| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Heather Forbes has had a rich and varied career path, and has been involved in many aspects of the arts. Born in Montreal and raised in Southern Ontario, she has lived in Alberta since 1972. A nurse by training, she started taking Business courses at the Grande Prairie Regional College, but took a single art course at the College’s Centre for Creative Arts, which eventually led to further courses in print-making, fibre arts and art history. Her first paintings were highly realistic and detailed, but she then began focusing on close-up, partial or magnified objects, such as flower parts, in acrylics and coloured pencil drawings. Abundant light and colour were her priorities, as was the process of painting itself. Several paintings, including a detail of a sunflower, were included in a group show which toured Alberta, Womanstrength ’87, part of the Celebration of Women in the Arts festival.
She was also introduced to jewellery-making. She has learned to experiment with the silver pieces that did not turn out as planned, and appreciates the sensuality of the material. This has led to another of Forbes’ ventures, her Grand Prairie studio and commercial outlet, Forbes and Friends, which features jewellery, glassware, ceramic and other items hand-made by local artists. Forbes has played various roles in Grande Prairie’s Little Theatre, as a set and costume designer, producer and occasional performer. Active in the arts community, she is an Alberta Craft Council member, and has served on the Board of the Grande Prairie Art Gallery, where she was a volunteer curator. She has also served as a Board Member of the Centre for Creative Arts where she took her first painting class.
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