MOOSE MOUNTAIN PROVINCIAL PARK - North Portal’s vibrant art scene is about to get even richer as local artist and musician Lindsay Arnold heads to the prestigious Artist Colony of Moose Mountain Provincial Park.
Arnold was born in Rugby, North Dakota and moved to North Portal with her parents, nine months after she made her appearance into the world.
She always had a creative mind, drawing and making things as there was not much else to do in a small town with just over 100 people.
Attending Estevan Comprehensive School, she took drama and piano lessons.
After graduating, Arnold attended Minot State University for one year studying fine art.
After the year she switched to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary and completed the Broadcast Journalism course.
Arnold worked in broadcasting in Victoria, B.C. on an all-talk radio station, but she did not stay in this line of work for long.
While she was growing up, she never had the opportunity to play music with others, so this did not materialize until later in life.
Visual art has always been a part of Arnold’s life, whether it was painting, making stop motion animation, music videos or album artwork.
She married Mike Davis and together they have a daughter Natalie Davis, who also attends Estevan Comprehensive school.
Working with many different mediums Arnold loves to tell a story through her work. She is often shy about speaking her mind in a conversation, but through her work she can express exactly what she is thinking.
Starting a creative project, whether it be a song, painting or video is a time she allows her mind to wander.
“It is what I think it must be like for astronauts to walk in space, you are tethered to the safety of the ship, or in an artist’s case, reality, but you dare to let yourself go and explore,” she said.
According to Arnold, this letting go often only lasts a few moments, but it is enough to create a spark.
Often Arnold’s piece starts with a small nonsense mark on the page or making a slight change to unimportant words to the lyrics of a song. One has to be careful to not over work or stretch the piece out of shape.
Making small landscape paintings and collages of the prairies are paintings of backroad scenery. Layered like strata with clouds, blue sky, pink sky, dark trees at the horizon, bright yellow fields, green fields, and gravel roads.
Her previous work had been very narrative focused, so her new series of paintings is about seeing her surroundings with a fresh eye, and she is enjoying the process.
Arnold has been doing a lot of work with her music and videos, and this was a welcome change to her pace.
Arnold’s daughter Natalie will also join her mom at the Artist Colony, as she too is an artist.
She loves to paint landscapes and is particularly good at drawing faces. She is a busy teenager but will bring some of her pieces as well.
Arnold will attend the Artist Colony from August 13-19 and during that time she will focus on her art, but she might do a little song writing for her group The Last Birds.
While at the Colony Arnold will stay at her parents cabin at White Bear Lake Resort and take in an evening of jamming at the Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party.
