Look at snow on verges, embankments, lawns and fields. Look closely. What do you see?
Do you see simply white?
To Neerlandian artist Jo Ann Nanninga, snow is full of shadows and subtle variations of tone. It is heavily nuanced, it is rich in emotion.
It is no wonder she finds snow so fascinating to paint, and if she opens someone else’s eyes to the intricacies she sees, her experience is enriched.
Nanninga’s observations on snow point to her philosophy on her art. She does not set out to replicate faithfully what is before her, as if holding up a mirror.
Rather she wants to capture a feeling, a moment, an experience; she wants to offer a unique view of the world – her own.
Perhaps this explains why she leans so heavily towards the abstract, a form that suggests, not dictates.
“Viewers can go on different journeys,” says Nanninga. “I like that.”
An example of this is her large abstract “Maligne Canyon,” inspired by a visit to one of Jasper National Park’s most striking features, an area of waterfalls, streams, eroding rock, birds and plant life.
By combining layers of acrylic paint with textures and collage, she created a fusion of colour; there are blends of orange, beige and cream, and dashes of muddy red.
To some viewers, the colours could suggest limestone and intriguing geological formations. Others, however, might be transported to terrain far removed from a 160ft canyon.
Nobody is wrong, says Nanninga, for art is an open road for the imagination.
Throughout April, people can travel this open road by visiting the Art Gallery next to Pepper’s Restaurant.
As Nanninga is Barrhead Art Club’s artist of the month, her work is on display.
Visitors can come Mondays and Fridays, from noon until 4 p.m. Nanninga will be present on Friday, April 12, happy to talk about her art.
“Maligne Canyon” will be among the artwork exhibited, as well as “The End of Biking”, an example of her interpretation of snow.
Born and raised in Edmonton, Nanninga started drawing at Grade Three.
She remembers tracing Mickey Mouse and being encouraged by the results.
“When I started I was very much inspired by my dad,” she said.
Driven on by a natural aptitude for art, she studied with Margaret Nadeau, a major influence in the local art scene, and began to delight in exploring different media.
An impressionist style of painting attracted her and she became an admirer of Cezanne, Monet and the “Group of Seven” Canadian landscape painters from 1920-1933.
Emily Carr, who is associated with the group, inspired her in particular.
Throughout her artistic life, Nanninga has loved the outdoors, interpreting the wonders of Nature. He work, for example, has featured Thunder Lake and the Queen Charlotte Islands.
In 2011, she was among a group of Barrhead Art Club members who went to Newfoundland to study palette knife painting.
Whatever medium she uses, her approach is consistent.
“I take bits and pieces of what I see in creation and manipulate it with various mediums into something new that speaks of how I uniquely see the world,” she says.
“If it speaks to you the viewer in some way, that adds to my enjoyment.”
Nanninga says art gives her a reason to go outdoors and see the world, perhaps spending a lazy summer afternoon by the Athabasca River with fellow artists.
“We help each other by saying ‘stop’ when we reach the point where doing more would destroy what has been created,” she says.
Nanninga adapts a quote by the Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic Thomas Merton to describe the effect of art on her life.
“Art adds to my life journey because it allows me to find myself and yet lose myself,” she says.
