On the Water

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My work begins from an acknowledgment that land is not neutral, but shaped by layered and ongoing histories. I am currently based in Toronto, on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and I maintain a connection to Saskatchewan, where multiple Treaty territories intersect. Moving between these places, I recognize my position as a white settler artist, and the privilege embedded in my ability to move through, interpret, and represent landscapes. This awareness informs my approach to painting as a relational and accountable practice. Working primarily in large-scale oil painting, I explore how landscape can shift from documentation to an expression of memory, emotion, and internal experience. Rather than depicting specific locations, my paintings draw from recollection, where atmosphere, colour, and feeling take precedence over precise detail. Through abstraction, gesture, and layered colour, I aim to capture the affect of a place, how it is felt and remembered rather than simply seen. Scale and composition play a key role in this process. The horizontal format, aligned with the horizon, invites an embodied viewing experience, encouraging viewers to engage physically and emotionally with the work. My use of layering, visible brushwork, and gravity introduces a tension between control and release, reflecting both the instability of memory and the shifting nature of perception. Having grown up in Saskatchewan, I developed an early and lasting connection to the land. The province’s expansive horizons, golden fields, and vast, shifting skies continue to inform my visual language and sense of space. Relocating to Ontario has expanded this relationship, offering new environments and perspectives that further shape my practice. Inspiration flows from the places I have lived, visited, and hope to encounter, gathering as a collection of impressions that inform each painting. Colour is central to my work, particularly in my ongoing exploration of skies at sunrise and sunset. The intensity and subtlety of these moments, where colours interact, dissolve, and re-emerge, allow me to investigate relationships between hue, light, and atmosphere. Through vibrant palettes, I seek to convey both a deep emotional connection to the land and the powerful, often fleeting sensations it evokes. Ultimately, my paintings exist between memory and presence. They are not fixed representations of place, but evolving reflections on how landscapes are experienced, remembered, and understood. Grounded in both personal experience and broader historical awareness, my work seeks to hold the complexity of our relationships to land with care, attention, and accountability.

Where it's been: GradEx 111