Residency Program

Terry Campbell

I have been working as an oil painter for the past nine years. I graduated from Rocky Mountain College of art and design in 2005 where I received a Bachelors of Fine arts and a Bachelors of Art Education. I have been showing at Pirate art gallery for the past 5 years.

I have always been amazed by how a picture can tell a story without any words. I found great beauty could be made when the viewer is forced to ask questions. I create questions in my paintings by depicting people who exist in unfamiliar landscapes. It is my belief that people look within their own life and experience to give the painting they are look at meaning. I try to create landscapes that seem familiar to most but where no one can name the exact place. It is my hope that the viewer places them self inside the painting to relate to the people that exist inside. My models are my friends and family. I often taken theses people out the usual garb and dress them in costumes.

All my work depicts an event in my life and the way I felt at the time. To create this work I use people and object as metaphors. I found the meaning other take from my work can be more profound them my original intent. My work has always been a time capsule, a record of the events and people who have come into my life, and my search for meaning and purpose. The paintings I create are usually very large. I always had been drawn to large-scale paintings. Many of my paintings have abstract areas. I found using abstraction with representational figures keeps bringing the viewers back.