Cindy Riach

‘Sgraffito: Colour & Texture’

Weathered fishing boats are the inspiration for these vibrant and brand new abstractions.

Evan Broens
‘Grammar of Bone’ (sculpture)

Minimalist sculptures are a study in the perception of the essence of objects.

In 2017 I went to Alert Bay to paint old fishing boats “plein air”. On a sunny day I was struck by the colourful abstract quality of the boat hulls. They had multiple layers of colourful paint, scraped, gouged and peeling back decades of history. The patina was the skin of an old warrior/survivor.  …. how to express this in my art?

Along came cold wax. When added to paint it gives it volume and I can easily layer it, then scratch, gouge and scrape back to simulate the effects of history and a lifetime of rugged living.

I hope when viewers see my art they can sense the character, the colour, texture and abstract qualities of these old work boats.

Sgraffito

The word “Sgraffito” comes from potters who would apply a glaze and then scratch back to a previous layer. I use sgraffito with cold wax and oil paint. First I create multiple layers of colour and then scratch and scrape to get lines and texture to bring out previous colours reminiscent of old weathered and peeling boats.

Biography

Born in Tillsonburg, Ontario, Cindy Riach now lives in Gibsons, British Columbia.

She is a graduate of Queens University (BA-BPHE 71, Bed 72, MSc 78) and University of Waterloo (PhD 85) and was a professor of Kinesiology at McMaster University for 25 years (78-03).

While in the Hamilton area, Cindy attended many courses and workshops at the Dundas Valley School of Art. Her development and fascination for art was nurtured by Lorne Toews, Catherine Gibbon, Marla Panko and Jody Joseph among other excellent teachers.

Now, retired from her “day job” and living on the coast Cindy is free to paint full time and develop her own style.

CV

ART EDUCATION:

Dundas Valley School of Art (DVSA), Hamilton, ON
Loyalist College
Red Deer College

EXHIBITIONS:

SOLO

“Sgraffito: Colour and Texture” Gibsons Public Art Gallery, May, 2020.
“Places and Spaces” Sunshine Coast Art Centre” Sechelt, BC 2015.
“Cindy Riach” Westwnd Gallery, Gibsons BC, 2008.

SMALL GROUP

“Connecting Lines”, LGBTQ Sunshine Coast Art Centre, Sechelt, BC. 2017.
“Drawn Together” Group show, GPAG, Gibsons BC. 2017
“Guest Artist”, The Landing Gallery, Gibsons BC. 2015
“Figures on the Coast”, Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons BC. 2013

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

“Power of Paint” “11= Artists” Seaside Centre, Sechelt, BC 2012- 18
“Our Forest”, Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons BC. 2014

OPEN STUDIO

“Sunshine Coast Art Crawl” 2018, 2019.
“Jazz Open Studios” 2018

BOOKS

“Artists of British Columbia” vol 4

RESIDENCY

“International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture”, Umbria, Italy. 2003

CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Ronald McDonald House Hamilton ON
Scarfone Hawkins LLP, Hamilton ON
and numerous private collections.

RECENT DONATIONS

Refugee Fund Auction
Salmon Hatchery Fund Auction
Tsunami Recovery Fund Auction

There is negative space between the tree limbs. You have to look through the limbs of the trees to see the negative space in the shapes that this forms. It’s early in the year and the clear skies are piercing blue and there is not a cloud. This is the best time to see the negative space through the tree limbs. I am of course speaking of deciduous trees. The ones with the long central trunk fracturing into several different tangents. I am also speaking of trees, not the ones in the poetic romantic landscape of the forest or some beautiful park on a Sunday afternoon, I’m speaking of the trees in the city. The ones planted on the sidewalk next to the road. These trees are the ones that fight the hardest, captured, retained, and always pushing to strive on.

The exhibition “Grammar of Bone” for the Gibsons Public Art Gallery is a collection of work over a five-year period comprised solely of sculpture. These works and their forms come from the quietude of looking, observing the light and its effects on our landscapes, both in nature and the city.

Biography

Canadian artist Evan Broens (b. 1983) has exhibited both nationally and internationally. He completed his studies in Sculpture at the Alberta College of Art & Design in 2005, and since has continually practiced his work. His current studio is at Unit/Pitt Artist Run Center and lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Artist Statement

The point of departure and conceptual basis of my artistic practice is the formal, poetic, and philosophical possibilities of sculpture. The content of my work is about the quietude of looking and the phenomenological effects of physical form. Starting from the position that objects possess an essence, we can study the essence of objects in an attempt to understand how we are ontologically bound with them. My work seeks to position this concept through sculpture, wherein the object seeks to solidify its autonomy, refrain from external reference, and present itself within its own logic. The work should negotiate its vulnerability as a present object in time through its internal relationships.

The ontological resonance present in objects and shapes potentially allows our intuitive ability to negotiate a new thing -‐ the point at which we encounter an object, have an unreflective moment, and postulate the results of that engagement. This develops a cognitive arena in which intuitive consciousness can be exercised. This is reflected by John Berger in “The White Bird”, as he states:

“The evolution of natural forms and the evolution of human perception have coincided to produce the phenomenon of a potential recognition: what is and what we can see (and by seeing also feel) sometimes meet at a point of affirmation. This point, this coincidence, is two faced: what has been seen is recognized and affirmed and, at the same time, the seer is affirmed by what he sees.”

Shape is the initiation and end point of my making. I choose materials for their formal and aesthetic attributes, in addition to their workability and contention with gesture. My practice utilizes materials which are appropriate for the act of making and manipulation. When I research a form, I look to a spectrum of possibilities that the shape could be, and build a body of work throughout that method. My work retains elements of Formalism in the sense of the organization and combination of formal elements within the work as it retains autonomy and self-sufficiency. Where my work breaks from Formalist theory is in the expressive intentions inherent in the form, and how it reads as a pictorial reference to other objects in the world. Through a process and material based practice, I develop a relationship to the particular shape being researched. This relationship leads to a personal meaning that continually addresses involved persons from my past and relationships of the present.

Exhibitions

2014
Post Rem – group exhibition, Burrard Arts Foundation, WAAP, Vancouver
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined, group exhibition, Avenue Gallery, Vancouver
Time Place Light Smell – group exhibition, Platform Stockholm, Stockholm Sweden
2013
Hard As Soft – two person exhibition, Dynamo Arts Association, Vancouver
Permanent as Permanence – edition launch, WAAP, Vancouver
Art Toronto – Toronto International Art Fair, group exhibition, Wil Aballe Art Projects, Toronto
Monomania 2 – Trench Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
Stenten: The Resilience of Line, Locale, and Intuition – group show, Trench Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
2012
Untitled – Drawings from Caylus, solo at window gallery, DRAWinternational, Caylus, France
2011
15th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl, open studio review, Vancouver
2008
Drawn Upon A Shoreline, solo at Bilton Contemporary Art Gallery, Red Deer
2007
Dwelling Along, group show, TRUCK Contemporary Art, Calgary
2006
Presence Affirmed, solo at Art Central Complex-Gallery 213, Calgary
2005
Kicking Stones, solo at Art Central Complex – Gallery 213, Calgary
Coming Forth By Day, solo at Marion Nicoll Gallery, Calgary
2004
And Death I Think Is No Parentheses, solo at Birds and Stone Gallery, Alberta

Professional Development

2015
Artist in Residence (Declined), SÍM (Samband Islenskra Myndlistarmanna), Reykjavík Iceland
2014
Artist talk, Canadian Art Foundation – Gallery Hop, Vancouver
2013
Artist in Residence, The Banff Centre, “Another World in the Studio” Thematic Residency, Banff
All the Artists are Present, Thom Sokoloski Installation at Art Toronto, Toronto
2012
Artist in Residence, DRAWinternational, Caylus France
Grant, British Columbia Arts Council, Professional Development Project Assistance, Vancouver
2011
Event, Pecha Kucha #05, Artistic Practice Presentation, Whistler
shape-visual.blogspot.com – blog as element of practice, Vancouver
2010
Assistant to Hannah Jickling, “Summerhill Revised”, Access Gallery, Vancouver
2008
Artist Talk, Bilton Contemporary Art Gallery, Red Deer
2007
ArtCity Visual Arts Festival, Programming Facilitator, Calgary
Grant, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Individual Project Grant, Calgary
2006
Award, Art Central Studio Prize, Awarded One-year Studio Space, Calgary
2005
Award, Jason Lang Scholarship, Selected Recipient based on academic achievement, ACAD
2004
Award, Grain Exchange Building Award, Selected Recipient by Sculpture Faculty, ACAD
2003
Award, Jason Lang Scholarship, Selected Recipient based on academic achievement, ACAD