September 15, 2010

Between the Forest and the Trees marked the first solo exhibition of visual artist Barry Solomon Beaver. Barry hails from Wabasca Alberta and is a recent graduate of the National Aboriginal Arts Animator Program. Since his move to Ontario four years ago he has been inspired by the natural beauty of Manitoulin Island and Northern Ontario and the exhibition captured its beauty on canvas.

"I can remember a time when I was a young boy standing beside my father, watching him add paint to his canvas. It wasn’t so much the painting on the canvas, but the act of painting, that had the life to it. My Father worked with oils, so from the earliest time, with a paint brush in my hand, my Father mentored me. To this day, I am grateful”.

The year’s exhibition of Barry Solomon Beaver’s work represents a deep exploration of the life force inherent in the act of creating images on canvas. In this collection, Beaver was challenged to portray the intimate and sensitive relationship between his creative impulses and the life energy that expresses the natural world to all other elements that are alive.

The brush strokes have an energy to them. A blank white canvas is daunting, confronting. I might begin with a colour or a shape or a particular brush. The act of applying the colour to an empty canvas, without a preconceived notion of the image that will emerge, is in itself inspiring. While I allow the image to emerge, I become a simple tool for its expression. The image itself originates from a source much more magnificent than the artist.

The exhibition opened to a very receptive audience at the K.B.Reynolds Mastin Gallery at the Debajehmujig Creation Centre on September 15, 2010 at which point over half of the works were sold. Barry has since moved back home to Wabasca Alberta, in order to pursue his artistic endeavors in his home community. He hopes to set up an exhibition with his father, from whom Barry has learned and inherited his artistic skills.

Barry was a great asset here at Debaj, particularly to the art department. His presence and friendship will be missed by many. Good luck Barry with all that you do from the staff here at Debajehmujig – Storytellers.