MARY STEBBINS
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Phone I grew up in northern California. My childhood memories are exploring the wild hills nearby. Nature was and is the place where I am most at home. My father, a biologist and an artist, connected me both to the natural world and to the world of art. With his encouragement and that of my mother who was also an artist, I learned early on the joy of artistic creation. I came to Canada in 1973 to get a teaching credential at Simon Fraser University. I did my student teaching in Vernon, and here I have lived ever since. For many years as a mother and an elementary school teacher, I found little time for my own art. My creative energy went into encouraging the artist in the children I taught. After retirement, I began travelling, preferring out of the way places where people live close to the earth—Tibet, Africa, Mongolia. It was the faces of the people I met that became the subject for many of my recent paintings. I believe every human being has a story. I search for their expression, the story in their eyes, the line of the lips, the light on a cheek. I also paint the people I love, my friends and family. Each painting feels like a miracle, that slowly from a blank canvas a person emerges and takes on a life of his or her own. Lately, I’ve become interested in painting animals as well as people. This is a new direction for me. Fur instead of skin. There is something freeing about an animal. |
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