Artist's Biography

Patricia Pelech, a native of Alberta, received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta, and worked for several years in science. In 1977, she started a new career and entered the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1981. For several years she worked in fibre art, adapting traditional Ukrainian designs to contemporary works. Pat taught at the New Brunswick Craft School and the Banff Centre for several years.

In the early 1990s, Pat changed her focus to collage, using a variety of media — watercolours, inks, acrylics - in combination with a range of papers and natural and synthetic materials. The natural world, which provides both physical and spiritual renewal for so many, is the inspiration for several series of works — Nature's Abstracts, Lithology, and Spirit Trees. Her two recent series, Passages, and Growth depict the transitions that all living creatures pass through — birth, adolescence, maturity, celebrations, tragedies, aging and death. Each represents a passage from the present into the future.

Over the years, her works have been exhibited in galleries in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick. Currently Pat's work is represented by the Rowles & Co. Galleries in Edmonton and Calgary, and the Burdette Gallery in Fergus, Ontario. She has works and commissions in private collections across Canada and in England, South Africa, Belgium and Argentina.