ARTIST STATEMENT

Someone once told me that it takes a good 10 years of painting a lot to ‘find your own voice’. I was shocked when I heard this. Now 10 years later, I must say I totally agree. At the beginning, I did bright colourful watercolours and acrylic on paper – joyful, happy, wonderful in their exhuberance…I was admitted into the SCA , won various awards, got into juried shows, and sold well in galleries here and in the States. I was ecstatic. Then came a period of intense drawing, mark making on paper, experimenting with the model, with charcoal, conté, pencil…I was drawing like mad. I loved what was happening, but I was frustrated. I found I couldn’t transfer it to paint. My teacher, Peter Kolisnyk kept saying “keep going…don’t worry about it” and for a whole year I kept trying and trying, but it just didn’t work. What a depressing time. Then finally at a workshop in Dunedin a few summer's ago, something happened…they began to take shape! Acrylic on canvas, latex, charcoal, ink, spread, thrown, splattered, scraped, and then, with a credit card…the figures taking form. That was the beginning. Another beginning.

So here I am a few years later still watching the work change from week to week, month to month! It is a wild journey, this making of art! I have no idea where I am going or what the outcome will be. Ever. It is often exhilerating, sometimes horrifying. I tell myself I should pack up my paints, I’ve lost it. And yet, a few hours later, or maybe a few days, walking by them, looking at them out of the corner of my eye, watching them, they start to tell me where to go. I am learning to listen to them, to trust the process, to take the risk, remembering that, as Douglas Walton says “wrong is right”, you have what you need. Oh it is scary all right. But finally I understand that this business of painting is all about the adventure of doing it…nothing about the end product. That will take care of itself.

Here's to the journey…

BIOGRAPHY

CREATIVITY ART RETREAT in Dunedin, near Creemore. Owner, ongoing: creator administrator and teacher. 1996 - 2006. Workshops, Studio tours. Exhibitions. Musical/writing/reading events. Gallery and Art Shows.
•ENGINE GALLERY, Queen St. West. TORONTO. 2004 and 2005. Solo exhibitions.

• CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Charleston Artist Guild juried exhibitions
Charleston, South Carolina. 2 years running: March1999 and March 2000
• MC MICHAEL GALLERY - 9th Annual Autumn Art Sale, Kleinburg, Ont.
Oct. 15,16,17th,1999.
• MUSKOKA ARTS & CRAFTS ANNUAL juried SUMMER SHOWS 1998 and 1999 Bracebridge, Ontario
•BATHURST ANNEX STUDIO TOUR - 284 Major Street. June 4,5,6, 1999
• ARTIST’S CHOICE SHOW Jan.’99 - Etobicoke Civic Centre
• OPEN WATER ‘98 - CSPWC/SPCA juried exhibition
John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto - Dec. 1 - Dec. 24, 1998
• ARTS ETOBICOKE ART’S FEST Juried exhibition
Etobicoke Civic Centre, Etobicoke. - Oct.10 - Oct. 29, 1998
• DOONEY’S CAFE Solo exhibition
Bloor Street West, Toronto. - October - December 1998
• TORONTO OUTDOOR ART EXHIBITION
Nathan Philips Square, Toronto, Ontario - July 10, 11, 12th,1997
•SENATOR DINER - Toronto, Ontario. Solo exhibition, Nov.- May 1997
• WYE MARSH ART FESTIVAL
on Hwy 12, Midland, Ontario - September 19 and 20th,1997
• GRAVENHURST OPERA HOUSE - Gravenhurst, Ontario
Group exhibition: May through July, 1997Galleries and ongoing exhibitions
• ROBERT MEDE GALLERY - 321 Davenport Rd., Toronto - Oct. ‘99 – ‘01
• CARLEN GALLERY - 1171 Bank St., Ottawa - Aug. ‘99 - ‘02
• TAMARACK GALLERY - Gravenhurst, Ontario - 1988 - 2002 Awards
• June 1999 - LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, M. Douglas Walton Encounter
-2nd merit award - Tulip Jewels
• May 1998 - LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, M. Douglas Walton Encounter
-Honourable Mention - Mexican Sunburst
• March 1998 - MUSKOKA ARTS & CRAFTS SPRING SHOW
-Commitment to the Work - Plenty
• March 1997 - MUSKOKA ARTS & CRAFTS SPRING SHOW
-Award of Excellance -Your Place or Mine

And before embarking on a life as a painter....
PRODUCER/COORDINATOR - 1980 - 1994
Lynn worked as a producer/coordinator and promoter of a wide range of national and Toronto based promotional and fundraising events, public rallies and speaking tours for environmental groups, native peoples, anti-apartheid and disarmament oranizations, and national and local performing and visual artists. Groups have included: Greenpeace, Sierra Club of Canada, Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, environmental and women’s groups in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, disarmament and native groups and residents of Toronto Island.
The following events highlight my years as a production co-ordinator:
1993 CLAYOQUOT SOUND Benefit Concert, RPM.
REGENT PARK Art Centre for adults and kids, Benefit Concert, Music Hall.
ARTIST MANAGEMENT: Mary Margaret O’Hara, Anhai Tory Cassis, Sandra Caldwell,
EYE MAGAZINE top fundraiser of 1993, shared position with Molly Johnson
1992 PROJECT INDIGENOUS RESTORATION CONCERT, Convocation Hall, U of T
1991 JACK LAYTON for MAYOR Gala Concert. Concert Hall.
1990 NELSON MANDELA Visit to Toronto, Nathan Phillips Sq. and Queen’s Pk.
EARTH DAY CONCERT, Nathan Phillips Square.
EARTH DAY SHADOW PROJECT, for Temagami Wilderness Society.
1989 TEMAGAMI WILDERNESS FUNDRAISING CONCERT, Convocation Hall.
TOUR MANAGEMENT/PROMOTION/PUBLICITY for TIME MACHINE Russian Rock Band
1988 DR. HELEN CALDICOTT 14 City Canadian Speaking Tour-National coordinator
1984-88 PAND CONCERT/EVENT ORGANIZER International. Over 30 events.
1986 BISHOP DESMOND TUTU Rally Against Apartheid, Queen’s Park,
1985 CANADIAN PEACE ALLIANCE national conference, University of Toronto, INTERNATIONAL SHADOW PROJECT 40th anniversary of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
TORONTO 2010 VIDEO YOUR FUTURE - City of Toronto and Harbourfront.
1984 CROSS CANADA DISARMAMENT PETITION DRIVE Tour manager to 45 cities.
TV - RADIO - THEATRE - 1970 - 1980
City-TV, Theatre Passe Muraille, Factory Lab Theatre, Toronto Free Theatre and CFTR radio.

Lynn Connell is the mother of 3 grown children and 3 gorgeous grandchildren, and divides her time between living and working in Dunedin, Toronto and Africa.

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