ERICA BEYEA
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Erica Beyea grew up in Riverview, NB. She moved to Toronto in 2001 to study at OCAD and completed her BFA at NSCAD in 2006. After graduation she returned to Toronto where she lived until 2017, when she moved to Granada, Spain. In 2014, she founded Girls’ Art League, a non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of women, girls and non-binary folk through visual arts. She has received grants from the Ontario Arts Council, and has shown her work across Canada and southern Spain. Enamoured with the qualities of oil paint, her work celebrates the medium; its pigment, light, tacticity and the limitless possibilities it holds. |
“My work is largely concerned with place, memory and light. The subject matter varies from landscape, cityscapes, portraiture and still life - all incorporating a quiet sense of narrative. Using personal photographs as a jumping off point, each painting goes its own way from there. Oscillating between representation and abstraction, I try to saturate each painting with the emotion and internal experience of the moment the photo was taken.
More recently, my work is divided into two threads - paintings from old photographs of exploring the outdoors in Canada; from the Niagara Escarpment to Fundy National Park - and paintings of my daily life in Spain. The first thread is connected to a sense of nostalgia and excitement for my return, and the latter is looking to document; to remember the small moments I experienced during my years in Spain. I’m keenly interested in what stays with you when you move from place to place, the way a place can change you and how your internal world completely affects your external perception of it.”
More recently, my work is divided into two threads - paintings from old photographs of exploring the outdoors in Canada; from the Niagara Escarpment to Fundy National Park - and paintings of my daily life in Spain. The first thread is connected to a sense of nostalgia and excitement for my return, and the latter is looking to document; to remember the small moments I experienced during my years in Spain. I’m keenly interested in what stays with you when you move from place to place, the way a place can change you and how your internal world completely affects your external perception of it.”