In Osmosis

Art exhibit explores emotional connection to water

Karole Marois’ affinity for water is evident in every aspect of her life. She chose to live in Prinyer’s Cove upon moving to the County five years ago; during the summer months she lives on a sailboat; and she continues to swim competitively. In a current exhibit of her artwork at the newly renovated Armoury in Picton, she delves into her emotional connection with water. It is a connection she can trace back to her earliest memories of being with her mother at Britannia Beach or the Rideau Canal in Ottawa “I guess it has to do with healing and a cleansing of mind, body and soul,” she says. “And I remember as a young artist, if I needed to take some time to produce my own work, I would go to the water. I went to the south of France for six months to do watercolours. It’s a very natural thing for me. I just love water.”

Marois’ artistic talents were recognized and encouraged from an early age. She entered the Ontario College of Art at age 17, and in her third year was selected to go to Florence for off-campus study.

Karole Marois at her exhibit In Osmosis, now showing at the Armoury in Picton.

She subsequently enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and specialized in anatomy and figure. When she came back to Ottawa, she did contract work for Parks Canada and the National Museum, painting large-scale murals such as depictions of the War of 1812, or the Cod Fisheries in the Canada Hall at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Her work on these murals drew heavily on her talent for painting figures and also led her to adopt acrylic as her medium of choice. Interspersed with her contract work, she continued to derive income from her personal work through exhibits at various galleries. She became part of the art scene immediately upon moving to the County, submitting work to Art in the County—winning an award for her painting Devils Picker two years ago—and a pair of her murals can be found adjacent to the Waupoos Pub in North Marysburgh.

Marois had been thinking for quite some time about how to artistically represent her connection with water, and she started to paint a couple of scenes last year. She applied for an Ontario Arts Council grant and received it in January, at about the same time that she found out the Armoury would have an exhibit space available. “Everything came together, and then I had to produce quite a bit of work,” she says. “Deep down, the need to protect our water is the source of my inspiration, and I’m using a more lyrical way to express that. The whole water theme resonates with people, and I’m expressing that with the medium, using a lot of transparency.” Many of her paintings incorporate a human figure within the vista of a waterscape. The figures are generally semitransparent, and some are ambiguous enough such that the viewer can insert themselves into the scene, something that can elicit a profound emotional response for some visitors to the gallery. Many of the paintings are accompanied by poetry chosen by Marois, which adds to the emotional effect. “I looked for local poets whose writing was about water or our connection to the environment, so I found Lindsay Brandt from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and Shauna Haugen who lives in Cressy. Shauna has a sensuous elaborate poetry that speaks of oceans. And then Marvin Bedward, who is a songwriter, and his songs are very dreamy and very introspective. I wanted the show to be bilingual, and Andrée Lacelle is the former poet laureate for Ottawa, and her work speaks a lot about our passages through life.”

Marois has seen a steady stream of visitors to the gallery, with a particularly large number on Canada Day, and the response has been very positive. “People who come in and talk to me make me realize you can look at it [the painting] emotionally and spiritually. People are not intimidated by the actual subject matter. It’s something they can relate to. They get it on different levels. I like the fact they are talking to me, and I find it very rewarding that there are a lot of water lovers in the County.”

The exhibition continues to September 2. For more information about Marois’ work, please visit karolem.com.