A Life in Layers: My Path Through Art and Place
7 pears on a blue plate, 2025, Oil on Canvas
Art has always felt less like a career and more like a way of being in the world. It’s how I explore memory, light, and emotion—and how I connect to the places and people that shape me.
My journey began long before I walked through the doors of NSCAD. But it was there, under the mentorship of Gerald Ferguson, that I learned to refine my process. He passed down more than technique—he gave me structure, clarity, and a reverence for craft. I still use the same traditional painting medium he introduced to me, and I still follow the same grounding principle: thick over thin. These small, steady practices have become rituals in my studio.
After NSCAD, I spent a decade on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. That time was formative. The landscape, the folk art traditions, the salt-worn beauty of it all—it left a lasting imprint. I opened The Waterline Gallery in Mahone Bay, where I experienced firsthand how a small space can hold big meaning. Sharing art locally deepened my understanding of how creativity lives in relationship, with a place, a community, a moment in time.
Later, teaching fine art in the UAE stretched me in new directions. That chapter brought fresh perspectives and reminded me that creativity doesn’t belong to any one culture, it’s a shared human instinct. Writing The Artist in You with Julie Brunelle gave me the opportunity to reflect on how we nurture that instinct in others. It felt like another layer of the work: supporting emerging artists as they find their own language.
Over the years, I’ve drawn deeply from artists like Marsden Hartley, Matisse, and members of the Group of Seven. Their use of colour, shape, and spirit continues to influence me—not in mimicry, but as companions in the long conversation of painting. What I seek in my own work is emotional resonance. A sense of stillness. The glint of story behind the image.
Now based in the Ottawa Valley, I’m returning to the landscapes of my childhood—with fresh eyes and an even deeper appreciation for their quiet complexity. My newest body of work, Still Life, Still Talking, explores that intersection between the internal and the external: how an object can hold memory, how a gesture of light can say more than words.
I’m excited to share this collection at Sivarulrasa Gallery in Almonte, Ontario.
Opening Reception: February 8, 2–4pm
Exhibition runs until March 14, 2025
After decades of creating, exhibiting, teaching, and learning, I still feel that familiar pull to keep exploring. To keep noticing. To keep layering.
Thank you for walking part of the way with me.
-Peter