Art works by Canadian Artist Carol A. Ramsay

Artist Statement- by Carol A. Ramsay

The predominant sesibilities of my work are meditative, solitary and internal. The making of very personal thing and done alone. that is how I am mostcomfortable-alone. The person I am, where I come from and where I am now, work to my advatage in the creation of this work.

I live and have a studio in a small agriculture village isolated from the art community. My activities are considered rather eccentric by my neighbours. I spent my formative years also in an isolated setting. I lived with my formative years also in an isolated setting. I lived with my parents and a sister as sole inhabitants at various whistle stops along th CN in Northern Ontario and MAnitoba. Isolated from all but my immediate family. I was shy and introverted. I first attended school at age eleven.

There are times when I require interaction with other artists, but after a while there comes a real need to sequester myself in my own enviroment and work, uninterrupted. I return to my studio, paradoxically, renewed and depleted.

My art deals with expectations-unrealistic and unrealized expectations. It deals with high hopes and no hopes, persistence and surrender. It explores preseverance and tenacity, submission and acceptance. I want to investigate the roles of fate and the experiences of our lives and our response to them? Can we change who we are? Can we change anything? Are we deemed to follow a fixed path despite our greatest efforts to contary?

My first body of work, "Windows", used the minimalistic imagery of weathered window frames and reflective glass as a vehicle for exploring the duality of the psyche. The private and the public self are often opposite entities.

"Farmscapes" was a body of work that delt with my own community, and the agricultral community as a whole, in a time of economic distree. Having been a farmer myself, watching the depopulation of family ties, and material and spiritual values, in fact, the ultimate deteroriation of an entire culture, are grist for the mill in this body of work.

In 1992, I began to paint interiors. The interiors conatined chairs, which to me represented women and thier emotional reponses to experiences and relationships. These paintings deal with concerns that are personal and intimate to me. As the paintings become more minimalistic, the chairs were removed from the painted interiors. the interior spaces became "mindscapes" or explorations of the psyche. The chairs continued too be a compelling symbol for me and eventually I reintroduced the chairs into my work as free standing forms. These sculptural forms explore many of the same sensibilities that are expressed in the paintings. While I am not inclined to regard these groups of work as an intergrated enviroment, they would provide some semblance of that if shown together.

Education - Self Directed:
1993 Mentoring Artists for Women's Art, Advisory Program Winnipeg, Mb, Mentor, Aganetha Dyck

1993 Emma Lake art Camp, Prince Albert, Sk, Instructor, George Glenn.

1992 Arts West Retreat, Clear Lake, Mb, Instructor, Bev Pike.

1990-91 Independent sudy with Mentor, Diane Whitehouse, Professor of Fine arts, University of Manitoba

1990 Arts West art Retreat, Instructor, diane Whitehouse

1989 Arts West Art Retreat, Instructor, Michael Boss.

1987 Brandon University, Brandon, Mb, Art Appreciation, Instructor Jan Brancewicz.

1986 Mentoring Artists for Womens's Art, Advisory Program, Mentor, Di Thornicroft.

Recent Solo Exibitions:
1993 "Farmscapes" Rosemount Art Gallery, Regina, Sk.

199 "Windows and Beyond", Defintely Superior Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ont.

1991-92 "Farmscapes", Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, Mb., Brochure.

1990 "Recent Work", Ace Art, Winnipeg, Mb.

Recent Group Exhibitions:
1993 "The First Decade", Ace Art, Winnipeg, Mb.

1993-95 "Common Ground", MACAC Travelling. curator Steven Jackson, Catalogue

1989 "Urban/Rual Lanscape", Main Access Gallery, Winnipeg, Mb.

Awards:
1994 Visual Arts A Grant, Manitoba Arts Council.

1992,1990, Visual Arts B Grants, Manitoba Arts Council.

1993,1992,1990,1988,1986, Short Term Project Grants, Manitoba Arts Council.

Collections:
Canada Council Art Bank
Government of Manitoba
Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, Mb.
Manitoba Co-operator, Winnipeg, Mb.
Omega Hydrocarbons, Calgary, Ab.
Antley River School Division, Melita, Mb.