09.28.2019 | 11.17.2019
TERRE VERTE | SANDRA MEIGS
The paintings in TERRE VERTE reflect upon the ecology and spirit of the vast grasslands of Southern Alberta. Sandra Meigs painted and studied these landscapes en plein air, over a period of twenty-eight years. Each of these works portrays an encounter with the synergist system of life in this diverse habitat.
Returning to visit the same terrain, Meigs’ gouache studies and paintings refer to McIntyre Ranch: a 55,000 acre ranch established in 1898 and in operation today. Meigs was included in two iterations of the McIntyre Ranch Project in 1991 and 2004, wherein the Thrall family hosted a research project between the artists, curators and biologists at the ranch and each residency resulted in an exhibition of new works at the SAAG in 1992 and 2005 respectively. Meigs has continued with recent research there, 2017 through 2019, creating representations of the distinctive rough fescue, flora, wildlife and fowl of the region are rendered in her enigmatic and vivid style.
Sandra Meigs describes her experience in residencies in Southern Alberta and its impact upon her work as follows:
One day I was observing a far-off eagle nest with my binoculars. The nest was on the side of the cliff, built into the clinging remnant of a tree that had tried to grow there. During this drawing session the sky darkened and it became very windy. A rainstorm began. Under my rain jacket I watched the eagle and her chicks, the mother gliding high in the dark sky, swooping low and hunting prey for her babies, then dropping the food in the nest. It was one of the most profound experiences I remember ever having in nature.
Curated by Kristy Trinier
Sandra Meigs is dedicated to painting and to the possibilities of enchantment that painting presents through colour, form and imagination. She believes that the very authenticity of one’s experience offers proof that what is imagined when looking at a painting is as real as anything else that one experiences in the world.
Meigs won the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and the Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the AGO in 2015. Recent exhibitions include Room for Mystics, at the Art Gallery of Ontario, I Feel Real, Vivianeart, and The Glass Ticker, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto. She resides in Hamilton, Ontario. Sandra Meigs is represented by Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto and Vivianeart, Calgary.
With special thanks to the University of Victoria Legacy Art Galleries and the Thrall family for lending works to the exhibition.
Sandra Meigs, Study for Terre Verte. Buffalo Jump. McIntyre Ranch, acrylic on paper, 2018. Courtesy of VivianeArt.
Documentation photography courtesy of Blaine Campbell, 2019.
