Artist Statement:
Phoebe’s striking black vase portrays the colourful sunsets over Lake Huron from her beloved cottage at Preachers Point, Oliphant. In her notes she wrote:
“A Morning at Oliphant
Aspen Cedar and Tamarack standing together. Birch fluttering, swaying, reaching out trying to grasp the unbending Cedar, mocking and flirting her quivering leaves at his almost sullen stiffness. The Sun creeping up behind catching and tipping their foliage with glittering gold as they sway in the breeze. How can a mere human hand portray by either pen or brush the dance of the leaves, the swaying boughs, the fleeting clouds. Who can portray the changing color from Gold to Red from Red to Crimson, from Crimson to Mauve from Mauve to Grey. What is the use Nature abashes we poor humans.”
For my vase, I present the panorama from my studio, located in the hills of the Niagara Escarpment, during Autumn, my favourite time of year. It is farm country; the fields grow hay, winter wheat and corn and are home to herds of cattle and sheep. Hedgerows divide the farms and create a patchwork through the hills. I love the views in all directions, the long and the short, and in all seasons. When I look at these views, my lungs open and I breathe.