Audrey Mabee

Red Boots + zoom	Bell, Book and Apple + zoom	Best Friends + zoom	Blue Beads + zoom
Fish Factory Madonna + zoom	Grade Six Teacher + zoom	The Happy Couple + zoom	The Lawyer + zoom
The Dancer + zoom	The Gift + zoom	The Librarian + zoom	The Poet + zoom
Three Scoops + zoom	The Veteren + zoom	Cacophany + zoom	Legend of the Urban Geisha + zoom
Sometimes a Great Notion + zoom	Never on Sunday + zoom	I Won't Dance ... Don't Ask Me + zoom	If on A Summer's Night a Dancer + zoom
The Watcher + zoom	Akhmatovas' Smile + zoom	I Never Promised You a Rose Garden + zoom	From The Secret Garden + zoom
A Day in the Life of a Yellow Bench + zoom	Sweet Thursday + zoom	Line Dancing #1 + zoom	Star Dancer + zoom
Greeting the Wind + zoom	The Manequin Sisters Sip Chardonnay + zoom	Raven I + zoom	Raven II + zoom
The Anniversary + zoom	The Legend of the Yellow Chair + zoom	The Last Song + zoom	Prairie Rustler + zoom
Young Man with a Horn + zoom	Even Cowboys Get the Blues + zoom	Best Friends + zoom	Me and My Merlot + zoom
Abandoned on the Red Planet + zoom	Dialogue with Sunflowers + zoom	Sunday Afternoons on the Prairie + zoom	Song of the Prairie Winds + zoom
Recital for a Small Group in a Large Space + zoom	A Day in the Life of a Red Piano + zoom	A Good Place to be a Cowboy + zoom	A Quiet Place + zoom
Deputy Dave Gets a Day Off + zoom

Artists Statement

"There are certain mysteries, certain secrets in my own work that even I don't understand, nor do I try to do so." — Georges Braque

After years of experimentation with colour and space, stirred memories and forgotten secrets, my work keeps evolving. The experiments go on, the learning continues, the style moves on.

The paintings, oil on canvas, are usually figurative....people enjoying life, pursuing their passions. The image develops out of the process and is not fully conceived at the outset. The multiple changes each canvas is subjected to during that process is the challenge, joy and often a surprise for me. I am intrigued by the negative spaces.

My work has been influenced primarily by artists like Modigliani, with a unique drawing style. The strong colours of Hundertwasser and Matisse, the fantasies of Chagall and the exquisite patterns of Klimt have also been a major influence for me.

The subjects and colours I use are chosen to make you feel good and smile when you first look at my work….if you find something in them that also makes you think and wonder, all the better.

Biography

Audrey Mabee is an alumnus of the Alberta College of Art and Design and a former Acting President of the institution. She has served on several boards, juries, committees and foundations, including a six year term as a member of the Board of Governors at the Alberta College of Art and Design.

Audrey taught art in Calgary for many years. Venues include the Calgary Creative School, Strathcona Boys School, ACAD and the City of Calgary.

In 1974 Audrey and her business partner, Betty Anne Graves, opened the Croft in Calgary AB. For more than 23 years, they focused on the promotion and sale of Alberta pottery and other fine quality handmade Canadian items.

Audrey has won numerous awards including the Woman of Distinction for the Arts and the Pinnacle Award for business.

She has illustrated several books and has created artwork for instructional videos for the University of Calgary and the Holy Cross Hospital.

Audrey has done significant commissions for the private sector and for commercial corporations including A&W, Starbucks, the Alberta Children's Hospital and the Calgary Foundation. Her paintings have been purchased by collectors internationally and across Canada.

She has exhibited her work in San Francisco CA, Vancouver BC and Calgary.

It can also be viewed on her website, www.audreymabee.com.

What is your artwork about (underlying concept, focus, themes, intent, etc)?

People. Sometimes fancifully, sometimes as observers of the world or their worlds.

What informs your artwork or what are your influences?

Situations in life, photos I see that spark a thought, magazines and news articles, ads, sometimes a book, a poem, a dream.

What matters to you most about the work that you do?

That it is well designed. Creative use of negative spaces. Colors that provide a "harmonious tension". Good drawing.

Do you feel you need to position your work within the context of art history and if so what's your take on that?

That would seem a bit too presumptuous to assume. I guess that sounds very "Canadian" doesn't it?

How has your work evolved over the last five years?

Probably less stylized and primitive in my compositions. Colors are a bit more subdued (yes truly) and I think more carefully calculated.

What is currently the central motivation for or conceptual concern in your work?

Always has been and is now - just the pure joy of painting.

How does your physical/geographical environment inform the work you do?

I am not really sure - in addition to color and design concerns, I try to have an element of the unexpected in each piece.

What mediums, techniques, or processes are involved in your art making (and why these)?

Oil - Because I like it.

Why are you an artist?

Because my parents couldn't afford to send me to Guelph Ontario to veterinary college. Art school in Calgary was more affordable.

Education

Work History

Community Service

Awards

Private Commissions

Exhibitions

Professional Development

*MISSA — Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts
*ACAD — Alberta College of Art and Design

Book Illustrations

• Who's Got the Ring? : Nomi Whalen
• Alone in the Boardroom : Gladys Taylor, Tumbleweed Press
• Say Hi to Julie : University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Services
• Children Have Diabetes Too: Dr. R. McArthur, Calgary Childrens Hospital
• Charlie Choppers Grows and Grows : Anne Goresht, Wholesome Press
• Zonk Bonk: Anne Goresht, Holy Cross Hospital, Calgary
• Kiln Bird Tales : Elizabeth Mold, Alberta Potter's Association
• Trans Canada Trail Handbook : Alberta Trail Net