GEMSTONE HORSES | Shannon Ford

This exhibition includes original acrylic and gemstone powder paintings, along with original jewelry and sculpture created by past Okotoks area resident, Shannon Ford. A fine art jeweler and precious metal sculptor for over thirty years, Ford's art has naturally progressed into the gemstone paintings. She is a painter whose focus is in expressing motion, time and the shifting of light. Each painting is an individual portrait of a horse with which Ford has personally interacted. The paintings are ephemeral yet contemporary and incorporate layers of precious and semi precious gemstone powders; these powders create an illusory effect that shifts and subtly creates a shimmering, translucent surface. She works intuitively and becomes entranced by the subject; often, she feels, the paintings paint themselves.