Examining the paintings in Facing My Demons: The Art of Discovering Self and Becoming an Artist, one quickly realizes that the Peter Ross exhibition is like time travel.
Currently on view until Feb. 17 at the Cornwall Library Art Gallery, the show is as much about the creative journey as it is about the work itself.
From the aquamarine painting of the artist standing amid a cornfield to a fiery self-portrait exploding off the wall in brilliant yellow and red hues, the exhibition is about a young man trying to find his way.
For the P.E.I. native, that journey began in 1998 while he was attending the Dundas Valley School of Art in Ontario.
He was 28 years old. And it was a trying time.
“The act of trying to realistically represent myself forced me to come to grips with who I was,” says Ross, who is now 40.
First, he had to admit that he wasn’t the artist he thought he was and that he needed to ask for help to achieve what he wanted.
“When faced with this, the doors to enlightenment were opened to me. My instructor, who seemed to be waiting for me to reach this point, offered me the instruction I needed to finally reach this goal,” he says.
Suddenly having direction and an objective, he became extremely productive, completing several pieces in three months that were exhibited at the year-end art show for students at the school.
“Through this experience, I began to gain confidence in my skills of observation and drawing which translated into every area of my life.
“I began to write better, sing and play instruments better and live better,” he says.
It also gave him the confidence to start a new venture.
“After managing a Starbucks (in Ontario) for three years, it gave me the confidence to (move back to P.E.I. and) start a new (construction) business,” says the owner of Ross Ventilation in New Haven.
But most of all, it compelled him to continue on an artistic path.
Along the way, Ross is inspiring others, including the exhibition organizer, who is moved by his work.
“It reflects a point in his life where he was growing and somehow art gave him the tools to define what was important to him,” says Ruth Cassidy.
The exhibition also reveals the artist’s ideals.
“When I look at Peter’s work, I find that his values are centred around his creator, his spirituality, his family and being a human being,” she says.
At the gallery, Ross points to Dad, a central work in the show.
“I painted this shortly after my father passed away. I was living in Ontario at the time and didn’t have a photograph of him,” he says.
In the work, a man dressed in a three-piece-suit stands with one hand in his pocket. Placed around him are different images — a crow, a tree, another picture of the artist’s father as well as two ants that are fighting.
“The tree represents life. The ants represent conflict, the struggles that my dad and I had. The crow represents both death and life.
“Doing the painting helped me work through the process of grieving that I was going through,” he says.
His recent work evokes other emotions.
Longing, a painting of a little girl holding a cat, captures a child’s disappointment when she learns that her father wasn’t going to let her take her feline friend home.
Mother’s Day Gift, a patchwork tribute to the hibiscus flower, evokes optimism and joy with its bright colours and floral shapes.
And Atonement, a painting of a cross in gold, blue and brown, generates a peaceful, warm feeling.
“I have a relationship to God through Christ and I’m always trying to incorporate that into my art but not overtly.
“I don’t want to add images of crosses just to say it’s religious. I want it to be something that’s real,” he says.
So he held off using it until recently.
While doing studies in abstract art, he saw how other artists would use it as a symbol in their compositions.
“So I decided to try one. But instead of a traditional cross, I decided to make the (horizontal) branches askew, not symmetrical like they normally are.
“I wanted to make it interesting,” he says.
