Defining Places was an exhibition of oil & cold wax, acrylic mixed media, and acrylic collage paintings displayed in two of the three galleries of the Grand Manan Art Gallery, August 5-21, 2021. The exhibition opening was on Sunday, August 8, 1:00 pm, at the Grand Manan Art Gallery.
The Light Within, Acrylic & Collage on Canvas, 2020, 14″ x 14″ x 1.5″
When the Fires Began, Oil & Cold Wax on Wood, 2019, 11″ x 14 x 1.5″
The World Turtle, Acrylic & Steel Engraving Photo Collage on Canvas, 2021, 11″ x 14″ x 1.5″
Artist Statement
Defining Places is an exhibit of paintings and collages created in various media over the past three years. The places defined are both without and within: physical landscapes, urban places, states of mind, imaginary places, states of flux and change, and metaphorical states. Defining places also refers to my exploration of certain themes and media, as I am artist who is constantly evolving and challenging myself to create something from nothing using different materials.
Art is a solitary pursuit and I am a person who embraces solitude, both in the studio and when out in the natural world. However, solitude sought or embraced is not quite the same as solitude enforced.
Before the first spring of the pandemic, I was working in encaustic and mixed media acrylic and exploring oil and cold wax, using grid structures and creating impressionistic abstract natural and urban landscapes.
By 2020 I found myself continuing with a series of oil and cold wax paintings. Abstract, they often depicted nature, or states of mind, as chaotic and in flux. They were noticeably devoid of people. Australia was burning up that winter and was very much in the news, and some of the landscape paintings reflect this preoccupation with global warming and extreme weather patterns.
By the following winter, with the world still in the grips of the pandemic, and with the unexpected death of two cousins and the death of a good friend and colleague, my anxiety levels were slightly elevated. I gravitated towards mixed media collage, granting myself complete freedom to play and explore.
Creating the collage series was both cathartic and revealing. This time people and animals showed up. However, they and the structures I created in my landscapes were often solitary: isolated islands stranded in vast and empty spaces. Intuitively, it seemed, I had created art which reflected solitude. Yet although they are solitary in their imagery, for me they instill a sense of centered calm and even joy, as they quietly pay homage to our resilience and to our humanity.
Website Galleries featured in this exhibit: Paintings: Oil & Cold Wax, Acrylic & Mixed Media; Collages: Of Longing & Loss
MJ Edwards, BA, BFA, BEd
Grand Manan, NB
August 2, 2021