Evelyn Armstrong is an artist born in 1941 in Swastika, Ontario. She received a Diploma in Fine Art with honors in Lithography from the Vancouver School of Art in 1977; she studied Art History as well at the University of British Columbia in 1986 and Cariboo College, Kamloops, in 1994, and studied also at the Kutenai Institute of Art Therapy, Nelson, in 1995, and at Vermont College, Montpelier, where she received a Master of Fine Arts in 1997.
Scope and content
The work consists of a three ring binder containing textual and graphic material, forty- six pages illustrated with colour photographs and colour photocopies, 1997, and including one audio tape recording on cassette, entitled "Flow" by Evelyn Armstrong, recorded at Nicola Valley, Merrit, British Columbia, edited and dubbed at Simon Fraser University with the technical assistance of Robert MacNevin.
Note
The artist stated: "My conceptual framework derives from a selfgenerating process linked with my observations of human interaction with nature. I work back and forth between word and action to transplant non-verbal images into language and bring these images to sculptural form. To be more specific, while working on the frozen surface of Nicole Lake I discovered a sense of being that plays between a psychic space and a literal space. I documented this process work and I made audio tracks of the sound caused by the ice moving. Working from idea to form, I look for materials that hold strong cultural meaning. I use the intrinsic meaning to mold the forms to convey ideas about the human body; to address environmental ideas, and to celebrate life and the libidinal economy. In the document for 'Artropolis 97: Browser,' I write about my experiences over the past year by transposing notes form my journal. I discuss my recent ice work and talk about life, death, and rebirth; and how my work relates to intimacy and emotional craving."
