Nancy Paul

Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada

Background

I started life knowing I would to be an artist. After growing up in Northwestern Ontario, I moved to Toronto to apprentice at OCAD.  My experience there was not what I had hoped for and so changed course to literature in Kingston; I have lived in the area ever since, working in cancer research and continuing my studies.  More recently I have returned to my vocation as a visual artist.

Artist Statement

I am a painter, drawer, printmaker and work in acrylic, graphite, drypoint.  I typically represent the female form as both subject and seeker of understanding. My method involves contrast, repetition and sequencing to suggest relationships and explore the spaces separating self from others, the work from the viewer; between conscious/subconscious, interior/exterior, before/after.

Literature and my experience as a clinical researcher inform my art.  Times and seasons in the poetry of T.S. Eliot and the lyric sequences of Louise Bogan underlie my approach and aesthetic.  The progress of countless cancer patients through treatment and afterward, documented with serial diagnostic imaging, inspires and grounds my practice. (My solo show Breast Cancer: A Progress was exhibited at the Art Noise Gallery on lower Princess in 1994.)

Recent Solo Show

Restoring Balance:  Before and Between

The paintings in this exhibit are acrylic and graphite on stone, canvas, paper, glass.  They explore female-centred alternative myths and models as a means of responding to the imbalance of our dangerously tilted world.  Hephaesta (not Hephaestus) is the deity of creativity and warns of the destructive power of fire.  Eve is born in amber among the creatures of the earth; they exist before she would name them.  She will leave Eden of her own volition, taking her daughters with her.  Many figures/images are paired to suggest relationships and invite dialogue.