Artist Statement - Richard Boulet

Where to begin? I would like to situate my hand work among the desires of the many people who know the simple and heartfelt rewards of working with their bodies. We can all celebrate life via the heart and yes, my hand crafted approach to art can include the use of the occasional machine for making.

> My parents encouraged me to work with my hands as I was growing up. Apparently I liked to draw and colour as a child. Paint by numbers to latch hook rug kits were provided.

> My BFA painting professor for 3 years was Don Reichert. He was a father figure to me. As a young man I did not have the words to truly talk about what I was up to but Don taught me to trust the deep connections between my hands, my arms, my body, all in motion to my heart. Don first grounded me, then taught me I could thrive in my own way.

> We all have barriers in our lives that test our resilience. One cannot compare apples to oranges but we need help to create a vital life. Sometimes living and coping is served best by just a simple awareness of the rhythms of the everyday. That understanding of the moment at hand and its place and its passage can be crucial in being able to survive substantial hardship.

> I am remembering when I first read Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric"

> and when I first read aloud segments of John Cage's "Empty Words". I was living in liberty. 

> I admire Anna Torma's stitching and Kenneth Patchen's painted poems. I also love when community comes together with shared purpose. lluminated manuscripts before the printing press or Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Basilica come to mind. I also admire the slow-stitch philosophy of Claire Wellesley Smith and her desire for sustainable living.

> So much about life is to have a congruent understanding of oneself. This is usually viewed as taking time and much quiet reflection but I also realize young children can access their own cosmology complete for their needs on a moment’s notice. They just need a few certainties in place but who doesn't?

> To close, saying “Thank-you” to the cosmos now and then, and a “Thank-you” for being alive as a human never really hurt anyone. A simple gestalt counts.

Richard Boulet lives and works in Edmonton. He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Architecture (1983) and a BFA (1987) both from the University of Manitoba School of Art, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, as well as an MFA (2006) from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Boulet’s solo shows include A Retrospective, curated by Lycia Trouton and Kenzie Housego at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, and RAGE HOPE, curated by Dick Averns at the Nickle Galleries at the University of Calgary and has another retrospective touring Canada currently, curated by Wayne Baerwaldt.