In the Company of Trees by Stephen Hutchings

Stephen Hutchings was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He received a B.A. in Art History from the University of Toronto and attended the Ontario College of Art in the early 1970s.

Hutchings' work can be found in numerous museum, corporate and private collections in Canada, the United States and Europe including The Beaverbrook Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Museum London; the Winnipeg Art Gallery; The Banff Centre; University of Toronto; Air Canada; Department of Foreign Affairs; Four Seasons Hotel; Milestones Restaurants; Royal Bank of Canada; Scotiabank; Sun Life; Swiss Bank (Canada).

Artist Statement

Time is a critical element in my work—not the minutes, hours, and years we use to quantify and measure time, but time as a subjective state of mind, a mental melting-pot where memory, awareness, and hope blend together.

The images of trees, bushes, shadows and skies find their source in their evocative description of an internal sensibility, not so much in their mimesis of the external world. A bush or a tree comes alive through the application and subtraction of charcoal on a blank surface, building up the dark rich shadows or erasing the charcoal into shapes and edges, revealing the light.

Creating a description of the specifics of a location is not a concern; for me, the work engages with issues of identity, survival, and renewal in a difficult world—and with the ongoing struggle between the forces of darkness and light. On a technical level, I am engaged with mark-making, patterning, illusionary depth, and the nature of the surface of the painting itself.