Louise Vincent loves to find beauty in movement.
She loves the way people move when they are playing sports.
She loves the way a cat stretches its paws in a ray of sunlight or, by contrast, hunts for its prey.
But a recurring theme in the artist’s work is movement in dance.
“When drawing, I like to use the line, a fluid line which follows my emotions and my spontaneity. Emotions and spontaneity are full of movements,” the artist said in her written statement.
Vincent’s newest exhibition, called Dancers, is showing at the Passagio Gallery at the ACT in Maple Ridge until May 29.
There are eight pieces on display.
“In drawing dancers, I tried to capture their movements by incorporating the past and the future to create an atmosphere,” continued Vincent, adding that ballets, in particular, nourish her imagination.
Vincent likes to use vibrant and saturated colours in her work.
“Saturated colour is my way of relating to people and to life. It is direct contact,” explained Vincent, who is originally from Quebec, with a french accent.
Vincent has lived in Maple Ridge for 25 years.
She has participated in art exhibitions in the past and won a Juror’s award in 1993 for a piece called The Cat at the Images of Excellence show, hosted by the Garibaldi Art Club.
But it wasn’t until she retired from her teaching career that she had the time to travel to galleries and museums in different countries to find inspiration for her own work.
Vincent started working on the pieces in Dancers in November and is hoping that visitors to the show will experience a lightness and a trip in their own world.
“Not necessarily emotion, but your own interior world. Because often in modern contemporary art, it is very cerebral,” said Vincent.
“Dance with the dancers. You can think, of course, but don’t try to put it in your cerebral. Don’t be so intellectual. Just let it go a little bit. You will feel more happy,” she laughed.
The Passagio Gallery is located upstairs at the ACT, 11944 Haney Place, downtown Maple Ridge.
It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday.
