Leigh Archibald is an award winning mixed media artist and printmaker working with painting, photography and assemblage. Her work examines the impact of cultures, individuals and natural elements upon each other through the layering of images into pigmented wax (encaustic), acrylic, oil and ink media. Leigh studied Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal and continued her education in plastic arts with courses in Soranno, Italy, at the Ottawa School of Art and various master artist workshops. Her work can be found in public and private collections in North and Central America, Europe, the UK and Africa. Leigh has participated in juried shows in Canada and abroad. Some of these include:
- Harmony Arts Festival, juried Group Show, West Vancouver (2024)
- “My Country is Winter” : Invitational Print Show, Festival of the Americas, Holguin, Cuba
- “Impress”: Juried Biennial International Printmaking Show, Stroud, UK
- “Draw Me In”: Brushstrokes Gallery, Ottawa; Juror’s Choice Award
- OSA Winter Show: Bytown and Shenkman Galleries, Ottawa; Best in Show Award; Henry’s Photography Award
- “Woven”: Almonte Textile Museum, juried show; Award of Excellence
- “Selections 2012”, Trinity Gallery, Ottawa; Juror’s Choice Award
ARTIST STATEMENT
My interest in human stories, in the interaction of cultures and the impact of advanced technologies on nature and human life is reflected in my work. I use the layering of images, colours, marks and three dimensional elements to represent the ephemerality of humanity and its works.
Strong ties to the land and its creature inform all cultures but industrialization, technicalization and virtualization have diluted this until it is almost invisible in modern urban environments.
The marks of hand-pulled printing, drawing, and photography express the strength and mystery of the connection to the natural world and its potential for the reaffirmation of the human in urban settings. I use the juxtaposition of contradictory elements including colour to create visual tension drawing the viewer into the perceived struggle, while simultaneously providing resolution and relief.
My work tends to contain symbols and images related to the body and to the human experience, often specifically female experience. Through my art I am attempting to create pieces that draw the viewer into the imaged space, to provoke questions, evoke a sense of mystery and a desire by the viewer to probe meaning.
In terms of technique I use a variety of media and found objects including sand, porcupine quills, rusted paper, newspaper, cloth and more. I often start with hand drawn or photographic images I have taken, work with and manipulate the images, transforming real into symbols, then embedding them in the surface of the painting, print or 3 dimensional work. The surface is manipulated and layered with a variety of media; scratched into, drawn and painted on to create a rich, textured environment referencing the multiplicity and disappearance of cultures, individuals, natural spaces and species as they are absorbed into the urban industrial landscape. My work often references the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi – the idea of finding beauty in the imperfect, in the old, weathered, rusted, discarded, in the natural cycle of impermanence, of growth and decay.
