My work often explores my sense of being in place — both where I’ve been and where I am now. Experience has taught me to be keenly aware of how reality may suddenly change, revealing the absence of solid ground. As with most of the paradigm shifts in my life, a recent turn suspends me in the vulnerability of the unknown. Never did I predict finding myself in the strange reality in which I have awakened. I feel a longing for stability as I process an unfolding loss — of purpose as a mother, of the security of certainty about the future. Conflict within battles to reconcile this unexpected actuality — do I cling to hope for a renewed stability, or leap into an unimagined and impossible future? Recognizing the commonality of my uncertainty, I hope that its exploration in my artistic practice may touch others who are facing their own crisis, with compassion and understanding.

Leap explores the duality of the uncertain position between the stability of the known, and the vulnerability of hurdling into the murky and unknown. Composed from a compilation of photographs of family members over several years, the work is set in Eastern Prince Edward Island. Born and living most of my life on the island, its shores have been a place of grounding throughout my life. From there, years ago, I leapt with hope from the security of my culture — toward the vulnerability of an untold future.

Featuring not only new themes, but also a looser, freer application of medium, Leap reflects an evolution in my painting practice. Inspired by Molly Lamb Bobak’s beach paintings and the exploratory techniques of Manuel Mathieu, my use of acrylic paint and techniques such as mixing with sand, dripping and texture are explorations of new territory, and reflect the themes behind the creation of this piece. The combination of unfamiliar methods with iconography deeply rooted in my past represents the emotional duality which drives this work.

In addressing the vulnerability of impermanence, as one moves from a position of stability and knowing into uncharted waters, I hope this work stimulates both the contemplation of this experience common to the human condition, and the courage to face it.