Canoe in Autumn Glow Painting

Darlene Kulig was awarded the CSEA/Berol Prismacolour National Art Scholarship awarded to six Canadian students entering Fine Arts based on outstanding potential in visual arts. Graduating from the Ontario College of Art and Design she quickly moved into a commercial setting and within four years of graduating was running her own successful design studio. Darlene began painting full time ten years ago. Her work utilizes synthesis or stylization - an approach that came into Eurocentric art from Japan in the mid 1800’s. Many of Canada’s great landscape painters (Lawren Harris being an obvious example) have done this. Darlene makes her approach her own by using strong (high key) colour and uniting smaller shapes into larger more powerful areas by controlling her values. Her love of the beauty available in the Canadian landscape is clear. What is especially impressive is that she has developed a unique very personal approach that "feels" Canadian. TorontoHOME and Ottawa Life Magazine have featured Darlene’s award winning work, showcasing her vibrant, coast to coast Canadian landscapes. In Spring 2017, Global Affairs Canada installed a selection of Kulig Canadian Landscapes in Canadian Embassies buildings in North America, Europe, the Middle East. and South America. Pomegranate Communications has lisenced Darlene’s work to be reproduced as contemporary Canadian content in their product line. Pomegranate products can be found in the MOMA, The British Museum, The National Gallery of Canada and AGO. Currently, Darlene is focusing her creative efforts full time on developing a recognizable, signature Kulig Canadian landscape as well as traveling with an eye for her next painting series. A member of the Etobicoke Art Group and Neilson Park Creative Centre where she studies and paints, you can find her work in galleries across Canada and the United States as well as private collections around the world.