24" x 24"
Mix medium on wood panel 2024
@colleenmarionreid
Colleen Reid's career comprises three intertwined strands;
A 40 year architectural practice concentrated on design for First Nations,
A 30 year academic career including a professorship and administrative positions as Assistant Dean, Chair of Environmental Design and Interim Dean, Faculty of Design at OCAD University, and an artistic career including courses taken in varying institutions as well as my own practice.
My artwork explores ideas of nature, beauty and the man-made world as well as their intertwined relationships. I like to play with collage, gel transfer prints and my photographic images of the world around me.
THE STORY:
I have always been interested in why we are (I am) driven to create beauty in many forms and why it is so important in all of our lives. In the last few years climate change and the need to address sustainability in our personal lives, as well as in our work, has concentrated my desire on demonstrating nature and our interactions with it, within my art and design.
My artwork explores ideas of nature, beauty and the man-made world as well as their intertwined relationships. I like to play with collage, gel transfer prints, Japanese papers and my photographic images of the world around me. I love the meditative act of stippling lines with nib and ink and exploring the extensive happy accidents of the ragged edges of gel transfers. I look for the beautiful patterns in nature and explore their juxtaposition with man-made objects as well as ourselves.
Recently I have been exploring the beauty of historical architecture in interaction with nature: the creativity of man interacting with the incredible beauty of nature. I have always loved the craftsmanship demonstrated in Victorian Architecture, the loving creation and preservation of the manmade details harkens, to me, to the intricacies of nature. Mankind’s desire to create beauty is so well demonstrated in these beautiful, historic buildings. I have been fortunate to live in Hamilton, a city full of these wonderful historic buildings and at the same time a city rich with so many opportunities to be in nature.
My hope is to underline the importance of our historic buildings as well as the power of our natural environment, and the importance of our protection of both.
*Please note: Purchased works are available for pickup on Sat. Oct 5th from 12-3pm, otherwise, arrangements will be made between collectors and buyers directly following the Art Circuit.