I began this series in January of 2006.

The nest represents an activity which has sublime purpose. It is also merely an empty object which may have exhausted its use. This dichotomy is relevant to the practice of painting and the scrutiny it has endured.

I am interested in the fundamental communication inherent in mark making and sketching.
The immediacy of a sketch can expose an individual, locating them in a precise time, place and frame of mind. The line betrays the hand that made it. In my work I strive to capture motion, intention and motive. I have developed a reductive method of working that allows me to draw with paint, making fluid lines in sweeping strokes, at any width or speed. In my process, I work quickly and on a large scale. Initially, I began by painting networks of lines. They quickly took on nest-like forms.

I work within a strict set of formal parameters: one tool, one layer of paint and one limited block of time. In this intense and gestural process, spontaneous movements or raw actions occur. Awkward, elegant, clumsy, confident, all marks inform the work and all have equal importance. Accepting every mark made, nothing is re-worked, painted over or shaded. Some of the concerns that dominate my work are deception, vitality, trust, loss, aging, and lust.

This body of work is an exploration of painting as an obsessive, ritualistic, instinctive practice which embodies all the contingency, uncertainty and instability of the real. It promotes painting as documentation of the intangible, evidence of one’s humanity.


Stefany Hemming
March 2009

BIO
Lives and works in Vancouver, British Colombia

EDUCATION
1991 - 1994 Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Design Art, Fine Arts
1985 - 1989 Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC, Diploma, Fine Arts
1984 - 1985 University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Visual Art
SELECTED SOLO AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009 Natural Lines, Summit Gallery, Calgary, AB
         Big Juicy Brushstrokes, View Gallery, Victoria, BC
2008 Toronto International Art Fair, Engine Gallery, Toronto, ON
         Layer Upon Layer (2 Painters), Artizen Gallery, Dallas, TX
         Gallery Artists, View Gallery, Victoria, BC
         Art for Life, Canvas Gallery & Rocky Mountain Station, Vancouver, BC
         Eastside Culture Crawl – Studio Show, Parker Building, Vancouver, BC
         Plus One – Group Show, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, BC
         SIX – Women Artists from the Eastside, Ferry Building Gallery, West Vancouver
         The Shape of Things to Come, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2007 Brush, Solo Exhibition, Summit Gallery, Banff, AB
         Bite Size, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, BC
         Nesting, Solo Exhibition, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, BC
         Juried Exhibition, Burnaby Arts Council, Burnaby, BC, (Awarded Best in Show)
         Eastside Culture Crawl – Studio Show, Parker Building, Vancouver, BC
2006 Nest, Guest Artist, Jacana Gallery, Vancouver, BC
         Eastside Culture Crawl – Studio Show, Parker Building, Vancouver, BC
         Eastside Culture Crawl – Studio Show, Parker Building, Vancouver, BC
         Art for Life, Four Season's Hotel, Vancouver, BC
         Preview, Art for Life, Jacana Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2004 Eastside Culture Crawl – Studio Show, Parker Building, Vancouver, BC
2000 Parker May Exhibition – Studio Show, Parker Building, Vancouver, BC
1999 Triskaidekaphobia, Warehouse Show, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC
1998 The Brewery Show, Warehouse Show, Granville Island, Vancouver, BC
1994 Design Art Showcase, VAV Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
1993 Juried Painting Exhibition, VAV Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
1991 Painters Show, Café X, Concordia University, Montreal, PQ
1989 Painting Exhibition, Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, Vancouver, BC
1988 Portrait Show, Unit Pitt Gallery, Vancouver, BC