Art 10 Gallery president Mary Ann Fleming will show her work from Oct. 1-31
A Nanaimo painter believes that in order to clearly see forward, one needs to occasionally look back.
Keeping that in mind, the president of Art 10 will feature her artwork as a retrospective show at the Nanaimo North Town Centre gallery starting Wednesday, Oct. 1, until the end of the month.
“When you start getting up in age, you start looking back at what you have produced and why,” said painter Mary Ann Fleming. “And it gives you time to think – where you’ve been and where you’re going.”
The decades have seen Fleming’s artistic style evolve, developing along with her, and the painter described her work as eclectic.
The artist said she will often chase muses, dedicating more than a dozen paintings to a series as she works through it, and then quickly being inspired by another. To this day, her favourite subject matters remain to be things that bring her joy – her dog and flowers – however, her artwork has not been without angst, balancing the yin and the yang in her life.
“Art is therapy, art is healing. Sometimes people don’t understand that. I think a lot of people know that, but sometimes it takes a while to figure it out,” she said.
Over the decades of her art career, Fleming is grateful for having the ability, the time, and the energy to express herself creatively. And although a major life event can sometimes cause her to pause during a creative block, her motivation ultimately shines through.
“It’s emotional work … I have people say to me, you are so lucky that you can put your feelings on canvas … And I say, you know what, it’s a gift. I’m very thankful for the gift,” she said.
Fleming’s show at the Art 10 Gallery will include a collection of paintings from different series, including pieces from a challenge in which she sought to include five unrelated objects into the canvas composition.
Art 10 Gallery is open during mall hours, with Fleming’s exhibit on the feature wall until Oct. 31.
