 Portfolio of
Leslie Barnwell
Hazelton, British Columbia
Canada
Media Type(s):
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Watercolors
Photography
Drawing
Printmaking
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e-Mail Artist
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Interview with Artist
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Tatshenshini, Windy Craggy
Artist Statement
I've been painting and writing for as long as I can remember. Though the focus of this website is not writing, my poetry and visual art run concurrent in my life.
I guess most of us begin drawing when we are tiny and some of us stop, expressing ourselves in other ways. Some of us don't stop. I'm one of those.
I've lived in the Kispiox Valley for many years, bringing up my family and investing myself in the community and the landscape. All of this impacts my work.
Visually there is always something new on the horizon. For instance, I have developed a medium I call woven watercolour. This unique work is very exciting for me. I continue to push the limits of this approach to painting. Though I also work in traditional watercolour and pencil and ink, I'm exploring varied approaches to photography and photomontage as well.
For me there is always a tension between the inherent beauty surrounding and including humans and the suffering that pervades those beautiful threads. A chiaroscuro of the soul, perhaps. This emerges in my work at various levels. In the end I want the beauty to succeed.
Biography
Leslie Barnwell is an artist living in the Kispiox Valley in northwest British Columbia. She is both skillful and innovative in her use of colour, materials and ideas, using various techniques and styles. Leslie's paintings demonstrate her fascination with colour, pattern and form.
Her work also shows a deep concern for people, social issues and our place in the natural world. She has mounted more than 35 individual exhibitions; her works hang in Canada and abroad in public and private collections.
Paintings in Public Collections include:
Portrait - Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario
Big Autumn - Department of Microbiology, U.B.C., Vancouver, B.C.
Private collectors include:
Harvey Just
Maureen Forrester
David Suzuki
Leslie also writes and has been published in various periodicals.
Notable anthologies which include her work are:
Creekstones: Words & Images, an anthology of work by British Columbia writers and photographers.
Caitlin Press: unfurled, collected poems from Northern BC Women edited by Debbie Keahey.
Noth of 54 - Seed Dreams - poems of blossoming
Creekstone Press has recently published a book of her poetry and drawings entitled, The Rosemary Suite.
And she has edited the book My Story, a memoir by Frances Barton.
Resumè
A selection of Individual Exhibitions from 1989 to the present:
intimate garden - Smithers Art Gallery, Smithers, BC
voice beyond voice - Conference Centre, Quesnel, BC
3 edges - McPherson Playhouse, Victoria, BC
wind water fire earth:
Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC
Museum of Northern BC, Prince Rupert, BC
evolution of a sudden moment:
Smithers Art Gallery, Smithers, BC
Northwestern National Exhibition Centre, Hazelton, BC
1994-1995 fear in fragment Toured in BC:
- Smithers Art Gallery, Smithers, BC
- Northwestern National Exhibition Centre, Hazelton
- B.C. Judges Conference, Vancouver
- Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women, Burnaby
- Matsqui Institution, Abbotsford
- Metropolitan United Church, Victoria
- Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women Conference, University of Northern B.C., Prince George, BC
voice beyond voice:
Asian Centre, U.B.C., Vancouver, BC
Faculty Club, U.B.C., Vancouver, BC
vast solitude:
Smithers Art Gallery, Smithers BC
Terrace Art Gallery, Terrace, BC
Some Group Exhibitions:
Fabrications Evergreen Cultural Centre, Coquitlam, B.C.
weaving in music Bongate Mill Gallery, Appleby, England.
The Black Line Kermode Gallery, Hazelton, B.C.
Five Hazelton Women Kermode Gallery, Hazelton, B.C.
Juried Exhibitions:
Thirty paintings accepted in twenty-two juried exhibitions from 1978 to 1989. Several received honourable mention, best in show or cash awards. Examples of these exhibitions include:
B.C. Festival of the Arts
Artists at the Square, Robson Square Media Centre, Vancouver, B.C.
Federation of Canadian Artists Experimental Work Exhibition
Publications:
Lighthouse Page in book Artists of British Columbia.
Ishmael Cover on July/August Issue of Canadian Baptist.
No Room Reproduced in New Catalyst.
Formal Education:
Simon Fraser University
1968-1972
Biology, Education
Teaching Experience:
Have taught in various locations including Vancouver, Kispiox Village, and the Kispiox Valley.
Art Education:
Childhood art instruction through Vancouver Art Gallery
1971 Drawing Course at U.B.C. (Nicolaides Approach)
1983 Saltspring Island Intensive Seminar with six instructors
Attended watercolour seminars taught by Claire Babcock, Zoltan Szabo, Carl Christopherson and Katherine Wengi O'Conner.
Art Teaching Experience (from 1975 to present):
Developed art curriculum for use in elementary schools. Workshop given in Kitsegukla. B.C.
Taught watercolour courses through Northwest Community College, Hazelton, B.C.
Led seminars on pre-school and elementary art, Kispiox Village, Gitanmaax Village.
Offer drawing and painting courses privately.
Taught creative writing course for Northwest Community College, Hazelton, B.C.
Galleries
My Space
60 Muldoon Road
Hazelton BC
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