Artist paints her way to the intangible
Where humankind intersects with its world, that’s where you will find the works of Jane Marshall.
The Welland acrylic painter’s more recent works, diverging from her more representational past into a looser, more abstract style, will be on display at Arts Place Gallery over the coming month with Relics.
The show’s works all draw their inspiration from a recent trip to Britain, where the history of its peoples, from the prehistoric to the modern still mark the landscape with Neolithic monuments, medieval castles and modern cities.
“This set of paintings is all about showing that progress,” said Marshall, who has spent her life painting. For much of her artistic career that work has focused on the dichotomy between humanity’s constructed environment and the beauty of the natural world.
“I like to see the interaction of human beings with the environment,” said Marshall, who draws much inspiration from her native Niagara.
She provided an example of the Welland Canal and the crumbling infrastructure of the shipping lane’s previous iterations. With each phase of the canal the impact of its history is left like a progression on the landscape of Niagara, she said.
As for her move to a more abstract style, she said the progression was natural.
“There are things you can’t say with words,” said Marshall, explaining her love of painting. A looser, abstract form, allows those intangible themes to be better highlighted.
“Anyone can take a picture … paintings go beyond that to the intangible,” she said.
Relics will run at the Port Colborne gallery Oct. 11 to Nov. 18. Marshall will be on hand to open the exhibit Sunday, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.