Artist Statement

I began my professional life as a touring singer and composer,
but soon the voices of the earth, sky and growing things began also to sing to me,
in vivid colour.

My ears and heart hear lyrics and melody;
my eyes and heart see these earth arias,
full of light, rhythm, movement and vibrant hues.

I especially love to sit in the wild places and experience how trees sway and croon
in harmony with each other, and with the skies behind them and the earth and waters below.

Working mainly in acrylics and watercolour, I look for these energy-filled interactions
and interpret them in non-realistic hues and dancing brushstrokes.

Biography

West Coast artist Eileen McGann has lived and painted across Canada and Great Britain. Born in Ontario, McGann spent summers from childhood to adulthood in the northern woods, camping and canoeing in Algonquin, Temagami and Sioux Lookout. These experiences and a deep connection to trees and to wilderness have informed both her songwriting and her painting ever since. After almost ten years living in Calgary, Alberta in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, she moved to Vancouver Island in 1999 and lives and paints there on Canada's Pacific coast.

In between completing four university degrees in different disciplines, McGann began her career as a touring songwriter and Celtic traditional singer. She has since released seven solo CDs, and garnered grants and awards from Canada Council, FACTOR, SOCAN, External Affairs Canada, the AFA, a CFMA nomination, and a 2002 Juno Award nomination for her CD "Beyond The Storm", which also features one of her pastel paintings on the cover. The Eileen McGann Songbook was released in 2011 by BerLen Musici Publishing, and includes 50 songs and dozens of sketches from Eileen's sketchbooks.

As a painter, she is always drawn to the wild places of her homeland, especially the boreal and coastal forests and the rugged mountains of western Canada. Her mediums include watercolour, acrylic, graphite and pastel. McGann has studied at the Victoria College of Art, as well as with painters Gregg Johnson and Tom Lynch. Her paintings are notable for their intense and beautiful colour, and not-quite realist representations of the trees, mountains, lakes and oceans of this country.

McGann’s paintings appear in collections in B.C., Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Oregon, Michigan, California, France, England and Scotland.