ASSINIBOIA — “Bloom where you are planted.” It’s a phrase often used to describe embracing life in your surroundings; contentment and peace with oneself in their own environment.
The words can also be used in connection with finding a passion, following a dream or a course with zest. But those dreams - contrary to popular mentality - are not constrained only to those in their youth. Sometimes, one finds their heart’s desire after some years of life experience.
Saskatoon artist Kathy Bradshaw is a fine example of chasing a dream while embracing her prairie roots. She’s an oil and encaustic artist with Saskatchewan themes prevalent in her work, often utilizing found materials such as ancient metal ceiling tiles and barnwood as her canvas.
Bradshaw, who fondly calls Assiniboia her hometown, was a PhysEd teacher for most of her career before completing her first painting at age 40.
“I would draw lots just for fun, but never really painted,” she explained. A serendipitous painting course would plant the seed for Bradshaw, who then decided to obtain and Art degree at the U of S in 2005 - completing her BFA with Great Distinction.
“It turned my life around in terms of career as well,” she said, adding that she ended up teaching art during this time. It introduced an interesting dynamic with her students as Bradshaw was essentially herself refining techniques while teaching.
“I could empathize with them because I was learning, too,” she said.
Balancing full-time work while painting during free time had its challenges, and Bradshaw made the decision to retire seven years ago - allowing for full-time creativity.
The ancient form of encaustic is her primary medium - using layers of molten beeswax and resin to produce intriguing and unique results. The unpredictability of how a piece will turn out is both exciting and stressful as one pours the mix onto a sketch.
“You get some really wonderful happy accidents, but you can also get a real mess because things get out of control really fast,” Bradshaw explained. “It’s serendipity. To a large degree, it’s uncontrollable and that’s what I like about it!”
Encaustic materials are expensive to purchase in-store, with many artists favouring creating their own medium to offset costs. This also enables one to paint large with more volume.
“I learned right from the start how to make my own medium, using bees wax and tree resin,” said Bradshaw. While labour-intensive, the trade-off is avoiding that high sticker price.
Expense of materials, the extra learning curve, and availability of easier to work with mediums mean not many people choose to work with encaustic - which traces its heritage back to the Roman Empire.
“Encaustic is not very common, even though it’s the oldest painting medium used today and stems from 1000 BC,” Bradshaw said. “Most people had never heard of it nor seen it because it was one of those lost arts.”
“Beeswax itself is a natural preservative. I’m using a natural medium, but I’m also preserving something from the past as well.”
Along with the literal preservation properties of the medium, Bradshaw is also documenting Saskatchewan through her content. Utilizing literal pieces of history as her canvas, much of her work draws inspiration from prairie skies and the animals that live below it.
Locals will have a chance to see Bradshaw’s work in November when her show “Coming Home” will be featured at the Shurniak Art Gallery.
“It's a nod to my hometown, I grew up there,” she said. “It’s going to be a lot of pieces that remind me of home and living in rural Saskatchewan.”
Themes of landscapes and big skies with an underlying message of prairie history can be expected from the two-month show. Bradshaw will also be giving an artist talk and demonstration on working with encaustic and is looking forward to meeting up with friends in the area.
