Sylvia Bews-Wright

Sylvia came to art as a mature student at University of Ottawa and The Banff School of Fine Arts after a good number of years as an itinerant high school English teacher and world-travelling hippie. A few weeks of exposure to options for diplomatic wives after her marriage convinced her to follow a long-standing interest in art and her studies continued in between foreign postings, primarily in Africa and Asia. Her interest in socio-political issues has always been reflected in her work, much of which is not included on this site but may be obtained from contacting Sylvia.

Artist Statement
My work always has a long gestation, a process of seizing a “big idea”, refining it in my head, judging the strength, validity (or weakness) of the idea, and finally figuring out how to put the idea onto canvas or paper. I work in series, often up to thirty pieces, exploring the big idea until I feel I have said all I can about it. To work non-objectively without such a goal or motivation is impossible. My work must come from the gut and the heart; the eye-hand application is merely an evocation of the internal thoughts and passions.

Every time I begin a new series I am faced with the intimidating blank canvas. Needing a “hook” upon which to hang my paint, I often dive into my large garbage bags of torn, discarded drawings, knowing I will find inspiration as I delve.Then, using paper, canvas, and paint, I collage together fragments of my past, renewing the lives of torn up drawings by assembling them together onto new surfaces, validating their old lives, connecting different times, places and concerns, creating new energy from linking the old marks to eachother. They meld into eachother, disappear as individual fragments, rejoin into a new unity.  Every canvas, every drawing evokes some of my past; at the same time an exciting new surface emerges.

Sylvia Bews-Wright 2008