Making love or expecting rain
Ausa Peacock, Courtney Lester
May 6 - 26, 2006
Reception: May 6, 6-8pm


Ausa Peacock, The Knight Effect, oil on canvas 2005

Ausa Peacock
My approach to art is extremely cathartic. I use painting as a means to work out my own deepest fears and confused emotions. Although such work is in a way selfish, I have found that audiences often respond very well to such deeply personal work because of the profoundly human connection it affords.

My work over the past year has dealt with the subject of my own memory. I feel that often my ideas of the self are based on my faith in the power of my memory to record the important events that shape my life and my world. Yet this memory is faulty; it does not record things exactly as they occur. I do not even necessarily retain those things that are most important to me. And what I do remember becomes muddled over time and mixed with other memories, blending disparate events, times, people, and places.

I am interested in how one image can lead me back through a series of memories to something completely unrelated. Fascinated as I am by the multiple meanings that may be found in one remembered image (and how those meanings change when it is seen by others), I have tried to investigate the uncertain, dreamlike quality of memory, and express the way that images can bleed into one another, sometimes so quickly that I do not even notice.

I am seeking to convey through these very personal and sometimes confusing images, the very feeling of a memory, and raise the question of its importance both for myself and for the world.

Ausa Peacock was born in Austin, Texas, where she lived with her moms and younger brother until coming to Queen’s in 2002. She attended a Waldorf school for fourteen years which she believes was what influenced her love of art. Peacock’s parents started her in private art lessons at the age of nine, however it was not until she was seventeen years old that she decided to continue her study of art in university. For the past four years she has been pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Art here at Queen’s and will be graduating with honours in June.


Courtney Lester, Sensing Time: Taking, Feeling, encaustic on wood 2005

Courtney Lester
My work explores the notion of time. I feel that the enjoyment of the time I have depends heavily on how I choose to view the passage of time and which part I focus on more: past, present or future. All three are important, but I am only truly able to access one. I believe that focussing on the moment and noticing the beauty of the natural world gives way to a real experience of time; one that is not dictated by human-made, standard time.

Drawing from personal images, I attempt to render them in a more universal manner and create paintings that speak to the viewer about a unique experience. The paintings incorporate a variety of techniques, imagery, and symbols that work together to reveal the many layers that are present, though often unseen, in everyday. My perception of time influences every facet of my life, from love, family, work, and lifestyle to the way I see the sky for the first time every morning.

A native of Kingston, Courtney Lester grew up along the water and is an avid nature lover. Among her vast repertoire of hobbies and interests, art has been one of her main focuses since a very young age. Despite this fact, it was only after a random comment made by a friend that she seriously considered pursuing Art at a post-secondary level.