Belliveau, Nadine

Nadine Belliveau is a visual artist from the Baie Sainte-Marie, Digby County, Nova Scotia, where she has been creating professionally since 1971. A graduate of NSCAD, Université de Moncton & Université Sainte-Anne, her contribution to the arts has been as an artist, as an educator at community, school and university levels, as a founder of two galleries,  as member of art associations, as past treasurer of ARCAC, as past chair of the Association acadienne des artistes de la Nouvelle-Écosse and as past representative of the south-west regional members of VANS. She is an active member of Le Conseil des Arts de La Baie and of the Annapolis Artist’s Way Collective. Her paintings explore the yugen essence of nature by means of abstraction and decorative expression and unveil the mysterious, immersive qualities of nature, presenting their inviting and warm environments through textural, layered and large format acrylic on canvas. She has recently shown her work in Nova Scotia, Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I decided to become an artist at the age of 12. I was walking to school and decided that I would work in education and become an artist. My .other had already started me in oil painting, it was very basic. Coming from a small village, there was no formal training. I was fortunate that I was able to go the NSCAD in Halifax. I graduated with a BFA in Ed, and started teaching art in the public school system. I started creating but could not devote too much time while working full time.

It was only when I retired that I was able to devote full time to painting. The journey was long and difficult having to compete with already established artists but I continued with whatever opportunities were opened to me. I was fascinated with large format paintings as they invited the spectator to become part of the viewing experience. Working in series allows me to fully develop the ideas that I want to show and to better develop the techniques best suited for their renditions. I started working in oils but that soon became a heath problem and changed to acrylics. I have been painting professionally for over 50 years and my technique had not changed drastically. I find that it had been purified and my expectations have become stricter. My inspiration comes from a variety of themes, from mystical, to everyday topics, to my environment. 

I work every day in my studio and  feel fortunate to be in a position where I can devote my time to creating paintings. An important part of my process is meeting the many spectators that come to my shows and listening to their comments about my work.