​

“Even So,” Artist Karen Tamminga - Paton  March 3rd- April 22nd, 2023

​

The Allied Arts Council of Pincher Creek invites you to join us in the Lebel Mansion Gallery on Friday, March 3rd from 6:00-7:30pm for an opening reception for Even So, with the artist Karen Tamminga Paton.

​

“Even So,” explores hard things. It invites contemplation. This collection of paintings is a visual expression of a reflective journey that I have been on throughout the past several years as all of us have encountered a changing and very troubling world. Certainty about the way things were or about what we have expected to enjoy have been disrupted. Our insecurity has been revealed by world events and I have been led to re-evaluate many things.

I invite you to consider the complexities of our contemporary world as you view my work. What does it mean to be human in times of conflict and limited resources?  How do we care for our neighbour?  How can we reset our values, attitudes, and actions in the face of such great need in the world?  What sacrifices do we need to make to ensure that we can pass a future to our children and grandchildren? What about the land and how we care for it as it supports our existence? These were some of the questions that I explored in my paintings, even as the pandemic, global unrest, racial inequity and injustice, gender inequity, issues of sexual identity, and polarized opinions about how to live in these times . . . informed them in devastating measures.  And yet, timeless values of hope, forgiveness and love invite us to continue working together to journey forward into the future.

It was out of the ferment caused by the intersection of daily reality and these values that Even So, was born. This body of work is incomplete, of course. It is part of my lifelong process of growth. Each of these pieces is deeply personal and is offered to you in trust. Each one is also offered with an invitation for you to engage with questions of your own, for while they are meditations of my journey, even so, I believe these images reflect our complicated, contrary, and beautiful humanity. Perhaps they will be a catalyst for your own explorations, wherever they may lead you.

​

Karen Tamminga-Paton
Spring, 2023