Cheryl Beillard

Contact by email: cheryl.beillard@me.com

Printmaking is a passion discovered when I was able to put aside three decades of work in international environmental policy and return to my initial career path in fine arts. In the late 60s, I was a student at the Montreal Museum School of Art in Montreal and, for a short time, worked at an entry-level job in commercial art. I put aside my early interest in painting and drawing in favour of political science and a career in public administration, where for many years I had no time to cultivate the joy that art in many forms brings me. I was, however, always collecting art, including many linocuts, and taking photographs.

When I took my first course at the Ottawa School of Art in printmaking, in 2019, I was instantly drawn to linocut and drypoint. It was like breathing again, after a long period of holding my breath. Since then I have worked hard to create a body of work, taking several more courses, but consider myself primarily self taught, drawing heavily on sources online for guidance on technique, and on my inner drive to recreate images that strike me from the natural world. My focus is largely on wildlife, plants and birds, along with the dogs who have always been part of our family and the Norwegian Fjord horses we bred and cared for over the course of twenty years on our farm in the woods of the upper Ottawa Valley. Nature is my deepest connection and source of comfort. I use my camera, which is always with me, to capture the changing seasons, plants and trees that provide the settings for my designs. I often prepare both line drawings and paintings to explore my subjects before taking up my cutting tools to create a print.

With the purchase of a Canadian-made table press and setting up of a fully equipped home studio, I am enjoying the ability to spend time every day bringing to life the ever-churning images that live in my mind, on paper.
As a member of the Ottawa-Gatineau Printmakers Connective, I have participated in a number of exhibitions and am looking forward to sharing my work more broadly in the coming years. In particular, I hope to use my art to advocate for increased education and to raise awareness of
the plight of species at risk in eastern Canada to help to ensure their preservation.

Wake-Robin Farm Studio
613-649-2437