“Echoes of Elizabeth Bishop” Gallery: Artist Profiles

The next several posts will profile the artists who are part of the inaugural exhibition in the "Echoes of Elizabeth Bishop" art gallery connected to the permanent Elizabeth Bishop exhibit in St. James Church in Great Village, N.S. Elizabeth Bishop wrote: “Something needn’t be large to be good.” While the space for the gallery is relatively small, we are tremendously excited about the opportunity to show the work of some of Nova Scotia’s amazing visual artists, all of whom have a lively and expressive vision.

As mentioned in previous posts, the inaugural exhibition focuses on artists from Colchester County. Perhaps the best known of these artists is Joy Laking, whose studio in Portaupique, N.S., (just up the road from Great Village), is a destination for many locals and vistors from all over the world. Joy was involved with the EBSNS for a number of years, in particular, she was a driving force behind the society’s EB100 Arts Festival in August 2011 and she initiated the banner project.

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 Joy Laking

Joy Snihur Wyatt Laking was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, in 1950.  The daughter of an artist, she graduated from the University of Guelph with a major in Fine Art in 1972. Since that time, she has lived and painted professionally in Nova Scotia.  She has exhibited provincially, nationally and internationally including a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, which was subsequently toured for a year. She is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists, a founding member of PLANS (Professional Living Artists of Nova Scotia) and she has served two terms on the Board of Governors for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. In 2009, Joy received the Halifax Progress Club Woman of Excellence Award and in 2012, she received the Queens Diamond Jubilee Metal. She was the 2016 recipient of the Port Bickerton artist residency.

Joy has an extensive and colourful website: http://www.joylakinggallery.com/