Georgia Ferrell
Kaleidoscopes
Sculpture
Watercolors
The first work of art I ever remember doing was a
Coloring book picture of a sandy beach with a girl
Sitting with a bucket and shovel beside her. Never
Mind the lines, I think all I did was create great blocs
Of color all over the page.
At summer camp when I was about 6 years old, the
art counselor gave me a tray and taught me to paint
Fracktur, a Pennsylvania Dutch folk art form. I still
have the tray.
I then remember one day in grade two or three while
waiting for my mother to come and fetch me at
school, the teachers gave me a canvas and some
little pots of paint. I painted a quaker for thanksgiving.
I cannot ever remember not being involved with some
art activity, creating door decorations for my cottage
at boarding school or table decorations for holiday
tables there too... And I almost always won first prize
for my work.
After many years teaching physical education, studying
abroad, working as a head coach of gymnastics, I finally
found myself in the creative arts department program at
St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario. Art as a
career was to be elusive still, as I found myself working
at a women’s shelter and then working for a carpenter’s
certification at Algonquin College in Perth, Ontario.
While building my own home, I fell off the roof as I was
putting on a piece of sheet steel. Well, recovery was slow
but allowed me to spend much time with my paints and
brushes. During my recovery, I discovered polymer clay,
and became a sculptor of many things – tiny pieces for
games and chess sets – as well as currently working
on figurative sculptures, some which I call kaleidaladies,
because they hide a kaleidoscope in the form.
Nature and the environment influence me more than any
other muse. My watercolors have begun to depict my
feelings and thoughts about what we are doing to our earth.
However, I find that a bit of abstraction helps me with the
Forms and shapes I use to compose my paintings.
Coloring book picture of a sandy beach with a girl
Sitting with a bucket and shovel beside her. Never
Mind the lines, I think all I did was create great blocs
Of color all over the page.
At summer camp when I was about 6 years old, the
art counselor gave me a tray and taught me to paint
Fracktur, a Pennsylvania Dutch folk art form. I still
have the tray.
I then remember one day in grade two or three while
waiting for my mother to come and fetch me at
school, the teachers gave me a canvas and some
little pots of paint. I painted a quaker for thanksgiving.
I cannot ever remember not being involved with some
art activity, creating door decorations for my cottage
at boarding school or table decorations for holiday
tables there too... And I almost always won first prize
for my work.
After many years teaching physical education, studying
abroad, working as a head coach of gymnastics, I finally
found myself in the creative arts department program at
St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario. Art as a
career was to be elusive still, as I found myself working
at a women’s shelter and then working for a carpenter’s
certification at Algonquin College in Perth, Ontario.
While building my own home, I fell off the roof as I was
putting on a piece of sheet steel. Well, recovery was slow
but allowed me to spend much time with my paints and
brushes. During my recovery, I discovered polymer clay,
and became a sculptor of many things – tiny pieces for
games and chess sets – as well as currently working
on figurative sculptures, some which I call kaleidaladies,
because they hide a kaleidoscope in the form.
Nature and the environment influence me more than any
other muse. My watercolors have begun to depict my
feelings and thoughts about what we are doing to our earth.
However, I find that a bit of abstraction helps me with the
Forms and shapes I use to compose my paintings.