Abstraction

I grew up in a small town in Ontario and went to school for Forestry and Parks & Recreation.  I moved out to Alberta in the 80's to follow a career in Forestry.  My family has recently moved to St. Albert from Peace River. Alberta where I was operated a photography studio for 17 years.

Artists are influenced by artists and I am surrounded by wonderful talent.  The famous artists that I admire are Modigliani, Botticelli, Klimt and Lauren Harris and that is if I had to only name a few.  I am drawn to the narritive qualities of an image where meanings are layered and inspired by symbolism.  I aim to put these qualities in my own work, in my paintings, photography, mixed mediums and altered books.

I am currently exploring mixed mediums like molding paste, cheese cloth, metalics, transfers, newsprint etc.  Sometimes the work is non-representational and I rely on the different relationships between colour, composition, texture and line to do the communicating.  The textures involved in mixed mediums are begging to be touched and it's wonderful when I see someone reach out, because now the art is communicating with the viewer.

Carroll was born in Edmonton and raised in Hinton, AB- a small town nestled in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.

She graduated from a 4 year Diploma Program at Alberta College of Art in 1989 with distinction winning the Heritage Travel Scholarship Award 1988 & 1989.

She is inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s fluidity and minimalism and the surrealist dreamscapes of Salvador Dali.

She has works in private & public collections throughout Alberta.

She enjoys nature and often uses animal skulls, driftwood and cave photographs as starting points, focusing on one particular area, zooming in and letting the image transform into its own entity on the canvas, sometimes creating a foreign, dreamlike landscape and other times a deep cavern to explore.

She invites the viewer to explore these wide “enclosed” spaces and see what images come to life in their eyes.

Many of my favorite memories from my youth are about creating images and objects - finger painting, colouring books, pastels, my spirograph, watching spin art created at the fairgrounds, and even creating that box covered with pasta and spray painted gold that my mother probably still has today.

Despite these memories, it wasn’t until I was traveling weekly for work in 2006 that my away-from-home-boredom drove me to find a course at the local college near my work site.  I took an introductory course in drawing in anticipation of later trying my hand at watercolour painting.  The instructor of that drawing course was wonderful and the experience was joyful.  I began carrying my sketchbook everywhere, even stopping on the highway on the drive home to sketch.  I was hooked!

I knew by the end of that ten week course that I wanted to be serious about creating an art career.  I enrolled in the Fine Arts Certificate Program at the University of Alberta the following summer, and also began to experiment with other media and read almost obsessively about art on my own. With commitment, new capabilities have developed.  And with enthusiasm poured into many hours of art-making, my vision as an artist has grown as well. 

My background as a systems architect and scientist has been leveraged to experiment with various media, researching existing techniques and developing my own, and evolving my own processes for creating art.  This experimentation with media is almost as enjoyable as creating images!  To some extent it is all play, and while it takes me back to those memories of my youth, it also leverages all of the skills I’ve developed as an adult, and it affords the opportunity for many more years of developing skills and evolving as an artist.

Golden surfaces, bright colours, patterns, and negative spaces - my early memories are filled with images of Ukrainian Byzantine paintings. Growing up ‘transculturally’ in an immigrant Ukrainian family meant being surrounded by gold-leafed church interiors and traditionally decorated homes. A properly raised Ukrainian Catholic girl was steeped in vishivanya (embroideries), colourful pysanky (dyed Easter eggs) and gilded icons, and it was these elements that inspired a love of visual art in adulthood.

The connection between my childhood and an inclination  toward patterns, bright colours, negative space and the use of gilding would became clear in the mid 90’s. This was the beginning of the Gold Series - a continuing body of work in which I am exploring these repetitive themes.

Historically, the use of gold leaf (gilding) in religious iconographic painting, Byzantine or otherwise, was intended to symbolize purity, spirituality, and clarity of light. Gold leaf applied to a flat surface may appear alternatively as very shallow or very deep, depending on the direction and source of illumination. Even a sliver of indirect light will illuminate gilding so that it appears to actually embody light itself. For this reason, gold leaf is most often seen as the embellishment of halos in religious art. It is perhaps this embodiment of light that assigns gold its material value, as in the “gold standard”, and also its sentimental value, as when the bond between lovers is symbolized by a band of gold.

The commissioned icon painter of the past worked within stringent guidelines dictated by church doctrine to relay certain religious beliefs or truths to the masses. The icon was and is valuable, both in monetary and spiritual terms, as a sacred object.

The use of gold in contemporary painting can signify a reference to the sacred - to certain truths and beliefs. In the Digital Icon series, this reference is juxtaposed with electronically altered, or digitized, images, which are, in effect, products of imagination and manipulation. This uniting of opposites may be seen to bridge the gap between old and new, past and present, reality and fantasy. It is left to the viewer to decide whether the gilding functions simply as a decorative element, or if its use imbues the final image with more meaningful connotations.          

In 1993, I received my Fine Art diploma (with Distinction) from Grant MacEwan College.  My paintings, including a commissioned portrait of Dr. MacEwan, are held in private and public collections across Alberta. An acrylic painter primarily, I experiment with and teach various approaches to artmaking through community and gallery programs, such as drawing, sculpture, collage, printmaking, and digital art.

Most of my life, my home has been Edmonton and, since 2000, it is in Parkland County.

I studied art at the University of Alberta in the early 1970’s; worked as a labourer, as a carpenter and as a teacher.  I am a husband, a father and a grandfather.

I presently work at the Perron studio in St.Albert. In 2002 I started painting again and since then have been working in art as a VASA resident artist, working at Art Space for The Learning Centre Literacy Association, and as Artist on the Wards at the University of Alberta Hospitals.

My work has been shown locally in the Edmonton area in the past ten years:   Parkwest Painters Show, The Kings University College, Studio Gallery, the Glenrose Blue Curve Gallery, the Stanley Milner Library, local churches, and in Free for All at the EAG.

About the Art – some thoughts on my journey along the road of life. . .

The heart, the mind and the hand are all involved in art.  We are intentional, purposeful and meaningful in what we make. Art reveals something about our life in this world that hasn’t been shown before.  Art is one way to make a contribution to glorify and honour the Creator who is the true artist.  Art like any every endeavour is subject to that aim – to live in right relationship with the creator and in so doing live in right relationship to our fellow creatures.  That’s how we bring out the true potential of our humanity. Making art helps do that.  Enjoying art and sharing and discussing what we “see” helps do that too.

Art should be seen “live” not virtually or in reproduction.  Go to a gallery or drop by the studio and look, see and connect.  To get the most out of a relationship you have to meet:  see, feel, hear, taste and smell.  Can you love someone that you know only by a photograph?  Can you quench your thirst by looking at a picture of a glass of water?  Come for a visit.

2010 Article on studio Gallery

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=c3237b70-e7b6-462a-bea1-1d23e9bb876a

2011 Review of “Genesis – A Visual Account of Creation”

St Albert Gazette, March 12,2011, Scott Hayes

http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/20110312/SAG0307/303129992/-1/sag/creative-creation-series-means-van-veen-is-back

2012 Review of " Palm Trees on Perron"

 http://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/20120107/SAG0307/301079990/-1/sag/ignore-the-snow-and-ice-vasa-has-palm-trees

     I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, the only girl among six boys.  In a household full of boy noise, I remember spending many hours in quiet creative pursuit: drawing and coloring, then painting in my teens.  Although my parents did not consider art to be a viable career option, my first artistic mentor was my Dad who, although busy raising and providing for a large family, found time to join me in “quick draw” challenges on quiet weekend afternoons.  I was also inspired by watching television artist Bob Ross create half hour paintings with effortless technique.  These techniques were later to both hinder and influence my artistic journey.
     After high school I enrolled in the fine art program at Grant MacEwan Community College.  I didn’t have a specific direction in mind, just that I wanted to be an artist.  I don’t remember receiving much instruction in how to paint.  Classes were geared more towards the process of developing ideas.  I had a great time, but still hadn’t developed an understanding of how to paint.
     After Grant MacEwan my husband and I moved to south-eastern British Columbia where we pursued an interest in photography.  We set up a darkroom in the apartment and experimented with various black and white techniques.
     When my Dad died in 1999, I was devastated by the loss of my mentor. I had looked forward to spending his retirement years painting together.  This loss influenced me to decide to seriously pursue an art career.  I joined the St. Albert Painters Guild in 2001 and started showing and selling my work at the Guild’s Spring and Fall shows.  In 2007 I joined the Studio Gallery Artist Co-Op and I began working full-time at the studio.
    In November 2008 I had my first solo show, “Out in the Ordinary”, featuring paintings inspired by the Hubble space telescope images.  This show was well received, garnering many positive reviews and the sale of more than half the paintings exhibited.  This series continues to be popular with 18 of 22 paintings sold.
     Sixteen months later, in March 2010, I presented my next series in a solo show “Brush the Sky”.  Inspired by the prairie sky, this series featured 19 paintings of clouds.  Leaving out all terrestrial references, these paintings encouraged the viewer to determine their own orientation and imagery, recalling the times of our childhood when we imagined shapes and characters in the clouds.
     I have been fortunate to have patrons support me by purchasing pieces at each step along my journey.  Through them my work is on display in both local and international collections.  
     I currently work and teach out of my studio in St. Albert.  Since the 2010 solo show I have been working on smaller, individual pieces and commissions.  I am focusing on more representational images – landscapes, still life, wildlife and animals – to strengthen and expand my painting skills. 
     I continue to be active in the St. Albert art community donating my artwork and time for various causes.  I am a member and past director of the Visual Arts Studio Association of St. Albert (VASA) taking workshops and participating in group shows.
     I have an open door policy at my studio, offering mentorship and guidance to visitors as they watch art in process and engage in dialogue.
           

Narrative Statement regarding my abstract painting practice

I live in an age where compelling information is ingrained in life and has become part of my observation where circumstances demand a response.  These opportunities, whether physical or mental, influence and modify my view on reality. 

I assimilate the idea of abstraction from an intellectual place.  The simplification and the complexity is not about the subject  it’s about the whole range of history of emotions that come from such places that are raw, intense and open, and still emergent the subject matter registered in my core and resonated so much it had to be expressed on canvas. 

“Art is a matter strictly of experience, not of principles, and what counts first and last in art is quality; all other things are secondary”.  Art and Culture Clement Greenberg

I am a multi-media visual artist, born in northern rural England, who now resides in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.  

Pat Wagensveld   BFA

CV is available upon request