LOVE’S HIDDEN SYMETREES – SIXTY DAYS OF FAME ART EXHIBIT

Love’s Hidden SymMeTrees is the new spring art exhibit being featured by the Culture Summerside Sixty Days of Fame series. It will feature the work of Patricia Clarkin and will hang in the Lefurgey Room of the Lefurgey Cultural Centre in Summerside.

Patricia Clarkin grew up in Ontario and from a young age was enamoured with fabric, design, and nature. In her heart she knew she was an artist. She studied fashion merchandising and while working in the industry continued her studies at the Ontario College of Art in textile design and at Ryerson in colour theory. In Portland, Oregon she studied apparel design. She also studied art history. But, an unexpected circumstance of life took Clarkin in a new direction.

At the age of thirty, she was diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy, and left unable to pursue her fashion career. Clarkin moved to PEI and in 1999 began her journey as a visual artist through the medium of digital art, video and documentary production, and Mandalas. Finally she took up painting. Her husband, Michael, suggested she try painting with watercolours, a medium she had previously avoided fearing her physical disability would not allow her to accomplish the straight lines. But, when her husband gifted her the paper and paints, she embraced the challenge and embarked on the creation of abstracts. She had the foundation in her fabric studies and travels of the galleries of Europe and New York. From there she moved unto working in acrylic. Nature was her focus with the painting of one flower each week. Clarkin spent time connecting with the plant and attempting to capture its essence. Trees made their way into her work as she is surrounded by them in her rural PEI setting. Clarkin now donates the proceeds of her art sales to Treesisters, a UK registered social change and reforestation charity that funds tropical forest restoration.

It is fitting that the exhibit, which will feature some of her many works, is titled Love’s Hidden SymMeTrees. The exhibit will be open to the public, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm, free of charge.