Crystal Beshara | Farmhouse Menagerie (The Teatime Tales)
Oct 5 - 19

Reception: Saturday, October 5 @ 3 - 5 pm, with an artist talk at 3:30 pm
RSVP your attendance to responses@wallspacegallery.ca

WALL SPACE GALLERY is proud to present “Farmhouse Menagerie (The Teatime Tales)”, the latest solo exhibition by Crystal Beshara. In this exhibition Beshara fuses her fine art background with her fondest childhood memories in portraits of farm animals. From regal ewes to clumsy Highland cows, Beshara delves into allegorical tales of rural life and ideas of urban sprawl with a deep slice of nostalgia. Beshara’s oil paintings and watercolours feature many of the animals that populated her own childhood home growing up on a farm.

This series in particular is infused with inspiration from Beatrix Potter and
Richard Scary; spaces where Beshara’s younger self felt she could interact and even converse with the animals around her.  Within these stories, animals would give insight about their lives, habits and behavior outside of the basic domesticated characteristics and traditional roles we see them in on a farm. Their personification developed empathy, compassion, and deep curiosity within Beshara.

When I was a young farm kid I was enthralled by the animals on our farm. To me, these ponies, chickens, ducks and cows were an extension of our family. My memory is a deep well, rich with imagery. I recall my sister and I attempting to wrangle our spirited baby goats as they wriggled and bucked their way out of our arms refusing to be contained.

- Crystal Beshara

“Farmhouse Menagerie” draws its influence from such experiences. Where everyday animals are juxtaposed sometimes eloquently and at other times awkwardly and clumsily against the human world. It also speaks to the decline in the rural landscape and massive changes in agriculture, both positive and negative. On the one hand, having moved back to the countryside, Beshara sees an increase in young farmers interested in exploring alternative, more humane ways of farming and permaculture. On the other hand, urban sprawl is leading to the elimination of grazing fields and gardens through the destruction of old farms and barns in favour of big steel – industrial constructs and management.

  • Searching for that four leaf clover, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in, framed by Wall Space, $3395
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  • Parlour Parkour, oil on cradled wood panel, 24 x 20 in, famed by Wall Space, $2049
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  • English Breakfast, watercolour on paper, 10 x 10 in, framed by Wall Space, $1050
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Across this body of works, Beshara humanizes the animals who inhabit rural spaces, flipping the script on human sprawl and allowing them to invade our home spaces instead.

- Tiffany April
Curator

"With urban sprawl we are slowly taking over these peaceful pastoral landscapes and with that, the elimination of grazing fields and gardens. What is it were the
reverse? What if our farmyard friends infiltrated our homes, knocked over lamps, helped themselves to our pantry or made a home in our bed? While I do not condone such a concept, admittedly my inner child is quite tickled by the
idea."

- Crystal Beshara

Farmhouse Menagerie (The Teatime Tales) Catalogue

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Crystal Beshara is a Canadian contemporary realist painter and proud two-time winner of the prestigious Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation prize. A self-taught realist, her childhood was spent drawing and observing life on a farm and the quiet, connective world in which she lived. Even after moving to Ottawa to receive her BFA in Studio Arts, Crystal's strong rural narrative continued to play a huge role in her paintings. Her style is a juxtaposition of two worlds; her love of realism collides with her post-secondary studies creating expressive and emotionally charged works that have been collected by corporate, private, and commercial clients.

Beshara is a member of the National Guild of Realism, was the youngest elected fellow of The Ottawa Watercolour Society, and also holds a Botanical Illustration diploma from the Society of Botanical Artists (UK). She has illustrated four published children's books, including her original story "When I Visit the Farm", and has been featured in several local and national publications.