Stephen Hutchings

Stephen Hutchings was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1948. He received a B.A. in Art History from the University of Toronto and attended the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) in the early 1970s.

Hutchings’ paintings consist of a charcoal drawing, which is the element that separates him from the typical painter. The energy of a drawn image is masterly mixed with soft and dramatic oil tints presenting depictions of heightened light qualities. Hutchings’ essence is a master of Chiaroscuro: an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on the artist’s chosen subject matter.

“Time is a critical element in this new body of work. Not as a means of measuring the passing of moments, breaking them down into seconds, minutes, hours, years, but as a subjective state of mind, a mental melting-pot where memory, awareness and hope are blended together.

The reality of the images lies not in their mimesis of the outside world, but in their evocative description of an internal sensibility. A brush comes alive through the application and subtraction of charcoal on a blank canvas, building up the dark rich shadows or scratching away at the charcoal base to shape and define the edges.

The images of trees, bushes, shadows, and skies are derived partly from photographs, partly from sketches in the field, partly from memory - shaped into forms that suggest a balance, an aesthetic harmony, perhaps an internal rhythm that exists in the painting alone. Along the way, the work engages with issues that include repetition, sequencing, identity, illusionary depth, and the nature of the painted surface.” -SH

Hutchings' work can be found in numerous museums, corporate and private collections in Canada, the United States and Europe, including; Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, NB; Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, BC; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, ON; Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB; Museum London, London, ON; Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, ON; The Banff Centre, Banff, AB; University of Toronto, Toronto, ON; Air Canada, Department of Foreign Affairs; Four Seasons Hotel, Milestones Restaurants, Calgary, AB.

Stephen Hutchings currently lives and works in New Brunswick.