Audrey Mabee, “Sharing Secrets,” oil on canvas, 40" x 40" (courtesy of Gibson Fine Art)
Audrey Mabee at Gibson Fine Art
Long a fixture on the Calgary arts scene, Audrey Mabee has been a gallery owner, art instructor, tireless volunteer and member of various art committees, foundations and boards. A graduate of what is now Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts) in Calgary, she is also a painter whose work is found in galleries, public and private collections around the world.
“Her paintings captivate — the colours are sumptuous and the shapes graceful,” wrote Susan Joyal in an interview with Mabee in 2015. “The subject is usually people and there’s often humour, and maybe a bit of cheekiness too. It’s obvious she has fun painting.”
Audrey Mabee, Friends and Fantasies I Have Known, is a collection of her latest works and earlier highlights, on view now through April 30 at Gibson Fine Art in Calgary.
Carol Wainio, “Grimper,” 2022, acrylic on canvas, 72" x 60" (photo by Richard-Max Tremblay)
Carol Wainio in New York
Heading to New York City? Consider a visit to Arsenal Contemporary Art New York to see recent paintings and drawings by Canadian painter Carol Wainio.
Presented in partnership with Calgary’s Trepanier-Baer Gallery, the eponymous exhibition is Wainio’s first solo show in New York and is on view until May 25.
What to expect? “As if emerged from the fever dream of an abstract painter, Carol Wainio’s pictures blend history, ecology, traditional children’s literature and children’s art, into a single unified surface,” according to the Arsenal team. “Wainio interweaves evermore elaborate landscapes and vignettes from the fables that we have traditionally taught children in the West, stories of magic, anthropomorphism and cruelty.”
Based in Ottawa and Montreal, Wainio studied at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and then Concordia University in Montreal, where she completed a master of fine arts degree. Her work is in public and private collections around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. She was awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2014. ■
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