Julia Sacco
Special to The Lake Report

St. Davids artist Marilyn Cochrane opens her latest solo show, "The Material and The Mystical," at the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre on Sept. 1.

The month-long show will feature a new set of paintings as well as a series of sculptures titled Echo Cairns. 

Exploring mediums with the use of 300 million-year-old crystals from her expansive collection, Cochrane continues to create with minerals in a new way.

“I had a series called Echoes,” said Cochrane, and her newest show is a continuation of that theme. 

“For many years I’ve been pursuing this series where I’m using minerals and crystals and doing a painting above them and framing both of them. I wanted to do something different this time and I wanted to get into sculptures.”

Cochrane hopes that through the use of crystals and their spirit within her sculptures, as well as exploration with realism and the abstract in her paintings, that viewers will understand the mystical world around us.

“I’m hoping that this glittering little world will draw the onlooker in and perhaps give a sense of awe or a sense of peace and meditation just looking at these amazing stones that come from the Earth and the painting that reflects the little pieces of Earth that are in the sculpture,” Cochrane said.

In her new paintings, the complex flowers represent “the material” world as Cochrane depicts them with many transparent layers of changing colour and dramatic lighting to create an image of high realism.

“These blooms emerge from and blend into abstract, orb-like planetary shapes that allude to the unseen energies that surround us. Two worlds blended together as one, dancing together across the canvas,” she said.

Cochrane began her career as an artist at McGill University with a bachelor of arts with a fine art history major and completed a self-study course in colour at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. That  was followed by a summer course in Paris at the American College of Art.

While working in the design business, she continued her studies at the Ontario College of Art & Design, graduating with a fine arts degree with honours.

“I’ve always loved art and have been drawing and painting since I was very little. Way, way back I’d taken classes after school when I was in my early teens and I always just adored art,” said Cochrane.

Throughout her career, Cochrane has received a variety of awards, including the A.J. Casson award for Outstanding Achievement in Watercolour in Canada.

An opening reception will be held on Sept. 5 and 6 from 1 to 4 p.m., with Cochrane in attendance both days. Everyone is welcome.

For more information on this exhibition, visit https://niagarapumphouse.ca/. To learn more about Cochrane and her works, visit her website at http://www.marilyncochrane.com.