SARA MACCULLOCH Landscapes
On Cover (cropped): Waves, 2014 Oil on canvas 16 x 16 in.
SARA MACCULLOCH Landscapes October 16th – November 15th, 2014 529 W.20th St, Ste. 6W New York , NY 10011
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
is pleased to present
Landscapes a collection of new paintings by Nova Scotia-based painter
Sara MacCulloch
Marsh, 2014 Oil on canvas 48 x 48 in.
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is pleased to present Landscapes, Sara MacCulloch’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. The landscape has been a source of inspiration for Sara MacCulloch since childhood, when she spent summers and weekends in rural Nova Scotia exploring fields and shorelines. As a painter, her interest lies in exploring the connection between being in a landscape and looking at a painting of a landscape. In her newest body of work, she conveys not just the physical appearance of these places, but the emotional relationship she has built with them over the years. This series was painted over the last year and is exclusively depictions of Halifax, Nova Scotia and the surrounding areas of the Minas Basin. She spends summers hiking and documenting the landscape with watercolor sketches and photographs. The rest of the year she expands these into larger oil paintings on canvas. Using broad, smooth brushstrokes, MacCulloch creates an inviting lushness out of earthy browns, cool blues, greens and greys. MacCulloch begins her process with the feeling she wants to convey and allows herself to get lost in process of revealing it. Each work in this series was painted almost entirely in one sitting in order to focus on the most important elements of place and mood. The instant a painting is over-worked or does not come together in a day, MacCulloch scrapes it away to start anew, ensuring a sense of immediacy in her finished work. The results are gestural, yet resolved compositions that give us just enough information to understand the beauty of the place and emphasize being present in a fleeting moment. They are serene, subtle and still direct and honest.
Hedge, 2014 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 in.
Beach Grass Path, 2014 Oil on canvas 40 x 40 in.
Towards Wolfville, 2014 Oil on canvas 24 x 24 in.
Beach and Cloud, 2014 Oil on canvas 48 x 48 in.
Fields and Basin, 2014 Oil on canvas 16 x 16 in.
Artist Statement
The landscape has always been important to me. In my childhood, I spent all summer, every summer, as well as almost every weekend throughout the year, at several dierent family homes in rural Nova Scotia.
I spent days alone wandering the fields, woods and shorelines of those places, developing a very strong attachment to them. The landscapes became almost like people, who I got to know better and better as each year passed.
I still feel that same connection to the landscape, and although those particular places are all gone now, I spend much time exploring, trying to find new ones. I am always searching for that same feeling of connection and belonging, of places that somehow feel familiar to the ones from my childhood- whether they look the same or not.
It is to capture that feeling, when it happens, that I am drawn to paint the landscape. I want to make permanent and solid that fleeting feeling of connection I have in a moment in one particular place.
The challenge for me is not only to capture what a place looks like but also to have a relationship with the painting as I am making it. I don’t start with an exact idea of what the painting will be when I am finished. All I know is what I want it to feel like- and I never really know how that will come about. I almost always do my paintings in one go- one session in the studio.
This is to allow for clarity in purpose, but also to give the work a sense of immediacy. I want the paintings to be direct and fluid. There is a fine line between overworked, unfinished, and resolved paintings, and I am always trying to find that balance.
Look-o, 2014 Oil on canvas 48 x 48 in.
Beach and Rocks, 2014 Oil on canvas 16 x 16 in.
Across the Water, Evening, 2014 Oil on canvas 16 x 16 in.
Waves, 2014 Oil on canvas 16 x 16 in.
EDUCATION 1987 1984
BFA, Painting, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS Concordia University, Montreal, QC
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 2013 2012 2010 2009 2007 2006 2005 2004 2002 2000 1998 1996
Landscapes, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY Paintings, Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS New Paintings, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY New Landscapes, Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS New Paintings, Katharine Mulherin Art Projects, Toronto, ON Summer, Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS New Paintings, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY Landscapes, Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS New Paintings, Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS Paintings, Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto, ON New Work, Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS Paintings, Katharine Mulherin Art Projects, Toronto, ON New Work, Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS Katharine Mulherin Art Projects, Toronto, ON Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax, NS
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
1999 1994
Art Bank of Nova Scotia Exhibition, Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design, Sydney, NS Art Chicago, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY Affordable Art Fair, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY Aqua Miami Art Fair, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY Dallas Art Fair, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY Decade, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Toronto, ON Home Town, Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, ON Small Acres, Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, NS Stand, Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto, ON You don’t want to miss that s***, The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON Please Press Landscape, Wynick Tuck Gallery, Toronto, ON East Coast Cultural Festival, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON Breathing Room, Katharine Mulherin Art Projects, Toronto, ON The Mom and Pop Shop, Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto , ON Landings: Case Studies, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON Richard and Dolly Maas Gallery, Purchase, NY Tea Party Three, Prime Gallery, Toronto, ON Thin Lizzie, Zsa Zsa Gallery, Toronto, ON NSCAD Second Century, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS Celebrating the Works of Canadian Artists for HRH The Prince of Wales, Gooderham and Worts Distillery, Toronto, ON Into the Yukon, Wagner Rosenbaum Gallery, Toronto, ON Le Paysage Qui Nous Parles, York-Quay Gallery, Toronto, ON; Windsor Station, Montreal, QC In the Absence, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, NS
SELECTED AWARDS AND GRANTS 2013 2011 2010 2009 2007 2005 2003 2001 1993 1992
Established Artist Award – Creative Nova Scotia Individual Grant- Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture, Halifax, NS Individual Grant, Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture, Halifax, NS Individual Grant, Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture, Halifax, NS Travel Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Ottawa, Canada Individual Grant, Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture, Halifax, NS Creation Grant, Mid Career Artist, Canada Council for the Arts, Halifax, NS Creation Grant, Emerging Artist, Canada Council for the Arts, Halifax, NS Travel Grant, Canada Council for the Arts, Ottawa, Canada The Brucebo Scholarship, Canadian-Scandinavian Foundation, Visby, Gotland,Sweden Endowment Fund Scholarship, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS
SELECTED COLLECTIONS Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS Avmor, Montreal, QC Bank of Montreal, Montreal, QC Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, ON Department of Foreign Affairs, Embassy Division Gotlands Kunstmuseum, Gotland, Sweden Heenan Blaikie Law Offices, Vancouver, BC LMG Communications, Toronto, ON Mulmur Publishing, Toronto, ON Nova Scotia Art Bank, Halifax, NS Project Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA Sheraton Hotels, Halifax, NS TAB Investco, Oakville, ON University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY “Beautiful Blends,” Hemispheres Magazine. November 2006. Barnard, Elyssa. “Paintings Evoke N.S.,” The Chronicle Herald Halifax. November 2, 2013. Barnard, Elyssa. “Back to the Land,” The Chronicle Herald. September 24, 2000. Barnard, Elyssa, “Different Strokes,” The Chronicle Herald. May 19, 2007. Barnard, Elyssa. “Dispensing with Detail,” The Chronicle Herald. March 24, 2006. Barnard, Elyssa. “Luminous Landscapes,” The Chronicle Herald. September 11, 2004. Barnard, Elyssa. “Landscapes Lushly Beckon,” The Chronicle Herald. May 17, 1996 Barnard, Elyssa. “You want to step into dreamy landscapes,” The Chronicle Herald. July 11, 2010. Clarke, Bill. “(t)art,” Gay Guide Toronto. 2004. Decoste, Patrick. “Shotgun Reviews,” Lola Magazine. Issue 15, Spring 2003. Esplund, Lance. “A New York School Standout and other shows worth seeing: Sara MacCulloch at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts,” The Wall Street Journal. November 8, 2009. Goodrich, John. “Sara MacCulloch: New Painting,” CityArts. October 21, 2009. Guy, Greg. “Artist MacCulloch to show paintings to Prince Charles,” The Sunday Herald, April 29, 2001. McAllister, Lesley. “Nature Lovers,” NOW Magazine. Vol. 20, No. 22, 2001. Shuebrook, Ron. “Sara MacCulloch: Paintings,” Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax. 2013.
529 W. 20th Street, Ste. 6W New York, NY 10011