One of the afternoon events at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival
in Great Village, N.S., on 8 August 2015 will be a
conversation with four exceptional visual artists: Emma FitzGerald, Carol
Laing, Joy Laking and Linda Rae Dornan. This conversation will be moderated by
writer and Mount Allison Fine Arts professor Anne Koval. We will be profiling all these artists as the winter and
spring progresses.
This post features Portaupique,
N.S., artist Joy Laking (check
out Joy’s website: http://www.joylakinggallery.com/).
**********
To say that Joy loves to paint is an understatement. For
forty-one years she has painted Nova
Scotia and captured her view of the world on
watercolour paper and in oil and acrylics. She is inspired by all of the beauty that is Nova Scotia.
Joy’s
studio paintings are developed from on location paintings, photos and actual
objects and flowers. Sometimes an idea is thought about for a number of years
before a painting is started. The actual painting may take several weeks. In
all cases the reality in the painting is Joy's. She happily changes or moves
objects within a painting. Strong compositions and a wide range of tonal
values are a constant in all of Joy’s paintings. Her watercolours make full use
of the white of the paper and her oils and acrylics are full of rich colours.
One
of her most recent paintings of Great Village gives a vivid sense of what this winter has
been like in Nova Scotia:
In
addition to her studio paintings and when ever possible Joy paints on location.
It is an exhilarating challenge to set out, find a subject and complete an
entire painting in four to seven hours. These paintings are loose, spontaneous
and depict the tides, the lighting and the moment. Besides painting on location
throughout the Maritimes, Joy loves the landscape and history of England, Italy,
Spain, France, Greece,
Japan and all of South America.
Joy
was one of the principals involved in organizing several events during the
Elizabeth Bishop Centenary in 2011: a Paint Great Village Day in June; an
exhibit of Bishop inspired artwork at the McCarthy Gallery in Truro, N.S.,
in July; and the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary Arts Festival in August. She has been a member and supporter of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia for many years.
Joy
has a number of exhibitions in 2015:
1. Fraser
Cultural Centre, Tatamagouche, N.S., “Forces and Vagaries” with Steven Rhude (opening
early summer)
2. J. Franklin
Wright Gallery, Port Hawkesbury,
N.S., solo exhibition (opening 17 July, 7 p.m.)
3. Main
and Station Gallery, Parrsboro, N.S., "Painting in situ: seven artists, seven days,
one environment" (opening 21 August, 7 p.m.)
**********
You can find out more about The Elizabeth Bishop Festival
at:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment