This body of work began with Read’s 2018 sojourn to the high Arctic and extends themes first initiated during residencies in Newfoundland and western Ireland. The North Atlantic has long fascinated Read—an oceanic region now under acute threat from the accelerating pace of climate change. The Arctic, reacting faster than any other area on the planet, is rapidly losing permafrost, sea ice, and glaciers, changes unfolding at a speed that outstrips our ability to fully comprehend or remediate them.

Mute Eloquence of Light: Arctic Works includes large abstract paintings on linen, drawing/paintings on Duralar, photographic close-ups of tundra, and small book works. The smaller abstract works respond directly to photographic studies of tundra microflora. Light Opens Over Water is a series of painted and drawn works on Duralar using graphite and oil. The luminous, translucent ground evokes the Arctic’s vast, nebulous distances. Through improvisation and spontaneous mark-making, Read visualizes the forces of wind and water as internally mediated, personal experiences of the high Arctic.

 Tim Robinson, an Irish Artist writes a description that resonates with Read’s practice:

‘While walking the land, I am the pen on the paper; while drawing this map, 

my pen is myself walking the land… [to try to] keep faith with reality.’

Issues of sustainable cultivation, sovereignty, and climate remediation inform Read’s ongoing desire to “keep faith,” artistically and across multiple media, with her experience of the Arctic. The region’s fragility and beauty—and the urgent need for meaningful climate response—compel her work. These works function as a mode of response that seeks to move the heart toward knowledge and action.

Read will beging her Artist Talk at 1:30 PM.  Refreshments will be served.  All are welcome.  Admission is by donation.  The exhibit is on display until May 23.  The Agnes Jamieson Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Artist Biography 

Janet Read is a painter, musician, poet, and music educator, who grew up near Lake Simcoe.  She has sought the water’s edge ever since. Read’s roots go back to the Ottawa Valley Irish, Belfast, and County Wexford in Ireland: explaining a fondness for fiddle music, poetry, and the sea.  Residencies in Newfoundland and Ireland; and travels in the high Arctic, Norway, Iceland, and Scotland sparked a lifetime’s investigation of water as metaphor for strength and fragility, with special reference to the North Atlantic rim.