Pat Durr

Outside the Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, with a glimpse into Pat Durr's exhibition

Paintings and prints by Ottawa artist Pat Durr on view at Galerie St-Laurent + Hill. Impressive pieces!

In her artist statement, Durr describes her fascination with the beautiful but threatened underwater world: "Growing up in a landlocked state in the United States, I never saw an ocean nor was I comfortable swimming.

In the late 80’s an artist I knew was posted with her husband to Barbados. Upon visiting her, I heard about their coral reefs. Borrowing equipment and conquering my fears to learn to snorkel, I discovered the color and beauty of those reefs which captivated me then and still does now.

Over the years the reefs became my beautiful hidden place of wonder, a precious oasis, where I could soak in the peace and quiet and be revitalized.
In recent years my art focused on issues of human waste and recycling. Driven by my awareness of the cycles of birth, death and rebirth, I have explored and reinvented the detritus of our industrial civilization into colorful multi-imaged prints to present a hopeful eye to our future. But, not only is our land environment endangered by our addiction to waste, but the oceans, reefs, and their inhabitants are endangered. With this body of work, I seek to illuminate symbolically our anthropogenic destruction, this impact of human actions on our water worlds." (source: http://www.artengine.ca/community/calendar-event-en.php?id=9245)

One of the large-scale paintings (acrylic and mixed media) by Pat Durr at Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa

"My artworks are concerned with the worlds that surround us - the world of pop culture, and the natural and urban-industrial environments." (from Pat's website: http://artengine.ca/pdurr/)

Facts:
Pat Durr – To All Things There Is A Season
Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa
Jan. 22 to Febr. 4, 2015