Autobiographical drawings can be a powerful tool for self-discovery and resolution. In Margaret Atwood's recent novel, Cat's Eye, painter Elaine Risley returns to Toronto after several years in Vancouver for a retrospective of her work. In the process of installing and previewing the show the artist is confronted with the ghosts of her past and cones to an understanding of its tyrannies.

In a similar way Gail Carney's work on paper uses personal symbolism and allegory to evoke both conscious and unconscious dilemmas. Her personal vocabulary of symbols is not, however, self-absorbed and preoccupied but offers us images that luminously evoke common concerns. (For full curatorial statement see exhibition catalogue attached below)

Gail Carney was born in Redcliff, Alberta in 1947. She graduated from the University of Calgary with a BFA in Ceramics.

Her focus of interest has been on technical matters such as kiln and studio design, clay and glazes. She ran the ceramics studio at the Burnaby Arts Centre from 1978-1983 and was a studio assistant at Emily Carr College of Art.

In 1975, Crney was included in "Five Calgary Ceramists" at the Glenbow Art Gallery, a one-person show at the Dandelion Gallery in Calgary, Alberta and in 1976 in the "History of Ceramics in Alberta" show at A.C.A.