Leighton Art Centre

I am pleased to say that a collection of seven of my recent expressive wildflower paintings will be on display as part of “Art on the Wall” an initiative for members at Leighton Art Centre. Work will be on exhibition beginning tomorrow and continuing through August 17, 2021. See them in person if you are in the Foothills area or online through https://shop.leightoncentre.org/collections/all

Heads up that also at the Leighton Art Centre, the G9 (Group of Nine) exhibition “What a Difference a Day Makes” continues until July 25. This exhibit was presented in the Okotoks Art Gallery earlier this year but due to Covid 19 restrictions the gallery was not open to the public. I am looking forward to my first peek tomorrow.

A note about my expressive Canadian wildflower series. . . I have been painting and drawing wildflowers most of my life–on fabric in transparent acrylic wash, on paper as pen & wash, in pencil, sometimes pastel and as simple, traditional watercolours. It is not surprising that they feature as points of departure for painterly abandon in this latest series of mixed media oil paintings. I was attending Red Deer College Summer Series last week in an Open Studies workshop lead by Jean Pederson. I had a chance to focus solely on ideas for new work in the series. It was a fun and productive time. Such a pleasure to interact again with human beings in physical space. I will upload images of that new work soon to my Expressive Wildflower gallery https://bevmazurick.com/portfolio/paintings/nggallery/landscape-portfolio/expressive-wildflowers

A pleasure for sure to share news of the new exhibition of figurative work by my artist friend and mentor Jean Pederson. Jean Pederson and Cindy Bouwers exhibition titled, Of a Certain Age, will be featured at Leighton Art Centre from March 12 to April 17. Leighton Art Centre is an extraordinary rural venue in the foothills just outside of Calgary. Although in person viewing is prohibited now due to Covid-19 restrictions, we are all hopeful the gallery will be open for in-person viewing later this month. In the meantime we have the opportunity to check out Of A Certain Age online through Leighton Art Centre website. https://leightoncentre.org/event/of-a-certain-age/

I had an opportunity to hear from Jean Pederson recently about some of the new mixed media photo manipulation processes she has been using to develop work for Of A Certain Age and I am anxious to see it. My introduction to Jean as an artist happened when I bought one of her art books years ago. I was tired of “same old, same old” and found her attitude toward contemporary painting revitalizing. When the opportunity arose about five years ago I joined one of her mentorship classes in Calgary. I would recommend the experience to anyone.

Although I have never met Cindy Bouwers, I have recently viewed some of her work online and you should too. I was particularly struck by some of her winter landscapes–presumably those from another recent exhibition at Leighton Art Centre. I was impressed by the eloquence in her portrayal of winter stillness and beauty we see in our prairie landscape. You may check out this work too at https://www.cindybouwers.com/

These are two highly accomplished artists we are fortunate to see in southern Alberta.

The paintings and personal images created for this exhibition mirror what Jean and Cindy have gained by reaching “a certain age”. They have richness and depth, complexity, layers, and consider both the dark and the light. Some of the materials and processes incorporated are new for the artists — a homage to their continued personal growth. Many of life’s lessons — letting go, shifting expectations, enduring difficulty, being vulnerable, valuing authenticity, overcoming fears, and laughing much are reflected in the work.
An cxcerpt from Leighton Art Centre’s description of Of A Certain Age