Bio
Jim Visser was born in Holland. He with his family, with post second war immigration to Canada, settled into farming near Edmonton. In 1999 Jim retired from operating a seed potato farm and became a full time painter. From 1975 through the early 1990s, he studied drawing, printmaking and both watercolour and oil painting at The University of Alberta, Fine Arts, Extension. He attended an artist residency at Emma Lake in 2002. He is a member of The Alberta Society of Artists, Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC, as well as The Canadian Artists Representation Of Canada. He is represented in corporate and public collections, and has been featured in solo shows in Edmonton, Red Deer, St. Albert and Stony Plain.
Artist Statement
To draw or to paint is to engage with a brush or stylus in hand in a movement from the heart. As I look and see I am compelled to express the visual, to interpret the soul of the image of moment or memory. My painting is a perception of light and space, of time and place. I am drawn to the unencumbered regions of the environment of the familiar, the sky as it meets the horizon and the canopy dance over the firmament. My desire is to evoke spirituality of the earth and of the Creators ever moving gift of light and space. A love for the environment moves me to direct my brush strokes to convey the presented spiritual depth. I want my interpretation of our prairies and mountains to express the mood suggested by the entrance of the light and the drama of the sky. The brushes to paper or canvas are my language of expression. Every moment, every day is our Maker’s gift of light into the offsetting dark. My visual voice is a want to celebrate these fragments of moments and time. ~~ Jim Visser