Art lovers can explore what lies “Between Sea and Sky” in a new art exhibition showing the work of Masterworks Foundation artist-in-residence Lynda Shalagan. Ms Shalagan currently works out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, but is originally from Vancouver, Canada. Her show, “Between Sea and Sky” comprised mostly of 40 plus oil paintings opens at the Masterworks Gallery tomorrow.

Ms Shalagan has been artist-in-residence since mid-October. She became interested in the Masterworks artist-in-residence programme a few years ago during a visit to the Island.

“My normal medium is oil and canvas,” she said. “I have done a small one in pastel and cut paper. In the show, there will be a whole group of my work from Nova Scotia. They are kind of abstract but based on still life and landscape. Those take me a couple of months of layering and going back and forth. I had to do things differently for this.” For Ms Shalagan the main limitations with working in Bermuda as artist-in-residence was the time factor.

“The time limitation was the biggest challenge here,” she said. “Normally, my paintings take several layers and going back when it is dry. Whereas here I don’t have that kind of time.” Although it took her a couple of weeks to figure out what she wanted to do, and her approach to her Bermuda paintings, she has found the Island to be very inspiring.

“There is lots of new stuff here and new colour,” she said. “I am not as fussy on simple Bermuda scenes, so I tried to do something in keeping with my own style which tends to focus on composition and colour.” Although Ms Shalagan does landscapes, she said she is not an ‘en plein air’ painter. “I find it too distracting with all the people and the weather and traffic and that sort of stuff,” she said. “Most of the pieces in the show were inspired by Bermudian architecture and colour, reflecting the environment.” The title of her show is taken from the largest painting in her Bermuda collection. She said that her work “oscillates” between representation and abstraction.

“The paintings in this show are more representational but simplified and condensed,” she said. It usually takes her a little while to figure out her favourite piece in a show, and she said she hasn’t found one yet for “Between Sea and Sky”.

“Quite often the one I like the least to begin with is the one I like the most going back over time,” she said. “Which is why I generally work over a couple of months, and keep going back and forth. So I really haven’t had the opportunity to have a dialogue with any of these pieces to keep working on them.” Ms Shalagan said she has done some portrait work in the past, but these days tends to focus on landscape and still lifes. She said her work is “expressionist, not so much impressionistic”. “There isn’t necessarily a message that I am trying to express,” she said. “Painting is just what I do. I am not politically based. It is not about issues. It is purely about design, about composition and colour.” Ms Shalagan has been painting for over 30 years. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Nova Scotia School of Art & Design in 1982, but for a long time she only painted part time. Then in the 1990s she began to focus more seriously on exhibiting and selling her work. Her last solo exhibition was in 2005 at the Cape Breton University Art Gallery in Sydney, Nova Scotia, titled “A Sense of Place”. It was primarily on local landscapes. She currently works as an art teacher at the Sacred Heart School in Halifax, an all girl’s secondary school. While in Bermuda she started a student art exchange between the Bermuda High School for Girls and Sacred Heart.

Students involved in the project created their own miniature artist trading cards to represent their interests and personalities.

The cards will be traded back and forth a couple of times between Bermuda and Halifax, ending with more than 100 trading cards that will be on show at Masterworks during the ‘Between Sea and Sky’ exhibition.

“It was fantastic to see the excitement and creativity in the students of the same age here in Bermuda and how they are responding to the work done by the students from my school back in Halifax,” said Ms Shalagan.

Ms Shalagan’s students in Halifax range from ages 12 to 15 years old.

“The class is compulsory for the younger ones,” she said. “I have one high school class where they choose between the visual arts and performing art. They are quite an inspired lot. I think I bring a lot of enthusiasm to the classes.” About half of her time is spent teaching, which leaves her four or five days to work on her art. She also co-publishes the Halifax Art Map, a studio and gallery guide to the visual arts in Halifax. “It is a guide to what is happening in Halifax Visual arts,” she said. “My studio and gallery are on there. Bermuda should have a guide like that. If anyone wants to bring me over to get them started I would be happy to help.”

Her art show in the West Gallery at the Masterworks Gallery at the Botanical Gardens runs until December 15.