Touching the Wild Inside, detail
The piece above was originally made for my solo show, The Body Speaks. I tweaked the colors and shapes a little and painted its frame to look like stone for its latest appearance in a show at Coast Collective Gallery entitled Inspired by Emily.
Emily Carr is one of Canada’s best known and beloved artists. Hailing from Victoria, BC, she travelled extensively around Vancouver Island, painting its landscape and people in bold, modernist paintings embued with spirit and sense of place. For this show, I didn’t want to emulate her style. Rather, I chose pieces that reflected her love of the natural world and her strong connection to it.
In the piece above and below, a woman’s body morphs into a tree while she places her hand on a stone wall. Unlike Daphne, she is not escaping the advances of an ardurous Apollo. Instead she is reaching out to become one with her natural surroundings, sharing spirit, warmth and strength, and shedding the cloak of civilization to find her true authentic self. One of Emily’s great strengths as an artist was remaining true to herself as a woman and artist, finding her own path in this world. This is my homage to her spirit and my reminder to myself to follow my own unique path.
Touching the Wild Inside
Touching The Wild Inside can be viewed at Coast Collective Gallery until September 7. 2014.
Two more of my pieces will also be in the show, Two In The Wood and The Language of Trees, 2
Opening reception for Inspired by Emily is Saturday, August 30, 2-4pm
Chiarina Loggia 
August 29, 2014 at 11:50 am
what I like about this work, Beside of you style and expressions ( as you already know) , is the way you ve created the collage. you ve created an extra dimension in such a way that all impressions are unified , content wises !!! For Me , the “body itself is actually not speaking” but it tells me more its position in its environment , for some maybe nature, for me its harmony. Is that harmony not what beauty for others is revealing ? Not important to know because it is rhetorical or maybe already clearly expressed by this work.
August 29, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Thank you Bart for your thoughtful comment. I agree, the beauty is in the harmony, in this piece as in all things. Cheers!
August 29, 2014 at 4:08 pm
Wonderful~love it.^^
Have a nice weekend~
August 29, 2014 at 4:12 pm
Thank you so much. You have a great weekend too!
August 29, 2014 at 4:13 pm
Thank’s ~^^