CAROL BREEN, Visions: Northern Impressions, Oct 22-Nov 6, 2004, Art Works Gallery, Fort McMurray

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CAROL BREEN

ALBERTA: Visions: Northern Impressions, Oct 22-Nov 6, 2004, Art Works Gallery, Fort McMurray

By Jill Sawyer

There’s a distinct affinity for northern Alberta in the work of Carol Breen, a sense of “into-the-woods” backed up by silvered night skies and pines that crowd the horizon. It fits that she’s spent much of her life in wilder places – growing up in Canmore, and living and working in Fort McMurray since 1989. In between, she had a stretch as a student and then a teacher at the Alberta College of Art & Design, and at the Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music in Calgary. She has works in permanent collections including The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Syncrude Canada, the Canada Council and Alberta House in London, England. Breen’s canvases have an illustrative quality. Colour is laid on with a transparent glow, lighting backdrops for floating angels and flowers and stars. “I want to depict the flora and fauna of the region within the unique golden light shimmering through the poplars an d tamarack pines,” she says. Inspired by the Borealis for her upcoming show with watercolourist Joanne Friesen at Artworks, Breen has taken a playful, storytelling approach, creating magical imagery that incorporates some of the myths and symbols of the north.

Represented by: Artworks Gallery, Fort McMurray, AB; Collector’s Gallery, Calgary, AB.