“I really wanted to incorporate a lot of my background growing up in Newfoundland into my artwork,” says Brittney Stuckless, “but I also wanted to incorporate my marine biology education.”
Brittney’s studies influenced her artistic interest in sea creatures. “I worked specifically with echinoderms, like deep-sea sea-stars, and gastropods, like marine snails,” says Brittney. “so I like the weird animals. I like cephalopods like squids too!"
This is reflected in the animals that Brittany chooses to paint. “A lot of the pieces have animal fun facts in the descriptions. For example, the piece, ‘Constellation’, is a bunch of sea stars, because a group of sea stars is actually called a constellation, just like the stars in the sky.”
One of the most striking paintings in the show features an image of a skeletal whale caught in old fishing equipment.
“The piece, “Ghost”, was really the piece that jump-started the theme for the exhibition,” says Brittney. “It is a painting of a whale entangled in ghost netting. Ghost netting is the term used for fishing gear that has been discarded or lost. It is a specter of a whale; you can see its skeleton. It is a painting of a ghost whale in ghost netting.”
Brittney is hoping the exhibition will inspire people to feel, learn, think and share their thoughts about the environment. “With this piece, “Ghost”, being available in a public space I hoped that it would spark conversation about environmental issues,” says Brittney. “Sixty percent of the plastic in the ocean is discarded or lost fishing gear. Very few people in the general public understand the impact that fishing gear causes when it is lost.”
Brittney’s exhibition will hang in the Open Gallery at RAC until Jan. 15, 2025. “It is exciting for me because this is my first solo exhibition and my first professional exhibition,” says Brittany.
“I am very grateful that I have had a lot of support so far with my art, especially from the local community. Hopefully in the future I will do more shows, but I am very grateful to have had a full solo exhibition so early in my art career.”
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