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"My
art comes from
my dreams.
I
paint
big."
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The Artist's Life .
. a Biography
- Canadian Artist -
"Windy Ironside"
Metro Toronto's low-income industrial park was where I grew
up. I'd like to think that perhaps the hardness of that life
has given me the courage to become more of who I'd like to
be as the years float past me.
The
abuse that I've managed to live through has also shaped me
in so many ways. If the telling of my story through my art
somehow manages to give even one person the courage to shine,
to step up to the canvas and say "I will release my hell
too so that it will, in turn, release me", then
I will have left my mark on the world in a good and honourable
way.
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Art
in all its forms came naturally to my family - my mother played
piano and my very wise father carved and taught at the Ontario College
of Art. My room was my sanctuary and if the walls could speak, they
would repeat the many words of poetry and stories that gave me my
escape. I spoke little myself as a child, but became a watcher of
people and of things.
I taught myself how to play piano and guitar and singing has been
a faithful friend to me all my life. A constant fear of ridicule
kept most of these things hidden from people
but I took comfort knowing they were there for me.
I also taught myself to paint at the tender age of 39. I use raw
canvas with tempra paint or whatever else I can lay my hands on.
When you're coming from a place of abuse recovery, the expression
itself is the most defined element moreso than the material used.
I
have several pieces housed in private collections in Ontario,
one of which is in a Native Women's Healing Centre and yes,
I'm proud of this.
The only painting currently in my possession is "Soul Eclipse".
The painting was inspired by a lunar eclipse where the shadow
was red. It spoke to me of the abuse I had suffered...and yet
when the eclipse was finished the moon was still whole and
in the same place. So for me, it showed that even though
I may have been a victim, the abuse was like a red
shadow that passed over my soul but never put out its light.
What
I create comes from a place deep inside me - a place of
comfort, of anger, of hope and history all rolled into one blanket
of colour and not-so-silent voice. If someone finds a piece of themselves
in what I have created, this is the greatest gift I could ask for
as an artist. My spirit would be fed for an eternity if I could
touch one person who has walked this difficult road and give them
hope for a better life.
I
try to speak my truth through painting and other medias and I try
to honour all human beings learning lessons of bravery, love and
courage. I hope I have expressed this clearly here. I have been
told I had cancer three times and survived. I've died and come back
- twice....and have experienced my own person hell with respect
to illnesses most of my life. I try to overcome this and love and
accept life as it is....and impart this love.
Laugh
often and live in colour every single day.
Thanks,
Windy.
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