Based in North western Ontario, Jennifer Globush has spent most of her life amongst landscapes of industrial gold mining within the boreal forests of Canada. She has an intimate appreciation and love of the people, the abstract landscapes and unique yet everyday objects that result from living in the remote north. Her works in drawing and printmaking capture the individual details of living within a northern community of hard labor, self-sustainability, nature and industrial effects on the environment, it’s people and an ever changing wilderness. These compositions challenge viewers to question their understanding of small town life, Northern Canada, labor in the North and their notions of Northerners in society, while the detailed mark making that is characteristic of her work invites them to explore these people, objects and places personally, making her work a personal accord of life in the North. Globush makes large-scale, detailed drawings and gestural woodblock printed works that are executed through simple layers of charcoal, graphite, ink and oil sticks. She holds a BFA in Drawing & Painting from the Ontario College of Art & Design University, Toronto ON (2010) and has since exhibited across Canada and Iceland. She maintains a studio in the remote boreal forest of Northwestern Ontario. Jennifer Globush was awarded a Finalist Place in the 3rd Edition of the Boynes Emerging Artist Award.

What inspired you to start creating art?

I have been drawing for as long as I can remember but I recall a specific day when I was very little colouring with my mother - it was a Cinderella colouring book and she'd drawn little red crayon circles on Cinderella's cheeks. It didn't look like much at first, then she licked her finger and blended the marks to give her cheeks life. One little instinctive action to make something more realistic made me think I could bring anything to life with tools. From a young age creativity was intuitive but technical skills had to be earned with labour.

What inspires your work now?

The people that choose to live and work in remote northern climates - specifically those working in hard labour jobs; the industrial landscapes of the north and the everyday objects that reflect a life of northern living. A remote community thrives when its residents contribute their skills to making the place and people flourish. I use my skills as an artist to acknowledge, reflect and represent life in Northern Canada ~ shining a light on those that make the north unique.

What mediums do you work in and experiment with?

Drawing, painting and printmaking - For me, the medium has always dictated the style in which I work. with drawing, the tools are technical so the work reflects that in it's realism. In painting, it's about colour and in printmaking, it's about pattern.

Are there any particular brands of art supplies you prefer using?

Conte a Paris charcoal - top quality.

Do you have any particular ways that you work through a creative block?

I live in a remote part of Northern Canada so it's easy to escape to the forest when I have a block.

Can you give any piece of advice to your fellow artists?

Remain honest in your work. It's easy to try and make what's trending in the art world but looking back on an honest life of work that really represents you and what you know will be unique.

How do you manage the need for perfection within your work?

I am a big lover of imperfection in pattern. I have actually burned works that looked too perfect for my taste. However, in portraiture, if I feel like I haven't captured that honest moment of the person sitting, then I start again.

How do you process/come to terms with and even use other people's opinion of your work?

It's a beautiful feeling when someone is able to identify a connection between my work considering I work in multiple mediums with drastically varying subjects - it's a feeling of real understanding. That being said, I am a very blunt person which in turn has given me a very thick skin when it comes to other peoples opinions. I don't mind listening to what others say but there's no use wasting time on opinions when there's work to be done.

To view more of Jennifer Globush’s work

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