In the news
I just found out that my intertwined art practice and patient advocacy will be featured by a local organization. YES Montréal is a "community-driven" arts and entrepreneurship non-profit, and an important part of this city's art scene since 1995.
As an example, they organized the popular "What the Pop!" series of outdoor art events last year. Held at four different venues around the city, throughout the summer, these events showcased the work of almost 50 emerging artists - including mine!
The upcoming profile will be an interview-style piece, to appear on their website and in their monthly eNewsletter.
I'll post a link once the feature has been ePublished, and look forward to seeing how my chronic pain and rare disease advocacy will be interwoven with my artistic activities.
In the meantime, here's a flashback photo to "What the Pop!" 2022.
The annual juried art exhibition of the Women's Art Society of Montréal (WASM) wrapped up yesterday, at Gallery GORA, in downtown Montréal.
The closing event was a lovely excuse to spend an evening in the city’s artistic and cultural hub with my husband, as the Gallery is just a couple of blocks from the "Quartier des spectacles"; a car-free zone spanning several city blocks which hosts temporary art installations, concerts, and more.
The City of Montréal describes this entire area as "a space for living creation, open to artistic and cultural diversity; a territory where everyone who enjoys Montreal’s creativity comes to congregate... to share exceptional moments that enrich and bring colour to their lives."
On our way to the Gallery we took a long walk, to check out the latest urban street art and installation artwork around the downtown area.
After the closing at Gallery GORA we walked in the other direction, towards one of our favourite ‘foodie’ gems in this city
TimeOutMarket Montréal is part of a global movement that has been called “the city’s best chefs under one roof”.
After the success of the first TimeOutMarket in Lisboa (Lisbon) in 2014, several others opened in North America in 2019 (Montréal, Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York) and then in Dubai in 2021. With pandemic restrictions easing around the globe, plans are afoot to bring this concept to other cosmopolitan cities in countries including Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
After a fantastic dinner we took a sunset walk, stopped for espresso, and then headed home – just as the rain was starting.
Today I’m already preparing for my next two art shows, the Summer Show at Galerie Valmi Gallery downtown – a fundraiser for the St. Justine’s Hospital for children – and the annual show of the Pierrefonds Art Contest.
I’m not eligible to win any prizes at the latter this year, as I won First Prize last year (in the amateur adult Watercolour & Gouache category), but I decided to participate anyhow as the exhibition takes place in my Borough.
Last night was the Vernissage or opening night for the 128th Annual Art Show of the historic Women's Art Society of Montréal (WASM), with two of my watercolours on display.
The WASM was established in 1894, at a time when women weren't yet permitted to join (men's) art societies.
The exhibition continues through May 20, 2023, at the Gallery Gora in downtown Montréal. The Gallery is "a magnificent 9000 sq ft space, in proximity to the Place-des-Arts and the Montreal Contemporary Art Museum".
The theme of this year's art show is "Women in nature", so I selected watercolour paintings showing human's impact on the natural world - with typically Canadian landscapes. The one on the top is a scene from the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, near Banff. The elk there graze right up to the doorsteps of the cabins.
The painting on the bottom is an area of small farms northwest of Montréal, and you'll notice that there are cloudlike shadows on the glass in this photo - the Vernissage was very crowded, so it was impossible to get a photo of this one without anyone's shadow in the glass!
If you'd like to visit this art show, here are the details:
Gallery GORA:
279 Sherbrooke Street West, on the northeast corner of Park Avenue, Suite 205 (second floor); there's an elevator. The exhibition opening hours are:
Mon-Fri: 1000 – 1700; Saturdays: 1300 - 1700 (closed on Sundays)
Admission is free, and no tickets or advance reservations are required.
Last December one of my landscape paintings won First Prize in the amateur Watercolour & Gouache category of the 35th edition of the Montréal-wide Pierrefonds Art Contest.
This year, due to a change of venue, the art contest and exhibition will be held in June and July rather than in December through January.
All artworks for this exhibition have to be delivered next week, so I spent some time today matting and framing one of the watercolours that I'd just finished.
I'm quite pleased with how this one came out, even though you can probably see stripes of vertical reflections in this photo - particularly near the bottom - as it's notoriously difficult to get a reflection-free photo of a framed watercolour under glass! Anyhow, this photo is meant to show off the frame...
I buy Canadian-made wood frames at a local independent art supply shop, in a variety of colours and finishes, so that I'll always have 'the perfect one' on hand when I'm reading to frame one of my paintings for a show.
The finish on this one has a beautiful lustre or glow, that caught my eye when I first saw it standing empty in the shop... and I think it looks even better now, with my watercolour!
As for the painting itself, this is a scene from one of my lakefront bike rides.
I'd stopped to rest in the shade at a nature park, while cycling on a very hot and humid day, and watched this old canoe swirling in the slight breeze. Every now and then the wind would still completely, and I'd catch sight of an almost perfect reflection of the white canoe in the water.
I knew immediately that I wanted to paint that moment in time; that reflection with the marsh grasses to the side and in the distance.
The next time the breeze lulled, for just a moment, I was ready to snap the perfect shot with my phone.
One of the best things about living in Montréal, to me, is that I'm never far from the waterfront because the entire city is on an island. Most of my cycling is on routes that follow streams, river, and lakes, and this is often reflected in my paintings. (Pun intended!)
The exhibition for this year's Pierrefonds Art Contest, open to all of the over 2 million residents of Montréal Island, will take place at the historic Pierrefonds Cultural Centre from June 16 through to July 6, 2023; I'll post opening hours and other details next month.
By the way, don't expect another announcement that I've won a prize in this contest - winners of the 2022 edition aren't eligible for prizes again until 2024, although we are allowed to participate in the exhibition.
For folks in the Montréal area...
Two of my watercolour paintings will be included in an upcoming juried art show at Gallery Gora, presented by the historic Women's Art Society of Montréal (WASM).
I use my art to raise awareness of chronic pain and as a means to help manage my own high-impact pain from an autoimmune & neuro-inflammatory rare disease named CRPS.
The Vernissage opening night for this art show, which will be open to the public - for free and without any need for reservations or tickets - will take place on Friday May 12, from 1730 to 2030.
I plan to be be there at about 1730 for a first look at the artworks, and then again after an early dinner with my sweetheart.
Gallery Gora:
279 Sherbrooke Street West, corner Park Avenue, Suite 205 (second floor)
Exhibition opening hours:
From May 8 through May 20, 2023;
Mon-Fri: 1000 - 1700
Saturday: 1300 - 1700
Sunday: Closed
I more or less spent the weekend at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection this weekend, north of Toronto.
Yesterday I toured the museum with my sweetheart, and we realized that it had been almost 30 years since our last visit.
It was a pleasure to reconnect with works by two of my favourite female Canadian artists, Emily Carr (1871-1945) and Helen McNicoll (1879-1915), along with treasures by Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven.
One of the things we love about "The McMike" is its landscape; that the grounds and parkland surrounding this museum reflect many of the same kinds of trees and scenes painted by the Ontario-based members of The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson.
Then, today, I participated in a full-day watercolour painting workshop with David McEown, a master-artist & Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
My sweetheart dropped me off at the museum's Pine Cottage studio, went for a 12 km hike, and then brought me lunch from a nearby café during just in time for half-hour break.
The workshop was brilliant, and it was fantastic to finally meet David in person after having taken a four-week virtual masterclass with him last year.
It's National Volunteer Week and I've been honoured to receive so many individual thank you messages from folks at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), the McGill Faculty of Medicine, and several of the other hospitals, medical schools, universities, and organizations with which I've volunteered over the past 12 months.
The University of Alberta, the University of Ottawa, the Canadian Pain Society, the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (Pain Science Division), Healthcare Excellence Canada, the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH), and a number of others...
I may be limited by my "mild cognitive impairment" - a result of my CRPS rare disease - but I'm happy to know that I can still put my bioethics and healthcare experience to good use, as a volunteer Patient Partner and co-author in research and education projects targeting healthcare professionals ... Particularly in the area of chronic pain.
And I'm proud to help train the next generation of medical and health sciences students and trainees in pain management and pain conditions , so that others living with pain can get better health*care*.
And, of course, to show through my art the therapeutic benefits of art practice! Whether the brain-plasticy aspects of learning and applying new skills, or the meditative time spent contemplating a scene, planning a painting, and then actually creating an artwork, this watercolour journey has definitely brought me health benefits... and joy.
"Bringing people together, inspiring, soothing and sharing: these are the powers of art" (1) according to the Director-General of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Today is World Art Day, a UNESCO "celebration to promote the development, diffusion and enjoyment of art" (2), and a lovely opportunity to talk about why art is important… to each of us.
Given my own journey – from a career in bioethics and healthcare to becoming a volunteer Patient Partner and advocate for chronic pain, disability, and rare diseases – I’m most interested in the health benefits of art.
As an emerging artist, I’ve also had many conversations with other artists about the benefits that they feel from their own art practice.
You may even have noticed that my motto is "Art Despite Pain".
We now have clear evidence that there are indeed health benefits, from either creating or appreciating art; whether literature, the performing arts, or visual arts.
As a specific example, using the visual arts: "Research has shown that a trip to the art museum can give a serious boost to mental health and wellbeing. A recent study suggests that those benefits may translate for digital art." (3)
As someone who lives with both a ‘mild cognitive impairment’ and high-impact or severe chronic pain, resulting from the same rare disease, I’m also intrigued by the benefits of the arts on our brains and our cognitive health:
"when we make art... we increase the brain's plasticity — its ability to adapt in response to new experiences...
The link between arts and academic achievement has been noted by educators for many years. But it's only in the past couple of decades that technology has allowed scientists to see some of the changes in the brain that explain why." (4)
Increasing numbers of medical associations and chronic pain research groups have begun recommending professional art therapy as a means of coping with chronic pain.
As for my cognitive impairment, even the Arts and Neuroscience Networking Group (ANNG) of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) now supports art creation: "A lot is happening both in the mind and the body when we make art, and it can be used for therapeutic means, both in rehabilitation medicine and on your own." (5)
That's more or less what I've been doing on my own since 2021, learning to paint with watercolours, to sketch, and to draw as a form of DIY movement-therapy and brain-plasticity training. I can't tell whether my new art practice has made any difference in my cognitive impairment, but I do know that I've fallen in love with watercolour painting!
References:
(1) UNESCO: Director-General, 2017-current (Azoulay, Audrey) [3391]. Message from Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of World Art Day, 15 Apr 2021 (Programme and meeting document). Document code: DG/ME/ID/2021/17; English version. 15 Apr 2021. Online: Accessed 15 Apr 2023;
(2) UNESCO. World Art Day. Webpage. English version. Undated. Online: Accessed 15 Apr 2023;
(3) Delgado, Carla. How Does Viewing Artwork Online Benefit Your Mental Health? Discover (magazine). 19 Dec 2022. Online: Accessed 15 Apr 2023;
(4) Jon Hamilton. Building a better brain through music, dance and poetry. NPR (National Public Radio): All Things Considered. 03 Apr 2023. Online: Accessed 15 Apr 2023; and
(5) Arts and Neuroscience Networking Group (ANNG). How The Brain Is Affected By Art. Rehabilitation Medicine. American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). Undated. Online: Accessed 15 Apr 2023.
We still have no electricity - or heat! - since 1400 on Wednesday (April 5), due to the latest Montréal ice storm ...
With a windchill below the freezing point!
But I couldn't bear another day without my watercolours, now that the sun has finally come back out - and it's light enough to paint once again.
So I'm sitting in the sunniest spot in my home, wearing my outdoor sports snowshoeing clothes, and wrapped in a sleeping bag for extra warmth.
Sitting, for extra heat, so I'm using a table rather than an easel.
It feels fantastic to be mixing pigment on paper again, but I'm still hoping our heat and electricity will be back soon.
If you're also experiencing this power outage - Good luck & keep safe. If not, have a cup of coffee or tea - for me!
Something cool! I took a 3D printing workshop last weekend, and then designed a 3D "creature" based on one of my recent paintings.
This watercolour was conceived to express something about the 1 in 5 Canadians living with chronic pain - as part of one of my upcoming pain patient advocacy activities (more on that coming up soon, by next week!)...
The background represents flames for the burning neuropathic pain of my rare disease, CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). The orange "creature" is someone like me - one in five people - living with a persistent pain condition.
It was fun to see tthis little "creature" from my 2D painting come to life as a 3D object! Stay tuned for more information about the pain awareness activity for which I'd created the original painting.
