#10

Hope Wells’s artwork is a multi-disciplinary quartet of abstract expressionist acrylic painting with the methodical grit of Printmaking; the lines of silk adds dimensions and tone through the shifting perspectives. Her life experiences and education have predominately happened and evolved from Victoria, B.C, Englefeld, Saskatchewan, and Edmonton, Alberta being the most important and central locations of her more life altering experiences. As a child, she was classically trained as a clarinetist and singer by a prominent opera singer with Edmonton symphony through the 1980’s. In 2004, she enrolled into her Bachelors of Fine Arts majoring in Painting, minoring in sculpture and completed introduction to Printmaking that became a pivotal skill that she applied to her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting visual thesis. She had the honour to have some of the greatest artist mentors throughout her University education; Graham Peacock mentored Hope in the art and expressive power the abstract mark making and Peter Hide was instrumental in tutoring her in the minimalist structure and expression. Like Peter she has a reverence to Anthony Caro’s artwork and architecture. Liz Ingram and Danielle Schulter were her supervisors that completed her Master’s with her in 2011 and inspired the embroidery that is now a signature drawing tool.

In the past 5 years, she has been focused on writing articles, researching and assisting her daughter with being diagnosed as bipolar with psychotic episodes. Drawing on her personal experiences her artwork has evolved to explore the social tensions surrounding mental illnesses and our social systems. Her previous work looked at the environmental damage from the oil industry that in turn caused disease and trauma on those that lived in the area. These prints and paintings have been taken into Łódź, Poland’s city collection and represented in the Art Gallery of Alberta Rental and Sales office. There was an article published in the Brazilian Visualidades Magazines featuring the research and artwork. Most of her work has been exhibited more abroad then at home.