Based in Summerland, B.C, Canada, Cecilia Keilty began her personal artistic journey in 2019. Since that time she has been exploring the use of fluid acrylics to create unique, abstract representations, highlighting the distinct beauty of nature that surrounds us. While some pieces reflect the colours and layers of a landscape, others capture smaller moments, the sense of wonder, the stillness, the quiet experience; often overlooked when passing through our natural world.
Cecilia began her art studies at the University of British Columbia, completing a bachelor’s degree in Art History, followed by a Masters in Art Conservation at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. Over the years she has worked as a conservator at Harrison Galleries in Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, and the Den Gamle By Museum in Arhus, Denmark. In 1996 she opened her own private art conservation studio in Summerland where she maintained a successful practice for several years.
After having taken time out to raise her amazing children, Cecilia is back in the arts community, but this time, on the creative side. Most recently her work has been on display at the District Wine Village in Oliver, the Under 500 show at the Penticton Art Gallery and at The Nest Restaurant in Penticton. Commissions have included two large canvases for clients’ private residences in Vancouver and two small panels for local clients in the Okanagan.
Statement
My years as an Art Conservator have trained me to focus on the scientific aspects of artistic works; their construction, their reactions to their environment and how to bring damaged pieces back to a whole through a controlled and planned process, with a minimal amount of artistic intervention.
On the artistic side, as an amateur photographer, I have come to appreciate the stilled moments that can be captured through the camera lens but are so often overlooked when passing through our natural world.
My artwork is a reaction to both of these interests. Where I reach to interpret the quiet moments of nature, be it the undulating hills in a landscape, the curl of a wave or the fading of a leaf, carried away by a stream; I also rebel against the inclination to record these moments through intricate, scientific realism. The use of fluid acrylics lends itself well to this goal. While the colours of the subject, the composition of the paints and their consistencies can be controlled to some degree, the unpredictability of the paint’s movement creates unique images that have a natural, organic quality. No two images are the same and each painting allows the viewer to experience the small moments in nature, captured through this beautiful, variable and abstract form of representation.