BIOGRAPHY
Joyce Frances Devlin is a prolific local artist known for her vibrantly coloured paintings, creating what she calls "interior landscapes": spiritually metaphorical images of birds and flowers as well as the juxtaposition of abstract collage with landscape imagery.
"There is so much beauty in the ordinary places that few would notice," she says.
Her artistic education includes an Emily Carr Scholarship in 1954; two years Post Graduate Study in London, Florence and Rome, as well as classical mural design at the Royal West of England College of Architecture, Bristol. She was a Scholarship student from 1950 to 1954 at the Vancouver School of Art, graduating with Honours.
She has had selected solo exhibitions in Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Toronto, Winnipeg, Merrickville, Kemptville, as well as in London, England. She has taken part in group exhibitions in the United States, the United Kingdom and in prestigious galleries throughout Canada. Her work is favoured by serious collectors and is represented in many major public and corporate collections. As well, she has had selected works commissioned by the University of Ottawa, McMaster University, the Senate of Canada, The Federal Court Commission and many others.
Joyce lives and works in Burritt's Rapids, Ontario.
"There is so much beauty in the ordinary places that few would notice," she says.
Her artistic education includes an Emily Carr Scholarship in 1954; two years Post Graduate Study in London, Florence and Rome, as well as classical mural design at the Royal West of England College of Architecture, Bristol. She was a Scholarship student from 1950 to 1954 at the Vancouver School of Art, graduating with Honours.
She has had selected solo exhibitions in Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Toronto, Winnipeg, Merrickville, Kemptville, as well as in London, England. She has taken part in group exhibitions in the United States, the United Kingdom and in prestigious galleries throughout Canada. Her work is favoured by serious collectors and is represented in many major public and corporate collections. As well, she has had selected works commissioned by the University of Ottawa, McMaster University, the Senate of Canada, The Federal Court Commission and many others.
Joyce lives and works in Burritt's Rapids, Ontario.
Joyce Frances Devlin - So Much Beauty
Introduction to an exhibition of Joyce's work held at the Ottawa Art Gallery, 2 June - 4 September 2011, by Catherine Sinclair, Curator of the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art
Joyce Frances Devlin is a prolific local artist known for her vibrantly coloured paintings. Born in Fort Fraser, British Columbia in 1932, Devlin studied at the Vancouver School of Art between 1950 and 1954, under Jack Shadbolt, Peter Aspell and Gordon Smith, amidst a heavily modernist art scene. She experimented with abstraction, creating boldly coloured collages and patterned canvases. Yet, she remained devoted to a wider variety of subject matter, developing an interest in portraiture, landscape, and symbolic imagery. Devlin created what she called “interior landscapes”: spiritually metaphorical images of birds and flowers as well as the juxtaposition of abstract collage with landscape imagery. She moved herself and her two young sons from British Columbia in 1965, and has since lived and worked in the Ottawa region. She supported her family with sales of her portraits, commissions for which she became well known.
In the mid-seventies, Devlin’s work came to the attention of Ottawa collectors O.J. and Isobel Firestone. They acquired three of her paintings which are now part of the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, including the boldly-coloured landscape Strathmere, Windy Day (1975). This painting serves as the point of departure for So Much Beauty. Featuring current regional landscapes by Devlin, the exhibition gives us the opportunity to view contemporary work by this local artist.
Looking to the landscapes surrounding her home, Devlin describes that “there is so much beauty in the ordinary places that few would notice.” The colours used in her landscapes are meant to elucidate the character found in these seemingly common places. Her ambitious six-paneled work, Inside the Garden (2011), vividly transports the visitor into the recesses of her garden. This work not only demonstrates her keen sense of mass, space and colour often noted by critics, but also harkens back to her training in classical mural design at the Royal West of England College of Architecture in Bristol, England in the 1950s. Whether depicting surrounding marshlands, places passed on the highway every day or her own backyard garden, Devlin relies on her sharp intuition to create evocative images and imbue her subject matter with life.
Catherine Sinclair, Curator of the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art
The Firestone Collection of Canadian Art is a significant art collection that spans the modern period. In 1972, O.J. and Isobel Firestone donated their collection to the Ontario Heritage Foundation. In 1992, the Foundation transferred ownership to the City of Ottawa. The OAG houses and presents the collection through changing exhibitions that highlight its breadth and diversity.
Joyce Frances Devlin is a prolific local artist known for her vibrantly coloured paintings. Born in Fort Fraser, British Columbia in 1932, Devlin studied at the Vancouver School of Art between 1950 and 1954, under Jack Shadbolt, Peter Aspell and Gordon Smith, amidst a heavily modernist art scene. She experimented with abstraction, creating boldly coloured collages and patterned canvases. Yet, she remained devoted to a wider variety of subject matter, developing an interest in portraiture, landscape, and symbolic imagery. Devlin created what she called “interior landscapes”: spiritually metaphorical images of birds and flowers as well as the juxtaposition of abstract collage with landscape imagery. She moved herself and her two young sons from British Columbia in 1965, and has since lived and worked in the Ottawa region. She supported her family with sales of her portraits, commissions for which she became well known.
In the mid-seventies, Devlin’s work came to the attention of Ottawa collectors O.J. and Isobel Firestone. They acquired three of her paintings which are now part of the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, including the boldly-coloured landscape Strathmere, Windy Day (1975). This painting serves as the point of departure for So Much Beauty. Featuring current regional landscapes by Devlin, the exhibition gives us the opportunity to view contemporary work by this local artist.
Looking to the landscapes surrounding her home, Devlin describes that “there is so much beauty in the ordinary places that few would notice.” The colours used in her landscapes are meant to elucidate the character found in these seemingly common places. Her ambitious six-paneled work, Inside the Garden (2011), vividly transports the visitor into the recesses of her garden. This work not only demonstrates her keen sense of mass, space and colour often noted by critics, but also harkens back to her training in classical mural design at the Royal West of England College of Architecture in Bristol, England in the 1950s. Whether depicting surrounding marshlands, places passed on the highway every day or her own backyard garden, Devlin relies on her sharp intuition to create evocative images and imbue her subject matter with life.
Catherine Sinclair, Curator of the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art
The Firestone Collection of Canadian Art is a significant art collection that spans the modern period. In 1972, O.J. and Isobel Firestone donated their collection to the Ontario Heritage Foundation. In 1992, the Foundation transferred ownership to the City of Ottawa. The OAG houses and presents the collection through changing exhibitions that highlight its breadth and diversity.