JUDITH CURRELLY, "Living Systems," Oct 6 - 22, 2005, Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver

by

JUDITH CURRELLY, Living Systems

Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver

Oct 6 - 22, 2005

By Erling Friis-Baastad

Judith Currelly earned her pilot’s license because flying was the only way the young Ontario painter could reach her new cabin on Frances Lake in the Yukon. Over the three decades since, however, “Flying has meant way more to me than I could have possibly imagined,” says the artist, who now divides her time between British Columbia’s Gulf Islands and the small northern mining town of Atlin. Ice floes, tundra and boreal forest, as seen from the windows of her Piper Supercruiser, have infused her first love, art. While sharing the view with ravens and hawks, or after landing in wilderness regions few people are privileged to see, Currelly has undertaken an extensive study of “the patterns and structures that occur in nature.” Consequently, the oil-on-board works of her new show, Living Systems, are not landscapes so much as they are about landscape, she says. These paintings continue the quest she began as a child, to explore her “enthrallment” to the natural world. “My motivation will be the same until I die,” she adds.

Represented by: Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver.