Emilee Girard  

BFA 2015, Post-Graduate Dipl. in Arts Management 2016

 

As an artist I have been committed to my training since the year of 2004 when I first started showing artistic promise in drawing. My parents enrolled me in drawing and painting lessons at my local art gallery and it was through these formative lessons that I grew forever attached to the world of fine art. 

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In the winter of my graduating year from elementary school, I had submitted an application to a specialized Visual Arts program at a local high school, where I was accepted and enrolled for the following four years. During these years, I excelled in observational drawing and painting. In my graduating senior year, I took Advanced Placement Art through the same program and had begun applying to universities to study fine art. I had applied to two schools: Western University (formerly known: The University of Western Ontario); and the University of Ottawa. Having been accepted to both, I chose to study my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Ottawa. It was here that I had met and studied under Canadian artists Martin Golland and Carol Wainio (R.C.A), both major influencers in my formal education as an artist. 

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As much as I enjoyed my studio and art history courses at uOttawa, I decided to transfer to Western University to continue the remaining two years of my degree where I studied painting and drawing from David Meritt, Patrick Howlett, and Kim Moodie. At Western, I explored more conceptual theories and practices surrounding art. This is where my abstracted textile drawings were born as I studied, designed, and manipulated fabrics to create my 6 foot pen and mixed media drawing of ruffled and bunched up textiles. This drawing later informed the direction of my thesis in textiles and cultural identity for my project, Beneath the Stitches, 2015.

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After my undergrad, I pursued a postgraduate diploma in Arts Management at Western to acquire business and professional development for my career in the arts industry. Since 2016, I have been working as an artist and administrator for not-for-profit arts organizations within Toronto and other regions of Ontario. During this time I have also taught adults and children drawing and painting. 

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Artist Statement

 

My compositions become stories where I can create emotional narratives that explore moments of discovery, musicality, and wonder. My subjects for drawing and painting are: portraits, still life, collage, and landscapes. 

 

Particularly in my acrylic paintings, I use watercolour painting techniques to achieve transparency. This allows me to thinly layer my paintings while adding an increased depth of field to the colours where the fine detail and mark-making can come to life. My paintings are representational and closely resemble the reality of the subject I am painting, however my drawings are a combination of collages that come together in the narrative of the work itself. 

 

I am particularly inspired by impressionist/ post-impressionist painters and music of the 19th and 20th centuries. Music and art has informed much of my life and beliefs, and there has never been a time in my life where I thought I could go on without the other. Both my passions in art and music have given me a full education and these art forms have influenced each other throughout the years. Since the age of four, I have been playing piano in both classical and contemporary styles. 

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I believe, whole-heartedly, that art transforms the human experience. It is through my art, that I create thought provoking pictures for my audience to enjoy. 

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