A love of forests and an appreciation for the cycles of nature are behind the creation of artworks by Lori-ann Latremouille and Pnina Granirer recently donated to the Faculty and on display in the atrium of the Forest Science Centre.
Lori-ann Latremouile is Vancouver born-and-raised, and describes her artwork as “biophilic”, using E. O. Wilson’s term for the innate love of living things. Since the age of three she walked in the UBC Endowment Lands (now Pacific Spirit Park) and has brought those early experiences in nature to her art.
“In my work the figures and the landscape become one, sometimes fitting together in a way that is encoded by nature,” she says. “It speaks to how we need to be completely integrated with our environment, not separating and commodifying it.”
Lori-ann’s painting Healing the Stream was donated to the Faculty by Carol Robertson. Carol has donated several artworks to UBC, and this is her second donation to the Faculty.
“Lori-ann is one of the most original artists I have seen. She has a unique way of incorporating all the different elements into her artwork,” Carol says. “I have long been a fan of her work and I am honoured to donate these works of art to the Forestry Building which was in part built with funds donated by my grandfather H.R. McMillan.”
In Healing the Stream fish skeletons swim through and around human and animal figures, becoming alive and whole again. “I wanted to show how Nature is forgiving,” Lori-ann says. “As humans, we need hope that we can do it; we can heal the planet.”
Pnina Granirer was born in Romania and has lived in Vancouver since the 1960s. Her work has been exhibited widely in Canada and abroad in both solo and group shows. Her husband is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Ed Granirer, through whom Pnina developed a relationship with UBC. She taught art in the Faculty Women’s Club and in Continuing Education.
Pnina recently donated the diptych Lumber and the mixed-media piece Beach to the Faculty. Pnina’s friend Dr. Eve Rotem has donated Pnina’s diptych Forest Ghosts as well.
All three works feature Pnina’s signature textures and layers. They invite contemplation and careful inspection, as the details add complexity and meaning to the works. In Lumber, for example, a collaged measuring tape from IKEA stretches across the width of the tall cedar in the painting to symbolize the commercial value we attach to trees.
“These pieces are part of a West Coast series that I created in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I love to be in forests, surrounded by trees. I feel like these works (Lumber and Beach) naturally belong in the Forest Science Centre,” Pnina says.
Beach is part of an extensive body of work inspired by the stones of the Gulf Islands and the sense of eternity they convey. Most of the works in this series were exhibited at the Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George under the title Whisper of Stones. They are now in the permanent collections of the gallery.