Douglas Dolman Print Biography
 
Artist's Statement
 
In spite of wishes to the contrary, I believe that we are who we are as a result of our real-life experiences.
Among other things, I encounter love, grace, beauty and a sense of wonder in my daily life.
As well, I experience, as others do, the disastrous results of greed, waste, poverty and suffering.
Some days it really does seem as if the world is going mad.
Nevertheless, over a period of many years, I have come to realize that the older I get, the more grateful I become for all that life has to offer.
Notwithstanding the sorrow and the pain and the injustice, life is indeed a gift to be cherished.
So I want to push back against the darkness, and celebrate life in some small way by painting images on canvas with enthusiasm and with light, as creatively as I can.

The paintings begin intuitively, without any particular inspiration or idea.
The paint flows rather randomly at the start but, strangely enough, the canvas eventually begins to take on a life of its own.
After a time, it almost seems as if the painting has taken over and I am painting what the painting wants itself to be.
Only when I give myself over to the painting totally is the result satisfactory and the work right.
I am often amazed, and wonder to myself "Where did that come from?"

Ultimately, at a conscious level, my desire is to reach out to the viewer with a creative experience in paint, and perhaps, at least for a moment, share symbols for states of mind and soul for which there are no words, but which are, nonetheless, true.

May 2005

 
Biography
 

Born: Hamilton, Ontario, 1938
 
Education
 
1957-60 1957-60 School of Architecture, McGill University, Montreal
1961-63 Bachelor of Science, McGill University, Montreal
1964-65 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, School of Art & Design
studied with Arthur Lismer, awarded First Prize in Drawing
1965-67 Konstskolan Idun Loven, Stockholm, Sweden
 
Selected Exhibitions
 
1970 Uppsala Sparbank, Sigtuna, Sweden, Solo Exhibition
1972 Nancy Poole’s Studio, London, Ontario, Group Show “Downtown London”
London Regional Art Gallery, Annual Western Ontario Exhibition
1974 Nancy Poole’s Studio, London, Ontario, One-Man Show “Black/White”
London City Hall, Group Show
2002 Gallery in the Grove, Bright’s Grove, Ontario, One-Man Show “Barriers”
Gallery Lambton, Sarnia, Ontario, Juried Show “LOOK 2002”
2004 Gallery Lambton, Sarnia, Ontario, One-Man Show “Markings”
The Art Company, Toronto, Ontario, Group Show “Summer Breeze”
2005 McIntosh Gallery, UWO, London, Ontario, Group Show “Future Creatives”
Thielsen Gallery, London, Ontario
2007 Thielsen Gallery, London Ontario, Three artists: "Minimal Marks"
Kulturgarden, Sigtuna, Sweden, Two-person Show "From an Island"
 
Represented in private collections in Canada, United States and Sweden.