>>REVIEW
A FINE LINE: WORKS BY DENNIS BUDGEN
Runs until January 7
Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts
From the tips of his pens and pencils, illustrator Dennis Budgen has created a diverse and wondrous world.
A Fine Line: Works by Dennis Budgen, now on view at the Triangle Gallery, is an exhibition of more than 100 pieces that provides an overview of the career of this award-winning Calgary-based illustrator.
While still a student in the 1970s at what was then the Alberta College of Art, Budgen was already showing the promise that would lead him to become one of the most sought-after illustrators in the country. His student project, Clowns, included as part of this retrospective, is executed with authority and style.
After working in corporate and editorial illustration, Budgen returned to his rural roots. Raised on a farm outside Edmonton, he has retained his deep connections with nature. From detailed studies of flowers to careful pen-and-ink drawings of the birds and animals that live in the Arctic, it is the wilderness areas of Canada where this illustrator finds his inspiration.
River Bank Animals, depicting the birds and mammals of Fish Creek Park, was Budgen’s first professional job creating an illustration with a natural history focus. This activity launched the artist into a series of nature-based projects including work for Parks Canada and seven illustrations for a book with a paleontology theme entitled The Land Before Us, published by the Royal Tyrell Museum in 1995.
However, it’s Budgen’s Baffin Island Sketchbook that is perhaps his crowning achievement, each drawing sensitively rendered and astonishingly lifelike. Budgen has spent much time in Canada’s Arctic and his love of the place is obvious in these fine drawings. Contemplative, while still loaded with visual information, it’s clear why five of them were included as part of a double-page layout in the 1995 edition of Communication Arts Magazine.
After nearly 30 years as an illustrator, Budgen can still be found outside with sketchbook in hand. His most recent project, parts of which are included in this exhibition, is to create large interpretive panels for Killbear Provincial Park in Ontario. And the story they often relate is of the constant stress experienced by nature due to the impact of human activity upon it. Across Canada, nature is under threat from encroaching development, even in some provincial and national parks. But Budgen has listened to the creatures and is now telling their story with pen, ink and paper.
A Fine Line: Works by Dennis Budgen is the last in a series of shows at the Triangle Gallery being presented to celebrate Alberta’s centennial. |
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