Fiona Ackerman

About Fiona Ackerman

Since completing her BFA through Concordia and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Fiona Ackerman has exhibited across Canada and in Germany and France. She received an honorable mention in the Kingston Prize for Canadian Portraiture in 2009 and in 2015 she was long listed for the prestigious Sobey Prize. In 2012, Ackerman spent six months working in Berlin. The Berlin paintings, and the work produced for the exhibition titled 'Heterotopia' at Winsor Gallery were published in a catalogue available through Winsor Gallery and Galerie Steinrötter. Recent projects include a commissioned video projection for the Facade Festival installed at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Ackerman's work is held in private and corporate collections including the Richard Ivey School of Business and Global Affairs Canada.

"While working on a painting over weeks, sometimes months, I am engaged by a paradox: free-fall invention must be met by a careful, sometimes ruthless paring of shapes, forms, patterns. It is not uncommon for an entire painting to disappear. The finished work may not resemble the original at all, yet is imbued with its history and could not have existed without it. I am sustained throughout by the surprise of seeing one element come into play as others are suppressed. The process is spontaneous. I have enjoyed a playful approach with my new paintings, where I allow my brush to explore the endless possibilities of invention." – Fiona Ackerman