Elise Lavallee Findlay

My work is primarily focused on landscape, the large views and the small details that evoke connection to place. I rely on memory, emotion, and knowledge to depict places that are both specific in their representation of an actual location, and general, in that, the landscapes are built from imagined and remembered routes of travel. My inspiration as an artist and as a person comes always from place, from the people, the flora, and fauna, who call it home and from a deep love of the land. I am happiest in more natural environments in the mountains and on the lakes and rivers and aim in my work to inspire connection to, and accountability for, the ecosystems we are a part of. I employ different mediums and different scales ranging from smaller watercolour and ink drawings to large acrylic pieces on cradled birch panels. Layering linework, shading, and colour, my work projects an internal understanding of an external location. I try always in my practice to depict a connection and a shared attachment to place rather than an idealized version of a space. This idea of making a place real through experience is essential to my work. I find in place, community, connection, and belonging that is both fixed in its solidity and flexible in its cycles of change. 

Instagram Account: @BanffStudios   

Website/Portfolio: elisefindlay