The Gallery at Queen’s Park presents:
Sherida Charles – “Transits & Reveries”
Exhibition Dates: July 1st – 31st, 2022
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00am – 2:00pm
Free Admission
Exhibition Statement
My recent mixed media works and acrylic on canvas paintings revolve around the realities of living and moving through an urban space. A space filled with signs, bold colour and shapes, and fleeting glimpses of incongruous imagery. There are short stints on transit and passing glances at street scenes, neon, plant displays in storefronts, leaf shapes in gardens, and the layered effect of multiple impressions in rapid succession.
The scenes on transit are reflective of quick sketches to capture compositions, with the linear, primary coloured compositions recalling Mondrian for me. Depending on the daylight hour aboard the train, the shadows shift and create strong shapes. The scene and occupants constantly change in an endlessly varied, multicultural diorama. The environment of the train and buses also serves as a common denominator of humanity and represents the essence of our urban population. The colours and lines and shapes also represent an increasing concern I have with simplification and abstraction.
Artist Biography
I was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1964, and emigrated to Canada in 1976, settling in New Westminster. I attended high school in Burnaby and studied Fine Arts at the University of British Columbia. During my 20’s, I practiced as a painter, won a year of post-grad study at the Banff Centre, and was awarded a Canada Council grant in 1988 to take my paintings to Jamaica for an exhibit. Later, I decided to pursue Art Education to secure regular employment in Canada, attaining my B. Ed Degree in 1991. I have been teaching Art at the Secondary level in the Coquitlam School District since 1992, and recently left teaching to focus on my own art practice. I live in the west end of New Westminster with my husband and sons. In 2019 I joined a Studio Residency in Vancouver called Printermedia, an extension of Malaspina Printmakers, where I am able to focus on printmaking with facilities and equipment, as well as other collaborative artists. Here I have been able to immerse myself in developing and practicing my skills with multicolour reduction linocuts, and also continue exploring silkscreen processes and mixed media painting in traditional and experimental works.
For more information, visit: http://www.sheridacharlesart.com/
