April M Bending

Abstracting Reality, Bending Perceptions.
Although I was classically trained it is the application of textures that fascinates me. My images vary depending on conversations, afternoon walks or happenings in the news but the technique remains the same.
Fish and fossils make up much of my work. The sun glinting off fish as they silently glide through the water creates a sense of peace in me which I hope to convey through my paintings.
Fossils are beautiful little sculptures which evoke stories of times gone by.
When I lived in Cayman I founded art classes at the prisons and for at risk youth.

1970 BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS DEGREE Born in Vancouver, Canada, I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alberta, on the Canadian prairies. The curriculum emphasized classical realism. When abstraction was explored I developed what would be a life long passion for texturing paint.
AWARDS AND CREDITS:
2011 - Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts nominee
2011 - Ontario Arts Council grant
2008 Banner and flag image award for Heroes Day display, Cayman Islands.
2007Book Cover Award . "Sunset on an Era", won the cover award for "New Art International, a compendium of contemporary art. Inside are six pages of her images with critiques.
2004 Orlando Bloom's movie Haven. Eight of Bending's paintings were chosen for the sets of Haven, a movie filmed in the Cayman Islands starring Orlando Bloom.

2021 Vancouver, Can Federation Gallery -
"Abstracted"
2020 Vancouver, Canada, Federation Gallery
"Animae"
2020 - Vancouver, Canada, Federation Gallery
"Concept"
2020 - Vancouver, Canadia, Federation Gallery
"Crisis"
2020 - Vancouver, Canada, Federation Gallery
"Painting on the Edge"
2020 Vancouver, Canada Federation Gallery-
"Animalis"
2020 Vancouver, Canada Federation Gallery
"Canvas Unbound"
2020 Vancouver, Canada Federation Gallery-
"Muse"
2020 Vancouver, Canada, Federation Gallery
"Animae"
2020 Vancouver, Canada Federation Gallery-
"2020 Works on Paper"
2019 Vancouver, Canada Federation Gallery
"Ten Squared Christmas Exhibition"
2019 Vancouver, Canada Federation Galler -
"2019 Spotlight"
2019 Victoria, Canada Fortune Gallery - "Body Language"
2019 Cayman Islands National Gallery of the Cayman Islands - "Tropical Visions"
2019 Montreal, Canada Artêria Gallery - "SPA Show"
2018 Cayman Islands The Gallery at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman - "Cayman"
2016 Cayman Islands The Gallery at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman - "Local Inspira...