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Movement of Myths Natalie Olanick February 26 - March 26, 2005

For several years, the focus of my work has been the study of patterns. In my paintings, I try and weave a fabric of my thoughts with the shapes and forms of the natural world. My process of painting includes an open field of signification in which established associations and potential readings are layered. I work with the materials as tools to illustrate ideas rather than as a skill that must be mastered. I think of the paintings as pieces of music which flow between socially recognizeable meanings and personal signification. The patterns and forms in the works create a vocabulary of domesticity, discovery comfort, and curiosity. The paintings are done on various surfaces from paper, to canvas, to hide. The sizes of canvases are of a scale that feels comfortable to the individual. However, the images are of forms that are much bigger or smaller than the surfaces they are painted on. I work with this methodology, because I feel it sets the stage for the investigation of a personal space in the ever changing universal space. The associations between lace, atomic molecules, and gaseous celestial forms put forward an idea that our concepts of who we are and where we live is something that is comprehensible to us because of our emotional responses. This exhibition celebrates the spirit of individuality by attempting to describe this ever elusive presence. Myths are alive and a part of our vision of the world. Bio Natalie Olanick is a painter based in Montreal. She graduated from the Ontario college of Art and Design (1984) and has an MFA from the University of Windsor (1999). She has just completed a 2 year teaching contract with White Mountain Academy of the Arts in Elliot Lake (2002 - 2004). She has been exhibiting paintings for the past 14 years. Selected exhibitions include: Natalie Olanick, Maison de la culture Marie- Uguay, Montreal QC, 2003 (solo show) Linear Sensitivity, Open Studio, 2002 (exhibition of work done during residency) Smoke Signals, Art Gallery of Sudbury, 2001 (solo show) The Celestial Error/L, error celeste, 2001 (solo show) Axe Neo - 7, Hull QC. Natalie has also written and curated several exhibitions as part of her art practice Marks, Gestures and symbols, 2003 was an exhibition of works from the educational collection of White Mountain Academy, Globes Oculaires, 2000 a text from a brochure of the work of Carmen Ruschiensky, Galerie B-312. She was also a contributor to Lola magazine.