Alex graduated from The University of Alberta in 2007, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction. Since that time she has been honing her skill and building her career as an artist, while making a living operating her own hair salon on Vancouver Island, where she lives with her young family.
During a studio session the paint and graphite are often flying and there is a dance that happens. It is often an awkward, frustrated, strange sort of dance that is sometimes a bit wild. Then, at some point, comes the need to step back from the image, to slow it down. The expression becomes more efficient and thoughtful, neither restrained nor random. In the current series the role of the line or grid brought some stability embedded in the movement and energy, a kind of framework or structure. Sometimes the grid came first, and at other times later. Altogether trying to capture that beautiful union where chaos to calm occurs, and where it becomes an amazing marriage.
When viewing my work, one may interpret something of a traditional feminine quality to the imagery, which in many ways has been a source of strength in those paintings. This body of work is a continuation on the abstract, energetic floral/ foliage/ theme that I’ve been working through, where the mark making is spontaneous and gestural, neither random nor restrained.