Gillian Coulton’s work is an ever-evolving conversation with the rural landscape and contemporary painting. Coulton grew up on a farm in Treaty 6 territory and is now lives and works in both Treaty 6 and 7 territories. Coulton received her MFA from the University of Calgary.
Gillian Coulton’s artistic practice primarily deals with memory and the ways in which our emotions can connect themselves to and alter our perceptions of the landscapes which we have inhabited. Stylistically the artist’s work focuses on realism as a means of conveying an idea of potential (but undefined) narrative and place, in combination with compositions which bring a certain strangeness through unnatural size, perspective, superimposition of elements, and expressive uses of paint.
Their work is guided and shaped by research into both the psychological understanding of how memory functions, and the ways memory is connected to landscape in contemporary art. The work Coulton creates connects their own experiences embodied through the rural landscape where they grew up, creating a sense of place through isolation and materials. Coulton’s work tries to represent memory in a way that encourages the audience to consider their own perception of memory, while still being unavoidably personal.
www.gilliancoultonart.com
Bringing the magical, natural world inside 
our homes and onto our bodies. I strive to create pieces that encompass the colours and textures of our natural world. In a time when we are surrounded by concrete, I strive to reach through the cracks to bring nature back.
Growing flowers, foraging for colour and sourcing local wool grounds me and connects me to a greater force and inspires me to create pieces to share that bit of magic with others.
I create my art through techniques such as needle felting, knitting, stitching and natural dying. My intentions are to create pieces that will bring joy and then return to the earth at the end of its journey.
I’ve been creatively aligned my entire life. From a very early age, I knew that the literary arts were where I wanted to exist and so.. at the tender age of 22, I dropped out and went meandering around N. America in order to.. EXPERIENCE life and generate stories (and… OH how many wonderful stories I have from that.. nearly 10 years of wanderlust and meanderment).
I have self- published the graphically enhanced literary novel “The Death of Love” which is available through my website. For clarity: it is not “print on demand” .. I actually paid an overseas printer a prince’s ransom to mass produce my novel.
I am, also, known sporadically as The Ocean Cyclist as I am building (right here in Bowness) a Pedal Powered Boat that I will be living in for two years as I pilot it entirely around the planet.. I’m doing this to promote sustainability, clean oceans, and adoption of cycling as a primary method of day to day and lifelong mobility (it’s always worked for me.. and it figures prominently as a key factor in shifting urban areas from wholly unsustainable zones of waste and smog to.. cohabitable and functional spaces). Anyhow.. it’s a long live project that I first envisioned in 1992 when I was cycling from Northern Alberta with hopes of reaching Rio for the Earth Summit.. and I do see a light at the end of the tunnel so.. here’s to adventure on the horizon!
I am also a musician going by the name of The6EXX.. preview, purchase.. all music sales will be used for Ocean Cyclist.. but I do have a cool Video EP that I’m working on.. kind of “industrial folk” (a style that doesn’t exist yet… ) titled “Bitter Springs.”
