Jane Reagh studied painting in Nova Scotia and New York City. She has lived and painted in Corner Brook since 2013. She says, “My practice is divided into landscape work and portrait work. I enjoy the challenge of painting out in the landscape in January, and of doing portrait work in front of an audience. Both demand intense concentration and focus.
‘Painting’ on a digital screen will be something new. Engaging with a larger Zoom audience while I work will give more people a more intimate view of how a piece of art develops.”
Visitors to Jane Reagh’s CB Portraits will be able to volunteer as a sitter/model, or just hang out and watch the virtual portraits come to life.
JANE REAGH'S
CB PORTRAITS
JANE REAGH
Since moving to Corner Brook in 2013 the subject of my research has been painting the land. How can I make oil paint become the forms of rocky mountains, stunted trees, transparent sky? How can I discover a fresh mark that speaks out what they have to say? My paintings are a form of performance. They happen on site and are a record of intense engagement. Often they happen despite cold or wind or insects. Often they are fast. They struggle to achieve the freshness and intensity that is always there in the land.
I paint small and large. Small paintings say more about shapes and marks. But the land and the colour are big. Only the very big and the very small get at the heart of it.
It takes courage to go out and work in the land. But when I am out there it is exciting. It feels like something that has never been done before. The excitement of art-making is the excitement of discovery.
