Joanna Nash; Arundel, Québec - Ice Stations Series

I am a formally trained career painter and art instructor - Master’s in Arts, McGill University, Montreal (Thesis: The Praxis of Teaching Drawing); Bachelor's degree in Painting, Concordia University, Montreal, and Certificate in teaching art, McGill University.

My art philosophy echoes that of generations of painters who sought to understand themselves, their experiences and their environment through the pursuit of art. I define my paintings as “contemporary, hand-made and unique physical images”.   I prioritize an expressive, ‘felt’ interpretation of my subject matter and I describe my methods as improvised and responsive, with cognizance of a Western ‘painterly tradition’.

I live in the midst of nature; my themes are inspired by my context and the elements and events which surround me. Here, deep in the hills overlooking the Riviere Rouge valley, I have found my place to reflect and create. I invent imagery, which avoids the sentimental, in favour of concrete and atmospheric forms, which express both my realistic and abstract human qualities.

My artworks are in private and public collections:

• MRC des Laurentides;
  
• Petro-Canada, Alberta (deux acquisitions);
  
• Imperial Oil, Toronto, (deux acquisitions);
  
• L’Industrielle Alliance, Montreal;
  
• Health and Welfare Canada, Ottawa;
  
• Corporation de Loto Québec, (deux acquisitions);
  
• Pratt & Whitney, Canada.

Exhibition of recent paintings

 “Ice Stations”

July 5 - September 27 2025

Shelburne County Museum, Shelburne, NS

Highlights of the event 

Flying over Alaskan glaciers two decades ago, I witnessed melting ice fields running into glacial lakes.  The visual experience moved me profoundly and nourished a recurring painting subject.  In 2023, at close range, I saw massive, looming icebergs floating in and out of Twillingate, Newfoundland, and the visceral experience merged with my image-memories of melting Alaskan ice fields. 

I began the “Ice Stations” paintings in the summer of 2024 at the Cox warehouse in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, and continued working over the winter in my studio in Arundel, Québec.   My marks attest to the traces and remains of human and scientific excursions to the Arctic.  The detritus embedded in the frozen surroundings represents a testament to departed human exploration and the nebulous effect of measuring impending life-changing events. We require a unified sensibility if we hope to take positive action now.