Chalynne Cowan

I have had the privilege of being an art teacher abroad in South Korea and China. Teaching, making, and exploring art gives me joy and satisfaction. I have been constantly inspired by the students, colleagues, and artists I work with. Exploring cultures within Asia has given me new perspectives on my home culture. Much of my art reflects my contemplation about home, nature and social structures.

These are a series of artworks made between 2019-2022.

Civilizations: water and transportation is a layering of metro maps of places I've lived, road maps, drawn images of plumbing and water vessels, and gold leaf abstractions of rivers. As I travel, I marvel at how we move and develop cities and infrastructure.

Values - features the twelve social values promoted within mainland China, the hand gestures for numbers 1-12, and the guides used when learning caligraphy.

Marsh, Beaver, Moose, Northern Interior, and Vancouver Island combine familiar Canadian animals with the Hudsons Bay Company's long-established corporate symbol. I am privileged to have grown up on Vancouver Island in the Cowichan Valley. The traditional unceded land of the Quw'utsun, Malahat, Ts'uubaa-asatx, Halalt, Penelakut, Stz'uminus, & Lyackson Peoples. I am thankful to be connected to a place with diverse histories, stories, and perspectives and a vastness that humbles and focuses the soul.

Antler, Reach, and Flow address cycles of autumn.

Fungi paintings and digital designs are a response to ongoing research into their diverse hidden forms, fruits, and communication methods. I am learning so much from how they move, build, and consume.

Species is a booklet inspired by my time at University. It utilizes graphite, maps of BC, gold leaf, and coloured pencils. I included abstracted patterns from pine beetles on one side and tree stumps with seeds and leaves of common trees on Vancouver Island and southern BC.

The Self-Portraits are examples from my high school art classes. We explored identity, value, power, and narratives, using the grid method to improve our accuracy with either ink or graphite.