Paintings that had been put away for a time have recently been able to see the light of day in a new exhibition, Plant Forms, by Nelson artist, curator, teacher, and writer Deb Thompson.

The show at The Gallery at Nelson’s Craft Connections (now up until the end of the month) has had quite a successful opening. Deb’s work has become more accessible – reaching a wider audience than in the past when her artwork in public galleries revealed a more conceptual body of work.

Choosing to work from plant forms, gathered on walks to the studio, Deb says the paintings “speak to processes of transformation, such as death, torpor, germination, dismemberment and re-generation which occur physically and psychologically for us.”

“While painting my plant forms, I started using black which I hadn’t used for many years. It was symbolic and at a time of psychological darkness or internal processes for me. Emotions came up that I hadn’t expected,” she reveals. “Also I was looking at nature’s cycles of birth and death – needing to go through the fire for transformation and seeing my own reflection of my psychological processes in nature.”

After being greatly influenced by watching a video of New Mexico painter Agnes Martin and her ideas of ‘waiting for inspiration’ with an ‘empty mind’, Deb decided to bring her meditation practice into the studio.

“I was seeing parallels between my meditation practice and painting practice and wanted to explore this. For example, I would pick a flower or some plant form, take it to my studio, using it as a starting point for the painting and try and keep my focus on the subject and be ‘present’ with an empty mind. I was trying not to allow the narrative that might have emerged to dominate the process.”

Interestingly, Plant Forms was actually completed three years ago and put away.
When an opportunity presented itself to show at the opening of a new gallery, Deb knew instantly that this was the work she wanted to hang on the walls.

Answering her inner calling to be an artist, Deb’s training was at the Ontario College of Art where she received a Diploma in Fine Arts, and later, earned a Masters in Visual Arts from the University of Montana. After moving to Nelson in 1999, she taught foundation courses at Kootenay School of the Arts, and later helped found Oxygen Art Centre with a core group of women. For more info, contact Deb at dart@netidea.com.

Recently putting aside teaching to concentrate on her studio practice, Deb has brought forth her current exhibition revealing nature’s many forms and stages out from the dark and into the light; as well as a new sculptural body of work ready to reveal itself when the time comes.