Lynn Shwadchuck

Lynn Shwadchuck is a graduate of The Ontario College of Art (now OCAD). A longtime illustrator and art director in Kitchener-Waterloo, she now lives in the woods on the Canadian Shield north of Kingston, Ontario. She's a founding member of the Land o' Lakes Artisans' Guild.

Artist's Statement

Inner peace is my ultimate goal, beginning with concentration. The process of drawing forms and translating light into glazes of pigment is a meditative one. The intense observation required in realism is, for me, a valuable mental exercise. I use transparent watercolour because it's direct and unforgiving. It requires quick, clear thought and an orderly process. Needlework has been a calming part of my life since I was small. The embroidered hangings came together out my attention to plant forms in my garden and in the woods and a wish to stitch and draw at the same time. Moving into acrylic for the first time in 30 years has been exciting  - not so meditative!. The coarse tooth of the lightly primed canvas and the buttery paint push me in unexpected directions while feeding my watercolour technique with a dose of looseness. 

A revolution conducted by people 
who have only a group identity 
can only replace one monolith of power 
with another.

In solitude, the individual becomes most human, 
which is to say, most spiritual.

First, a refusal of the world as it stands.

Second, a recommitment to fundamentals. 
Land and a house, 
food and clothing, 
books and works of art.

Third, an understanding that to stand before 
the question of these fundamentals requires spirit. 

Thoreau called it awareness. 
I make my home with this plank.
I make my food with this seed. 

This awareness is really a form of prayer, 
and our culture is nearly bereft of it. 

"Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer."

"Reality" is a form of disenchantment.

The Real, on the other hand, is up for grabs.

- Curtis White on Henry David Thoreau
Harper's April 2006