Maggie Jorna - Rural Roots

You will notice that some pieces have a red dot at the bottom of the label. This indicates that it has been sold.🔴

Maggie Jorna was born in 1961 and grew up on a small farm outside Hagersville, Ontario. In 1984, she earned a double major degree in Fine Art and English at Guelph University, which served her well in her 30-year career as a high school art teacher. She retired from teaching in 2015 and is now engaged full time in honing her own art skills. Maggie has lived and worked in St. Marys, Ontario since 2000. Although she never returned to life in the country, she has always felt a deep connection to her rural roots. 

This connection continues to have an impact on her choice of subject in her paintings and collages. She returns to images of rolling hills and wide open fields again and again. Much of her artistic focus is on the rhythms and patterns within plants and landscapes. Whether it is a twist in a flower petal or a twist in a tree trunk, these quirks of nature serve as inspiration for developing her compositions. She will include an abundance of contrasting texture, and then find a way to organize that texture in an effort to create order out of chaos. Small found objects add further texture and meaning to several of her pieces. Although her subject includes rocks, trees, water and flowers, her work is really about the play of colour, light, texture and pattern. She uses photographic references in her work, but there is always a point where the artwork moves away from the photo and takes on a life of its own.