There Is never a dull moment for artists here in the north, the scenery is enchanting and the experiences are never ending. For Kevin Bolstad, the northern beauty has inspired his work for more than four decades.
A practicing Professional Engineer by trade for more than twenty years, art remained his first passion since his first set of oil paints emerged from gift wrapping sometime in 1975. This was followed by decades of forming a unique connection to the land, chasing sunlight-shaping shadows with a sketchbook or camera, to later revisit on canvas.
When I’m out and about, it’s kind of a feeling of feeling at home. It’s a feeling that I tried to capture in the landscape. So I try to evoke a sense of place, a sense of time. What I think about, remember and feel when I’m building a painting or looking at one of my paintings, if it’s different from somebody else’s, I think that’s kind of cool.
Though he has little in the way of formal academic training in art, Kevin has honed his skills and techniques through his participation in many workshops and community art programs and seminars. His dedication to his craft culminated in his first solo exhibit on November 28th, where he shared his artistic vision with fellow NWT residents who shared his love of this land.
The painting is the language for me to try and capture what I’m feeling or conveying. So I’m always interested when people tell me what they think or feel, or are inspired by, by a painting. It’s that discussion.
As Georgia O’Keeffe once said, I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way, things I had no words for.
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