Antoinette Hérivel

Antoinette is a British Canadian artist with roots in the Channel Island of Jersey. She grew up in the UK and moved to Saskatchewan in 1967. During 44 years of living on the prairies, Antoinette was engaged in building her art career and a variety of arts related occupations in education and fine arts. She has recently moved to Vancouver after 13 years on the Gulf island of Gabriola and is presently planning new work. Antoinette describes herself as a "visual storyteller" . Her work has always been inspired by lived experience including personal narrative, family history and domestic interests through observation, memory and imagination.

Drawing and painting are both integral aspects of Antoinette's work. She paints with oils, gouache, watercolour and occasionally egg tempera. Her drawings incorporate a variety of media and painted paper collage.

Antoinette holds several degrees in Fine Arts and Arts Education. She is the recipient of Saskatchewan Arts Board grants and took part in a mentored residency in Wells BC and a study program in Italy and Greece with the "Aegean Center for the Fine Arts". Antoinette's work has been exhibited across Canada and occasionally in the US. She has exhibited in public and private galleries and is represented in public and private collections in Canada and the UK. Work in public collections include: The Saskatchewan Arts Board; Canada Council Art Bank; The City of Regina; The Regina Hospitals Foundation: Universities of Saskatchewan and Regina; Sony Music and H.R. H. Prince Edward's Royal collection, UK.

In the last few years, Antoinette has made work focussed on autobiography and memoir, including looking at life as a pre-teen in the 1950's UK through paintings and a series' of narrative "diary" like drawings with text on paper depicting incidences from the artist's life within it's larger social and historical context. Some of these works can be seen on the artist's website, but are presently not for sale.

Her most recent work consists of a series of paintings in tandem with the memoir drawings based on family, personal experience, old photos and anecdotes, often with a humorous twist. These are painted in oil on canvas or paper, as real or remembered incidents interpreted in a "folk tale" manner. She has recently begun writing about her lived experiences and observations as an artist through a newsletter which she is planning to reformat as a blog, both available through her website.