Artist Statement 2010

The liquid landscape of northern Ontario cottage country and the winter freeze where a shinny game is in play mark a passage of time inherent in the dual reality of my homeland. Summer days spent in sparkling cool waters under clear skies stimulate my imagination. I cannot remember ever playing shinny yet the tradition holds great presence to me as a Canadian. Water to ice and back again and we are compelled to adapt to the seasons, connected by nature to a cycle of change.

I create a narrative in my images grounded by a figure with reference to some kind of active story. I work to capture the magic of the moment, as it projects back through my memory, to a time of present awareness, reflecting what I imagine to be a place of private certainty. The figures are vague and are meant to charge the imagination of the viewer, as if they could place themselves within the portal of the canvas.

Oil paint is the medium I choose. The process of squeezing the pigment onto the palette and then mixing the colors with a knife or brush is a ritual which connects me to the canvas, and the thread of a Canadian mythology is recorded as I imagine it. During my practice, I work in tandem with a second canvas to explore the wondrous world of the abstract image.

Artist statement 2011 | Artist statement 2009 | Artist statement 2008

Biography

Elizabeth Lennie is an actress who lives in mid-town Toronto with husband actor/author Mike Kirby and their three daughters. Together Mike and "Libby" run Voiceworx.