Engine Gallery carries a range of my work from different series’ so I will attempt to touch on some of the universal themes.
The “A Moment” paintings from 2006 were made by pouring and scraping liquid films to create organic formations. When layered these pieces gained complexity but maintained a flowing movement that brought a sense of freedom. They were painted within tight physical parameters which I considered the subject matter; gravity, speed, pressure, viscosity, and opacity. My aim was to achieve a purely formal/aesthetic outcome ironically based on an unpredictable process.
The next bodies of work spawned from the lyrical imagery I had long seen in the natural configurations. I enhanced anthropomorphic shapes, scapes or interiors employing an array of devices to create or delete pictorial spatial depth. A central concern in the work is the use of both physical and metaphorical disjunction. I try to set up opposites within the painting (neutral/intense, gloss/matte, thick/thin, awkward/precise, organic/geometric, modernity/antiquity, abstraction/fiction) in order to persuade the viewer to feel a simultaneous sense of attraction and repulsion.
Sara Robichaud completed her Masters of Fine Arts degree at the University of Victoria in 2009 after recieving her BFA at Queen's University in 1995. She currently teaches and paints on Vancouver Island in BC.
She has taught at the University of Victoria, the Surrey Art Gallery and currently teaches at the Vancouver Island School of Art. Sara is also the Golden working artist for Vancouver Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Sara’s artistic practice is rooted in abstract expressionism and involves process-based ways of working. Her paintings engage the viewer in a visual inquiry between the atmospheric and lyrical qualities of the form and the hard physicality of their material.
Sara is represented in Santa Monica, California at the Ruth Bachofner Gallery, in Calgary at Axis Contemporary Art, in Toronto at Engine Gallery and in Winnipeg at Mayberry Fine Art. Her work has been exhibited across Canada and at international art fairs in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles.
EDUCATION
2009 Masters of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
1995 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Honors, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
REPRESENTING GALLERIES
2010 Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg, MB
2008 Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2006 Engine Gallery, Toronto, ON
2005 Axis Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2009 “Apparition of the Arenic”, MFA Thesis Exhibition, University of Victoria, BC
2008 “Chromatic Dissonance”, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2007 “Visions of a West Coast Pour”, Engine Gallery, Toronto, ON
2006 “Pouring Out”, Canvas Gallery, Vancouver, BC
“Conversations In Colour”, Two Person Exhibition with Elly Mackey, Kennedy Arts Centre, North Bay, ON
“Radiant Elation”, Sopa Fine Arts, Kelowna, BC
“Spread Thin”, Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary, BC, Gallery Gora, Montreal, QC
2004 New Works, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
2003 “Lyrical Abstractions” Martin Batchelor Gallery, Victoria, BC, Skanda Gallery, Victoria BC
1997 Two Person Exhibition with Andrew Van Schei, Joan Ferneyhough Gallery, North Bay, ON
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009
“MFA” feature, Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary, AB
“MFA”, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“White”, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2008
“Four Abstract Painters”, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“make believe”, PS1 East Van Studios, Swarm Artist Run Centre Crawl, Vancouver, BC
Los Angeles Art Show, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“1984”, MFA Candidate Group Exhibition, University of Victoria
2007
Reopening Exhibition, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Featured Artist, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Espace B51, Montreal, QC
Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary, AB
Affordable Art Fair, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, New York, NY
“Blind Corner”, Langley Arts Council Juried Exhibition at the Langley Centennial Museum & National Exhibition Centre, BC
2006
“10th year Anniversary Celebration”, Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC
“Wrap it Up”, Christmas Exhibition, Sopa Fine Arts, Kelowna, BC
“Give the Gift of Art”, Christmas Exhibition, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
Toronto International Art Exhibition, Engine Gallery, Toronto, ON
“U8”, Sopa Fine Arts, Kelowna, BC 2005
“Give the Gift of Art”, Christmas Exhibition, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
Axis, Opening Show, Calgary, BC
2004
“Give the Gift of Art”, Christmas Exhibition, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
Summer Show, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
Moss Street Paint In, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, BC
2003
Christmas Exhibition, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
“Summer Selections”, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
“No Person No Place No Thing”, Upstairs Gallery, Victoria, BC
Elissa Cristall Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2002
Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
2001
Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
Moss Street Paint In, Victoria, BC
2000
Fran Willis Contemporary Gallery, Victoria, BC
Moss Street Paint In, Victoria, BC
1999
“Tactile Color Communication”, Martin Bachelor Gallery, Victoria, BC
Habitude Gallery, Ballard Art Walk, Seattle, WA
Moss Street Paint In, Victoria, BC
1998
“Into the Third Millennium”, Praxis Gallery, Toronto ON
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Toronto, ON
WKP Kennedy Arts Centre, North Bay, ON
1996
Art Not Terminal Gallery, Seattle, WA
1995
Agnes Etherington Arts Centre, Kingston, ON
“Axiom”, Graduating Show, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
“Pivot”, Union Gallery, Kingston, ON
1994
Red Room, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
1993
“Chosen Ones”, WKP Kennedy Arts Centre, North Bay, ON
Arts Festival Show, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
TEACHING
2008 Sessional MFA Instructor, University of Victoria
2008-10 Instructor at the Vancouver Island School of Art
2007-09 Golden Acrylic Colors “Working Artist” for Vancouver, Lower Mainland & Vancouver Island
2003-2007 Instructor at the Surrey Art Gallery, Abstract Painting
2002-2007 Private Instructor, Teaching Private Lessons and Courses from the Artist’s Studio
AWARDS & GRANTS
2005 BC Arts Council, Project Assistance Grant
1993 First Prize, Queen’s University Arts Festival
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2009 “Studio Spaces”, Kitty Scott, MFA Catalogue
2007 “Dancing with Paint”, Justin Muir, Langley Arts Council
MENTORS & OTHER TRAINING
2001-04 Victoria Abstract Critique Group, with Bill Porteous
2001-02 Painting Class, with Bill Porteous
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Friends for Life, Vancouver, BC
Arriva Condominiums by Torode - Presentation Gallery, Calgary, AB
Pacific Palisades Hotel, Vancouver, BC
Millner Thompson LLB, Calgary, AB
Brentwood Bay Resort, Brentwood Bay, BC
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Extensive Private Collections
