Places by Wanda Benterud
March 13 – April 22, 2025
Naess Gallery at the Paint Spot
10032 81 Ave. NW, Edmonton, AB
Artist Statement:
This show of plein air and studio works is my visual diary in gouache, watercolour and oil of the places I’ve been near my home in the Beaver Hills Biosphere east of Edmonton.
I’ve been journaling most of my life:
with cameras and canvas, pencils and paper
with objects and plaster, pottery and pastels
I’ve been journaling with my pen, and lately
with a brush and paint about the places where I live.
Places where I live on the outside
Reflected in the places
where I live on the inside;
Where my heart is, where my thoughts are.
Creation revealing me through changes.
In the seasons of life lately:
Hardness melting.
Pain healing.
Heart hoping.
Our lake is disappearing.
It’s nutrient-rich waters feed
hundreds of birds.
Mud flats stretch softly along its shore.
It’s reflective beauty immense,
ever-changing skies intense,
with the weather it brings.
It will soon be gone.
It’s yielding.
To a subtle garden of tones and textures,
meadows of weeds and flowers,
willows and birch and aspen,
living together in diverse harmony.
Like me, like us.
It changes, shifts, grows.
Some parts of my life disappear,
yielding to new tones and textures,
fields of time and opportunity.
A heart reflective, softened, hopeful
in the new seasons.
Where I live.
Naess Gallery
10032 81 Avenue | Phone: 780 432 0240 | Email: [email protected]
Named for Sidsel Naess Bradley, The Paint Spot’s founder. who recognized the need for spaces that promote the exploration of artistic ideas and innovative processes. We are extremely proud of this heritage and its contribution to the development of many artists. Naess Gallery continues to be inclusive, encouraging dialogue among artists and visitors. We welcome proposals for exhibitions that push materials, techniques, subject matter, and conceptions.
In planning the Exhibition Year, we will be inviting artists whose practices we admire to exhibit their new works. It will be a year to revisit artists who have shown in the Naess Gallery in the past and to reveal new artists as well. We are going to see an exciting and enriching program of shows! If you have questions about the Naess Gallery or its exhibition program, please ask Kim Fjordbotten phone 780 432 0240.
See what’s new at the Naess Gallery, or be inspired by past artist talks.