art smarts

Chapter 2. Artist Profiles

Bernadine Fox

"I went from working in the mental health community with victims of violence to doing art, so it’s very different. I would have to say the arts community is part of my support network, because the more you involve yourself with people who are creative, the more it inspires creativity. It’s been really wonderful to shift my whole life around to involve more and more creative people."

Born and raised in Alberta, Bernadine began painting in oils as a child. She stopped painting for about fifteen years; as she points out, it’s difficult to spend time painting when you’re busy raising two children. During that time, she worked as a film producer and production manager, later changing careers to work with survivors of abuse. Bernadine’s recent return to painting was inspired by a need to meditate, as part of her treatment for chronic fatigue.

Bernadine continues to work in oils. Her studio in her East Vancouver home is full of paintings of female nudes, their full bodies curving confidently across the canvas. Her newest paintings start as prints made by women’s bodies that have been covered in swirls of paint. Bernadine then adds layers of colour and form.

Bernadine is a member of the Board of Directors of CARFAC-BC and of the Steering Committee for the BC Cultural Sector Information Resource and Referral Centre. She recently taught a series of classes in drawing, painting and sculpting to people with disabilities. Bernadine exhibits her work throughout the Lower Mainland in a variety of venues from group exhibitions to commercial galleries.

“I have lots of labels, but they don’t really say a whole lot about me. So I tend not to start applying them. Sometimes it may be important to say something about having a disability. My disability is invisible, so not everybody can take it into consideration in the same way they might if somebody was walking with a cane or using a chair or somehow otherwise physically visible. But my disability is no bigger than any other part of my life or my experience as a person: I am not my disability. And so my paintings are not just about being disabled.

“Follow your bliss and do your homework. When it comes to words of wisdom, that’s it. You have to be doing what is your passion because you don’t necessarily have energy for anything else. And the homework is required to know how to cut your path through the field.”

France Geoffroy