I like to paint. I like the smell of paint. I like the feel of paint. I like the possibilities of colour. I like making things with my hands.
I am gratified by the materialization of a visual idea. What I paint is usually about something, though not necessarily something that can be put into words.
My work is highly attentive to formal qualities: colour, shape and texture. These function in tandem with pictorial representation. They help illuminate conceptual ideas. I have explored visually: the feminine heroic quest; the kaffeeklatsch; portraiture; the Bluestocking intellectual group; place settings and dinnerware as expressions of emotion and commentaries on world events; being the mother of adolescents; time; time and space; and walls. I seek a response from the intellect and senses.
I have a B.Ed from the University of Lethbridge (1980) and a B.A. in Studio Art from the Augustana campus of the University of Alberta (1995). I have had exhibitions in public and private galleries in Yellowknife NWT, Winnipeg MB, Rosthern SK, Calgary AB, Edmonton AB, Lethbridge AB, and Camrose AB.
I live in Edmonton AB, where I paint, knit, garden and ride my bike.
Contact: rhonda.harder.epp [at] gmail [dot] com
Shows & exhibitions:
2021
Art from the Unknown, online exhibition
Lichen Project (in white) // Covered Ground, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife NWT
2017
Green Line // Space and Culture 20th Anniversary Conference: Idea of Place, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB
2016
Walls: Arbitrary Impediments // Rosthern Station Arts Centre, Rosthern SK
Green Line // Global Mennonite Peacebuilding: A Conference and Festival, Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo ON
Scenes From Childhood: Paintings and 5 Lines; Childhood; and Lichens // Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, Winnipeg MB
2015
Walls: Arbitrary Impediments // The Kings’ University, Edmonton AB
2014
Scenes from Childhood – Schumann in Line and Colour // Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre, Camrose AB
2010-ongoing
Just Food // Touring Group Exhibition
2010
Sky Knots, Woman With A Black Dog, Brains Hearts & Stomachs, and The Readers // Home Exhibition, Camrose AB
2008
Time/Space // Home Exhibition, Camrose AB
2007
Time 2 // Rosthern Station Arts, Rosthern SK
Hat Story // Harcourt House Members Exhibition : McMullen Gallery, Edmonton AB
2006
On Time // Home Exhibition, Camrose AB
Why Art?3, Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, Winnipeg MB
2005
Why Art?2, Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, Winnipeg MB
ArtWalk, Camrose AB
2004
Solo Exhibition, Highlevel Diner, Edmonton AB
Harcourt House 16th Annual Members Exhibition, Edmonton AB
ArtWalk, Camrose AB
2003
Dinnerware Emotives and Commentaries // Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, Winnipeg MB
2002
(dis)comfort level Exhibition, Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery, Winnipeg MB
Mother of Adolescents // Rosthern Station Arts Centre, Rosthern SK
ArtWalk, Camrose AB
2001
Solo Exhibition, Mountain Foods, Jasper AB
Great Millennium Wall of Canada Community Arts Project, 5′ x 8′ mural
Place Settings // Ziegler Hughes Gallery, Edmonton AB
Legs // Special-T Gallery, Edmonton AB
2000 Retrospective, Candler Art Gallery, Camrose AB
The Companion Pieces // Special-T Gallery, Edmonton AB
Peeling // Ziegler Hughes Gallery, Edmonton AB
Casting Off, contributor to exhibition created by Janet Morton, The Museum for Textiles, Toronto ON
1999
Character in Residence: A Portrait Project // Candler Art Gallery, Camrose AB | Sunflower Gallery, Calgary AB | Misericordia Hospital (1998), Edmonton AB
Bluestockings // Ziegler Hughes Gallery, Edmonton AB
1998
Ten Pin, Harcourt House Members Exhibition, Camrose Home Care (E.C.R.H.A. #7), Camrose AB
1997
Into 40 // Sunflower Gallery, Calgary AB
Love My Dog // Sunflower Gallery, Calgary AB
1996
Kaffeeklatch Series // Sunflower Gallery, Calgary AB
ArtWalk, Camrose AB
1995
The Feminine Heroic Quest // Candler Art Gallery, Camrose AB | ANOSA Gallery, Edmonton AB
1993
Papier-Mache Bowls // Sunflower Gallery, Edmonton AB
Commissions & media:
2021
2017
Walls Through template: University of Alberta Press Spring 2017 catalogue cover
Walls templates Set on a Wall 1 and 2, Under, Over, Around 1 and 2, and Through featured in Only Leave a Trace: Meditations, by Roger Epp (UofA Press, 2017)
2012
Bringing It Home: Tomatoes, used on cover of Edible Histories, Cultural Politics: Towards a Canadian Food History, eds. Iacovetta, Korinek, and Epp, University of Toronto Press
2002
Old Main, paper sculpture for Augustana Choir CD cover
2001
Writing Out Loud, logo & book cover
1999
Doors of Camrose, poster
1996
Geochoreography, Lethbridge Alberta Winter Games mural
Education:
1995
B.A., Studio Art, Augustana Campus, University of Alberta, Camrose
1980
B.Ed, ECS Dip. University of Lethbridge