SUBMITTED PHOTO
Medicine Hat artist Colleen O'Brien is seen at opening night of her recent exhibition in Istanbul.
cbrown@medicinehatnews.com@MHNBrown
From Medicine Hat to Istanbul and many places in between, life as a traveller and painter has been pretty good to Colleen O’Brien.
O’Brien is recently back home after her latest artist-in-residency stint, this one in Turkey’s largest city. Medicine Hat is where her heart is, and has been for about 50 years, she said. The city has had an immeasurable impact on her as an artist.
The local art community has always meant a lot to the longtime member of the Medicine Hat Art Club. She was both a student and instructor at Medicine Hat College. In between she earned a fine arts degree from the University of Lethbridge and a master’s in art education from UVic in Victoria. She has fond memories of taking her four children to city hall once a week to draw together. And today some of her paintings are hanging downtown on the walls of her son Lee’s chiropractor office.
After being raised on both coasts, being in Medicine Hat was a learning experience for O’Brien when it comes to art.
“I learned to find beauty everywhere,” she said. “Even though it looks a little dim sometimes I can always find a crocus blooming.”
That ability to find beauty has landed her artist-in-residency positions in Ireland, Italy, Morocco, and Canada, as well as the just finished Istanbul one. She said the most recent one is always her favourite, but each has made its own impact.
For instance, her own heritage made the Ireland one particularly special, while being surrounded by some of history’s greatest works in Italy was a high point. The exhibition that came with the Istanbul stint was especially professional, she said.
She’s still coming down off the high of the Istanbul experience so has only begun to think about her next adventure. But Rio de Janeiro is a possibility.
She’s painted in each of the other six continents and wants to check South America off the list.
Another list she’s still working on is painting everywhere WestJet flies. It’s a challenge another of her sons, a pilot for the company, suggested years ago.
“I started that but WestJet grew way too fast and now they go to way too many cities,” she laughed.
