Teresa CULLEN

The essence of my creativity is profoundly influenced from living for 24 years in a natural rural environment, where the understanding of space, light and the natural cycle of life pervades all sensorial experiences, lending insights to perceptions and creative acts. My Buddhist practice & study and my personal connection with both the natural and spirit worlds also encourage those elusive moments where personal myth and reality occasionally merge and a glance of wisdom emerges. These experiences, and many more, poetically inform and transform my thought, vision and movement. I reside in Simcoe County near Barrie Ontario with my partner, Canadian painter Robert Marchessault.

"Vessel forms have both numinous and mundane identities. They are symbolic objects of domestic ritual life and they also have reference to the sensual and spiritual. Vessel forms occupy the stage on which I explore the drama of contrasting elements. These elements include form and emptiness, randomness and order, symmetry and incongruity, static and kinetic, all of which seem to be contradictory energies existing in a supportive field. I find that within this natural field of opposites is a free flowing harmonic essence which underlies all of creation, the universal mother energy expressing her creative dance. To awaken to this underlying essence is to be inspired by the beauty of subtlety and the sublime."

-Teresa Cullen

About the surface

"Teresa's painting surfaces are sometimes intentionally distressed, usually in a minimal fashion and occasionally more noticeably. This alludes to the visceral quality connected with wall painting, and it's historical association with the still life genre. It is also about the 'nuance' of this experience (the visceral sense of wall painting) rather than an intention to fully resemble it. The use of stenciling is a way to activate the more simple, contemplative spaces of colour."

Grants/Residencies

  • 2004
    • Wurlitzer Foundation Artist Residency, Taos, New Mexico
  • 1998
    • Ontario Arts Council, Mid-Career arts grant
  • 1994, 1993, 1987, 1985
    • Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grants
  • 1991
    • Ontario Arts Council, Visual Arts Grant
    • William B. Bruce Travel Scholarship/Residency, Canadian-Scandinavian Foundation

Selected Exhibitions (Solo & Group)

  • 2007
    • Gallery 225, Santa Fe, New Mexico, collaborative works: Cullen/Marchessault
    • Cauldron Gallery, Brantford, On, group show
  • 2006
    • Wallack Gallery, Ottawa, December show
    • Toronto Int'l Art Fair - Trias Gallery
    • Agnes Bugera (solo with Barry Szekaly), Edmonton
  • 2005
    • Group Show, Wallack Gallery, Ottawa Canada
  • 2005
    • Toronto International Art Fair
    • Group Show, Galerie d'Avignon, Montreal
  • 2003
    • Zsa Zsa Gallery, (solo with Nancy Kembry), Toronto
    • Michael Gibson Gallery Inc., (solo with Robert Marchessault) London
  • 1999
    • Michael Gibson Gallery Inc (solo) London
    • Group Show, Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto Canada
    • Transient Nature, Group Show, Art Gallery of Ontario, Rental Gallery, Toronto
  • 1995
    • Thielsen Galleries Inc., (solo) London
    • McLaren Art Centre, Barrie, selection from permanent collection of T.Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound
    • Image & Text: Laura Millard & Teresa Cullen, curated by Brian Meehan, Owen Sound
  • 1994
    • James Baird Gallery, (solo)Toronto
    • OMERS Art Collection, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, .
    • Thielsen Galleries Inc., (solo) London
  • 1993
    • Kanada-Gotland, Konstmuseum, Gotland, Sweden
  • 1992
    • Two Escarpments, Canada-Sweden,Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound
    • Works on Paper, Sweden-Canada, Ystad Sweden. Konstmuseum
    • Brucebo Foundation Anniversary Exhibition. Gotland, Sweden. Konstmuseum.
    • Intuition as Process: Five Artists. Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound
  • 1991
    • Vessels, Walkerton Public Art Gallery, Walkerton, Ontario
    • Urban Refugees, John B.Aird Gallery, Toronto
  • 1990
    • Gallery 291, (solo) Toronto
    • Viewpoints, MacDonald Stewart Art Gallery, Guelph
  • 1987, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1981
    • (solo) Gadatsy Gallery, Toronto

Selected Reviews/Catalogues

  • 2007
    • The Brantford Expositor, May 31, Review by Elizabeth Yates
  • 2006
    • Edmonton Journal, June, Review by Gilbert Bouchard
  • 2003
    • Scene, April 17/2003, Review by Tess Parkinson
  • 1993
    • ArtForum International, November 1993. Review by Laura U.Marks
    • Gotlands Allehanda, Sweden. Septe 8/93. Review by Helene Kornem
  • 1991
    • The Print & Drawing Council of Canada, v.1 #1, Summer 1991. Review by Libby     Hague.
    • The Globe & Mail, Apr 12/91. Review by Kate Taylor
    • A History of Inventions, by Stephen Hogbin. Published by Ginger Press, Owen Sound
    • Red, Black & White. Published by T. Thomson Gallery. Written by Robert Marchessault
    • The Durham Chronicle, May 8/91. Review by James Gillespie
  • 1990
    • The Owen Sound Sun Times, Mar 17/90. Review by Jim Algie
    • The Owen Sound Sun Times, Mar 24/90. Review by Jim Algie
    • Emptiness. Published by T. Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound. Written by Andrew Goss.

Collections

  • University of Stockholm, SwedenCIL
  • Hudson's Bay Co.; Imperial Oil Ltd.
  • Export Development Corp.; Sunlife Corp.
  • The London Club; Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
  • O.M.E.R.S.
  • and private collections, Canada, US, Sweden.