Emily Klaassen
June 1 - July 31
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Emily Klaassen is a Smithers local who obtained her Fine Art + Design degree in 2014 from Trinity Western University. While first and foremost a painter, she also is well versed in a variety of printmaking methods. Garrison sees her work as an innate extension of herself that is best represented in visual formats. Her current practice stems from her relationship and interactions with and in the natural environment from the past 10 years of Forestry related experiences. Klaassen “environmental art” has been a part of shows both locally and internationally. She has traveled the world to continue the development of her work, most
recently at the Art Print Residency in Ayers De Mar, Spain.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My art making practice is informed by movement. Early works were simple tracking’s of movement focused on line and shape. As my practice has evolved, the work has centered itself around the idea that the tracking of movement acts as a rhetoric for stories unspoken. Relationship and interactions with and in the natural environment from the past 10 years of Silviculture experience has generated a basis for my work. Moving through the natural landscape and working with different people has led me to focus on the notions of integration and enfolding we experience with our environment. It is these quiet notions that I look to
create language for. I use acrylic paint and printmaking techniques coupled with found objects from years of tree planting. Paint and ink function as the raw basics for tracking movement. Found objects are
utilized as purposeful and nostalgic remainders of movement through particular places.