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| artists:
Natalia Makievska Nelson Wong
archives 07-08:
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Bernadette Peets
Bernadette Peets in her studio/Tobermory, Ontario |
Born and raised in Toronto, Bernadette has been creating art for the past twenty years in her Toronto studio. Peets bases her work on experiences of the tangible world around her. Bernadette's training at the Ontario College of Art and Design focused on drawing and painting and included one year of study in O.C.A.D.’s Off-Campus Program in Florence, Italy. For the ten years previous to her studies at the art college, she worked in theatres such as The Stratford Festival of Canada, The National Ballet of Canada and Touring Players Theatre as a costumer, props builder, scenic painter and designer. Bernadette Peets is a member of the Bruce Peninsula Society of Artists. |
Trigger
trigger:
an event or occurrence etc. that sets off a
reaction or chain reaction; set
(an action or process) in motion; initiate; precipitate (Canadian Oxford
Dictionary).
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The work in this show has evolved in a
very intuitive way using both colour fields and simple, strong images to
elicit an immediate response from those who look at them. For Bernadette, colours trigger certain memories of either places, people, experiences, emotions or objects. She began by painting strong colour fields on each panel in a flat smooth layer. The colours came naturally and have clear, specific meanings for her personally. After spending time living with each colour and the images came to her slowly, one by one. Even though these images have personal meaning for her, Bernadette feels that they will resonate on some level with everyone who views them. Bernadette's mother is living with the third stage of Alzheimer’s disease. She and her family are constantly faced with finding ways to track and somehow hold onto memories both for their mother and for themselves. Although not very verbal at this stage, Bernadette's mother is very responsive to simple, bold images and is able to express her reactions very clearly through her facial expressions and perhaps through simple words, a laugh or a gasp. Bernadette sees this as a basic response to a colour or a shape that represents an idea linking directly to memories. This work is not complete without your input. Bernadette invites you all to spend some time with one or two of the images that speak to you and to write down some of your thoughts. She will compile these thoughts into a book and incorporate them into this body of work as the show progresses. |
Barbie Cake |
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Life Jacket |
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Decoys |
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Chalice |
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Lolly Pop |
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