About
photo by Michelle Quance
THOUGHTS ON COLOUR: “There is something about memory that is intrinsically attached to our senses. The attachment of colour to a memory is what I am exploring through painting. It started with being given a sampler tube of cadmium red as part of a gift bag at an art event. Red has until this point not been a large part of my paint palette, but this red reminded me of a hat I had as a child, bought as a souvenir after a family trip to an amusement park. That memory and that colour sent me on a journey that pushed my perceptions and understanding of how colour works in memory and in art and in composition, in process and in our emotional response to a painting.
Using old family slides, the Kodachromes, I challenge my usual palette of colour. I am fascinated by the super saturated colour associated with this film development process and I set out to try to match these colours with my paints and pigments. What started as an exercise in exploring colour became more about memory and nostalgia. Working in the grid allows an order in which to explore these ideas: containing them in a structure that controls the emotion associated with the memory of the colours and the inspirational slide. Composition starts with the image on the slide, but is blown up into larger version of those snap shots. Layering of colour, slowly applied, of grids and lines, create a depth in these paintings that evoke an emotional response in the viewer, triggering memory or emotion associated with these colours. “
Anne-Marie’s paintings explore colour and composition through abstraction by distilling spaces and structures through the form of the grid. The grid provides a starting parameter where details are expressed through the colour and the intersections of layers of paints and glazes. Working in acrylic demands an immediacy in the process, working deliberately and meditatively as the paint is applied while maintaining the integrity of the details of the canvas. Process and colour are hugely important to how Anne-Marie works. Recent works (the Kodachrome series) use old family slides to pull colour inspiration and push beyond the comfort of a familiar palette as well as exploring memory through the layers of the grid.
She has selected works in numerous galleries around the Greater Toronto area as well as in collections in the US and Britain.
As well as painting, Anne-Marie works with photography and relief printmaking. Currently Anne-Marie is the curator for The Gallery Wall, a grass roots initiative giving local artists opportunities to show case their work in East End Toronto.
Selected Exhibitions
2024 The Gladstone House, Toronto
2024 Kodachrome, Elora Centre for the Arts, Elora, ON- (Solo Show)
2024 Contemporary Art Chronicle, Volume 6, San Francisco
2023 Smalls, Art Interiors, Toronto
2023 An Art Show, Group Show - the Gallery Wall at Might and Main, Toronto (curator - self directed)
2023 Inside Out, Group Show Staying Creative Gallery, Victoria, BC
2023 Contemporary Art Chronicle, Volume 3, San Francisco
2022 Smalls , Art Interiors, Toronto
2022 Fragmented, Group Show, Jane Kidner Gallery, Toronto
2022 An Art Show, Group Show - the Gallery Wall at Might and Main, Toronto (curator)
2022 Artist Project, Toronto
2021 Grid Work, Solo show — Michelle Quance Gallery, Toronto
2020 Artist Project, Toronto
2019 Brighton Art Fair, Brighton UK
2019 Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Toronto
2019 Artist Project, Toronto
2019 Museu Carmen Thyssen, Andorra
2018 Paula White Diamond Gallery, Kitchener
2018 The Landscape, Gallery 1313, Toronto
2018 Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Toronto
2018 Summer Show, Blue Crow Gallery, Toronto
2017 Artists Open Houses Festival, Brighton UK
2017 Canada 150 Group Show - Yellow House Framing & Cobalt Gallery (joint gallery show), Toronto
2015 ARCHIVE - Cobalt Gallery, Toronto (solo exhibit)
2014 Danforth East Arts & Craft Fair, Toronto
2014 Art Walk North, North York
2014 Beaches Art and Craft Fair, Toronto
2014, Danforth East Art Fair, Toronto
2013 HOME show, Cobalt Gallery, Toronto (curator/exhibitor)
2013 Danforth East Art Fair,, Toronto
2013 Festival of Smalls, Art Interiors, Toronto (Nov-Dec)
2013 Artisan Social, Toronto (Dec) (curator/exhibitor)
2012 The Artisan Social Toronto (curator/exhibitor)
2012 Danforth East Art Fair, Toronto
2012 Art of the Danforth, Toronto
2011 LakeScapes, Cobalt Gallery, Toronto (solo exhibit)
2010 Gallery 888, Toronto
Galleries
Art Interiors, Toronto
Guildworks, Bloomfield, Prince Edward County
Petroff Gallery, Toronto
On lIne Via - Partial Gallery, Saatchi Art
Residencies
Arc.Hive - residency, Victoria, BC August 2024
The Kingston Road Residency, Cobalt Gallery, Toronto, 2017
Features
Formation Art - Feature Interview January 2024
Contemporary Art Chronicle: Volume 3, 2023 and Volume 6 2024
Women United ART MAGAZINE Issue 2 , 2023
Risk Magazine, Feb 2021, (featured cover art)
Other Roles
Moderator, 4 Artists Talk About — Artist Talk Series, Cobalt Gallery, Toronto
Curator/ Administrator — The Artisan Social, Art & Craft Sale, 2012-2014, Toronto
Volunteer — Content writer & photographer, Artist Open Houses 2015/2016 Brighton UK
Curator, The Gallery Wall at Might & Main, Toronto Current
Education
Bachelor of Arts , University of Toronto
Courses and Workshops: Toronto School of Art, Humber College, George Brown College and others.