Judith Currelly once wrote: "Painting is my way of trying to comprehend and come to grips with the nature and meaning of existence." From the distance of a pilot over the past 30 years, she has observed the landscape patterns of remote northern regions -- the Yukon, Alaska, northern British Columbia and Ontario. Her flights far above the land and her passion for biology and the intricacies of nature infuse her semi-abstract paintings with a mystic reality.

In Living Systems, Currelly explores the interrelated conditions, patterns and structures that occur between land, sky, water and lifeforms. Painted with humility and vision, the images feel warm and welcoming rather than cold and distant. She captures the delicate hues and subtle textures of ice flows, northern lakes, tundra and boreal forests, and the simple forms of animals and birds inhabiting these isolated areas. Her complex images pay tribute to the dynamic interplay of living systems, from the tiniest ecosystems to the nested hierarchies of air, land, water and living creatures.

Judith Currelly was born in Toronto and studied at the Ontario College of Art. She attended graduate courses in Fine Art at the University of Victoria. She earned her commercial pilot's license in 1976 and spent years flying a tiny two-seater bush plane surveying bears, wolves and caribou in the Arctic. Currelly continues to fly her Piper Supercruiser during the months she spends in her studio in the Yukon and spends her winter months working in the Gulf Islands.

The Diane Farris Gallery has represented Judith Currelly in solo and group exhibits since 1989.