Recently, I held my first art exhibition at the Creative Spaces Pop-Up Gallery, WA Museum Albany.
For those who missed the opportunity to visit me there, here is some of the writing associated with the exhibition and some of the paintings are already uploaded to the Art page of this blog.
Emerge: to rise or come forth, as from concealment or obscurity.
Emerge seemed a very appropriate title, for my first solo exhibition as an artist. On many different levels the idea of emerging is relevant to my life experience, particularly since 2007, when I moved to Albany.
The Emerge exhibition documented the journey of my development as an artist. Predominantly, the art I displayed was created since 2010, with a couple of exceptions, namely; Everlasting Ascension (2008) and Two Souls Afloat (2008).
Almost everything from that period was included, including my personal art journal created while experiencing peri-natal depression and anxiety. From this place of darkness I discovered my love of producing visual art and emerged a more fulfilled person. Hence, during Emerge, I chose to share a broad snapshot, encompassing my earliest “dabbling” with paint, to the larger scale paintings I have produced this last 12 months.
Featuring 30 original artworks, each work stood alone in the space as a joyous celebration of the vibrant colours and diverse textures present in the natural world. Inspired by local adventures and travels abroad, Emerge was an interpretation of a diverse range of subjects and presented these as semi- abstract oil and acrylic paintings.
Though not necessarily evident in the artwork, on a personal level, this exhibition mapped the emergence of my most authentic self; a parallel process that has taken place as my art has evolved.
I found myself standing in the gallery, reminded of my path to discovering a wholly satisfying way of living my life, that finds balance between the dedicated practice of creative expression and raising a young family amidst the busyness of a chaotic modern world.
It is fair to say that where I sit on the spectrum of the human mental health experience is inextricably linked to the amount of creative expression I permit myself.
Realising this has been integral to my emergence. Creating this body of work has been both a joyous celebration of the world around me and a bridge to sanity. I suspected I was not alone in this regard. My art journal and these views proved popular conversation with my visitors.
The joy was been in the doing. Some of the work was derived from mindful consideration of the subject, other pieces were the result of surrendering myself to a sort of liberated abandon; when the art just flows through me and flies onto the canvas in a personal emotive response to my surroundings. Either way, the process of play and creative exploration has been and continues to be truly fulfilling.
Please click on the Art page of this blog to view the paintings exhibited as part of Emerge, and I would love to hear your thoughts about the work I presented.
As seen in The GS Weekender, November 21, 2013.
tishtashtosh 