To my great delight, I work for a company that takes me to the Arctic every summer. I get to re-experience places I’ve been and discover new places. The grandeur, the colours, the people, the tundra fill me with sights, sounds, and smells to last until the next visit. And so I paint in my studio, trying to impress onto the canvas or paper all that captivates me. While I paint, the anxieties that plague me are at bay, and I feel, for a moment in time, at peace. Even joyful. The Arctic gives back to me over and over and I want to share those feelings of joy, awe, peace, and beauty. And I want to urge the world to take heed and take care; we need the Arctic and it needs us.

As I explore Nova Scotia, seaweed is a balm for my soul: orange, purple, and green prevail. I am swaying, moving, and breathing in the salt air. I am alive. As are we all. Some estimates state that seaweed provides 70% more air than land plants and also absorbs carbon very effectively. More so than trees. So begins the quest to paint more and learn about seaweed.

 

 

Carolyn Mallory lived, worked, and raised her family in Iqaluit, Nunavut for 12 years from 1999-2011. It was love at first sight and her heart has never been the same; the Arctic has touched her deeply. While in Iqaluit, she wrote two books, Common Plants of Nunavut, co-authored with Susan Aiken, and Common Insects of Nunavut. She has also written Painted Skies, a picture book for children.

Carolyn returns to the Arctic in her capacity as a resource staff person onboard the Ocean Endeavour with Adventure Canada most years. Along with her naturalist duties, she gives watercolour painting workshops. Since autumn 2019, Carolyn has been part of Tides Contemporary Art Gallery in Kentville, NS. The gallery changes the artwork on the walls monthly and this has pushed her to expand her watercolour practice into oils, which she is enjoying immensely. In 2023, Carolyn had a solo show, Colours of the Arctic, at ArtCan. In 2024, she had a two-week artist residency at Hammer and Sky on Brier Island. Her love of seaweed was heightened while in this amazing place. Her work has recently been accepted at Teichert Gallery in Halifax.

In 2024, Carolyn became a fellow of the Canadian Geographical Society. She loves to talk about Canada and her travels in the North whenever the opportunity arises. Carolyn’s detailed work often offers a perspective on a small part of Nature, a flower, a lichen, a bird. But she also showcases larger expanses of Nature because she truly feels it is in both the largesse and the minutiae that we are all connected.