Born: Edmonton, Alberta

Education:

2005, MFA, University of Saskatchewan
2002, BFA (with great distinction), University of Lethbridge

Location: Hamilton, Ontario

Price Range: $1000 - $3000

Biography

Kristin Bjornerud received her MFA from the University of Saskatchewan in 2005 and has since been awarded emerging artists grants from the Saskatchewan Arts Board and the Ontario Arts Council as well as an Individual Project Grant and Travel Grant from the Canada Council.  Her work is represented in several public art collections including the Canada Council Art Bank, the Saskatchewan Arts Board Collection, and the City of Ottawa Fine Art Collection.  In 2010 she was awarded the Brucebo Summer Residency Scholarship, a three-month, self-directed residency on the Baltic island of Gotland, Sweden.  In January 2012 the Art Gallery of Hamilton will host a solo-exhibition of her work which will include works completes at the Brucebo residency. 

 

 

Statement

My watercolour and gouache paintings explore contemporary political themes, ecological motifs, and personal narratives through the lens of folktales, dreams, and magical realism.  In these delicately painted tableaus, a world is revealed wherein dream logic pervades, where women swim with narwhals and vivify hand-knit fauna.  These eccentric landscapes are uncanny projections of a possible world where familiar activities are imbued with a mythic quality while, at the same time, extraordinary deeds are carried out with unruffled poise by proud, unconventional heroines.

My aim is to create contemporary fairy tales that act as a medium through which we may consider our ethical obligations to the natural world and to each other.  Retelling and reshaping stories helps us to understand how we are entangled, where we meet, and how our differences may be viewed as disguises of our sameness.  While these watercolours are inspired by specific events and stories, in composing them I try to leave some of the responsibility for interpretation with the viewer.