Artist Lynda Flanagan opened her solo exhibit at the Pumphouse with a guiding statement: “We coexist with nature.”
Her latest collection of paintings, titled “Nature’s Heartbeat,” invites viewers to consider not only the coexistence of humans and the natural world, but also what binds them to each other.
The pieces in the collection are inspired by various locations in Northern Ontario and Flanagan’s love of the great outdoors.
“It’s ingrained in me. The wind in my face, the air, the sound of the waves. It just never leaves you,” she said.
The paintings do not depict individual places, but rather amalgamations of various landmarks. Flanagan and her family search for these elements in a small metal boat, stopping to take pictures for inspiration.
“I’ll get off on little islands and explore … then I use my imagination to create a landscape,” she said. “You’re going to find a rock from the French River, Georgian Bay and Lake Huron all put into one painting, because I name them for feelings. I don’t name them for places.”
As guests explore the exhibit, they might notice unusual colours used to depict nature — these are intentional details meant to evoke emotion, Flanagan explained.
“Somebody was like, ‘Why do you use purple trees?’ Well, I didn’t run out of green. It was because I think people are resilient and they need to stand up for who they are,” she said, describing how different coloured trees symbolize the reliance between humans and nature.
As an artist, Flanagan says her goal is to make people feel emotions through nature to emphasize interconnectedness. She recalls an encounter with a woman at a market that solidified the importance of that connection.
“She kept coming back to my tent to look at one particular painting. I said, ‘What is it that you’re feeling?’ … She said, ‘That’s where my father went camping,’” Flanagan said. “It’s storytelling, it’s that connection.”
Art, as a bridge between humans and nature, is central to the artist’s beliefs and passion for painting.
“I think wind, air, water, land (and) rocks all have to be aligned. They all have to be in balance with us … we rely on each other for growth,” she said. “If we keep cutting down our trees and we keep digging up our farmland, that’s not sustainability.”
The ability to resonate with Flanagan’s work was one reason why she was chosen as a solo exhibitor, Rima Boles, Pumphouse director, said.
“There’s something beautiful about her landscapes that people can connect to,” Boles said. “She uses reference photos, so they’re all places I think people (are reminded of) going up to a cottage or somewhere in Ontario.”
“It reminds them of different memories,” she added.
The Pumphouse will be home to the Nature’s Heartbeat exhibit until July 26, though Flanagan’s work resides in multiple galleries across the province.
“I really feel we need to be more aware of how interconnected we are before we destroy something that we don’t know we’re destroying, even down to the medicines that we find from certain herbs and certain parts of nature,” Flanagan said.
“We could unknowingly destroy what could ultimately save us.”
