The Maple Ridge Art Gallery opens the new season with a tribute to local artist Kristin Krimmel.
Although she has shown her work regularly in the region, a 40-year survey of her work represents Krimmel’s first opportunity to display the full scope of her painting career.
Always a prolific artist, Krimmel’s mature style reflects the coalescence of a wide range of artistic styles and influences, many of which are represented in this exhibition.
Originally trained as a teacher, Krimmel obtained her degree at the University of British Columbia in the early 1970s. She taught secondary school art for four years before departing for France, where she was accepted at the École des Beaux Arts de Reims.
The gallery exhibition 40 Years features a number of paintings from this period, demonstrating the refinement of Krimmel’s powers of observation.
From this initial grounding period, Krimmel moves on to explore a wide range of preoccupations, which, viewed collectively, uncover how landscape reoccurs repeatedly in her work, alternating between true representation and varying levels of abstraction.
Krimmel has commented herself that, in the past, many viewers have commented on the astonishing stylistic range between each series of her paintings. This exhibition, however, will enable the viewer to observe stylistic traits that appear throughout her career, which is a key rationale for showing examples from such a wide body of work.
After seven years in France, Krimmel returned to Vancouver in 1983 and has lived in Maple Ridge since 2007. Now retired from her career in the civil service, Krimmel has devoted much of her time to teaching, exhibiting and painting.
“In my art practice over the years, the act of painting has been a necessity to me, whether in oil, watercolor or acrylic,” says Krimmel. “Preparing for this exhibition has been a revelation, and I have very much enjoyed working with curator Barbara Duncan to bring to light pieces that haven’t been shown for many years, as well as other works created only weeks ago. I am delighted to have the opportunity to show my work at the Maple Ridge Art Gallery.”