MFA – U of A |

This page is in support of my application for acceptance to the MFA Intermedia Studies program at the University of Alberta.

A gallery of images in support of some of the images submitted follows. The first image in each gallery is the images submitted.

Image One:

Bombus Terestris, Gouache, varathane, film and ink on panel, 60cm, 1970

This work illustrates my interest in the circle, as a shape. It’s perfect continuity makes it an excellent reference to my interest in the eternal nature of Being as the central aspect of existence.

Image Two:

Coat of Many Colors, Oil on canvas, 66 x106 cm, 1977

This acrylic work was for one of my senior courses in Painting at the U of A, this work illustrates my interest in religious art and the stories of the Bible. The ballpoint pen and pencil crayon work, Down filled Crucifixion, pictured below, also uses a coat, one that represents the spiritless body of Christ.

Image Three:

Guru Dev, Oil on canvas, 72 x 91 cm, c. 1990

Here is the sketch for the painting.

Image Four:

God Is/God is Dead, Acrylic on canvas and wood / 58 x 23 cm, 2003

I use text, primarily in English, in much of my work.

Image Five:

Nadia and Friend – Acrylic on paper, 42 x 60 cm, 2004

My photograph, used as a source for the work.

Image Seven:

Spool in the Water, Digital Photograph, 2008

I wanted to ensure I included at least one photograph in my submission. The photo chosen was taken in Kongsberg, Norway while I was there teaching International Baccalaureate Middle Years Art and Mathematics. More photos from the series are provided and others. I am attracted to the usual in unusual circumstances or items influenced by the passage of time, hence a wire spool caught in a river or an ocean ferry mothballed in a river.

Somewhat of a purist, I look to take photos that need little editing. Still, art has no rules as the two following photos and their edited images illustrate.

Image Nine:

Death from A to Z by Adam Lanza Dec. 14, 2012, Fabric, bibs, badges, 254 x 216 cm, 2013

While researching the NRA website in preparation for a piece on the shooting deaths at Sandy Hook School in 2012, I discovered the NRA sold baby bibs. It wasn’t long after I envisioned and fashioned, with help from a master in the media, a quilt with an NRA bib for each of the 26 killed at the school, embroidered with their name, birthdate and a letter of the alphabet for each person.