About

Beverly Allen is a Burlington, Ontario based visual artist with a love of travel and exploration. She is a maker of marks - prints, textiles and books.

Her latest work investigates images directly from nature. This connects her with nature in multiple ways:

- She explores the colours immediately available from the plants around her by printing them with heat and water on paper and textiles;

- She tracks geographical areas by the plant life there, always noting the differences in similar plants in different areas and seasons;

- She is paying equal attention to “weeds” and encouraged plants, giving a snapshot in time of the plant life in a particular area;

- She is also exploring natural dyes from local ingredients.

She finds plants and arranges them to reflect her love of subtlety and luminous colours, even taking into account the influence of surprise. You can glimpse the cell structures within the plants. This art is slowly developed, paying attention to seasons, and local conditions that affect the plants and their colours. Enjoy the prints and textiles all revolving around plants.

From the artist:

I’ve always been a traveler. Growing up in Chicago formed my love of architecture and water, two recurring themes in my art work. As a high school student, I was awarded a summer, scholarship to the School of the Art Institute where I investigated different types of art. After, receiving an honours degree in Fine Arts/Studio Art from the University of California, Los Angeles, I began a masters in printmaking, but withdrew after a year to make my living producing serigraphs. Life intervened and less artistic jobs followed. I have studied with many well known artists including Garner Tullis, Robert Kitaj, Joe Fleming and Gary Smith.