Noni Boyle: Passages
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Bugera Matheson Gallery (New Location) 1B-10110 124 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5N 1P6
Noni Boyle, "Passages," 2018
Bugera Matheson Gallery is proud represent Noni Boyle. This is her first exhibit in the gallery, and marks her return to Edmonton.
Artist Statement
"At the heart of this work is a sense of place: how it is experienced; how it shapes our history and our identities; how it influences our sensibilities. It is also a contemplation of space – the spaces between us and those we care about.
My studio for the last several years has been in an old bush-plane hangar, on the edge of St. Mary’s River in Sault Ste. Marie. Below the studio, airplanes in various state of repair share space with gigantic ship engines and boilers. Next door a salvage operation dismantles out of service cargo ships, and the whistle blasts from the ships traveling through the locks the can be heard from the studio. The forms of this environment – the ships, bridges iron, and the ever-present element of water, have influenced the shape of the work. The constant reminders of voyages by air or water have provided a metaphor for other kinds of journeys as well – real or imagined; physical or metaphysical. Open spaces full of mystery and possibilities co-exist with earthly rust and grit.
Passage refers to journeys, of course. It can also refer to our time here on earth (the span of a life); to the elapsing of time; and to a process of change. It alludes to doorways and openings. It can also be defined as the cost of those journeys." Noni Boyle
Boyle holds an MFA from the University of Alberta, and a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal. Her work is represented in several public and private collections in Canada, the US and around the world. She has been the grateful recipient of grants from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
A native Albertan, she moved to Ontario in 2006, where she is an Associate Professor in the Visual Art program at Algoma University. Her varied practice includes painting, drawing, printmaking, and mixed media.