Collection: Joanna Balaski

My love of nature was instilled as a young girl through experiences of family campouts and my involvement with the girl scouting movement.  This led me to a career as a forester.

Originally from Ontario but now a long-time resident of Grande Prairie, I have dappled in the arts for most of my life, from sketching lilac bushes as a girl, experimenting with wood carving, to now, painting with acrylics and watercolours.  I am a member of the Grande Prairie Guild of Artists, and Matt Tommey’s mentorship program.  I further my skills by attending a senior’s painting class at the Centre for Creative Arts where some of my work has been displayed. I have also participated in shows at the Beaverlodge Art & Culture Centre, local seniors’ residences, the QE II hospital, the Euphemia McNaught Homestead, the Farmer’s Market Christmas event, and at various Guild events including the Guild’s 35^th anniversary show at the Grande Prairie Golf and Country Club in 2019.

I have attended workshops put on by several talented artists including: Leslie Bjur, Patti Dyment, Shanda Thiessen Fuller, Louanne Hart, Terry Isaac, Emily Lozeron, Heather Pant, Dale Syrota and most recently Matt Tommey’s on-line Artists Rise Up Masterclass this past fall.

My paintings tend towards realism and include landscapes, birds, animals, plants, portraiture and still life. I find that I enjoy painting mostly in ‘macro style’, that is, amplifying the subject in a way that takes up most of the canvas and includes less of the background.

balaskin@telusplanet.net