SHORELINE

In 2008 I exhibited a series of works at the Moore Gallery called Treeline, which continued my visual exploration of the landscape. I reduced the landscape to its bare essentials, focusing on thinking, imagining, dreaming, observing, and experimenting ​

with the interpretation of trees. This exercise has been continued with my works of 2009-2010, Shoreline.​

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In 2009, I started to explore human infringement into the landscape. This appears as the

iconic canoe and in some cases, the presence of campers. Both give a hint of “survival” in the wilderness, a still important and fascinating concept in this 21st century. In these works I also increased my emphasis on colour combinations, often redoing the same scene with variations in colours and hues.

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In many cases these paintings are about an idealized wilderness experience, of being alone inthe landscape. They are not about reality but our imagined relationship with the Canadian landscape, with exaggerated colours to express emotion and mood. We have all seen fabulous sunsets and natural phenomena in nature that seem exaggerated, too much to be real. This is the experience I want to capture in my work, which is an attempt to touch “the “intangible.”

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Alice Burton

December, 2010