Sunday Walls by Karen Phillips-Curran
February 25 – March 14 2011
Studio B, BSoA Galleries
10 am - 4 pm
www.bsoa.bm
Studio B, BSoA Galleries – February 25 – March 14 2011
A painter all her life, Karen has spent the last twenty some years painting the action of light on surface. Any surface will do, a wall, a bit of a shutter, a stone, even the surface of water has attracted her attention. This dance of light has always fascinated her. There is a sense of pause in her work Her imperial sized watercolours, that describe Bermudian architecture and light, earned her a spot in the Bermuda National Gallery’s 2004 show, “200 years of Painting in Bermuda”, with a piece called “Rooftops and Chimneys”.
Texture is resplendent in her work. It may play second fiddle to the light but is no less articulate. Her mastery of watercolour has come from years of experimentation and thought.
Theatre has almost always been a part of her life and since 1996, she has been painting the Studio and Theatre stage sets at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. As a scenic painter she is called upon to create a wide range of environments, all subject to stage lighting. Her use of saturated colour has the viewer entranced, moving easily into the realm of the imaginary. As a direct result of this experience, her work has taken on a monumental scale.
The use of photography in the form of Polaroid image transfers has opened the door to an unexplored, yet oft visited world. Using Polaroid film, she transfers emulsion to paper and pushes beyond the border of the photo. It creates a kind of iconography that is both familiar and accessible.
Born in Canada, her work is collected at home, the United States, Bermuda and Europe.
REPRESENTING GALLERIES
Bermuda Arts Center at Dockyard Somerset, Bermuda
The Riverstones Gallery Burnstown, Ontario, Canada
Coldwater Gallery Coldwater Ontario, Canada
Tay River Gallery Perth, Ontario, Canada
Perivale Gallery Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada
Some COLLECTIONS
Masterworks Foundation, Bermuda
Bank of Bermuda
Bank of Butterfield, Bermuda
GTE Insurance, Bermuda
John White Advertising, Bermuda
WP Stevens Ltd, Bermuda
Southampton Princess Hotel, Bermuda
Hamilton Princess Hotel, Bermuda
Sun Bank, USA
Wilfred Laurier University
Cornwall Art Gallery
Red River Community College
White Mountain Academy of the Arts
College of the North Atlantic
Excalibur Schools
Pratt and Murray Realtor
Briarcrest Schools
University of Windsor
Website: www.riverstones.ca
