Odelle Walthers

For the past couple years my artistic practice has largely focused on birds. I am originally from Calgary, but completed my BFA at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Since moving back to Calgary this past summer, I have continued to work with predominantly birds as my subject matter and continue the practice that my degree laid the foundations for. In university, I made shaped, wooden panels to use as the surfaces for my paintings using a CNC machine and a laser cutter. Since moving back to Calgary, I have been painting on more canvases while figuring out other, less expensive ways to make shaped paintings.

My fascination with birds, which has largely extended to take over my painting practice, stems from my tendency to birdwatch and daydream as a child, which eventually turned into birds becoming a sort of “other” for me to position myself against. As well, I am fascinated in the idea of “Queer Ecology” and find that there are several instances of bird behaviours in nature that challenge the more conservative notion of nature as “straight.”

Since moving back to Calgary I have been focusing much more on “mundane” birds, the magpies and pigeons that people spend less time appreciating and observing. My hope for these bird paintings is that the audience can sit and spend time looking at the same birds they overlook in their day to day, and foster more of an appreciation for those that they take for granted.