Chimerical Creatures: How We See Each Other and Other Myths is about seeing and being seen. By using imaginary creatures, I remove the usual biases we tend to bring to our appraisals of our fellow humans so that the assessment process is unmoored – we must work harder to arrive at conclusions instead of making snap judgments.
The creatures in these portraits are almost completely abstracted, their “personalities” are communicated through formal qualities such as line, colour, and texture.
This series has come about due to my desire to investigate these types of abstracted forms that have come up in my work over the years. I have always seen them as possessing a presence and identity.
The show is about how we see others and how we see ourselves and how we feel about how we are seen, all of which have taken on more significance since Covid as we have been cloistered and forced to rely on screens to interact with one another.
Social anxiety is also reported to be higher than pre-Covid, which is partly attributed to Zoom calls and people worried about how they look and how they’re being assessed. In fact, the Washington Post recently reported that plastic surgery is up as a result of people not liking how they look on Zoom https://www.washingtonpost.com/road-to-recovery/plastic-surgery-cosmetic-cov
The topics of self-assessment and the assessment of others raised by this series, encourage questions such as how accurately we make these evaluations, what history we bring with us that factors into them, their socially constructed nature, and the impact of these assessments on ourselves and others.
About The Artist
Exhibit list
Carleton University Art Gallery, Community Art Exhibit, 2020.
Rails End Gallery, Solo show (Erasure), Haliburton, 2019.
Clover Food and Drink, Group Show for International Women’s Day, Ottawa.
Cube Gallery, Great Big Smalls Christmas Show, 2018 -2019.
Arts Network Ottawa (Arts Ottawa East - AOE) Gallery, Solo show, (Erasure), 2018.
AOE Selections, annual juried show, 2018.
Galerie Old Chelsea, Solo show, (Erasure), 2018.
Clover Food and Drink, Solo show, 2018.
Cube Gallery, Great Big Smalls Christmas Show, 2017.
AOE Selections, annual juried show, 2017.
Carleton University Art Gallery, Community Art Exhibit, 2017.
Ottawa Art Gallery ART Rentals and Sales, Art and Parcel Christmas Show, 2016.
Ottawa Art Gallery ART Rentals and Sales, 2015 - 2016.
Ottawa Art Gallery ART Rentals and Sales, Art and Parcel Christmas Show, 2015.
AOE Selections, annual juried show, 2015.
Centrepointe Gallery, City of Ottawa, Solo show, (The Inner Universe II), 2015.
Ottawa Little Theatre, Ottawa Arts Association, group exhibits, 2013 - 2016.
Carleton University Art Gallery, Community Art Exhibit, 2014.
Chez Lucien, 2013.
@TheSpace Conference and Meeting Centre, Ottawa, 2013.
AOE exhibit, Shenkman Centre, 2013.
Mill Street Gallery of Contemporary Art, Almonte, Solo show (The Inner Universe), 2012.
Education and Mentorship
Ottawa School of Art, independent studies, Sharon VanStarkenburg, 2018 - present.
Montreal Visual Arts Centre, independent studies, David Lafrance, 2013, 2014, 2016 - 2018.
Montreal Visual Arts Centre, open studio, Harold Klunder, January 2012.
Ottawa School of Art – open studios, Blaire Sharpe. 2008-9, 2011-12.
Toni Onley Project, Wells BC, July 15-25, 2011. Mentors, Harold Klunder and Libby Hague. This was a 10-day open studio with professional artists and emerging artists, in an artists’ community in the middle of the wilds of BC.
Sue Ukkola, encaustic workshop, 2011.
Hedda Sidla, creativity workshop, 2010.
Hedda Sidla, acrylic open studio classes, 2001-2005.
Haliburton School of Art, summer 2004.
Algonquin College, drawing class, 2003.
Awards and Grants
Ottawa Art Association, Spring Juried Awards, 1st prize in oil category, 2015.
Ontario Arts Council exhibition assistance, 2014.
Contact Barb Lougheed
Email: barblougheed@rogers.com
Website: www.barblougheedart.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/barb.lougheed.9
Instagram: www.instagram.com/barb_lougheed
