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It’s
All Who You Know is an exhibition of figurative drawings and paintings
by Dayna Barley-Cohrs.
The
exhibition includes both drawings and paintings, some of which are
studies to accurately depict the subject while others are attempts to
capture a feeling, mood or personality.
The
portraits are of Dayna’s family or friends, people with whom she holds
a personal connection. “I enjoy the challenge of representing in art
people that I know and who will see the work when it is completed,”
says Dayna. “This is very different from rendering models who you have
no personal connection with and have no idea of what their personalities
are like.”
During
the year and a half it took to make the drawings and paintings for this
show, Dayna discovered that creating these portraits that will be seen
in a small community added another dimension to the process.
“Many
people who view the works also have a connection to the people in the
paintings,” says Dayna. “Though I may never have met the viewers,
the viewers have met my subjects and hold a personal connection to them.
It may be a friend, an acquaintance or a family member.”
Dayna
kept this in mind as she worked to produce an accurate depiction of her
subjects’ features, but also as she strove to reveal a bit of their
personality. “Through the portraits, I have tried to capture what I
feel is my subjects’ personality and to view the subjects not only
through my eyes, but through the eyes of others as well,” explains
Dayna who, with her husband, cleared their land and built by their own
hand, a straw bale house in the village of Vankoughnet.
It’s
All Who You Know is Dayna’s first solo exhibition and her first major
body of work since graduating from the Ontario College of Art &
Design in 2003. “This show represents my journey to relearn my
technique. The more I paint and immerse myself in my art, the more I am
discovering about myself and how I relate to my work,” reveals Dayna.
“These paintings represent my attempt to begin painting professionally
and to produce the quality of work and expression in painting I know I
am capable of.”
Preparing
for this show was not easy. “Having to relearn my technique meant
sometimes spending hours painting over something I had already completed
but not to my satisfaction.” As a mother of a three year old son and a
10 month old baby daughter meant that Dayna had to paint when her
children were preoccupied or napping. “It was difficult to complete
larger pieces and I questioned my work many times, never having the time
to truly focus on one thing,” says Dayna who works with oil paint and
charcoal. “But there was nothing more rewarding than when my son would
come home from a day away, excited to see what was on my easel and
instantly recognizing the person in the portrait.”
Since
returning to painting just last year, Dayna’s work has met with
recognition and success. In the spring of 2010, she exhibited her first
painting since leaving the Ontario College of Art and Design at Muskoka
Arts & Crafts’ 33rd Annual Spring Members’ Show at
which she received an Award of Excellence for Portraiture. That summer,
she was accepted for Muskoka Arts & Crafts 48th Annual
Summer Show and also participated in Art in the Heart, a program with
the Town of Bracebridge that supports new and emerging artists.
About
her upcoming solo exhibition, Dayna remarks: “I am both anxious and
excited to see and hear the reaction to my work.”
An opening reception is being held on Saturday,
November 26, between 1pm and 4pm. The exhibition continues until
December 16. |
