As an artist, teacher, healer and passionate traveller, Carol Roberts draws inspiration from lifelong travels to places as far afield as Europe, Mexico, Thailand and French Polynesia.
This fall, the Brackendale Art Gallery will display Roberts鈥� artwork in a solo, month-long show that opens Sunday (Sept. 27).
鈥淚 think 鈥� or hope 鈥� that my work is a fusion. A fusion of everything I know, of what I am and what I鈥檝e taken from my travels.鈥�
This particular show will include approximately 20 acrylic pieces (sometimes combined with oil), set around the theme of the totem 鈥� not necessarily the totem pole, she explains, but the universal imagery of a vertical story.
鈥淢y show is about tradition and the changing of tradition,鈥� she says.
From abstract totems that are tumbling down to spiritual creatures breathing life and knowledge back into culture, her exceedingly creative pieces show a sense of freedom, movement and open interpretation.
In Mexico recently, a selection of her pieces were displayed in the grounds of the visual arts school Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, where she was attending an art class. It was a rare experience to be invited to give a show, she says, but, with assistance from her art teacher and mentor, she stretched out 10 large canvases over cactuses, rods and whatever was available.
That same teacher later wrote: 鈥淚n her work she appropriates symbols and meanings of what she sees and feels, creating a visual turmoil of colours and shapes full of powerful personages. Her art, besides taking all kinds of risks, has an admirable quality and enchanting sincerity.鈥�
Although her show at BAG may not be as organically displayed as the one in San Miguel, she hopes it will be one to remember. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very exciting show because people are going to see something they鈥檝e never seen before鈥� my work is very unusual, so if people like it or don鈥檛 like it, that鈥檚 another matter, but it is memorable.鈥�
It will also be her first Canadian show in almost 18 years, she explains, and she鈥檚 looking forward to introducing her work to Squamish.
As part of her time at the BAG, Roberts is also offering an art class on Oct. 4 from 1 to 3 p.m. entitled: An Introduction to Visual Recording: Drawing and painting on a portable scale for the traveller and as a meditation.
The class offers her the opportunity to mentor other artists. 鈥淚 really enjoy seeing people become freer because I feel that art has been too exclusive, that there鈥檚 only one way art should look鈥� and I think that鈥檚 so wrong,鈥� she says.聽
鈥淚 think everyone should have access to art and know the joy that comes with mixing colours. I completely love painting. I love mixing colours. I love expressing myself with colours and I think that it鈥檚 there for everybody. You just have to do it and be confident and not think there鈥檚 just one way.鈥�
