Pride, oil, 16" x 20", 2019
We have a friend who is a refugee from Syria. He is gay and was persecuted in Turkey and several of his friends were murdered for being gay. He wanted to participate in the Gay Pride march in Winnipeg and we went with him to support him. This fabulous devil/angel was in the march and I had to paint them. Here I limited my palette and simplified the background to focus all the attention on the figures in the foreground. The couple with the baby were actually wearing red and black, just like Devil/Angel.
Homeless, oil, 16" x 20", 2020.
There are more homeless people in Winnipeg every year and the pandemic has exacerbated it. This is a homeless man's tent in Winnipeg near Circle of Life Thunderbird House, in the middle of winter. Several tents and tent cities have burned as people struggle to stay warm with fires.
The Wolseley Elm, oil, 16" x 20", 2020.
The Wolseley elm was a famous elm tree that used to stand in the middle of the street, in front of my grandparents' house on Wolseley Avenue in Winnipeg. It was in Ripley's Believe it or Not as the world's smallest park. The street went around the tree with an eastbound lane on one side, and a westbound lane on the other. However, it was vandalized and the city came to cut it down. These ladies, who included my grandparents' neighbour Mrs. Borrowman, formed a protective circle around the tree and prevented it from being cut down. The house shown in the background is my grandparents' house. I worked from a black and white photo from the Winnipeg Tribune archives and researched 1950s colours for the ladies' clothes. I inserted myself as the wide-eyed little girl.
International Women's Day, acrylic, 16"x20", 2018
My daughter Katie took me to my first protest, an International Women's Day March in Winnipeg in 2015. In my paintings I was experimenting with having a brightly coloured gridded background at this time. Many marchers had dark clothing which I didn't enjoy painting so I colourized Winnipeg! I wanted to show the joy in activism.
CFS Protest at Parliament, 16"x20", acrylic, 2019
My daughter Katie and her colleagues on student council at the University of Winnipeg went to Ottawa to protest tuition fees with the Canadian Federation of Students. Again I played with the background, showing the students blowing the roof off the Parliament buildings and steaming up the air with the power of their protest.
Standing room only, oil, 16"x20", 2019
Transit service in Winnipeg is problematic. There are not enough buses, buses are consequently overcrowded, bus fare is ridiculously expensive, drivers are regularly harassed and assaulted. City council prioritizes cars over public transit. This is a climate disaster. This was my view from the back of a crowded bus I was on one day.
Strike with a Bike, oil, 16" x20", 2021
Most protesters at climate protests are young people. This older man came on his heavy Dutch bicycle, well prepared for the protest with signs, a bouquet, and a newspaper article in his carrier. I experimented here with showing a sunny day by adding yellow to the ground to up the contrast to the shadow areas
Climate Strike, oil, 16" x 20", 2019.
In the spring of 2018, inspired by Greta Thunberg, school children from all over Winnipeg came to the Manitoba Legislature to demand action on climate issues. Greta did not actually attend, but I put her in, wearing her yellow raincoat, to honour her activism. The younger kids were so excited to be there and they were so bright and colourful; they were beautiful. We live not far from the legislature and saw whole classrooms walking back to school with their teachers after the protest.
People are the economy, oil, 16" x 20", 2021
My husband and I attended a "drive-through honkathon" protest at the Legislature against cuts to health care in Manitoba during the pandemic. This man and his child with his signs and his horn in front of the imposing steps of the legislature really appealed to me as an image. I brightened up his clothes to make him more visually interesting.
Pinky, oil, 16” x 20”, 2021
Substance abuse is a huge social problem that I wanted to make art about without pointing the finger at any individuals who may be struggling with it. I posed my old teddy, Pinky, with a bottle of wine and a Tylenol bottle to suggest some of the prices of substance abuse. At this time I was playing with lighting and lit it with a candle and photographed it for my reference visual. This was exciting for me as it created old-fashioned “old master” dramatic lighting, which is fun to paint.
Clowns against Fascism, acrylic, 20"x16", 2018
My niece Paula was attending an antifascist march at the University of Winnipeg in 2018 and invited me to join her. Some young women artists dressed up as clowns and carried one small sign "Clowns against Fascism". I thought it was so brilliant to make fun of the fascists, and the clowns were so bright and colourful that I immediately started a painting of them. Here again I was playing with a bright gridded background and intense shadows.
White Girl Privilege, oil, 16” x 20”, 2021.
I took part in an anti-racism workshop that encourages everyone to examine their privilege. I thought about the time as a young woman when I had been drinking and smoking grass and got a flat tire on a Friday evening. When I saw the cops I thought it was all over, that I would be arrested or charged. Instead they changed my tire for me and told me to go home. An Indigenous friend was incredulous at my gentle treatment (not her experience). I experimented again with light, using a cone of yellow to suggest the streetlight, the darkness beyond and my anxiety.
Stella's, oil, 16"x20", 2021
A local restaurant, Stella's, was in the news for some problems involving alleged mistreatment of staff. Restaurant staff have a tough job and I wanted to show some of the problems. Family members helpfully modelled for me.
The End is Nigh, oil, 16"x20", 2021
A climate protest can be a place to show your pessimism while also displaying your cartooning skills and dressing up in a mask that carries a powerful message. I liked the contrast between the frantic message of the protester in front, and the obviously optimistic young dad with three young children in the background.
Average student debt upon graduation is $40,000. Acrylic, 16"x20", 2018
My daughter Katie was a student politician at the University of Winnipeg and participated in a couple of tuition fee protests. I am incensed that our government has failed to financially support higher education, with the result that tuition fees have gone up regularly. Again in this painting I experimented with a limited palette and with a Precisionism inspired geometric background and foreground elements.
Respect your Mother, oil, 16” x 20”, 2020
In 2019, Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art in Winnipeg, held a poster making Workshop preceding a climate protest at the Legislature. These young Indigenous people attended to make their posters. I distorted the wooden floor to suggest the uncertain ground we all stand on thanks to climate change. The spoiled poster in the foreground suggests oil spills on Mother Earth.
They tried to hijack the Women's March. oil, 16" x 20", 2019
I came across these young right wing protesters who had situated themselves right beside the Women's March, trying to hijack attention from it. I thought they were very interesting looking but I don't give painting space to causes I don't agree with, so I changed their right wing posters to lavender and pink and left their faces blank. I was experimenting with backgrounds again and made a sort of sarcastic spotlight background.
Lonely Vigil - Wet'suwet'un, oil 16"x20", 2021
In February 2020, about 25 young people occupied the Winnipeg office of the then federal Minister of Northern Affairs, Dan Vandal, to demand that the RCMP leave Indigenous Wet'suwet'un territory, where water protectors were trying to protect water from a Coastal Gas pipeline. My friend Lara Rae was taking food to the group and I drove her there. There was a mass of young people inside Vandal's office and these two were by the fire in the parking lot. I liked this image for the dramatic lighting and for how it shows that sometimes activism is cold and lonely and takes place in strange places. From the collection of Lara Rae.
Take back the night, oil, 16"x20", 2018
My niece Paula attended a Take Back the Night protest in Ottawa and the bright lights the organizers used inspired me to use a version of Precisionism for the background, altering it into geometric shapes. Showing the marchers from the back gives you a sense of being in the march yourself.
You'll die of old age; we'll die of climate change, oil, 16"x20", 2021
At climate change protests at the Manitoba Legislature, I noticed that the younger children were happy and excited, while some older teenagers or young adults carried very serious or very pessimistic signs, such as the ones Zoe is carrying here. In this painting I experimented with painting background figures in paler hues so as to concentrate attention on the central figure. From the collection of Francine Martin.
Leather Chaps, 16" x 20", oil, 2020, sale price
My wonderful artist friend Irene Kuziw saw my Pride painting of Devil/Angel and encouraged me to make more Pride paintings. She supplied me with her photo albums and I found the reference photo I used for this image. I made the scene sunnier with yellow ground and purpley blue shadows and subdued some figures with quiet colours to make the whole scene feel happy and easy to "read". I included the Winnipeg transit bus stop to situate the event in Winnipeg, and the Old Dutch potato chips for sale under the bright yellow umbrella to underline the sunny summer day feeling.