Featured Artist: Amy Stewart

Amy Stewart brings together two series that engage with experiences of aging, perception, and visibility: I See You and Hello, My Name Is...

The pieces in I See You reflect on memories that linger in the spaces around us, even after our loved ones pass on. These canvases portray the broad solid strokes of the landscape - horizons of mountain, water and sky. With floating lines slipping through the scene, Stewart playfully suggests that feeling we get when it seems as though we can almost see old friends in our company again. 

In Hello, My Name Is..., Stewart's solid strokes fold in multiple directions. Alongside vibrant lines, these shapes represent the complex and layered stories that accrue over a single lifetime. The pieces work to resist the invisibility many women face as they grow older, when they are often pushed to the margins of society. 

Together, the two bodies of work convey a major preoccupation in Stewart's art: they imagine our environments as inhabited by the figures - present or remembered- who have enriched our lives. 

Amy Stewart has been drawn to the interconnections of art, play and nature since her childhood in 108-Mile House, British Columbia, where she spent most of her time outdoors. That first northern home continues to dominate much of Amy's current artistic world. The memories of childhood and nature shape her adult imagination, and they are reflected in her paintings' rich textures and vibrant tones. Her pieces are often inspired by the feelings that come both from the natural world and from engaging fully in her community and with her loved ones. "I paint how I feel and who I am," Stewart explains. And that sense of humanity - the private experiences of suffering and celebration- is evoked by her canvases' unique exploration of colour, which range from exuberant bursts of brightness to contemplative reflections on darkness. 

A constant passion, painting became more central to Amy's life during her years of working with at-risk youth. She began producing her own art when her professional experiences required her to carve out a space in her life for self-care.