Summerside -
"I live by waves. Waves are what I like," said visual artist Lucie Bellemare about her latest exhibit, "The Woman of the Wave" currently on display at Eptek Centre in Summerside.
"I am always giving myself to a subject," said Bellemare. "Then I spend an entire year researching and exploring it."
Her subject of "waves" is her interpretation of big and small waves that she, and people around her, had to overcome in 2009.
"These ones are of a sound wave," said Bellemare, as she points to two of her paintings in the exhibit. "These are well known Acadian musicians."
Another wave that inspired a piece of Bellemare's art was someone's health struggle.
"I knew a man who had to get open-heart surgery. That was a very big wave for him," she said as she described the largest piece of art in the exhibit.
Bellemare explored a different technique for her current exhibit.
"This year I chose to work with encaustic," she explained.
Encaustic painting is a combination of bee's wax and pigment mixed together.
"If you touch it you can feel wax," she said.
Bellemare described her painting method as a "fast gesture". She said she is able to complete a piece of art in as little as one day. But she does admit to spending more than 10 months on a single piece. That piece is worth $6,000.
Bellemare is also being featured off-Island. Life-size figurines she made for the 2004 Island deportation exhibit at P.E.I. Acadian Museum are currently being showcased at Gallery Restigouche until May 15.
Other artistic methods on display include acrylics, oils, sand and seashells.
Bellemare is a Quebec native who moved to P.E.I. 13 years ago as a teacher. Having been an artist all her life, she soon realized she was in the wrong profession. Ten years ago, Bellemare left teaching and became a professional visual artist.
She now resides in Abram's Village where she owns Back Woods Studio.
"The Woman of the Wave" will be on display at Eptek Centre until April 11.
