Liz Parkinson at Benedicta Art Centre, Minnesota

Above image from an installation of Liz Parkinson's "Popular Nature Project",  earlier last year at Visual Arts Centre, Clarington.

We recently posted about Paul Dignan's exhibition at the Benedicta Art Centre at the College of St. Benedict/University of St. John in Minnesota. By a strange co-incidence, Liz Parkinson, also a KWT artist is exhibiting there, at the same time, in the Gorecki Gallery. (Note to Paul, Liz and Pearl: try to find a warmer place next time...Minnesota, Banff...brrrr! It's cold enough here in Toronto! )

Liz Parkinson's "Popular Nature Project" is an ongoing accumulation of images that aspires to completion as a collection. Each twelve-inch unit, although an independent composition, is seen as a possible component of the larger taxonomic entity: Popular Nature. Overall the project explores relationships between "natura" and "nature inspired" objects and systems of understanding. The portable scale of individual panels enables them to be worked on while traveling, as such acquiring aspects of the souvenir. Often, added to in the studio and inserted into the logic of the growing collection, the gathered information changs as it is influenced by surrounding references. Each addition and reorganization of the collection presents a revised understanding of what is meant by "nature". And like most collections, it may never be complete nor, like nature, its meaning fully explored.

These small mixed media works are a painterly departure from Parkinson's more traditional printmaking practice, but incorporate familiar techniques and media, including Japanese Paper, Rag Paper with litho, drypoint, relief, gold leaf, flocking, encaustic, plaster, and acrylic painting. Parkinson is widely respected as a master printmaker, but we love this new direction too, and we understand she plans to continue with it in a much larger format in the near future.



You can see images of Parkinson's earlier work (from the "Morphology" series at KWT) here.

Paul Dignan at Benedicta Arts Center, Minnesota

Paul Dignan has been invited to exhibit work created between 2004 to 2009 in a solo show at the Benedicta Arts Centre at Saint John's University in Minnesota. The exhibition runs from March 3 to April 8, 2011. These paintings, which differ from the work now showing at KWT Contemporary, use ambiguous imagery taken from sources such as monograms, wallpaper designs, sections of cartoons and other sampled imagery as well as self generated drawings.

"Untitled", 2006, acrylic on canvas, 48"x48"

Paul Dignan's latest paintings (on view at KWT Contempporary through Feb. 26, 2011) can be described as neo-op, hard-edged geometric abstraction. Dignan is a master of the unexpected when it comes to colour,. His work has literally been stopping traffic on Richmand St. W. for the past few weeks.  The sidewalks may be slushy and the skies grey, but it is spring on the other side of our 14' main floor windows. Given that Minnesota has even harsher weather conditions than we do here in Toronto, we know that Dignan's work will be well received.

"Untitled (pink)", 2010, acrylic on canvas, 54"x54"

Of his latest work, Dignan says: "I make hard edge abstract paintings that use a simple grid as a starting point.  The paintings produced for this show came about through a decision to re-examine the defined, schematic striped paintings I made in the UK in the 1990’s and also in relation to the paintings I made between 2004 – 2009, after I had relocated to Canada. I wanted to reintroduce the illusion of order into this new body of work by using a rigidly defined specific structure as a starting point - usually an 8 x 8 grid. This is then deconstructed, manipulated and altered through intuitive decision-making processes whilst at the same time making reference to the original grid format.... The colour choices have been influenced by my experience of living in Canada as I have become more and more aware of the effects of the extreme shifts in Canadian weather.  Objects and buildings become faded, bleached and weathered - for example, the faded orange of a rusting child's bicycle that has been left out all winter or the bleached yellowing green of a fence subjected to constant bouts of humidity and a scorching summer sun." 

You can see more of Dignan's work here.