Paige Quinn
Guelph (the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation), Ontario, Canada
Interviewed by Lucia Droga
Paige Quinn’s (she/her) paintings draw from personal memories as well as culturally embedded themes of ecological spirituality, femininity and presence. In her artwork, Paige has been exploring the idea of reuniting and reconnecting with nature. The figures in her paintings are caught in the act of transformation and spiritual catharsis, becoming whole again as they connect to the earth. They move and blend with their background in a process to become closer spiritually with the unknown. She has been exhibiting nationally in both solo and group shows and has recently completed an artist residency at Artscape Gibraltar, the Toronto Islands where she was able to make smaller works on paper to use as reference material for her next body of work. She is currently represented by Sweetpea Gallery in Victoria, BC.
Hey Paige! Could you tell me a bit about yourself and your art background?
Hey! I am an artist who is working and painting in Canada. I move around a fair bit and currently am living in Guelph, Ontario. I am predominantly a painter but I also make works with graphite and pen as well. When I graduated from University, I wanted to make art or a life immersed in the arts a main focus for me. I had always been painting, since I was really young, and kept painting through university but just as a kind of side thing that I didn’t tell many people about.
Who and what do you consider as your biggest artistic influences?
This is so tricky to say, so many of the smallest and most random things influence my paintings. I could drop a bunch of names of amazingly talented Canadian women artists and they are incredible but there are too many to mention fairly. When I start a painting I leave a lot up to chance and the weird and interesting parts of the painting I decide to keep and the rest I just paint over. I used to listen a lot to Flume and I read an interview once where he talked about how he would listen to random sound bites that were auto-generated all the time and find patterns he liked to stick together to make a song. It’s kind of like that.
The West, 20x20, oil on canvas, 2022.
You were born in Vancouver, and now live in Ontario, Canada. I must admit that I am pretty unfamiliar with the creative industries in these locations. How would you describe the art scene there?
Guelph is a fairly small city and most of the contemporary art scene is connected to the university here. I am looking to move somewhere with more of an art scene where I can look at paintings more often without having to do the trek into Toronto. One of the most amazing things about Guelph is that I have a home studio which has been incredible for me to make more paintings.
Your work is extremely beautiful, and the figures are very haunting. I love the way the bodies blend into the earth. What themes do you pursue and explore in your painting?
Thank you, I am really interested in merging the people and their environment. Throughout the canon of Canadian art people were intentionally left out of paintings in order to paint an image of pristine wilderness in the interests of furthering colonialist ideas. I wanted to paint through my own experience and reconnect the two as we are part of the whole of nature.
What is your favourite subject matter?
At the moment I am really liking painting people, and fusing the people into the ground of my paintings. Kind of like uncovering more information within the painting.
Untitled, 20x20, oil on canvas, 2022.
The Sisters, oil on canvas, 2022.
Mother and Child, oil on canvas, 2022.
Tell me about your residency at Artscape Gibraltar!
I absolutely loved my time there. It was amazing to have the mental space and physical space in which to process creative thought and work through some creative issues I was having. I got there with the plan to just put my head down and work, draw as much as possible, write, read, etc and to be alone to focus-in. And listen to music and old films.
From your experiences experimenting with pencil and paint, what would you say is your favourite medium to work with?
Honestly, l love graphite and pen work so much. It’s much more straightforward to get an idea across with drawing. Painting sometimes feels like I am digging at the painting until I uncover something I like enough to keep. But then on the other hand I love the slow process of painting and the versatility of oil paints. I don’t think I could live without either.
Do you have techniques for overcoming creative blocks?
When I get really stuck I make it my goal to get as bored as possible. I think that maybe comes from how creative I felt when I was planting trees each summer. Just using your body and not thinking too much allows for a lot of room for my desire to create.
The Two Who Stayed, 20x20, oil on canvas, 2022.