Roots & Rhizome - A Community's Path to Recovery and Growth

This art project was inspired by a query from the Resilience Institute, asking me to lead a community initiative capturing the evolving emotions and transformations in my hometown of Jasper two years after the 2024 wildfire.

The Resilience Institute fosters community engagement and artistic expression, partnering with rural and Indigenous communities to highlight preparedness and adaptation in the face of climate-related disasters like wildfires.

I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with this visionary organization twice before: as a curator and contributor to Stories of Resilience – Voices From Jasper at the Jasper Art Gallery, and as a workshop leader for Life, Paint & Passion, where we reimagined Lawren Harris’s 1924 depiction of Jasper’s Athabasca Valley through the lens of resilience.

For this project, participants used ink, charcoal sourced from the wildfire, markers, and basic colours to create gestural marks on paper tiles. These tiles were assembled on metal safety fencing—an everyday symbol of Jasper’s rebuilding—to form a tri-layered representation (Roots & Rhizome, Understory, Canopy) of the undergrowth in a recovering forest. This rejuvenating landscape serves as both a daily testament to recovery and a space to process trauma and nurture healing.

Future phases will integrate a narrative soundscape and a performance element, envisioning a vibrant, hopeful future for Roots & Rhizome beyond the fire’s shadow.

Recovery In Colour: Breathing Life Into Interim Spaces

Recently, I had the privilege of completing an art project titled Recovery In Colour, an 80 x 80-inch freestanding panel painted within an interim housing lot in Jasper, Alberta. Conceived and led by UPLift! Jasper Mural Festival, this project was born from the desire to inject vibrancy into the lives of those navigating the challenges of temporary living, particularly in the wake of the devastating 2024 Jasper Wildfire.

At the heart of the piece lies an expressionistic rendering of a burnt forest in spray paint, a visual echo of nature's fragility and endurance. Superimposed over this raw, emotive backdrop is a mathematically precise, symmetric grid, a hallmark of my ongoing theme—Continuity and NOT. This grid represents both the fragility and resilience of nature, and the delicate balance between connection and separation - the line that binds and the break that defines.

What made this project even more special was the collaboration with 9 other artists, each bringing their unique perspectives and energies. Their contributions enriched the narrative, symbolizing not just individual recovery but a collective resurgence of hope and colour.

Through this artwork, we aimed to transform not just a space but also the sightlines and spirits of interim housing residents, reminding them—and ourselves—that amidst loss, beauty and continuity persist.

Verdure Abstraction: A conscious reflection on Art, Wildfire, and Healing

Verdure Abstraction  - Parts I, II and III, is an art project shaped by the raw, searing legacy of the 2024 Jasper Wildfire Complex, a wildfire that devastated one third of our community leaving a trail of human displacement, separation from friends and neighbours and damaged lives in its wake. Creating these was both cathartic and complicated, stirring not just memories but also deep questions about how we, collectively and individually, carry the imprint of such a traumatic event.

Layering scorched landscapes and fragile regrowth in charcoal, ink, gouache and actual flame (sfumato), I found myself grappling with a persistent question: At what point does remembrance become a barrier to healing, and when does letting go risk forgetting the lessons etched in smoke, flame and recovery?

My community holds different perspectives. Some feel that immortalizing the wildfire through art and creative expression reopens wounds hindering the natural process of moving forward and acting as a trigger rather than a salve. Others believe that keeping the memory alive through art is vital—not to anchor ourselves in sorrow, but to honour the experience, to learn, and acknowledge how profoundly the event has shaped us.

Art, I realize, occupies a unique space in this tension. It doesn’t dictate how to feel or prescribe a timeline for healing. Instead, it reflects, questions, and sometimes challenges. Verdure Abstraction isn’t just about depicting the wildfire’s devastation; it is about exploring resilience, the fragile beauty of regrowth, and the complex intertwining of loss and hope.

In sharing this series, I hope to invite dialogue—not just about the wildfire itself, but about our varied paths to healing and remembrance. Maybe it’s not about finding the right time to let go, but respecting the diverse ways we each navigate the embers of memory.

Verdure Abstraction Parts I, II & 3 will soon be part of a Fire Recovery travelling exhibition coordinated by TREX Northwest, a subsidiary of the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie. Between 2026-2028 this exhibition will be a unique display of artwork by artists who have been affected by forest fires across Alberta.

A newly arrived dark queen now graces my private collection

I am proud to have come into ownership of this 24 x 36", framed dark beauty by the immensely gifted Kiara Hogg of Jasper. It is from a series Kiara co-created along with photographer Brent Best to express the complex emotions arising from the recent devastating wildfire in Jasper National Park. .

"While I have a longstanding relationship with the weight of dark feelings, I sought to offer an intimate glimpse into them from an artist's perspective."

The image is filled with poetic symbols signifying feelings from hope to despair. For me, the barely discernible green seedling in the foreground was a motivating factor in my decision to purchase.

I applaud Kiara for her vision and bravery in manifesting a physical activation on the landscape and for being a part of the Jasper Art Gallery’'s Creative Fire/BUZZfest 2025 exhibition!

“Despair” by Kiara Hogg- 24 x 36” framed photograph

30-piece survey of world cities wins favour at Jasper Art Gallery

“Cities of Colour” was conceptualized and painted primarily in the cafés of Jasper over a six week period in reaction to dozens of privileged friends escaping the drab chill of the Rockies to vacation in foreign parts. On one level the series satirically laments the fact that the majority of travellers these days are people with middle brow tastes. On another, it celebrates and honours the character and features of their destination cities from monumental to miniature and with drifting moods from bedazzlement to bewilderment, the spectre of urban sprawl, darkness, light, tranquility and trauma.

Interpretive in nature, Cities of Colour invokes experiential glimpses into the spirit, colours and energy of these places and at times walks a razors edge between utopian grandeur and dystopian chaos.

The 30-piece watercolour/gouache survey was first enjoyed by many when it premiered at Jasper’s Andromeda Coffee in May 2024 in conjunction with a phantom culinary arts “festival” that never seemed to get off the ground.

Influenced loosely by the monotonous grid art of American contemporary artist Stanley Whitney, historic artists such as Edvard Munch, William Turner and Gustav Klimt also shuffle through luminous vignettes like Paranoid Oslo, Artists’ London and Vienna. The music of the esoteric English band, Piano Magic, wafts through cracked glass in Berlin and DH Lawrence makes a cameo appearance writing in his native city of Nottingham while a lone candle weeps miserably. In its inception phase, I gave Cities of Colour an alternate name, The City Within, as it can only be the  invention of an armchair traveller aggrieved by the aimless trampling of the world’s capitals by the hoi polloi.

Currently, Cities of Colour can be viewed at the Jasper Art Gallery graced by a community-based project in the form of a 12-panel “reveal”. Friends and members of the public came together on opening night to paint and assemble a grid-like scene of Jasper giving the town that winter weary locals are so eager to escape the distinction of City of Colour.

Each 8 x 10” matted vignette is priced at $75.00

Leap and the net will appear

In her timeless book on creative process, The Artist's Way, the author Julia Cameron reminds us of the inherent danger of artists taking creative "leaps". Rather, authentic creativity has more to do with countless thousands of small steps that move you safely from your present position into a life changing creative adventure.

On the eve of my show, Cities of Colour at Andromeda Coffee & SnowDome Coffee Bar I take solace in knowing I have cultivated a process that brings me joy, and that when I take that leap the net will appear.

Bless

Cities of Colour - Vignettes About Process & Passion

The interplay of line and colour in Cities of Colour brings lifes to Jasper's 'Taste of Spring', an exciting new art and culinary happening. Deagle's bright palette and adept brushwork invite experiential glimpses into the sights, sounds, colours and flavours of each international city symbolized in this 30 piece abstract show of small to medium sized watercolours.

Show opens Friday, May 3rd (6:30 - 9:00 pm) at Andromeda Coffee and runs until Sunday, May 12 during regular café hours. Co-sponsored by the Jasper Artists Guild in partnership with Tourism Jasper and UPLift Jasper Mural Festival, all works in Cities of Colour are for sale.

On opening night, Andromeda’s baristas will be behind the bar to transport your taste buds to a mountain town paradise of seasonal mocktails, cocktails and tantalizing confections. Ukulele / vocals by the talented Christine Marcoux! Admission is free.

The Power of Myth

I recently had the unexpected privilege of working alongside an emerging Jasper mural artist, Keenan Sillence, on a large-scale, outdoor piece for Jasper’s inaugural and wildly successful UpLift Mural Festival. Rightfully declared a “homegrown hero” by festival directors, Keenan was presented with the difficult challenge of painting a multi-angled loading dock on a multitude of industrial surfaces.

Mythological Traditions

The mural is in a style called ukiyo-e, which is like a painting done on a woodblock also known as a woodblock print. The narrative is based on an avant-garde Japanese anime TV series called Mononoke that is set in feudal Japan.

At the time I offered Keenan Sillence my assistance, I happened to be re-reading Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth. As I worked on the mural, I entered an extraordinary collective memory involving primordial societies painting hieroglyphs of animals and spiritual beings on the walls of caves.

The symbols of mythology and legend are all around us, embedded in the fabric of our daily lives, and mural art can be a good, fairly accessible portal for recognizing and understanding their meanings.

Assisting a local mural artist in the execution of this glittering wall piece offered a provocative glimpse into the ancient world of feudal societies and the need for ecological protection.

NEW: "Blue Monday" - Jasper's streets are a canvas for uneasy pictorial narratives

A solitary girl lost in thought enters a framed picture space - a drab townscape bathed in spectacular yet cheerless mid-winter light. Vehicles spew diesel as they navigate the frozen streets at a snail’s pace and the air is rife with the smell of road salt and food smells borne on steaming kitchen vapours. Blue Monday is not merely a streetscape; It is a pictorial narrative that is meant to be confronted with a particular sense of uncomfortable intimacy, taking for granted the presence of a viewer who agrees to a dialogue in which the words are put forward by the lone subject, but in which the meaning must be invented by the viewer.

A Brush with Local History

Adding to my summer collection at Elk Village Restaurant at Jasper House Bungalows 4.5 km south of Jasper on the scenic Icefields Parkway. Established in 1956, on a picturesque property overlooking the Athabasca River, the original 28 units were built by Austrian John Woldrich with the help of several young Italian immigrants, one of whom, John Forabsco Sr., is undeniably a Jasper legend. I am grateful to the staff and management of Elk Village to be able to show in their dining room, an official external display venue of the Jasper Artists Guild .

New piece nearing completion

As May turns into winter, I've been painting my way towards completion of this somewhat large (30 x 36 inch) oil of Mt. Cinquefoil and Talbot Lake in the east environs of Jasper National Park; Just a few finishing touches ahead and then the drying, varnishing and framing process begins. The piece is based on a smaller, framed study that is currently hanging in splendid isolation at the indefinitely closed Jasper Art Gallery until Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Preliminary inquiries welcome!

What's Love Got To Do With It?

A highlight of the Jasper Art Gallery's eventual relaunch strategy is "Love in the Time of COVID" a special exhibition of local art aimed at exploring what love's got do with it - Covid-19 that is. The show will encompass a number of issues from seeing how relationships have evolved in the pandemic to (re)learning how to appreciate the smaller things and much in between. Above all, "Love in the Time of Covid" will encourage openness and sharing of current struggles through art.

Opening later in May 2021, the show will hang in real-time within our presently closed gallery and can be viewed by private appointment or more excitingly, in the form of a virtual gallery tour on JAG's various social media channels.

I am happy to preview a custom framed (11 x 14 inch), mixed-media submission for the upcoming exhibition called "Embrace". Incorporating a linear, erotic motif by early twentieth century Fauvist master, Henri Matisse; this playful piece is bordered with intuitive ink markings and expressive vignettes. Think of "Embrace" as an ode to life, joy and physical abandonment in the time of Covid.

Custom produced, archival framing package a hit with collectors

I'm nothing short of delighted with the outcome of this carefully researched, custom framing solution for my oils. The beveled, white cotton liners come from Quebec and the accompanying maple frames are custom milled in Alberta. Frames are hand tipped locally using professional quality, water-based wood stain and the final package is assembled right here in Jasper at Artists Own custom frame shop:

https://www.facebook.com/artistsowninjasper/

Lastly, black paper backings and a braced wiring system add flair and safety to the reverse side (verso) of each painting. The pricing structure of my framed oils will necessarily increase, but collectors can expect a museum quality product reflecting colour choices and materials that are singular to my work. My thanks go to Marianne Garrah at Artists Own for her expertise in helping to make this exciting project possible!

Newly designed, locally produced framing package adds flair and archival stability to my oils. Pictured here: Woodland Path, Buffalo Prairie, Jasper - Oil on canvas (image size, 12 x 16 inches). Photo supplied by collector.

Chinese brush paintings; A vision of calm on the far edge of chaos

My enrolment in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s ‘Art At Home’ online tutorial for Chinese brush painting in early December was sparked by my curiosity about the Chinese painter, Lui Shou-Kwan, and the seminal, Hong Kong-based New Ink Movement he led in the sixties. The course was generally guided by this influential artist's disciplines and discoveries. I enjoyed the tutorial at the time, but didn’t see myself eventually dedicating a corner of my studio to a back-burner interest in brush painting, let alone tracking down a custom Chinese seal for signing my improvisational ink works in Cantonese!

I guess my inquisitive foray into the mystic writings of fourth century B.C. philosopher, Chuang Tsu at the ripe age of fifteen, combined with the incidental purchase of a Chinese ink stick at a charmingly odd shop called The Wreckage in Ucluelet, BC on Canada’s west coast, gave rise to my earliest kinship with calligraphy and brush art. In decades to come I would dabble somewhat casually in these evocative mediums.

In the introduction to Chuang Tsu’s Inner Chapters, that part of his work that scholars acknowledge were definitely written by him, it is stated, “Chuang Tsu transcended the whang chen, the illusory dust of this world thus anticipating Zen Buddhism and laying the metaphysical foundation for a state of emptiness or ego transcendence.” It is this exact form of transcendence that seems to kick in each time I lift the loaded brush from the ink well. Then! There is no end of depth to the imagery and fantasy that flows as the brush is set to paper even though my compositions at this stage are pretty elemental; bamboo shoots and leaves that float convincingly over impressionistic mountain and waterfall forms derived from wet-on-wet technique for priming the paper.

The purity and ease of the medium reflect an organic stillness where I can find ideas and strength for future paintings, and point poetically to a vision of calm on the far edge of chaos.

Examples in the form of small originals and cards will soon be available at the Jasper Art Gallery.

A portion of my kit for Chinese brush art; The ornamental jars contain cinnabar red ink paste derived from plants. The stamp bearing my signature in Cantonese is pictured in the upper left alongside two examples of my recent brush paintings. A video that goes into some detail on the life of Lui Shou-Kwan is copied below.

Morning Pages; An excerpt

Explanations are an escape from feeling. Assertions distract us from being in the midst of the present experience, from moving step by step onto new ground. The drama that is on the surface of the painting truly does not matter. What matters is what we are underneath that surface, and this can only be experienced, not explained.

Current! Featured Artist exhibit at the Jasper Art Gallery

It is a great honour to be participating as Feature Artist at the Jasper Art Gallery for the month of July 2019. If you are in the vicinity be sure to drop by for a look at my three acrylic/mixed-media studio abstractions. You may find them looking back at you!

JAG’s Featured Artist series give all members of the Jasper Artists Guild the opportunity to display a collective body of art for a period of one month. I invite you to follow their Facebook page to stay up to date on Featured Artist, exhibits and events. www.facebook.com/JasperArtistsGuild/

Studio Abstractions / Artist Statement

These three paintings were created during the winter of 2018-19 and are the continuation of an ongoing search that has brought me from abstraction to figuration, landscape and back again.

I function on an intuitive basis when I produce these, starting with the application of transparent washes and adding successively opaque paint and collage layers as the painting develops. Mistakes occur frequently however I strive to accept them as a stimulus for further investigation.

Each canvas is a means of solving complex, compositional problems imposed by the creative thrust when I begin each one.

As I add narrative collage elements, these works take on a quality of “humanized abstraction” that I find at once compelling and therapeutic.

Mapping the maze of life's unusual juxtapositions

My foray into the abstract realm continues with this piece in progress with the working title, “Nocturnal Heart”. In these latest works I am seeing the world not as a continuum but a series of odd juxtapositions. There are no prescribed outcomes; They are meant to hold the autobiographical and the cerebral in an uneasy balance. I am hoping to feature the finished painting at the #JasperArtGallerywhich is slated for a curatorial revamp in the near future. #canadianart #canadianabstractart#bendingnewcorners #theartistsway — at Jasper Artists Guild.