Laurie O’Reilly – Earthscapes: an invitation to travel

Earth Skin (Flora) – in Latin means goddess of the flower
handmade and photographic paper, floral detritus, waxed linen threads, oils, encaustic, and found objects, 32”x32”

Rails End Gallery and Arts Centre presents

Laurie O’Reilly, SCA
Earthscapes: an invitation to travel

Exhibition dates: June 29 – August 25, 2019
Gallery hours:
Tuesday 11 – 7, Wednesday – Friday 11 – 5, Saturday 10 – 4, Sunday 12 – 3
Free admission, accessible venue, located next to Head Lake Park in Haliburton’s landmark rail station.

Unrequited

I gave;
My gold, my jewels,
My robes of emerald green.

You took;
My breath, my blood,
My soul of purest white.

I could not give enough.
There is no more to take.
It is your turn, my love.

Laurie O’Reilly

Over a Barrel, paper clay and manipulated photo and paper maché hemispheres, encaustic (wax) paint, manipulated photos on veneer, plywood painted with pigments, oils, encaustic, and found objects, 20”x20”x7”

Exhibition Statement

The seed for this body of work was planted many years ago when travelling as a young adult, I was emotionally devastated by the sight of garbage being dumped off of a passenger ship into the Mediterranean Sea. It was tweaked by finding lost, forgotten, or abandoned items on hikes to remote locations. It became compelling when I moved to ‘cottage country’ and began to amass a large assortment of found objects/garbage that I collected on walks, hikes, paddles, and camping trips.

The works are divided into four groupings; Transition, Contact, Outcomes and Earth Gifts.

With this body of work, I wanted to speak to:
1. How unique, special and worthy of respect our planet is.
2. Our carelessness and nearsighted behaviour.
3. The need to change.

Laurie O’Reilly, 2019

About the Artist

“I am an observer; by using paint, mixed media, and constructs, I become a story teller. Telling stories compels me to problem solve. Whether my mind wants to solve emotional or intellectual problems, or my hands want to solve construction puzzles, the need to problem solve drives my sensibilities, my thinking and my narrations.

When, what I am observing in the present, whether vulnerable members of society or fragile ecosystems, meshes with my past life experiences, I am motivated to devise artistic methods that can help me work through the angst that these overlaps bring to the fore, and tell the stories that I see and feel.

Where my past figurative work was created using visual layers to depict complex emotional stories, my earthscapes are physical layers that speak to our complex relationship with planet Earth.

My work with wax, my collection of found objects (discarded or forgotten) and my father’s failing eye sight helped move me towards producing three dimensional pieces. In creating these works, I have photo-montaged, cut, pasted, and painted. I have created paper clay supports, sewn into painted canvas, reassembled pieces and found objects into new statements, layered, waxed, glued, and bolted. I anticipate that the materials chosen speak to intent, for example ‘Earth Skin’ is fragile and references the flora that the Earth supports. It incorporates paper and found bits of floral detritus embedded in bees wax.

As I develop new works, new techniques are experimented with and new materials used. We have at least six senses, moving forward I want my art to touch as many of these as possible.”

Earthscapes 2019
Laurie O’Reilly SCA

Please visit Laurie O’Reilly’s website https://brushandpen.ca/

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