Chrissy Nickerson 2023 Show

We couldn't be more excited to share Chrissy Nickerson's 2023 show collection with you! 

Vivid Exchange
by Chrissy Nickerson

Across my artistic career, which now spans a quarter-century, I have continually pivoted. Intentional turns through colour palettes, compositional arrangements, and regional landscapes have kept the current body of work exciting—and the next one mysterious. From time to time, these pivots add up to draw a full circle. In other words, experimentation returns me to the fundamental lesson: that artistic creation is about re-learning how to interpret the world around us.

Vivid Exchange sends out permanent postcards from tucked-away places around Vancouver Island: from Bamfield inlet to Cape Scott. Several paintings depict Mackenzie Beach, near Tofino, with bobbing islets, rocky outcrops, and trees leaning in to oversee. These images represent the next step in my own development of learning paint’s language. That curiosity has the power to grow new perspectives. By learning again how to see on an unfamiliar island, I came to recognize the region’s depths, its difficulties, and uncontrollable beauty in a new light.

On their reverse side, below the images, these vistas announce a pledge. I will keep side-stepping to my own rhythms. When I glorify the paint over the canvas: play of elements, push and pull, viscosity and visceralities. I discover endless lines that soon run out of pigment. A splash of freedom, then decisions made to harness chaos into choice. Into self. And I can half-hear you too, pivoting within your perception of places and the rich feelings they export.