Lenore Gish is a Calgary-based Canadian artist working in mixed media, The inspiration behind her paintings is people - the everyday people who populate her world.

Gish has always enjoyed the process of creating. She has learned that the magic happens when she combines discernment, her own preferences and. curiosity. It is a journey focused on understanding herself and. connecting with others through the process of making art.

Lenore, a senior herself, has been particularly excited about finding ways to represent mature women in ways that reflect the beauty she sees in aging. She is moved by the fact that women have struggled to feel “seen” throughout history.

She is also inspired by the human form- alone or in groups. “Connections” is her word for 2024. Gish reflects upon the connections we have with each other, with our ‘selves’ and with our past and present. She sees life as messy and layered - as a journey - and hopes all that is reflected in her art process and final works. She embraces realism and abstraction, her rational as well as her emotional sides. For Gish this has led to a process that begins with layering of papers from a variety of sources, her favourite being old books that bring a sense of nostalgia to her work. The next layer is about arranging the shapes within her art work . Then the dance between “thinking” and “feeling” her way through the composition begins. Her love of texture and pattern show prominently.

In Lenore’s words - “ I am acutely aware that I am part of the last generation that will remember a time before computers and television. My choices of patterns and colours speak to fond memories of a farm where there was a wood stove in the kitchen and a pump rather than a tap to bring water in to the sink… lace curtains, china plates, embroidered dish towels, home made cookies in a glass jar, and preserves. That nostalgia is easy to find in my art. It’s at the core of who I am. But I am also a modern woman who embraces new experiences, new friendships, and family. I embrace gratitude and compassion and the knowledge that life is messy. I want to chose “joy” and revel in the art of living.”

Gish is open for commissions.