Please visit us between July 7th through August 2nd to view Vancouver-based Helen Gedde’s beautiful gold bird paintings.

ARTIST STATMENT: My work is a practice of observation. Whether contemplating how a garden is put together or observing how a plant grows, seeing the small details in living things brings a daily joy.

My current work, The Goldbird Variations started from a conversation about Verdi’s Golderberg Variations. (First published in 1741 and originally written for harpsichord. First performed by Johann Goldberg). Wouldn’t a Goldbird variations be fun to do? And the idea stuck and took hold and has not let go. So began my opus.

Each time I paint a bird is a meditative practice of looking. The world disappears as I translate my observations into paint. Each bird begets a personality as I look and wonder what it is saying or thinking. This personification will perhaps begin a thread of caring consideration to the plight of birds today. A huge decrease in the population of songbirds Vis a Vis habitat destruction, tall building strikes and mauling by domestic cats is a devastating blow to the ecosystem.

The fate of birds may seem an unimportant problem when the world is dealing with huge dilemmas in these unprecedented times but I feel it is important not to lose sight of what is in front of us, singing their hearts out.

If the viewers find themselves able to connect with these new found feathery friends, that are usually so fleeting in their appearances, my job is done. Their momentary presence in body and song is a joy I don’t want to live without.

I want to think again
of dangerous and noble things
I want to be light and frolicsome
I want to be improbable and beautiful
and afraid of nothing
as though I had wings.

Mary Oliver

A portion of sales will go to the bird sanctuary in Burnaby.