On Jan. 23, the Charlotte Street Arts Centre hosted its first exhibition of the year: Finding Wonderland by Fredericton-based artist Gaetanne Lavoie.
Approximately 30 people came to meet and engage with Lavoie at the exhibit in the Charlotte Glencross Gallery.
Lavoie, curator and educator, has presented her work at the New York Academy of Art and has taught at the Kingston School of Art.
“The act of creating art is spiritual in its nature. I think it’s innately like meditating,” said Lavoie.
The first painting of her exhibit is a woman with a cage on her head. She describes this cage as a limitation where she’s disconnected from her spiritual self. However, in her second painting, the woman is painted holding the cage, symbolizing freedom from restraints.
Stephanie Weirathmueller, one of the artists who attended the exhibition, shared her fascination for Lavoie’s work.
“I just feel like it’s ethereal and the quality of the pieces is so beautifully rendered,” she said. “There’s a kind of freedom, there’s surrealism and realism.”
Being raised in a spiritual family, Lavoie’s main inspiration comes from believing in a higher power that can resonate with her and her work.
“A lot of my work has the same person being portrayed multiple times and that’s because as we go through life, we have different experiences and those experiences can lead to awakenings,” she said.
Lavoie holds two Master’s degrees in Fine Arts, one from the Academy of Art in San Francisco and another from the New York Academy of Art.
She said the blend of the conceptual and traditional art forms from her two degrees was key in developing her personal style of art.
Lavoie hopes to keep portraying higher levels of consciousness related to the human condition through her creative pieces.
The artist describes how her spirituality has paved the way for “beautiful, wonderful, ethereal, majestic experiences” that have merged in her paintings, particularly the Eye of God.
“It’s a beautiful piece,” said Tim Bordland, an employee at the arts centre. “Her eyes tell everything about her and she’s looking at the heavens and the stars and they’re just gorgeous. It comes to life.”
