Colleen Heslin

California Dreaming (2014)

Third floor, located between the Wilson Lounge and the McDougall Lounge outside of the Dean's Suite.

In accordance with Heslin's practice, California Dreaming fuses the ideas of craft and painting in the completed composition. The work is composed of various panels of painted and dyed fabric that are cut, reassembled and sewn to create a forceful geometric canvas.

Exhibition Information

Battat Contemporary is pleased to open its 2014 programming with a two-person show with artists Colleen Heslin and Jen Aitken. Both working with ideas of deskilling and formal material exploration of their own, this show aims to bring together a look at a gestured process of their studio practices and the resonance of its investigation. Within the exploration of traditional and experimental techniques, the two artists are privileging the authority of their chosen material and, by extension, engaging a direct dialogue with the surface, through the idea of collage and assemblage.

Biography

Colleen Heslin's practice investigates medium crossovers between painting, sculpture, fibers and photography. Through an act of reforming, her paintings explore formal abstraction and craft history while exposing the components of the properties of the material. Using dyed collected textile pieces, the artist creates spatial play on the surface. Heslin was the winner of the 2013 RBC Canadian painting competition. She is currently a MFA candidate in Painting and Drawing at Concordia University. She holds a BFA from Emily Carr University in Photography. Her work has been exhibited in Canada, USA and Europe. She is also an independent curator and the founder of The Crying Room Projects in Vancouver.

Biography and exhibition information courtesy of Battat Contemporary