Seasoned art collectors and first-timers get their chance to view the many faces of the feminine mystique at Women Portraying Women.
About 37 female artists contribute to the 50-piece visual arts exhibit now running at VASA until June 28 as a part of Art Walk.
Curated by St. Albert painter Bev Bunker, the juried show reveals women in all their mystery, sexuality, passions, traditions, values and choices.
They illuminate women in various stages of life as light-hearted teenagers, erotic lovers, round-bellied pregnant mothers-to-be and nurturing parents.
There are images that evoke past traditions while others such as portraits of selfies tip the hat to the future.
“There is something in each image that captivates you. Some are portraits. Some are selfies. Some are people the artists know. They are women being women,” Bunker said.”
The female artists use diverse materials ranging from acrylics, oils, charcoal and watercolours to clay, encaustic wax, fibre arts and multi-media.
“Every piece is a different art work displaying of the female form. There are a couple of fibre artists that have built images into their scenes. We have beautiful charcoal rendering and clay sculptures. Some of the works are playful. Others are imaginative, straight out of their head. And there are nude renderings as well,” said Bunker.
One of the more dynamic contributing artists is Tessa Nunn, a painter whose work is represented worldwide in numerous corporate and private collections including that of Prince Charles and at the Alberta Legislature.
Nunn is a surrealist painter in that she looks to channel the unconscious as a way to unlock the power of the imagination. For her the power of the imagination is the ultimate creative force.
Galvanized by Italy’s art history, Nunn furnishes three paintings of nude women in classical poses. In the Garden, an inspiration by Fra Angelico’s murals in Florence’s San Marco Convent, is of a young woman sitting on grass in a warm, lush environment.
Her second painting, Raising Waters While Reading Poetry, depicts the private moment of a woman reclined on a boudoir sofa immersed in a book. The third painting is The Raven and Her Eggs, a modern rendering of a woman simply standing in front what appears to be a stained glass window.
“They are very strong representational types of painting with extremely bold, confident brushwork. There is a good use of colour and interesting composition,” Bunker notes.
An accomplished academic and artist, Nunn holds three degrees including a 2002 Masters Degree in Fine Art from the New York Academy of Art.
When asked where her artistic expression arises from, Nunn replies, “It is born out of tragedy.”
She was studying in New York at the time of 9/11. The academy was close to the World Trade Centre and in the middle of the chaos and dust, she witnessed up close the horror of watching people jump out of buildings in attempts to save their lives. The trauma was to have a profound effect on her work.
In the middle of the collapsing buildings and flying debris, she repeatedly asked herself the same question the world asked.
“Is this really happening? Should I believe my eyes? In my art, I try to create a mixture of the moments of the real world around me and my own memories and my own deep study of people on earth,” Nunn says.
In fact, in viewing her nudes, the paintings appear as a split second of time, an impression that could dissolve into mist at any moment.
“I want people to stand in front of my paintings to feel as if they are part of the world. My biggest joy is to work through colour and set up spatial relationships with colour and shape. I like to play with our sense of reality – the world out there.”
Other area artists exhibiting at Women Portraying Women are: Karen Blanchet, Doris Charest, Carol Charest, Samantha Williams-Chapelsky, Dale Dodwell, Olga Duk, Kristine McGinty, Sharon Moore-Foster, Memory Roth, Barbara Shore and Pat Trudeau.
“This is really about the feminine energy and what flows from each individual artist in their own way, “ Bunker concludes.
“The calibre of artist is outstanding. Some of the best artists in western Canada are in this show.
VASA’s opening reception dubbed Wine, Women and Song is on Thursday, June 4 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 25 Sir Winston Churchill Ave. The public is invited.
