Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls
2014
Oil and acrylic on linen over wood panel
121.9 x 152.4 cm
On loan from Morris Berchard

A lot of my work is about observation. I am drawn to imagery that conveys a psychology of identity. In Canada, somehow, this often ends up including water. I grew up in the West, so my first experience of the Great Lakes didn’t happen until I was an adult—though, like any good Canadian, I was well aware of their mythology. My first point of contact was Lake Superior. I can remember driving along the water’s edge for hours, blown away—and a little freaked out—by the sheer size and the power of all that water. The same happened on my first visit to Niagara Falls. The water in this country has its own personality, which is probably why so many of us have been drawn to capturing it in art.