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Lynne Saunders
was born and educated in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She
displayed early talent for art by drawing cartoons of family and friends, as well as designing anything from "high fashion" paper
dolls to "billboard advertisements" while in elementary school. In grade 5 she won art lessons at the Art Gallery of Greater
Victoria where her interest was further encouraged. The next year she received oil paints as a gift for Christmas and began
painting representational subjects outdoors in junior high school, but had little time to paint while combining part time jobs
with school.
Point mouse on images for details about the photos.
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After high school graduation, Lynne attended the University of Victoria,
graduating in visual arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Degree in painting and design. She had mixed feelings about completing this degree and wanted to change faculties
after the first year, but parental influence
convinced her to stay in the program. Her misgivings about the program were confirmed after graduation, as she struggled
to find related employment and to continue working on her painting. She lacked direction in her art and found it difficult to
maintain meaningful employment that offered more than minimum wage! An assortment of low-paying jobs, working in
art galleries and as a display person in a department store, ensued. However, during this period, she tried different things with her art and had two exhibits, one in Vancouver, a show of watercolours with Herbert Siebner, and an exhibit of drawings in a Victoria Gallery (Toy Series Drawings). Also, she sold 2 tapestries to the Provincial Government Collection as well as an oil painting. But the sparse sales and low-paying jobs finally discouraged Lynne enough to return to university, renouncing all interest in ever becoming a successful artist! At university again, she completed an internship program in teaching and began her first teaching job in Calgary, Alberta, at the age of 34. She had sworn to herself that she would never work at her own art again and would be content in sparking others' creativity. A fortunate thing happened! She was requested to teach only 3-dimensional art in a large high school and began a sculpture program in clay modelling. Knowing little about clay, she began the first term teaching grade 12s to do life size portrait busts! A foolishly ambitious assignment to start with, but the results were surprising! |
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Teaching sculpture renewed Lynne's interest in creating her own art and
her interest in painting returned. She returned to working in both oils and watercolours, inspired by the
beauty of the prairie landscape. Meanwhile, to improve portrait sculpture, she took classes from an encouraging
teacher/sculptor, Katie Ohe, at the Alberta College of Art. Katie encouraged Lynne to pursue
bronze casting, where she completed her first piece in a bronze casting course at Red Deer College. While still teaching high school and painting and sculpting in spare time, another event happened to help further an art career. She married a farmer-rancher, who farmed just east of Calgary. After moving out to the farm, Lynne had more space to work, as well as an inspiring array of subjects, plus the encouragement and help from husband, Marvin Damen. But commuting to Calgary to teach school for the next five years was exhausting! Meanwhile, at the same time, Marvin, was becoming increasingly disenchanted with farming. They decided to change lifestyles, Marvin retiring from farming and Lynne, resigning from her teaching career after 13 years. After moving to Courtenay, British Columbia on Vancouver Island in 1994, Lynne taught part time in the school system as well as adults in her studio later on, but she is now able to devote her attention to her own work without the pressures of teaching! She continues to work in watercolour, oils and portrait sculpture and is a member of the Canadian Institute of Portrait Artists. |
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On beautiful Vancouver Island, the couple took to boating and motorhoming.
The spectacular west coast scenery
enjoyed on their travels, influenced Lynne's painting, especially the unique rock formations and arbutus trees indigenous to
the islands. Lynne is constantly experimenting and trying new things in her work, striving for originality and improvements in technique.
The most recent example of her experimental nature can be seen in the sculpture,
Garden Goddess
(see sculpture page), a two-faced portrait that was
done this summer for the Canadian Institute of Portrait Artist's National
Exhibit held in Vancouver, B. C. this September.
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