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A — F

Jackie Bagley +
Anthony Baker +
Mike Binzer +
Norah Borden +
Lisa Brawn +
Maguy Carpentier +
Othon Castaneda +
Nevada Christianson +
Amy Dryer +
Simon Fleming +
Steven Friedman +

G — L

Stev'nn Hall +
Timothy Hoey +
Ira Hoffecker +
Caroline James +
Douglas Kirkland +
Ron Kostyniuk +
Grant Leier +
Eric Louie +
Darlene Lobos +
Lori Lukasewich +

M — Z

Audrey Mabee +
Mychael Maier +
Michael Markowsky +
Stuart McCall +
Tim Okamura +
Seka Owen +
Sara Robichaud +
Jay Senetchko +
Mandy Stobo +
Alejandro Uzeta +
Jose Angel Vincench +
Verna Vogel +
Shirley Watson +
Christine Wignall +
 

Audrey Mabee

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Red Boots

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Bell, Book and Apple

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Best Friends

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Blue Beads

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Fish Factory Madonna

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Grade Six Teacher

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The Happy Couple

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The Lawyer

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The Dancer

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The Gift

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The Librarian

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The Poet

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Three Scoops

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The Veteren

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Cacophany

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Legend of the Urban Geisha

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Sometimes a Great Notion

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Never on Sunday

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I Won't Dance ... Don't Ask Me

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If on A Summer's Night a Dancer

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The Watcher

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Akhmatovas' Smile

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I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

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From The Secret Garden

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A Day in the Life of a Yellow Bench

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Sweet Thursday

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Line Dancing #1

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Star Dancer

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Greeting the Wind

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The Manequin Sisters Sip Chardonnay

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Raven I

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Raven II

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The Anniversary

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The Legend of the Yellow Chair

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The Last Song

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Prairie Rustler

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Young Man with a Horn

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Even Cowboys Get the Blues

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Best Friends

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Me and My Merlot

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Abandoned on the Red Planet

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Dialogue with Sunflowers

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Sunday Afternoons on the Prairie

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Song of the Prairie Winds

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Recital for a Small Group in a Large Space

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A Day in the Life of a Red Piano

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A Good Place to be a Cowboy

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A Quiet Place

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Deputy Dave Gets a Day Off

 

 

 

Audrey Mabee

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

1957-1960 Alberta College of Art and Design
(Provincial Institute of Technology & Art)
Diploma Commercial Art

Work History

2000 - 2003 Artspace Gallery Founder and President
1998 - 1999 Alberta College of Art & Design Interim President
1974 - 1997 The Croft Gallery Founder and Co-owner
1958-1975
  • Calgary Creative School
  • Strathcona Boys School
  • Calgary Allied Art Centre
  • City of Calgary Parks & Recreation
  • Provincial Institute of Technology & Art
Art teacher

Community Service

2004 - 2008 Chairman, Art Committee Alberta Children's Hospital
2000 - 2003 Chairman Jury for the Mayor's Luncheon for Business & the Arts
2000 -2005 Committee Member City of Calgary Sculpture Advisory Committee
2000 - 2004 Advisory Board Member Jane Cameron Foundation
1990 - 1997 Member of Board of Governors
  • Board rep. Academic Council
  • Scholarship Committee
  • Alumni Restructuring Committee
  • Career Centre Advisory Board
  • Student Off-Campus gallery Advisor
  • Two time member of Presidential search committee
  • Co-Chair Alberta BOG Workshops
  • Co-Chair several ACAD fundraisers
Alberta College of Art & Design

Awards

2002 ACAD - Honored Alumni Award — 75 year Anniversary
2002 ACAD Honorary Patron
2000 YWCA Woman of Distinction — Arts & Culture
1994 Milner Fenerty Pinnacle Award — Entrepreneurial Achievement

Private Commissions

2000 The Calgary Foundation: painting for annual report and other communication visuals
1998 A&W: painting to commemorate 500th restaurant in Canada (national campaign)
1996 Starbucks: Calgary launch campaign "Waking up Calgary", used on go-cups, posters, t-shirts
1996 Stewart McCullugh Barristers & Solicitors — 4' x 7' mural for reception area
  Many private commissions

Exhibitions

2011 Snapshots of Forgotten Friends Axis Gallery, Calgary, AB (Solo)
2010 Fragments Fictions and Fantasies Axis Gallery, Calgary, AB (Solo)
2009 Stampede Ranch Project Calgary Stampede, Calgary, AB
2008 Un Hommage au Chat Noir Gallery 444, San Francisco, CA (Group)
2008 Here's to Life...in poppy coloured dancing boots Axis Gallery, Calgary, AB (Solo)
2006 Urban Tales and other Legends Axis Gallery, Calgary, AB (Solo)
2004 Dreams, Delusions & Fantasies Harrison Galleries, Calgary, AB (Solo)
2002 Inscapes & Landscapes I Have Known Harrison Galleries, Calgary, AB (Solo)
2000 People I Know, Places I Go Harrison Galleries, Calgary, AB (Solo)
1999 New Artists Harrison Galleries, Vancouver, BC
1999 Naked Harrison Galleries, Calgary, AB
1998 Pre-Christmas Show Seewall Gallery, Vancouver BC
1996 New Works Wallace Gallery, Calgary AB (Solo)
1995 Gallery Artists Gallery 444, San Francisco, CA
1994 Women in the Arts Harrington Gallery, Vancouver BC
1994 Glenbow Art Lotto &mdash: Contributing Artist Glenbow Gallery, Calgary AB
1992 Featured Artist Virginia Christopher Gallery, Calgary AB
1992 ACAD Alumni Show Devonian Gardens, Calgary AB
1992 Revealing Figures Kensington Fine Art Gallery, Calgary AB

Professional Development

2010

Painting
MISSA, Andy Woolridge

Pearson College, Victoria BC
2002 Book Binding and Papermaking
MISSA, Katheryn Lypke
Pearson College, Victoria BC
2002 A Painters Paradise
Painting Residency
Mentor-Wynona Mulcaster
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2002 Painting Residency
MISSA
Pearson College, Victoria BC
1992 Drawing
MISSA, Bill Porteous
Pearson College, Victoria BC
1991 Watercolour
MISSA, Fleming Jorgenson
Pearson College, Victoria BC
1990 Brush Usage
MISSA, Jack Wise
Pearson College, Victoria BC
1990 Watercolour
ACAD, Helen Hadala
Calgary AB

*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