Currently, she’s completing her bachelor of fine arts degree in painting at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design.
Woodcock’s fifth art exhibition in Jasper, Glitter on the Horizon, stems from two of her previous arts shows named Horizons and Mountain Glamour.
“So, Glitter on the Horizon was kind of playing with those ideas,” she said. “And the idea of being at the ocean right now and living on the West Coast, and that kind of sparkle on the water.”
Her work is influenced by her physical surroundings, something she didn’t recognize until another local artist, Greg Deagle, mentioned it at a past show.
“[He] actually pointed out that a couple of my paintings were so West Coast because they didn’t have the blue skies in them and I was like ‘wow I never even thought of that.’”
Woodcock also works with kitsch in her pieces. Kitsch is the incorporation of materials not considered fine art, like beads and fabrics. “It’s because art is an object,” she said. “When you finish a painting, it’s this thing that you can pick up and move around.
“Putting objects in the objects, I like the idea of artwork working in a decorative way, and that just exaggerates the decoration of art.”
One of her paintings at the exhibition is of an elaborate high heel, and the work represents her interest in the polarity between feminism and femininity. “A high heel makes you feel taller and stronger, but it also kills your feet and makes it harder to get around.”
Woodcock’s eyes were opened to art outside Western culture during a two-year visit to Thailand two years ago. She helped establish an art program at a private school in Bangkok and noticed that artists take a more skills-based approach.
“I learned a lot about the subtlety in details of art that is sometimes lost in Western art, just that determination or discipline of perfecting something.”
Woodcock will re-visit her teaching roots in July when she returns to Jasper to teach a kids art camp. It consists of four separate sessions over two weeks and caters to children from kindergarten to Grade 6, but she may also include a session for older students.
“I always enjoy doing it,” she said. “Kids are really good at not having a plan and just making art of art.”
Woodcock looks forward to the kids using mixed materials and “mediums that include sand, silicone or sparkles and then adding paint over top or using charcoal with watercolour and [having] these surprise outcomes.”
Those interested in the kids art camp can contact Woodcock at [email protected]. More information about Woodcock and her art is available at .
