Marica Villeneuve

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Marica completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2017 at York University, specializing in drawing and painting and winning awards in both disciplines. After graduating, she worked as a custom art framer and then as an art and framing consultant. In September 2021 she began working as a full-time artist based in Toronto and recently relocated to London, Ontario in September 2023. Her practice mainly consists of detailed works depicting dreams and daydreams. By combining realism and surrealism, the goal is to make the impossible look possible. Her experience in the framing and design industries influenced her art practice in that interesting framing choices and colour combinations are used frequently in her artwork. In a society where we tend to feel that we are separate from nature, Marica's work aims to highlight the beauty of nature and in some cases, remind viewers that we are very much a part of it, and that it deserves to be appreciated. A recurring theme in her work is combining animals and nature with city or man-made settings to bridge the gap between humans and nature. Natural elements are also combined with interesting colour combinations to emphasize nature's incredible beauty. Using acrylic paint a little differently than most, her paintings are created using multiple, thin layers of paint in order to create a smooth, matte effect so that the focus is on the image rather than on the medium itself.