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Memories in a Landscape
Artist's Statement
There is something beautiful, even
fascinating in the way nature reclaims the
past. I have always been drawn to it. I
have watched it slowly take my childhood
home. I have seen the past and the present
in one landscape through memories and old
family photographs, that remind me the
past was not a dream. It exists even now,
woven with the colors of today.
I have spent years wandering the
prairies, searching out any sign of old
farmsites. Searching for some clue to what
had once been, and to the stories there. I
knew the stories of our old farm, the
flowers, the lawns, the tennis court, the
bowling greens, the garden parties. Hopes
and dreams, that will soon be lost, even
to me.
As I pursued this fascination, I
realized I was part of the last generation
who remembers farming before mechanization
and the way of life that went with it. The
last threshing crew went through our farm
when I was six. My father bought his first
gas tractor the day I was born. More than
my personal memories will fade when nature
reclaims me.
These new paintings have allowed me to
break through the barrier of time, to
catch the stories as they slip away
without losing the beauty of the shrine
that holds them.
I will continue to paint wildlife as it
gave me the courage to attempt something
new. But there are elements of mystery and
magic in this new work that draw me
on.
The intention of this series is not to
turn back the clock, nor to create a
requiem for a way of life lost but it is
instead, a tribute to the strength, the
pride and the love of the land of those
people, by whose example, we will continue
to endure, and to create, be we artist or
farmer.
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