| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Maureen Harvey is a prolific painter who works in both small and monumental scale, on murals and stage design, and employs a range of media including watercolours and oils.
Harvey’s strength lies in a fine and delicate touch which results in wonderfully rhythmic lines, matched only by her quirky approach to colour and pattern. She plays with ideas and perceptions of space, and entices the viewer into her compositions by creating a sense of magic or illusion in her work. This illusion exists in painted figures seemingly on solid ground, but actually suspended in space; or figures sitting comfortably, but without a chair - feet dangling or bodies crouching.
Harvey is detailed in her process, and creates dozens of sketches prior to each colour study, with some sketches very loosely drawn, and others more detailed and finished. This process allows her to focus on the visual issues she likes to explore, including composition, space, and colour.
Harvey received her BFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1961. Her work is in collections throughout Alberta including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the City of St. Albert, the Grande Prairie Hospital, and the Alberta Oil Sands Equity. She has exhibited at Harcourt House in Edmonton, as well as the Bowman Arts Centre, Fringe Gallery, and in the Works Festival in Edmonton.
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