LAURA LANE

Artist: Bill Schwarz

Medium: Oil on canvas

24" x 36"

Bill graduated with a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Toronto in 1966 and was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1968. Born and raised for the first seventeen years of his life in Regina and Tyvan, Saskatchewan, he won his first colouring contest at the age of five. This burst of glory was interrupted for fifty years by school and his law practice. However, genius can never be suppressed! His smouldering interest in art was rekindled in 1997 when his wife, Nancy, suggested they take an art course. In the pursuit of excellence, his artistic skills were developed at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Dundas Valley School of Art, the Homer Watson House & Gallery, the Cambridge Library and Gallery, the Georgian Bay School of Art, the Fallbrook School of Art, and by attending artist workshops and painting trips in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe. Bill carries on an active law practice in Cambridge, Ontario with PSH Lawyers. 

Artist’s Statement
Art helps me find the balance to what I was trained to do, what I want to do and what I see around me. As a lawyer, I am trained to look at facts, to study detail, to find the core of an issue. Often in my practice, what may appear simple may be infinitely more complex. With my art, I want to do the opposite. The world around me – landscape, architecture, people – is a complexity of planes, texture, and subtlety of colour. I want to make this intricacy simple. I feel that my art is a quest to find a balance between the detail I am trained to find and the simplicity I want to achieve. 

I have a personal and abiding interest in the urban landscape. This means architecture of all sorts, from buildings and boats to vehicles or machinery.  I am fascinated by the effect that nature has on this architecture… weathering it or breaking it down to give it a unique character. I am captivated by the idea that when architecture is new it looks essentially the same as any other architecture in the same category… it is time that gives it its unique quality and characteristics. 

Laura Lane is a romantic place; characterized by an idealized view of reality. Many trips to urban centres; Toronto, Hamilton, Chicago, Quebec City, Halifax … all provided inspiration for Laura Lane.