Interview
Teresa McCallum
Teresa McCallum has been immersed in art her entire life, initially, influenced by her grandmother and mother, who were both artists. Teresa’s grandma was her first art teacher when she a young girl. Although always involved in art, she spent most of her adult life as a mental health practitioner and used art as one of her therapeutic tools. She and her clients have created several paintings for mental health homes and facilities. Teresa is torn between two cities: Vancouver, where she was raised and Calgary, where she raised her family. Her art reflects her love of both cities. Textured emotion-driven abstracts are her favourites, but she also loves painting quirky contemporary trees, florals and abstracted landscapes. Teresa loves spending time with family and friends, her pup Murphy, walks in the woods, the sights and sounds of the ocean, and painting the emotions tied to climate, weather events, and memorable places.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I was raised in an artistic family. My grandmother taught me to paint in oils when I was a young child. My mother was talented in many art forms and even my dad, a sheet metal worker, did a number of artsy sculptures. I went to art school initially as a teenager but left it whilst feeling as if I didn't really belong. Interestingly, I put myself through college creating embroidery designs, painting signs and creating menus. During a 40 year career working in mental health, I did art with clients and patients for years, often encouraging folks to speak or share their trauma through art. I've always been creative but it was about 12 years ago, I decided to pursue it a bit more seriously. I love learning about other artists, sharing art with others and I believe we are all artists. We just forgot to keep doing what we did as kids. I'm very involved in the local Calgary art community, and have had a lot of wonderful art experiences. I'm a late onset artist who keeps trying new things and I intend to never quit learning.”
What inspires you?
“I've always been inspired by nature, initially creating thousands of tree and flower paintings. But more recently, I became quite enthralled by weather, water, storms and climate events. I especially love painting the chaos of storms, often noticing the similarity of weather storms and social and political storms. I prefer working on large abstracts or abstracted landscapes.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I try to convey the emotions and feelings during chaos and the aftermath on the surface, the chaos tends to represent weather storms, climate events, wild fires, tornadoes etc. Although these events are frightening and destructive, I like showing the glimmers of light and hope that ultimately occur, following stormy chaos. I'm not a political painter but below the surface is usually a social or political message related to chaos and recovery. At times, I have expressed the chaos and recovery during extreme mental health crises, inspired by my work with individuals recovering from extreme traumatic events.”
How would you describe your work?
“Energetic, evolving, with a hint of destruction and hope.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Vincent Van Gogh, Emily Carr, Tom Thomson, and recent Canadian abstract artist, Pauline Jans.”
What is your creative process like?
“I have two distinct styles but both start with a basic idea, an underlying colour and with the inspiration of music or the sounds of storms or water. After the first underpainting, I use charcoal or ink painted with sticks and then create layers and layers. I love texture so I add a lot of ‘things’ in my art, I create painted papers which I often add to the layers and I write messages and notes in my art. I usually work on a few projects at one time, usually one large piece that might take a few weeks or months to complete, as well as tiny, more graphic type pieces. I use very few colours, and have recently limited my palette to 3 colours plus Paynes grey and white. I never use more than 6 colours in a painting. I tend to work in series. Pieces in a series may be both abstract and more representational but I'll keep the colours and canvas shape cohesive. I do a lot of experimentation in my sketchbook, which often informs the pieces I'm actually working on.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“Artists add to our culture and give us a recording of history. I believe artists should aim to evoke feelings or emotions of a time, place or situation. Art makes sense of things that may be challenging to express in the written or spoken word. I believe artists help to share the thoughts and feelings of a generation or a period of time.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“‘I've been fortunate to have exhibited with numerous local art groups in Calgary. Being the show director for the biannual Palette Fine Art Show has been a wonderful and challenging opportunity, overseeing one of Calgary's largest and oldest art shows. Another very memorable event was spearheaded by Plaid Moose Gallery: Linda French organized 50 artists to create paintings for NEOMA, an affordable housing project which was the collaboration of Inn from the Cold and Home Space. There was an amazing art exhibition, new residents could pick paintings for their new homes, and the artists provided art supply packages to children living in the housing project. NEOMA is a gorgeous apartment style building refurbished from an empty office building. It has emergency shelter, transitional housing, and long term affordable housing. Services are on site and beautiful art is throughout the building.”
Website: www.teresamccallum.com
Instagram: @terrilooart
