"I strive to spread the word of respect for the land and nature, but am not a traditional landscape or wildlife artist. I focus on symbolic representation rather than trying to achieve any level of realism. My parents came from generations of American and Canadian settler farmers but I grew up in the city. My art reflects cultural diaspora and a sought path to religious deconstruction and decolonization. Stylistically, you will see cartoon-like figures and retro-1980s brash colours mixed with prehistoric themes. You will see abstract surreal collaged contemporary imagery mixed with medieval and pre-Christian Scandinavian/Finnish/Nordic-hunter-gatherer mythology.

 

"To paraphrase Edvard Munch, I don’t paint what I see. I paint how I felt in the moment.  There is the need for us to be stewards of the land, water and air, to honour the ancestors who kept a balanced, symbiotic relationship with the land in times past, and  to love and support all of our vulnerable communities today with whom we share these elements together.  Our relationships and our environment are all interconnected."

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Kim Ewin-Gøbel is a visual artist living in London, Ontario, Canada, in past years volunteering with TAP Centre For Creativity, also contracted as a drawing teacher for FTLA, and now working on personal art exhibition projects. 

Kim graduated from Fanshawe College's Fine Art program in 1985, and received a BFA in Visual Art with honours from the University of Windsor, in 1987.

Her paintings, drawings and sculptures reference her Western Canadian Scandinavian family connections, Norwegian travels, primitive thousands-year-old petroglyphs on hiking trails, and an exploration of medieval ruins. Illustrated surreal scenes include a combination of cartoon-like fauvist approaches with an array of applied materials bringing visual and tactile depth. Themes include animism, cultural diaspora,  and autism spectrum awareness.

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Background:

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Children’s entertainment in the form of flashy TV animation, book illustrations and 1960s-1980s pop culture were big influences, which were her first introduction to the world of media arts, theatre and storytelling.  Later in the 1980s in college she was immersed in experimental forms of art making, including Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism and New Media Art.  Figurative forms and story-lines found their way into her images. Kim's art-making was about combining process and materials, but at the same time she had a desire for some sort of narrative to take place. Influenced by 1980s Neo-expressionism using coloured spray paint, graffiti-like elements, and bold winding lines, stylized abstracted figures also continued to make their way into her earlier paintings. 

 

Into the 2010s, seeking a closer spiritual connection with nature, Kim attended several local open Annishinaabe sweat ceremonies.  These experiences fueled her compassion to learn about the historic, systemic marginalization of aboriginal peoples in Canada and Sapmi in Northern Europe and the struggle for minorities as they fight to protect their cultural identity. She also struggled with a personal diaspora of cultural identity, being from a family in the Canadian Royal Air Force, and having a childhood where the family moved often, setting no roots in any one location. Family postings included Marville, Montmedy, France, as well as numerous locations all over western, central, and eastern Canada. She began to research her maternal family history of Scandinavian and Finnish settlers who had homesteaded in rural Alberta, and who had come from coastal fishing and farming communities in central and northern Norway, the Vasterbotten region of Sweden, the indigenous lands of Sapmi, and several small villages in and around Laihia, south-western Finland. 

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In Kim's mid-50s, a survival of breast cancer brought her to a more internal spiritual search in her art-making. Many characters in her paintings have their eyes closed in pensive reflection, and meditative thought. 

 

Retiring after a thirty-one year long retail career in 2017, Kim had more time to explore scientific, historic and anthropological content that soon filtered into her artwork.  In 2019, she looked for a new theme to explore besides the decorative florals, landscapes, and pet portrait commission projects which the local London artisan scene embraced.  An environmental, spiritual/animist focus was inspired by a trip to Norway in May of 2017, where she was able to experience the incredible beauty of her family's ancestral villages in and around Frosta, the fjords, forests, local wildlife, and timeless prehistoric rock carvings.

 

In the late 2010s, Kim returned to a larger canvas, deciding it would be a more comfortable size for a next series of paintings for the 2019 two-person show, “Connecting with Earth’s Spirit”, collaborating with colleague Barbara Rose, in London, Ontario.  Kim found that a larger sized canvas allowed for more reference material to be incorporated, both boldly and subtly. A few years later in 2024 she re-collaborated with Barbara in a second two-person similarly themed show called "Feet in the Sand". Later, Kim returned to smaller works that lent better to animistic symbolic intent for spiritual dialogue.

 

In Kim's painting "Noaidi with Reindeer Antler", the background trees, moss and exposed roots reflect the woodland near the petroglyphs she viewed while hiking off Petrinebakken Road in the small town of Hell, Norway.  There are collaged pieces of Norwegian grocery packaging (referencing pollutants) incorporated into the painting.  An arrow and dragonfly tattoo lovingly commemorating the unfortunate passing of her young niece Rebecca is drawn on the figure’s left arm.  The Noaidi is not a realistic depiction of a Nordic shaman figure, but instead resembles a mythical female forest spirit in prayer.

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In the painting "The Meeting Tree", there are several metaphorical components meshed together that reference biblical imagery (the burning bush, planted seeds to grow and spread love and goodwill) and local London Ontario history (the Meeting Tree located in the south-west area of London, a nearly 700 year old white oak tree believed to be a meeting place for mid-1800s asylum seekers during the times of the underground railroad). The painting speaks of a theme of hope, loving protection, and communion with Creator. The rocks depicted in the painting reference ancestral wisdom.

 

Many ancient petroglyphs in Norway are outlined in coloured paint for better viewing, so Kim included a red linear component to some of her Norway-themed figurative paintings. She also borrowed again from her younger graffiti art days by using bold, brash unmixed fauvist colours. 

 

Home decor was also a part of personal projects. Kim inherited a wooden vanity chair that had belonged to her paternal Aunt Margaret Ewin Taylor while Margaret lived as a young girl on the Ewin family farm in Harrietsville, North Dorchester, Ontario, circa the 1930s.  The caned seat was missing, so Kim used a shaped piece of wooden panel for the seat and painted a decorative floral pattern along the perimeter. Enjoying painting on wood, she then made a series of smaller 2-D works depicting primitive animist-themed animal icons, using acrylic paint and ink on carved wooden tiles and wooden panels.

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