Brenda Clarke, Artist

Many have a Bucket List, but artist Brenda Clarke found someone else’s Bucket List that has taken her on a wonderful new journey. “In early 2015,” she says, “I decided to take a beginner acrylic class with a friend. It was the friend who had painting on his list, and I went to give him moral support.” She goes on to admit, “after that one workshop at St. Lawrence College in Brockville, I was hooked!”

Brenda carried on taking more workshops at St. Lawrence and soon was painting regularly. In just a short three years she is already recognized. Two pieces were accepted in a juried exhibition in 2016 at the St. Lawrence college’s Marianne Van Silfhout Gallery, along with one other piece accepted for the 2018 exhibit.

When I asked how she reached the stage to share her works she explained that after painting several pieces, her friends and family suggested that she should put her work up for sale. “At that point I painted with acrylics mostly on canvas, but I decided to try some River scenes on Paddles and recently on a Chair for a “CHAIRity Fundraiser.”

She paints about 3-4 times a week, sometimes for hours at a time, and at other times just in short bursts. She says she really has to feel right, because, “for me, if I ‘m not getting the connection then it’s just a study in frustration” Suggesting that most of those who are creating art, are the same!

In May 2017, Brenda joined with two other artists for her first show in the Brockville Arts Centre Lobby Gallery and now regularly displays at the Brockville General Hospital art corridor and at the Buell Street Bistro Restaurant, also in Brockville. In addition, she was recently accepted into the Thousand Islands Fine Arts Association so her works will be shown in the TIFAA Exhibition and Sale held each September.

Brenda is also proud to be a liaison for the Brockville General Hospital Art of Healing Ceiling Tile Art Project, and if that is not keeping her busy enough, she is a member of the Brockville Tall Ships Festival committee.

Most of her paintings have a story behind them, “something that has resonated with me through an experience or a place I have been. It is part of me, so in essence I am sharing that with those who view my work”.

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By Susan W. Smith, Editor, TI Life

[Editor’s Note: When I told Ian Coristine that I was profiling Brenda Clarke, Brockville artist, he wanted me to add that her talent is significant and importantly she’s an equally talented coach, helping both Ian and his wife, Lyne Roberge, produce a couple of pieces that are beyond, he says, “our expectations!”]