Color, light and space are the three elements that Lucy cherishes as essential to her well being. Sun falling on a surface, on skin, reflection off of water, casting shadows. Vibrant color that pierces through the grayness of a west coast day is almost like sunlight. The space around and between things, the relationship of one thing to another, the connectedness of all things.

Growing up on the prairies Lucy felt vulnerable under the big sky but loved to lay in the grass and watch the clouds enact dramas. She also prayed for rainy days when she could spend the day with her crayons drawing and coloring, lost in her own world. She was an awkward and shy child, glad to be alone in her happy place.

She fell deeply in love with horses and spent most of her time wandering across the prairies savoring the open spaces and the freedom to dream in her teens.

At the age of 13 Lucy took a class at the Edmonton Art Gallery. She stood transfixed in front of an enormous painting of a horse pulling a wagon laden with hay and children. It was a vast sea of gold and sunshine and she had never seen anything like it. A whole new world of possibility was unleashed.

Lucy studied dentistry at the University of Alberta with the hope of being able to afford to make art on the side. Upon graduating in 1990 she moved to Vancouver Island and immediately fell in love. The mountains and forest embraced her, the ocean soothed her restless spirit and the rain gave her plenty of time to shelter and make art. The artistic community of the Comox Valley welcomed her.

She worked long enough to raise enough money to travel and explore Morocco and Europe. These exotic places made an indelible impression on Lucy’s aesthetic sensibility. The light and the colors of the medinas in Marrakech, the Kasbahs in the Atlas mountains, the architecture, all of it sparking her imagination, like following in the footsteps of her beloved Paul Klee.

Lucy worked as a dentist for 10 years while raising her two children before leaving the profession in 2000 to pursue her art full time. She then devoted herself to developing her artistic voice by taking various courses in the Emily Carr art program as well as in other private art studios.

“The greatest joy comes from the act of discovery, of finding new ways to express my sense of wonder for the world. I love to explore many subjects in my work and find the beauty and magic in them. I strive to make work that is innocent and childlike, fresh and from the heart.”

Lucy works in a studio/gallery situated on the estuary of the traditional territory of the K’omoks First Nation. This powerful place is home to hundreds of species of bird, fish and wildlife and is her constant inspiration. “The scene is ever-changing and its magic flows right through my window.”

LUCY SCHAPPY

LUCY SCHAPPY

Interview with the artist Lucy Schappy

with Alison Watt of Artwork Artplay