Industrial Culture

"I usually work in large scale and in three dimensions, using techniques and genres like collage, mixed media, photography, and pop art. My art merges modern themes, symbols and metaphors with undercurrents reflecting how they are affecting me and my world view. Society is a rich source of inspiration in my work. I avoid realism and prefer to express myself through feelings that my art creates. I want the viewer to make meaning without my interpreting. I usually integrate found objects, elements of the natural world, art photos, and ephemera to create elements of surprise, or to make a point. What does success look like in my art? I am happy when observers start to talk and share their reactions to my work, either with me or with others".

Ottawa-born Dunnett has been living in Oaxaca since 2005. As in the case of so many artists who now reside in this city in southern Mexico, her arrival has been rather circuitous. And like so many others, her artistic talent has been influenced at virtually every stop along the way. At age five she left Canada for Bangladesh with her Canadian diplomat mother and the rest of her family. After three years it was back to Ottawa, and then a further three years in Zimbabwe. "When I left Zimbabwe I felt close to South Africa. I took a course in stone sculpture while there, so yes, I suppose living in Zimbabwe has had somewhat of an influence on what I do today", she surmises. But it was her upper level academic training, first at the Canterbury School of Arts, followed by British Columbia's University of Victoria from which she graduated with an Hons. B.A. in Fine Arts, which exposed her to the personages who have impacted her creativity the most.

Dunnett is much too modest. Since moving to Oaxaca there's no doubt that she's put her own mark on the comic style, with her un-daunting desire to learn, and innovate. The geographical, cultural and political environment in which she lives provides her with diverse opportunities for artistic inspiration. She attended a workshop to learn about the use of natural dyes such as those derived from flowers, plants and of course cochineal, at the educational and research facility known as Centro de Difusión de la Grana Cochinilla Tlapanochestli. "For quite some time I'd been thinking about using natural dyes in my work, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized that here in Oaxaca [actually a few kilometers out of the city, in Santa María Coyotepec] I had the opportunity to learn about their use from an expert, Manuel Loera Fernández, the chemist at Tlapanochestli. There's just so much artistic stimulation in Oaxaca that it's hard to resist taking advantage of everything available." Dunnett has also participated in more traditional hands-on seminars, at the well-known Graphic Arts Institute of Oaxaca (IAGO) and at a couple of other institutes in the city. Towards the other end of the spectrum, she credits two local graffiti stencil art groups with providing her with additional inspiration, which becomes apparent after an examination of her work.


Self-Portrait


Untitled (Anglerfish)


Untitled


Fools and Madmen


Dream (Procesion)

Sources:
Saatchi Gallery
Mexconnet
Alvin Starkman