By Pepper Parr
April 2, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
It really is all about the artist – but getting that exhibit set up is as exacting in its own way as the creative work that artist does.
Sunday afternoon Teresa Seaton will feature some of the work of Michelle van Maurik at the Seaton Gallery on Spring Garden Road out by the Royal Botanical gardens. The work is exquisite.
Deciding which painting should go where – not as simple as one might imagine.
Most people know of as the Maurik Canadian who was invited to show her work at the Louvre, which makes her an internationally recognized artist who isn’t seen often enough in Burlington.
Seaton, whose discipline is stained glass, has opened her gallery up to artists with different disciplines in the past. We at first thought that getting Maurik into the Seaton Gallery was a coup – turns out the two women go back a number of years. The crossed paths when both were exhibiting their work at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg.
“She took me under her wing at that event” said Michelle van Maurik and Seaton was taking her under her wing again as the two artists worked at figuring out which pictures should go where on the limited wall space.
Maurik is often working on several pieces of art at the same time. It is a mood thing for her – a day in the studio starts at around 10 am and ends at around 4 pm. “At times I have to leave a painting and come back to it with fresh eyes” on other occasions a change in the light will draw me back to a painting.
There was a time when Maurik did paintings of old trucks – she saw life in a rusting hulk of metal abandoned in a field. Those paintings are long gone – flowers, peonies in particular attracted Maurik and that work caught the eye of someone putting together a delegation of artists that were chosen by the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts to be part of the Canadian delegation in one of the most prestigious and oldest shows in Paris, France.
She got a message from an art dealer who had seen her work online and “ asked if I would like to be part of the show and told me to send some images.” Her Sunflower painting was chosen.
The SNBA was created 153 years ago to exhibit artists who were refused by the Academy of Fine Arts, including Rodin and Messonier. SNBA representative Bénédicte Lecat says she received Maurik’s images and sent it to the jury.
Maurik work waiting to find its place on the gallery walls
“The president of the jury said he chose Sunflower to enlighten the winter in Paris and the wall of the delegation. While Maurik’s career blossomed after the show in Paris what she will tell you about that city is it’s light. “There is something golden in the late afternoon sunlight in Paris” and the French do like her peonies.
The SNBA exhibits at the Carrousel du Louvre Salle Le Nôtre every December with approximately 10 foreign delegations with works in oils, mixed techniques, works on paper, engraving, tapestry or sculpture. The Canadian delegation includes 20 artists from Alberta, Ontario and Québec.
Maurik saw life in a rusting hulk of metal abandoned in a field.
Maurik, whose father was a billboard painter began to paint when she was six years old. She painted advertising murals on the sides of buildings across Canada.
Mostly self-taught, Maurik studied in New York under Daniel Greene, a renowned artist regarded as one of the top portrait painters in the U.S.
Maurik now concentrates on oils and pastels, her bold and at the same time delicate peonies are doing very well. One of her favourites will be done in a limited edition print run.
After she returned from Paris, Maurik kept on painting. Her work has appeared in many exhibitions, including the McMichael Canadian Art Gallery and the Hittite Gallery in Toronto. It is not surprising to see Maurik painting outside the Sea and Craft gallery on Kerr Street in Oakville.
Pink peonies.
“I wanted to do something different and be home with my daughter,” she said. In the last four years, things have taken off for Maurik. There is a risk in taking the route she has decided upon – a painting can take years to find a home but at some point someone will fall in love with a painting. Maurik has found that people see her work on her Facebook and decide they just have to have it.
If you want to see just what it is people have to have – slip over to the Seaton Gallery on spring Garden Road – the exhibit is on until the end of May,
While you’re there – save some time for Gallery 2, right next door to the Seaton Gallery – Cheryl Goldring and Anne More have set up shop there. Well worth the time – on a good day Don Graves is at his easel adding to the experience.
