Victoria Pearce, BFA
Victoria’s dramatic skies have become her signature, inviting the viewer to consider the heavens whether filled with sculptural florals or floating nests. Flowers painted from the perspective of an ant provide striking contrast to the clouds that frame these still life images. The juxtaposition creates a surreal feeling for the viewer. Each of Victoria’s paintings begins with a line from a poem or prayer, providing her a kind of mantra she uses to distill the healing energy that defines her process. [Victoria is a Reiki Master}
Victoria continues to explore the sky as a metaphor in which she floats disconnected nests representing the struggle between the soul’s need for attachment and the spirit’s need for freedom, a major theme in most relationships from the young child to the elderly. The nests are metaphors for a restless society disconnected from its roots. The feathering of one’s nest or the accumulation of belongings contrasts with the freedom of being unattached. Found objects woven into or filling the nests create an uneasy mix of natural and synthetic elements. They are also a reminder of an environment displaced in an urban landscape.
Victoria’s most recent landscape series of work follows the journey of the spirit on the trails and waters of the Bruce Trail, Haliburton and Algonquin. Each piece is a reflection of the healing energy which is part of her morning ritual, paddling the waters near her cottage or hiking the trails of Hamilton and area Bruce Trail. The graphic painterly use of complimentary and tonal colour lines against contrasting grounds are played out in labyrinth patterns in Pearce’s work. The interconnectedness of nature is an important element in Victoria’s understanding of the world which she loves to hike and paddle through. All geographical elements are constantly moving, be they fast moving water or the slower movement of rock formations. Within these forms she uses linear labyrinths to weave her images together. The viewer is engaged following the paths within each form. Sometimes appearing as tile, weaving, computer chips or mathematical elements, each observer is fascinated by the flow within. Victoria enjoys using shifting complimentary or tertiary colour hues when they are played against each other.
Victoria continues to explore the sky as a metaphor in which she floats disconnected nests representing the struggle between the soul’s need for attachment and the spirit’s need for freedom, a major theme in most relationships from the young child to the elderly. The nests are metaphors for a restless society disconnected from its roots. The feathering of one’s nest or the accumulation of belongings contrasts with the freedom of being unattached. Found objects woven into or filling the nests create an uneasy mix of natural and synthetic elements. They are also a reminder of an environment displaced in an urban landscape.
Victoria’s most recent landscape series of work follows the journey of the spirit on the trails and waters of the Bruce Trail, Haliburton and Algonquin. Each piece is a reflection of the healing energy which is part of her morning ritual, paddling the waters near her cottage or hiking the trails of Hamilton and area Bruce Trail. The graphic painterly use of complimentary and tonal colour lines against contrasting grounds are played out in labyrinth patterns in Pearce’s work. The interconnectedness of nature is an important element in Victoria’s understanding of the world which she loves to hike and paddle through. All geographical elements are constantly moving, be they fast moving water or the slower movement of rock formations. Within these forms she uses linear labyrinths to weave her images together. The viewer is engaged following the paths within each form. Sometimes appearing as tile, weaving, computer chips or mathematical elements, each observer is fascinated by the flow within. Victoria enjoys using shifting complimentary or tertiary colour hues when they are played against each other.