Angela Verlaeckt Clark

Biography

Born in Sherbrooke Québec, Angela’s life has always been one of movement, both geographic and artistic.

Having lived in the UK, the USA and visited extensively abroad Angela appreciates the contribution of diverse cultures to art. The old master’s, as well as, contemporary art have fashioned her belief in being true to herself. In the UK Angela was particularly stimulated by the works of Anish Kapoor, Barbara Hepworth, and Antony Gormley; in the USA she felt moved by the work of Isamu Nagochi, Fukami Sueharu and Joel Shapiro. During a residency in Italy with a master carver, Angela became inspired by Kan Yasuda. Angela’s taste in sculpture is eclectic and sculpture never ceases to move her.

While in the UK, having witnessed her mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s, her sculpture direction focused; her stones became personal witnesses, recording emotional and spiritual connections. Angela donates a sculpture annually to the Alzheimer Society.

Angela exhibited with the Society of Women Artists, in the UK, and the Royal Society of British Artists UK, eventually being short-listed for membership with the prestigious group before moving to the USA.

She had her first solo and exhibited in numerous galleries in London, including Thompson’s Gallery, Marylebone High Street, central London, UK.

She was admitted to the Library and Archives, National Gallery of Canada in 2003.

On her return to Canada in 2009, true to her heritage and in the quiet of memories…her inner stillness, observation and concentration, gave each sculpture a timeless emotional dimension and became a carefully negotiated earth-like landscape, of elegance, strength and endurance.

Angela resides in Ottawa, Canada, and is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists, the National Capital Network of Sculptors, AOE Arts Council, Ottawa Arts Association, and CARFAC.

Angela shows yearly at Toronto International Art Expo, is one of three sculptors chosen for ‘Traces’ a visual art symposium in September 2014 in Québec.

Recognizing her poetry enhanced the abstract art form she favours, each sculpture is accompanied by an original poem. She has self-published a book of her poetry and sculpture entitled ‘Folds of Life’.

Angela began sculpting at L’École des métiers d’art de Québec, in Québec City as a representational sculptor, moving to stone and marble abstract forms, later, at the Ottawa School of Art. In her quest for technique, she studied with sculptor Donald Liardi in Gananoque, John Sadler at the Ottawa School of Art and then pursued a residency in Italy, with master sculptor Gaetano Gizzi.

Creative and imaginative, Angela gravitated toward interior design at university; it taught her the need to be organized and disciplined, skills now evident in her sculpting techniques.

In 2013, her sculpture ‘Purity’ received a distinguished award in Toronto, with the Society of Canadian Artists at the J D Carrier Gallery.

In her words life is about being passionate, being engaged, seeing beyond the visible, being enlightened and the ensuing natural progression of art.