The Saugeen Times

Susan Bush Donati is new guest artist at Victoria Park Gallery

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Bold, brilliant oil paintings are the signature work of Susan Bush Donati, the guest artist at the Victoria Park Gallery in Kincardine, for the month of September.

The Toronto artist has painted all her life. She grew up in a family of artists where brushes and paints were always available to her.

She cultivated and enhanced this love of art by attending the University of Alberta in Fine arts, Loyola College (Sculpture), the University of New Brunswick (Arts) and Concordia University (English) in Montreal.

Donati loved Ontario the minute she moved here 16 years ago. The beautiful countryside, a diverse people and exciting cities and towns have been her inspiration to paint country and city scenes, as well as portraits conveying mood, in her favourite medium, oil.

Travel in Europe, the Caribbean and Canada has further expanded her scope and artistic vision. Her aspiration and focus are to share her appreciation of life through her work.

She belongs to a number of art groups, has won numerous awards, is past-president of the Mississauga Art Society and chairperson of the gallery committee at Neilson Park Creative Centre. She is represented by Leonardo Galleries (Yorkville), Toronto, is a guest artist annually at Victoria Park Gallery in Kincardine, and also exhibits her work throughout the community at local hospitals, professional offices, and solo shows.

Donati believes that as spectators, we stand at a distance from light and revel in the glory of it. But light is all-encompassing and we should feel we are inside of it and connected to all that falls within its sphere.

"Land, sky, people - each has a designated ray of light that stitches us all into the fabric of the universe," she says. "I believe visual art should enable us to find our places in the light as we yield and relate to its many dimensions.

"We experience a strong sense of belonging - not only to each other but to history, to the moment and to the possibility of a brighter future. To be truly fulfilled, we need to commit to the marriage of light and landscape and people and the earth."