Lise Beaudry: The Poetics of Distance

Lise Beaudry: Sur la glace | Standing on Ice
May 10 – July 8

A Featured Exhibition of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival

Presenting a new body of work, Beaudry reflects upon the northern Canadian landscape of the frozen lake. Captured in its palpable silence, winter snow cover is not one of erasure, rather one of memory and personal detail.

In conjunction with this exhibition, the Art Gallery of Mississauga has produced a catalogue Sur la glace | Standing on Ice. The following is an excerpt from an essay by Gaelle Morel on Beaudry’s work (English translation by Monica Haim):

Lise Beaudry is originally from Earlton, a hamlet in Northern Ontario near the Quebec border; her photographic work explores the ciy landscape of this region. She is particularly interested in the frozen lakes, where rural communities fish in winter. Ice fishing, which is a typical popular leisure activity for the French-speaking inhabitants of this area, constitutes an occasion to meet an dto carry on an old tradition. Yet, in representing these gatherings of family and friends, which she has attended every year since childhood, Beaudry makes a seemingly paradoxical choice: she shows bare and snowy landscapes devoid of any human figure. An aesthetic of distancing, informed as much by the documentary style as by abstract painting, makes the fishing huts and the smooth surfaces of the snow-covered lakes — so intimately linked with her personal history — appear stripped of all sentimentality.

A full version of the essay, as well as the original French version, can be found in the Sur la glace | Standing on Ice catalogue, available at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Con Spirito | Lila Lewis Irving | A Note From Danielle Doucet

I’ve been studying with Lila since 2009. 
Lila Lewis Irving caught my eye on a St-Lawrence College pamphlet, her painting was so fresh and spontaneous, something I don’t see very often. Lila did not disappoint me, the fiery red head that walked in that class reflected every bit of her painting, strong, passionate and decided.

She is the boss and commands your attention, I was hypnotized I could not get enough of her demos: she makes it look effortless but it is the hardest thing I ever did and I am forever grateful to her…  Through her I learned to trust my instincts.

She teaches with passion and is very serious about her art; she is a force not to be taken lightly and knows who is serious about their art as well.
She is my mentor, I am truly grateful that our paths crossed; it made me a better artist. When she signed my book: “This is only the beginning…” 
 
Thanks Lila, have a great exhibit.

- 
Danielle Doucet

Con Spirito | Lila Lewis Irving | A Note From Dr C. James Ingles

She is simply amazing…and draws from her students’ hidden resources to be creative in ways they never imagined. While a fan of non-objective painting I had no idea what distinguished good from not so good….until Lila. She has a wonderful if sometimes brutal, but always helpful, way of seeing through to the basic design elements in a painting, and to teach that to her students.

Learning from her has freed me, not only to paint expressively in acrylics, but also in the screen monoprinting and plein aire landscape painting that I also enjoy. I am sure at my first classes at  Haliburton with Lila, I must have driven her crazy as I struggled to adapt to seeing and creating strong, well formed images. But with perseverance and many repeat classes with her now for over 5 years I am finally happy and she can be pleased with my progress I hope.

- Dr C. James Ingles