Artist Statement and Bio TRISH SHWART
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my paintings I create an otherworld where I explore my conflicting feelings about my relationship with nature and the knowledge that I am part of a society that puts the natural world at risk. My work investigates the permeable boundaries between what I see, who I am and what I feel. The paintings are a blend of memories, dreams, and real-world experiences.
A few years ago, I read The Overstory by Richard Powers. In the book a character, modelled on Dr. Suzanne Simard of UBC, uncovers the connections and communications that take place between trees in a forest. She proposes that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own. This premise aligns with my own experiences when outside in nature.
When out hiking, I experience an internal expansion that changes my brain. Thoughts of ‘to-do” and “need to be” disappear and are replaced by a sense of joining with the natural world. My nature connects somehow with the nature of the earth.
Since the start of the pandemic, I have been painting en plein air and that time in nature comes back into the studio with me, energizing my work in unexpected ways. The paintings reflect my rational hope for a world in which we value the wisdom and intelligence of the natural world.
“To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer
ARTIST BIO
Trish Shwart’s recent work focuses on the connection she feels with the natural world, with an acknowledgement that she is part of a society that threatens it. The climate emergency is a very real consideration in all of her work. Her interior architecture experience developed an interest in ‘place’ which continues to be central in her art practice. She is a graduate of the University of Manitoba (Gold Medal) and the Emily Carr College of Art (Helen Pitt Award). Shwart has shown her work across Canada and in Australia. She has been actively involved in Victoria artist-run centres such as Open Space and X-changes Gallery. Her April 2021 show “Not Going to Buenos Aires” at Errant Artspace considered the ways in which individual art practices adapted to the limitations inherent in a pandemic.
In my paintings I create an otherworld where I explore my conflicting feelings about my relationship with nature and the knowledge that I am part of a society that puts the natural world at risk. My work investigates the permeable boundaries between what I see, who I am and what I feel. The paintings are a blend of memories, dreams, and real-world experiences.
A few years ago, I read The Overstory by Richard Powers. In the book a character, modelled on Dr. Suzanne Simard of UBC, uncovers the connections and communications that take place between trees in a forest. She proposes that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own. This premise aligns with my own experiences when outside in nature.
When out hiking, I experience an internal expansion that changes my brain. Thoughts of ‘to-do” and “need to be” disappear and are replaced by a sense of joining with the natural world. My nature connects somehow with the nature of the earth.
Since the start of the pandemic, I have been painting en plein air and that time in nature comes back into the studio with me, energizing my work in unexpected ways. The paintings reflect my rational hope for a world in which we value the wisdom and intelligence of the natural world.
“To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer
ARTIST BIO
Trish Shwart’s recent work focuses on the connection she feels with the natural world, with an acknowledgement that she is part of a society that threatens it. The climate emergency is a very real consideration in all of her work. Her interior architecture experience developed an interest in ‘place’ which continues to be central in her art practice. She is a graduate of the University of Manitoba (Gold Medal) and the Emily Carr College of Art (Helen Pitt Award). Shwart has shown her work across Canada and in Australia. She has been actively involved in Victoria artist-run centres such as Open Space and X-changes Gallery. Her April 2021 show “Not Going to Buenos Aires” at Errant Artspace considered the ways in which individual art practices adapted to the limitations inherent in a pandemic.