Bio
Peggy Bell, AOCA, BEd. Is an abstract painter from Toronto, now living on the stolen lands of the LÉ™k̓ʷəŋən, Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, or what is currently known as Victoria, BC. Peggy studied painting and printmaking at the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1982. A student of colour, she had the opportunity to develop this strength with Francois Thepot.
For eighteen years Peggy taught elementary and high school art in Toronto. Teaching strong design principles to students had an impact in her developing creative work. Upon retirement in 2016 she immersed herself in the traditional settler representation of landscape. Since 2019 her practice has shifted into the visual language of abstraction. The turn to abstraction speaks to her evolving consideration of boundaries, borders and forms related to the foundations of being.
Peggy now works daily in her studio as a member of Rockslide in Victoria. Her work is increasingly a dialogue with surface and materials – an artist’s artists’ approach to possibilities within a limited range of media preferences. The choice to explore environmental impact reduction with respect to the use of plastic (acrylic) and wood is currently introducing shifting media possibilities and applications.
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Artist Statement
Peggy explores abstraction using acrylics. What is seen and felt about her global and local environment has a hand in determining her choices. She lives in a city, in a troubled world, not far from stunning but threatened nature, and the work evokes these accordingly.
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Limiting tools and materials allows her to dig deeper into the possibilities that present themselves. The capabilities of the medium influence her responses. Painting is a meditative and purposeful act of meaning making. The process involves a continuous series of choices that speak to previous decisions. the resulting art objects are, although influenced by many who came before her, uniquely her own.
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Peggy Bell
CV
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Solo Shows
Arc Cells, Gallery Merrick, Victoria, BC, December 2023
Evocations, Errant ArtSpace, Victoria, BC, April 2022
Urban Canopy, First Unitarian Church, Toronto, ON, October 2020
A City of York Portrait, City of York Municipal Building Gallery, Toronto, ON, 1994
Group Shows
Metchosen Art Pod - Still Life, Metchosen, BC, 2025
Xchanges Members' Exhibition & Open House, Victoria, BC,December 2024,
John B. Aird Gallery - Abstracts 2023 Online Show and Publication, Toronto, ON, September 2023
Rockslide Studio - Open Studio Tour and Holiday Market, Victoria, BC, Dec 2023
Rockslide Studio - Open Studio Tour, Victoria, BC, April 2023
Rockslide Studio - Open Studio Tour and Holiday Market, Victoria, BC, Dec 2022
Rockslide Studio - September Open Studio Tour, Victoria, BC, September 2022
Moss Street Paint In with Errant ArtSpace, Victoria, BC, July 2022
Twist Gallery - Surfacing: Emerging Artists from Project Art Toronto, Toronto, ON, June 2022
Propeller Gallery - Salon 16: Love is in the Air, Toronto, ON, February 2022
Errant ArtSpace - Winter Warm-Up,Victoria, BC December 2021
Errant ArtSpace Member’s Pop Up, Victoria, BC,- June 2021
Huntsville Art Society, Members Show, Huntsville, ON, 2020
The Print Show, Gerrard Art Space, Toronto, ON, April 2020
Artists of the Limberlost at the Summit Centre, Huntsville, ON, February - May 2019
Artists of the Limberlost Studio Tour, Lake of Bays, ON, August 2017, 2018, 2019
The Plein Air Show, Gerrard Art Space, Toronto, ON, July 2017
What a Relief! Woodblock Printmaking Exhibition, Gerrard Art Space, Toronto,ON, July 2016
TDSB Art Educator's Exhibit, Propeller Gallery, Toronto, ON, 2013, 2014
Cedar Ridge Creative Centre Members Show, Cedar Ridge Creative Centre, Scarborough, ON, 1997
A Muskoka Thanksgiving, represented by Suzanne Musters Fine Art, Huntsville, ON, October, 1995
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, ON, 1982
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Education
Visual Arts Education Specialist, York University, Toronto, ON, 2006
B.Ed. York University, Toronto, ON, 1999
AOCA Ontario College of Art, Toronto, On, 1982
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