JULIE DUSCHENES
"Sounding Bowls"
Julie Duschenes, "Sounding Bowls," 2001, etching, 22" x 22".
JULIE DUSCHENES
By Shawn Van Sluys
Although landscapes and still-lifes are traditionally unlinked genres in artmaking, Julie Duschenes combines images of telephone receivers, bowls and plates with images of the coulees around Lethbridge to suggest that while language constructs our identity, so too does landscape. The bowls and telephone receivers float above the landscape to develop an ironic vocabulary of images that are both an evocative memento mori and a subtle affirmation of life. Having lived in Lethbridge for many years, Duschenes is hugely influenced by the vivid, expressive coulees that cut through the city. She teaches printmaking at The University of Lethbridge and has shown at many major galleries throughout North America. The current retrospective of her work features watercolours, monoprints, acrylics on cotton, and oil paintings produced since 1992. Her work is on exhibition until early January at the Monkey Girl Ceramic Company, Lethbridge.