Destanne was admitted to the Master of Fine Art degree during convocation in August 2009 at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia. Destanne's passion for nature and wilderness has inspired her on adventures to paint the Rocky Mountains in Canada and to kayak the rolling waves on the Tasman Sea. Life experiences have taught her to ride the waves gratefully.

Destanne received a BFA (Honours) Degree in Painting and Drawing from the University of Victoria in 1987. After ten years of raising a young family and managing a cabin resort in Jasper National Park, Destanne began to pursue her passion for painting full-time. Primarily an oil painter of landscapes, her practice and work was based upon her direct experiences in nature while on adventures into wilderness and natural environment areas. She was very fortunate to have Doris McCarthy, one of Canada’s highly regarded landscape painters as a mentor, and also contemporary landscape painter, David Alexander.

As Destanne’s career progressed she partook in workshops and artist-in-residence programs; she became a juried member of the Alberta Society of Artists; she was represented by three galleries in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan; she participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in both public and commercial galleries, in addition to various special projects; and her paintings were purchased by many international private collectors and may be found in corporate collections, including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Consulate General, Japan.

Destanne’s love of a challenge and the journey led her to leave the Rocky Mountains in 2003 to pursue post-graduate research at the University of Tasmania in Australia. One of the four strengths of the University is Wilderness and Natural Environment Studies, where a strong link and concentration exists in the University of Tasmania School of Art. While living and studying in Hobart, Destanne exhibited her paintings at the Entrepot Gallery at the University of Tasmania and in a group exhibition entitled, Propinquity and Distance, which was curated by Mary Pridmore, at the Carnegie Gallery in Hobart.


Upon returning to Canada in 2006, Destanne moved to Vernon, British Columbia, to live, paint and complete her MFA studies. Destanne's MFA research project entitled, painted pools: a lens into subjectivity, explored the concept of water as a metaphor for life. Selected works from the water series project were exhibited at the fina Gallery at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2008.


Destanne's painting, Temperance, has been curated into a group exhibition, ROW: Reflections on water, at Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History from September 12 to November 22, 2009. Curated by Deborah Thompson this is 'an exhibition about water and its symbolic associations'.
Website: www.touchstonesnelson.ca


Landscape and place, embodiment, Romanticism, alchemy, and metaphor and symbols in material culture are Destanne's research interests.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Education

2009     MFA Degree, University of Tasmania, AU
1987     BFA First Class Honours Degree, University of Victoria, CA

Solo Exhibitions

2008     Selected Paintings and Projected Images – Painted Pools:
             A Lens into Subjectivity, fina Gallery, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, CA
2005     Painted Pools: A Lens into Subjectivity, MFA Graduation Exhibition, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, AU
2004     The Feeling of What Happens, Entrepot Gallery, Hobart, AU
2002     Recent Paintings, The Gallery at JPL, Jasper, CA
2001     The Rockies Larger than Life, The Gallery at JPL, Jasper, CA
2000     New Landscape Paintings, The Gallery at JPL, Jasper, CA
2000     Alberta Passages, Kensington Fine Art Gallery, Calgary, CA
1996     Leah’s Gift, Sunrise Gallery, Jasper, CA

Group Exhibitions

2009     ROW: Reflections on water, Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History, Nelson, CA
2007     Green, Juried Members’ Exhibition, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, CA
2006     Nucleus, Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, CA
2004     CAST Annual Members’ Exhibition, Hobart, AU
2004     Propinquity and Distance, Carnegie Gallery, Hobart, AU
2002     Converging Landscapes, Leighton Foundation, Calgary, CA
2001     Annual Members’ Exhibition, SA Public Art Gallery, Salmon Arm, CA
2000     In the Artist’s Eye: Mount Alberta, Jasper Museum, Jasper, CA
1999     Reflections of Jasper National Park, Jasper Museum, Jasper, CA
1998     Annual Members’ Exhibition, SA Public Art Gallery, Salmon Arm, CA
1995     Wildlife, Landscapes and Wildflowers, Jasper Museum, Jasper, CA

Traveling Exhibition

2001.2003     Blooming Prairie, Alberta Foundation for the Arts Traveling Exhibition
                      Juried Exhibition from the Alberta Society of Artists Produced by the Edmonton Art Gallery

Collections

Acrobat Results Marketing Inc.
Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Bennett Jones LLP
Canadian Farm Credit Corporation
Consulate General, Japan
Finning Canada
Parks Canada, Jasper National Park
Sherritt Greene
Simpson’s Num-Ti-Lodge
Whistler Hotel
Private homes in Canada, USA, Asia, Australia, Europe

Commissions

1997.1998    Prizes Men’s Mountain Classic Golf Tournament,
                     Private Commission

Workshops and Artist-in-Residence Programs

2007     Strategies for Teaching Art, Professional Development Workshop,
             Gallery Vertigo and the British Columbia Arts Council, CA
2001     Brewsters’ Artist in Residence Program, Columbia Icefields, CA
2001     The Leighton Foundation, Visiting Artist’s Program, Rocky Mountain Ranch, CA
1999     Gushul Studio Artist in Residence Program, Blairmore, CA
1998     Brian Ayteo Workshop, River Rock Studio, Cochrane, CA
1997     Art by the Lake, Georgian College, Barrie, CA
1997     Canadian Society of Watercolour Painters, Jasper, CA

Awards and Grants

2004     Graduate Research Support Scheme, University of Tasmania, AU
1997     Arts Jasper Scholarship, CA
1993     Arts Jasper Scholarship, CA
1986     Victoria Arts Council Bursary, CA
1986     Academic Scholarship, University of Victoria, CA
1985     Academic Scholarship, University of Victoria, CA
1985     M.H. Mooney Fine Arts Bursary, University of Victoria, CA
1984     Credit Union Foundation Bursary, University of Victoria, CA

Selected Bibliography

• ‘Row: Reflections on Water’, (curatorial statement), Deborah Thompson, Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History
  
  
• ‘Visual artist’s exhibition features six-foot square pieces’, Christine Pilgrim, The Daily Courier:
  Vernon Edition, 10/10/08
  
  
• ‘Artist takes a dive in her painted pool: Life continues to flow for Norris’, Kristin Froneman,
  The Morning Star, 31/01/07
  
  
• ‘Propinquity and Distance: Self-portraiture in Contemporary Painting Practice’, (catalogue essay),
  Mary Pridmore, Carnegie Gallery
  
  
• ‘Propinquity and Distance’, Joerg Andersch, The Saturday Mercury, 27/11/04
  
  
• ‘Artists dominate and dazzle’, John Briggs, The Saturday Mercury, 20/05/04
  
  
• ‘The feeling of what happens’, Joerg Andersch, The Saturday Mercury, 28/08/04
  
  
• ‘Local artist headed down under’, Quintin Winks, The Jasper Booster, 11/12/02
  
  
• ‘In the Artist’s Eye: Mount Alberta’ (catalogue essay), Wendy Wacko, Jasper Museum
  
  
• ‘Galleries: Best Bets’, Calgary Herald Entertainment Guide, 04/05/00
  
  
• ‘Calendar girls market unique reflections of Jasper’, Nick Lees, The Edmonton Journal, 07/03/99
  
  
• ‘Leah’s gift a tribute’, Heather Berezowski, The Jasper Booster, 06/12/96