| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Born and raised in Calgary, David Cadman is a painter in watercolour and acrylics. He is a graduate of the Alberta College of Art (1970), and studied Colour Theory Painting at Lakeland College (Vermillion, AB). In 2001, he returned to ACAD to earn a Bachelor of Design degree in Visual Communications. He worked as a graphic designer for over forty years, but has pursued his art career full time since retirement. His subjects are primarily forest and mountain landscapes, as well as old farm buildings. He translates to canvas the experience of being outdoors and his delight in pristine wilderness.
His earlier works suggested the encroachment of society on that wilderness, and he sought to capture disappearing rural architecture. Starting with a loose impressionistic approach, his technique features large blocks of colour broken by patterns suggested by the landscape. Creating visual rhythms and using intense, complementary colours, Cadman seeks to release a vibrant and emotional image. He has cited the influence of his graphic design background on his approach to composition and to resolving design questions. One of his series, Spirits of Nature, suggests water, forest and moon spirits, making oblique reference to the imagery of West Coast First Nations.
David is a juried member of the Riverview Artists, a group of twelve local Calgary artists with widely diverse styles; a member of the Alberta Society of Artists (ASA), the Calgary Contemporary Artists’ Society and the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (CSPWC). He has exhibited in many group shows with the Calgary Artists’ Society, the ASA and CSPWC; he has had solo and two-man shows throughout Alberta, including at the Whyte Gallery, Banff. He was featured in the Alberta Society of Artists history, The First Seventy Years, by Kathy E. Zimon (University of Calgary Press, 2000). In December 2015, he was the featured artist on the ASA website. His work can be found in collections at Amoco Canada, The Calgary Real Estate Board, the Royal Trust, EnCana Corporation and Cedarglen Homes, Calgary; and at Pacific Art, Toronto. |