Barbara Gamble: Natural Affinities
October 10, 2008 to January 4, 2009
Algonquin Field, 2000
oil and wax on canvas
101.5 x 101.5 cm
Ottawa painter Barbara Gamble's fascination with the lakes, fields, hills and gardens of her surroundings is brought to life in this special exhibition of 50 of her oil paintings.
From urban to wilderness settings, the Canadian landscape is the constant subject of Gamble's artwork. She is less focused on portraying visual accuracy than she is with conveying a vital connection between herself—the painter—and her natural subjects.
Deeply concerned about the preservation of vulnerable species, Gamble depicts common and endangered botanical treasures in places ranging from city backyards to off-limit preservation areas in Canada's provincial and national parks. Her art practice is about finding natural affinities that will help mend the troubled relationship between culture and nature.
Gamble's technical process involves the multi-layering of coloured waxes onto canvas, wood, or metal supports, thereby creating luminous surfaces. An award-winning graduate of the University of Ottawa, she has exhibited in Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto and New York. Her work is in numerous collections.
Soar, 2000
oil and wax on canvas
152.5 x 123 cm
The exhibition comprises:
- more than 50 original oil paintings and several sculptural pieces belonging to the artist, or on loan from private and corporate collectors
- a selection of botanical specimens from Catharine Parr Traill's 19th-century scrapbooks, from the Canadian Museum of Nature's collection
- a gathering of the artist's own natural objects, shown in a cabinet from her studio
- maps and snapshots that document an ecological community project close to the artist's heart: the greening of Gamble's neighbourhood, Country Place Park, in the 1990s
- a video clip.
A bilingual exhibition catalogue will be available for sale in the museum's Nature Boutique.
