Gabriela Hirt is a full-time German-Canadian artist who came to the West Coast of British Columbia more than twenty years ago as a professional travel journalist and writer. Always inspired to create,
Gabriela discovered her true calling when she first picked up a paint brush while living on a sailboat in the Mediterranean for a year in 2014.
Gabriela's desire to share her experiences, confusion, and wisdom in an intuitive way sparks a process of childlike experimentation. She seeks the surprise that awaits when you let go of the outcome. Drawing from her long relationship with words, paintings often start out with stream of consciousness writing. Large gestural moves, intuitive mark making and a process driven studio practice help her tap into the body's knowledge extracting the stories that want to be told.
Her paintings are mostly figurative abstractions, sometimes whimsical and playful, sometimes mysterious or pensive - depending on the day. “I draw inspiration from what touches me - a stranger’s particular posture, a memory or something that happens in the world or in my life. What I am most interested in is our human experience, which to me, essentially, is all about connection and its painful opposite: separation.”
Gabriela works primarily in acrylic, mixed media, and collage on paper, cradleboard, and canvas. She lives in Victoria on Vancouver Island with her partner, two teenagers, and her puppy Ella.
MEMBERSHIPS
Gage Gallery Arts Collective, Victoria
Federation of Canadian Artists, Vancouver, Active Member
SHOWS
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"DREAMSCAPE" - group show, January 202, Gage Gallery, Victoria
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Winter Small Works Group Show & Sale, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Massey Sales Gallery, Nov. 7, 2020-January 31, 21
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Federation Gallery, Vancouver, "Crisis", October 5-18, 2020
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"INSIDE OUT" - A Playful Exploration of Self, Process & Expression in Acrylic, Ink, Glass & Wire with Deborah Leigh and Tanya Bub, Aug 18-Sept 15, 2020 The Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC
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Art Rental & Sales Summer Small Works, Aug 2 - 15, 2020, online show by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV)
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"Social Distancing" August 2020, online show by the Federation of Canadian Artists, Vancouver
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Group Show "Out of the Silence", June 30-July 11, 2020, The Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC
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Window Pop Up Solo-Installation "8 minutes and 46 seconds" in response to the police murder of George Floyd trying to grapple with racism in our world, June 8 - 14, 2020 The Gage Gallery, Victoria
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Summer Group Show & Sale, July 10 - August 22, 2020, Victoria Arts Council, 1800 Store Street
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Challenge Crisis with Creativity - organizer of 12-weeks community online art project to help people cope with COVID-19
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Challenge Crisis with Creativity - The Exhibition at The Gage Gallery, June 23-27, 2020 curator, organizer and participant
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"Looking In - Looking Out" Juried Online Exhibition, April 21-May 31, 2020, Federation of Canadian Artists, Victoria Chapter
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"Abstracted", March 3-15, 2020, Federation Gallery, Vancouver
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CLWAC 123rd Annual Open Exhibition of Women's Art, The National Arts Club, New York City
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2020 Active Member Exhibition, Federation Gallery, Vancouver
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Art Gallery of Greater Victoria: Winter Small Works Show & Sale (2019), Summer Small Works Show & Sale (2020)
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Group Show "Solstice Dreams - The Poetry of Winter", The Gage Gallery, Victoria, BC
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Contemporary Art Gallery Online's 2019 All Planet Earth Art Competition and Exhibition
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The Sidney Fine Art Show, Sidney, BC (2018, 2019)
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The Sooke Fine Arts Show, August 2019, Sooke, BC
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The TD Gallery Paint-In, July 2019, Victoria, BC
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SPAC Arts Exhibition, Sidney, BC
"
Broken pieces belong to my work. They are coming to the surface, wanting to be looked at with curiosity. My desire is to connect. By tying together the many layers of marks on a canvas, by gluing ripped up paintings into a colourful flower or by re-arranging broken tiles, I tell a new story. This reminds us to embrace the rift, and find ways to link up even the most antagonist elements to a surprising new whole.
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