Wagensveld's eye-opening 'Introspective'

Pat Wagensveld may have painted her last sunflower and abstract landscape more than three years ago but the legacy of her work lives on in beautiful, timeless memoriam. A new exhibit of her work has arrived at the Visual Arts Studio Association to offer further evidence of that outstanding legacy. It might just shed a light on the full extent of her creative interests.

It’s important to note that Release and Discovery isn’t all about sunflowers and abstract landscapes. There will also be a number of her drawings plus a series of photographs that her husband Harry playfully explains is “quite different” because it features a bunch of dummies.

“When she was at the U of A, her minor was in fabrics and textiles. There were some quarter-sized mannequins,” he began. “The sunflower series [of paintings] is all personification of sunflowers. These are the personifications of mannequins. They’re interacting and doing things together.”

The retrospective exhibit being dubbed an ‘introspective’ started to develop when the couple worked on putting together an autobiographical show of her work during her last year. There would be works in different media representing individual decades of the late artist’s life.

Her sunflowers alone are enough to pick anyone’s spirits up on a down day. Her abstract landscapes are strong reminders that our beautiful world still retains its ties to the chaos it was born out of. Her drawings are proof positive of the immense artistic talent she held in her fingertips. And those photos of the mannequins… they’re playful but not as goofy as you might think. They are excellent compositions with studies of shapes and figures to remind the artistic-minded viewer that you don’t need people to convey humanity and relationships.

Given the circumstances of the cancer fight during Pat’s last years, Harry said that it made the compilation of these diverse works all the more important. There would be a strong and eclectic show of her sunflowers (of course), her abstract landscapes, her drawings and that photographic series too.

When she passed before it could be shown, he struggled to let the world see her legacy for itself.

“It was quite personal. I was little reluctant to do anything with it. But then I’ve shown it to friends and family. They said that I should put it up because other people may have gone through similar things.”

The road to bring Release and Discovery to fruition has been a long one. Harry is satisfied that the public will finally get to see the collection all at once. “I’m quite pumped about it,” he enthused.

“I think she’d be very pleased. Proud.”

If that’s not enough for you then the Art Gallery of St. Albert also has a small exhibit of Wagensveld’s paintings in its art rental and sales gallery space.