Jane Derby
BIO
I spent my youth scrounging around Harold’s Demolition when it still stood in Kingston’s inner harbour. After graduating from OCAD in 2007, my practice has concentrated primarily on discarded and everyday materials. My work has been shown in Kingston, Ottawa and Toronto, and has won a number of prizes and awards, including the Environmental Spirit Award from the Recycling Council of Ontario. I am an active member of the Kingston arts community, organizing and jurying shows, participating in environmental action and being on the board of the Organization of Kingston Women Artists.
Artist Statement
I am part of the growing movement in contemporary art that uses “trash” as material for art making. I create sculptural bas reliefs out of salvage: wood, household cans, plastic and metal, many of these materials sourced from my recycling box. These are combined with canvas, or embedded in plaster, and then painted or gouged. “What Remains” is part of this series.
Although my work is an implied critique of our current environmental practices, it is the materials, as much as the message, that interest me. I love the transformative effect of combining the richness of oil paint with the debris of our culture, a call to look again at what we discard so easily.
