Blue Zone Painting

Biography Monica Gewurz lives and works in Vancouver, BC. Born in Peru in 1957, Monica immigrated to Canada in 1976, where she obtained both a Bachelor of Science and Master in Landscape Architecture with a focus on environmental design and land reclamation. She earned her Fine Art Certificate and an Advanced Painting Certificate from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Monica has travelled extensively, studying different art forms throughout the world. She is drawn to the extraordinary in the ordinary, capturing the feeling and emotion on canvas, reflected in her luminous layers and enticing textures. Eliminating recognizable details in her work, Monica explores the texture of metal patinas, the patterns of light as it reflects across the water and the radiance of both calm and stormy skies. Ethereal and luminous landscapes evoke both the visceral and tactile senses, while expansive skies elicit a sense of mood and ever-present calm, leaving space for herself and the viewer to wonder, imagine and dream. Monica's distinctive style of textural painting, in which she applies thick layers of acrylic paint and medium with palette knives, results in a 3-D effect, suggesting organic energy, flow and movement. At the same time, she uses multiple glazes of colour to produce contrast and harmony, creating lightness, fluidity, and ephemeral atmospheric effects. Monica is represented by the following galleries; Ukama; Tofino Gallery of Contemporary Art; Federation of Canadian Artists and Saatchi in the UK. Her paintings have been exhibited at numerous galleries in BC's Lower Mainland and in Washington- US. Her work is found in corporate and private collections throughout Canada, the US, Europe, Mexico, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan. Several of her paintings are part of the permanent art collections of the Lions Gate Hospital and the Vancouver General Hospital. Monica is a Board Director of The North Vancouver Community Art Council and has an Active juried member status from the Federation of Canadian Artists. She donates artwork to the Children’s Heart Foundation, Lions Gate Hospital, BC Cancer Society, Loving Spoonful, Museum of Northwest Art, The Nature Trust of BC, Pacific Salmon Foundation, and Vancouver Aquarium, among others. Artist Statement I am a mixed-media artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. My art is rooted in my life on the west coast of British Columbia, but also draws on my travelling experiences.