrange a meeting with Katharine at Gage Gallery, please contact her via email: info@katharinegeddes.ca Visit Katharine’s website HERE. Gage Gallery Arts Collective, 19 Bastion Square, Victoria BC V8W 1J1 250-592-2760, [email protected]; Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 11:00-5:00 |
Katharine Geddes, Playfair Park, Spring 2022.
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