Ashleigh Bartlett’s (she/her) art practice is informed by a fascination with abstraction and questions that arise from the historical trajectory of painting. Her studio process involves developing a visual language through quotation, collage and translation. Bartlett’s curiosity about painting is rooted in the unexpected inclusion of things that don’t easily fit together. This includes what is interpreted as representation and what signifies abstraction. She continues to investigate painting’s ability to be performative, physical, bodily, fast, slow, strategic, improvisational, conceptual and intuitive. Her involvement with painting is a negotiation between planning and impulse, and the contingencies that arise in the process.
Bartlett has shown her work across Canada and in the USA. Her work has been exhibited at YYZ Artists’ Outlet (Toronto, CA), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, CA), Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (Kitchener, CA), Ortega y Gasset Projects (Brooklyn, USA), Five Points Gallery, (Torrington, USA), and was included in the 2015 Future Station: Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art. Her collaborative projects with Jessica Groome have been exhibited in the Re-Happening at the historic Black Mountain College campus (Asheville USA), at the Kamloops Art Gallery (Kamloops, CA) and Felt Galleri (Bergen, Norway).
She is the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Emerging Artist Award, and a finalist in the 16th RBC Painting Competition. Bartlett has received several grants from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her work has been collected by Global Affairs Canada, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Royal Bank of Canada and Scotia Bank, including numerous private collections. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Guelph.
Bartlett has participated in numerous international residencies including, Eastside International ESXLA (Los Angeles, USA), Elmo’s House (Philippines), Konstepidemin (Sweden) and Tao Hua Tan (China). Bartlett lives in Mohkinstsis (Calgary), where she currently maintains her studio practice and teaches at the Alberta University of the Arts. She is represented by TrépanierBaer Gallery.
Crescent Moon, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 64” x 54”.
Crescent Moon, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 64” x 54”.
2024