Diane Larouche Ellard - Artist in Residence for August

Her practice is anchored in the prairie landscape, with the horizon functioning as both a visual and conceptual touchstone. During the residency, she intends to push this language further into abstraction, allowing layers of drawing, collage, carving, covering, and revealing to remain visible. She wants the history of the surface to speak. To trust bold marks. To allow editing to be purposeful rather than protective. To silence the internal censor and speak with a voice authentically and unapologetically her own.

Biography

Diane Larouche Ellard is a painter and mixed-media artist based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She holds a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan and exhibits her work throughout the province. Her work is represented by Dandelion Art & Framing Gallery and the Saskatchewan Craft Council Boutique in Saskatoon, and by The Gallery at Mattick’s Farm in Victoria, BC.

Larouche Ellard’s practice is rooted in observation of the prairie landscape, with an increasing focus on abstraction, process, and material exploration. Through layering, mark-making, and surface development, her work moves beyond direct representation to explore how the spirit of the land and sky can be conveyed through texture, gesture, and atmosphere.

Working in encaustic and mixed media, she builds surfaces gradually, allowing the history of each piece to remain visible. Her work reflects an ongoing interest in the relationship between process, place, and evolving visual language.