Artist Statement
I am a contemporary outsider artist that believes in the healing properties of the natural environment. I paint landscapes in abstract as an expression of my connection with nature and its ability to provide me peaceful inspiration. As organisms on this earth I believe we are interconnected with nature and highly interdependent.
But as the psycho-social environment we live in today gets ever increasingly complex its effects on us are becoming more pervasive, corroding and sophisticated. However, the energy, peace and serenity of our natural surroundings can provide a way of grounding our senses and healing our minds. I try to capture the interrelationship between my mind and nature as I see and feel it; it’s an expression of my soul captured on a physical medium and in a point in time. Going through the process in itself contributes to balance.
Driven by my own lived experience, I am a self proclaimed arts-based advocate for mental health and strive to demystify and eliminate stigma around these issues. My initiatives in this regard include being the Vancouver Caucus leader for the Artist Alliance for Mental Health, a collective member of the artist-run Gallery Gachet in Vancouver and the Producer and Host of Sound Therapy Radio a peer oriented arts mental wellness show broadcasting on CJSF 90.1 FM and with VCommunity TV on Shaw Cable 4 Vancouver.
I have a true belief in human potential and in the statement; ‘art is a means for survival’.
J Peachy
Port Moody, BC, Canada. September 22, 2011 – J Peachy, local artist has been named Artist in Residence for the Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society (BIMES). The society is a non-profit organization that operates the Mossom Creek Hatchery, a salmon enhancement project in Port Moody that began in 1976 and is now celebrating its 35th year.
McDiagnosis – Drive Thru Therapy is based on a larger body of work in progress called Fast Food Psychiatry, this satirical piece represents the expeditious and somewhat superficial analysis when it comes to diagnosing and dealing with Mental Illness. Not exclusive to the medical system, this thought model extends to general society, family, friends, co-workers and pop-psychologists. Maintaining stable mental health is complex, ongoing and is ever changing with the social dynamics that surround and bombard us. One cannot be ‘cured’ through a fast food approach where somone’s conditions and circumstances are similar to another. We are not people who desire to be treated like numbers in line, nor should remedies be mass produced and replicated.
# # #
Imagine an afternoon creative retreat in Nature.
This workshop is not only open to artists of all types, painters, poets, musicians, photographers, but for anyone longing for afternoon of art activities and soaking up the beauty of a refuge in the woods. We’re kid friendly, bring the family to a creative escape to nature, right in your own backyard.
