A space for keeping dreams alive
Living room in artist’s 1910 home a whimsical ode to colour, pattern
When Maria Pace-Wynters turned 40, she decided to put her art degree to work, but to put aside academic rules of art that were inhibiting her. Inspired by her young daughters, she began creating mixed media paintings using acrylics, inks, pastels and fine papers she collects. Drawing also on her love of vintage circuses, Asian art and her belief in keeping dreams alive, her fanciful pieces feature butterflies, birds and intricate patterns framing portraits of girls.
Six years on, her work sells briskly on Etsy.com and through Maria PaceWynters, her tiny new gallery shop at 10563 97th St., south of the Hull Block, in Chinatown.
Her studio is in the loft of her Alberta Avenue home, but when she needs to plan or relax she repairs to the living room of the 1910 house she shares with her children and her musician husband, Chris Wynters. The space hosts a changing gallery of her work and captures her vivacity with its array of pattern and texture, colour and quirky objects.
“My mother is very good at putting together all kinds of things that are eclectic,” says Pace-Wynters. “She used to say that if it was what you loved, then it all looks good.”
a large Sarouk rug
When I was growing up, my parents had a 17-room boarding house in Victoria that they eventually turned into a bed and breakfast. The rug is a really old Indian wool rug from the B&B, and I’m sure it was there when it was a boarding house, too. When we found it, it was all folded up, so it has this crease. My mother hates that it shows the wear in one section, but I love that. It’s part of the beauty and the charm. It reminds me of home.
War & peace figures
My mother is Irish and when I was nine we went to Ireland and saw Gypsies selling these statues at the side of the road. My parents brought them home in their suitcases. They’re cast iron, and they sat on the mantelpiece in the B&B for years. When they sold it, these were some of the only things I wanted. We didn’t travel a lot as a kid, and that was the first time I’d been to Ireland and remembered it. Because I’ve painted Gypsies, too, I think there’s this connection for me.
PAINTING NOT FOR sale
I did sell this painting once, but it was on layaway, and over the weeks I realized I really didn’t want to give this one up. For one thing, it really looks like my daughter and I think it’s one of the best paintings I ever did. I feel like I really pulled off a lot of the stuff I try to pull off in the rest of my paintings: the colour combinations of turquoise and yellow and red, the looseness juxtaposed with the tightness. A couple of weeks before the woman came to pick it up, I happened to paint a painting that spoke to her more. It was of a woman, not a child. It was more mature. It was more romantic. When she saw it, she said, “Oh, can I buy that one instead?” So it worked out.
The Buddha and JADES
I got the Buddha at a Red Deer thrift shop. I love the different patterns, the bright colours, the children crawling all over him, and how he’s so happy. I’m very influenced by Asian art, so I also have little jade animals on the shelf. I got those at a thrift store in Victoria about 25 years ago. I think they’re also a tie to the past. I love the form and the colour; I’m so drawn to that colour.
armchair, ottoman
This is my chair, which is just a chair from Ikea, but it has stripes. I love stripes. I bought a bolt of fabric from Ikea and I keep recovering the ottoman because the cat keeps tearing at it. Pretty soon it’s going to be twice its size. The pillows are covered in fabric from Germany. I saw it from across the street and loved the colours.
paintings above sofa
This part of the room is constantly changing, because I keep moving stuff from the gallery to the house and back
BUNCH OF BIRCH LO G S
This is from a tree next door that split in half and fell down. I love it. I even put one piece inside the (electric) fireplace so that it looks more real. I can’t have houseplants in my house because I have a cat, but I can have real birch in this big planter.
ELEPHANT COLLEC T ION
I really like elephants. They’re so beautiful, so gentle and so huge, and so loyal. The wooden (elephants) are from the B&B. I’ve been told the ones with their tusks up signify good luck. Chris found the little white one that sits on the mantel, on the first day he hosted the open stage at The Druid. That was a difficult transitional time for us. I really felt it was good luck. again. It’s not always the strongest pieces that sell right away. I always think that the right person just hasn’t come along. So they get moved around. At the gallery, I have something different featured in the window every week.