Finalist Desere Pressey Interview with John Bateman | Salt Spring National Art Prize 2023

BREAK&BLOOM ‘TIDE’
Desere Pressey
Calgary, AB
Size: 15" x 12"
Medium: hand painted & cut Ink on yupo paper, hand dyed vintage wedding dresses & cut up love letters adhered to canvas paper
“Break&Bloom ‘Tide’” is an intricately created web of materials, exploring the capillary maze of the human heart, or the breathtaking corals of a centuries old reef, or the rock growth of the forest floor. The interpretations are so incredibly personal, yet universal. They are sourced from materials such as old love letters and discarded wedding dresses- reminders that grief initiates us into an expanded capacity to know ourselves beyond what is temporary and has been stripped away. The heart breaks to be expanded into a deeper capacity to love.
“My work is instinctual. When I paint, I do not sketch, I simply begin. I am inspired by the stories of others and my own, as well as by my process. The drum of ink dancing across a fresh stretch of canvas. A slow kaleidoscope bleeding into the weave. Each stroke of my brush is an experience, and the building up and burning/cutting/and scraping away of layers is an event. Wandering the topography of my work reunites me with my young curious self. Making art is a devotional practice bringing me into a deeper connection with the whispers of my heart that call me out beyond the boundaries of my mind. Letting go of the safe shoreline of familiar ideas just long enough to grasp onto new insights is a kind of humbling madness that holds the pearly hope of new wisdom. I paint to let go, and in the letting go there I am. Life makes more sense to me when I am making art.”
Deseré lives and creates in her Calgary home with her three children and two cats. Her work is collected locally and internationally. Her training in death midwifery and art therapy helped her to better understand her own healing experiences and inform her as a guide for others to heal through art-making. She also volunteers at AARC (The Adolescent Addiction Recovery Centre) by providing art-making experiences for the youth in treatment. Deseré has a passion for learning and finds nature to be her greatest teacher. She can often be found barefoot on the earth, surrounded by trees, and in the arms of her love. Deseré had the privilege of being awarded a month-long residency and scholarship prize to the Chateaux Orqueveaux in France. Her work has the distinction of being included in the Imago Mundi Collection, Biennale di Venezia Collection, and The Fairmont Banff Springs private collection, and continues to be favourably reviewed by internationally acclaimed art critics.
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