Banff Centre, Leighton Colony Residency 2008

In 2008 I spent time as an artist-in-residence, in the Leighton Colony, at the Banff Centre for the Arts. The studios in the colony are wonderful and my time there was quiet, focused and productive. I spent the first week of my residency in the paper making studio where I made many sheets of hand cast paper. I used this paper as a collage element in the new body of work I started during my time there. I am continuing my personal exploration of the idea of vessel, container ... containment. The open bowls from the Elusive Containment exhibition and the circular shapes that hovered around them referenced the macro and the micro. They could have been whole planets or tiny blood cells. I was exploring the illusion of containment. In this current work the trees are solid in form yet transparent against the layered surface of the mixed media painting. I am continuing my contemplation of impermanence ... of how everything is change and nothing stands still. There were two beautiful poplar trees that had grown tight against the studio and when the wind blew I could hear the sound of their swaying motion against the wall where I had hung my panels to paint. During my time in residency the leaves on these trees went from green, to yellow and finally only the bare branches remained. I was touched by the delicate nature of their beauty and always aware of the cycle within which they ... we ... I ... exist.