Detail of an acrylic canvas by Sigrid Fisher
As an only child growing up in Dryden, Ontario, artist Sigrid Fisher spent hours in the woods observing nature, and then hours on the living room floor drawing what she’d observed. “I’ve always loved drawing,” she says. Her art and sensibilities, deeply rooted in the natural world, are revealed by the materials she chooses, the effects she creates, and by the evolution of her work over the years. Her latest body of work, Colour for Contemplation, will soon be on view at Studio Georgeville, an art gallery in the heart of Georgeville.
After graduating from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Fisher worked as a fashion illustrator in Montreal. She later expanded her drawing abilities and studied etching at Open Studio in Toronto, where she developed a taste for minimalism. She has since developed a unique art form that is closely tied to the natural world, and that incorporates her love for drawing and minimalism. She has had solo exhibitions in Ontario, Vermont, and the Eastern Townships, and has been part of over thirty group shows.
As a member of RACE (Regroupement des Artistes des Cantons de l’Est) in Sherbrooke, Fisher has continued to produce work that reflects her predilection for natural forms and her personal commitment to nature and its preservation. She has frequently worked with wood, and she has a particular connection with stones, which she loves for “the tension between the edges and spaces” and for the memories that they hold. She has often drawn stones of different sizes and shapes, particularly those with a rounded, sensual appearance as voluptuous as a woman’s body.
Fisher likes to wrap things, to tie together the elements of nature; in a 2002 outdoor installation with fellow artist Jo Cooper, she honoured the bounty of the forest by wrapping a group of trees in a broad, inclusive ribbon of paper. After her Swedish mother died, Fisher paid tribute to her with a drawing of four shapely stones from the lake her mother loved, grouping the stones together and encircling them with fine rope. This encircling or bonding of disparate elements relates to Fisher’s love for the circle, which she sees as the circle of life, containing energy within it.
“Painting is a very spiritual experience for me,” Fisher says. She never knows where her spirit will take her, but she allows it to have a voice. “I develop a surface as close as I can to the images I have in my head. The images are derived from inner feelings—from the land, a love of peace, and from glimpsed events that may mirror deeper contradictions.” Her minimalist approach aims to show “the essence of my idea worked through to a calm and peaceful place.”
Until recently Fisher has worked with muted natural colours—shades of white, which create the shadowy effects of snow and ice; blacks; greys; and muted blues.
“For a long time, I was in love with black, its depth and moods. It seemed to echo my own feelings.” Her graphite drawings, which are often incorporated into her paintings, include swirls, nests, and black and grey trees in motion.
“Lately,” she says, “I’ve discovered colour! Reds and yellows and blues! And big paintings! I can’t get enough of them.”
At her upcoming exhibition at Studio Georgeville, Colour for Contemplation, you will find large canvasses painted with layers and layers of colour, one glorious colour over another, each layer revealing itself through the next. Describing her latest work, Fisher says, “I see these works as a walk through a landscape. Each layer is a step, a declaration determining the outcome of a painting. It is a way of seeing, arising from an inner source that guides me through the process…. The colours may take a passage from joy and light into a dark, sad place. I hope the viewers of these paintings will experience some moments of contemplation and pleasure.”
Fisher’s big, beautiful paintings reveal the artist as someone who dares to rejoice in the natural beauty that surrounds her, and to hope that somehow it won’t be lost to future generations.
The vernissage for Colour for Contemplation took place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 6, at Studio Georgeville, 20 Carré Copp, Georgeville. The exhibition will continue until April 4. Studio Georgeville is closed for the month of February but will reopen for weekend visits on Saturday, March 6.
Heather Paterson
