Artist’s Statement
“A traditional approach derived from studying both nature and the work of traditional masters has always been at the centre of my development. I love all the genres (still life, figurative, portraiture and landscape). I favour artistic or poetic realism over the literal or highly defined. I prefer when the emphasis is on selection and orchestration. My work draws influences from a number of different artists and schools featuring but by no means limited to 19th century Academic painters, 18th century British portrait painters, and the Barbizon and Hudson River landscape schools. Corot, Daubigny, Constable, Van Dyck, Fantin Latour, Valazquez, Corbet ,Titian, Rembrandt, Greuze and Wyant are some of my favourites to name a few of the way to many. Beyond mentioning these influences I prefer to allow the works to simply speak for themselves”. Harvey Nelson
Biography
Harvey Nelson was born in Edmonton, Alberta and from a very early age was interested in drawing and painting. This interest stayed with him through his formative years. He attended the Ontario College of Art (Now OCAD) but found the instruction inadequate by traditional standards. Upon leaving OCAD he continued to work on his own and study with a small number of private instructors who had trained abroad. Chiefly among these was Timothy Phillips who had served as Salvador Dali’s technical assistant in his time in Catalonia and Michael John Angel who was a learned descendant of the late Pietro Annigoni, famous for having painted Queen Elizabeth. Today, as co-founder and instructor at Academy of Art Canada Harvey is passing on his knowledge and experience to a new generation of students.
Curriculum Vitae
1958 Born, Edmonton, Alberta 1978 – 1982 Ontario College of Art (currently OCAD) Toronto, Canada 1984-1994 Independent Study Period with Timothy Slater and Timothy Phillips, assistant and technical advisor to Salvador Dali in Toronto, Canada 1994 -1996 Studying at the Florence Academy of Art and Angel Studios in Florence Italy Received Federal Government Initiative Grant for Artist’s Training in Florence, Italy 1997 Co-founded College Street Studio an artist’s collective for practicing and providing workshops in traditional drawing and painting in Toronto, Canada 2000 Millennial Portraits Grant Recipient (City of Toronto) to depict 21 Portraits of Citizens in Ethnic clothing for Millennial Celebrations 2001 -2006 College Street Studio Program Director, Numerous Trips to museums in France, Italy, England and Spain to copy master paintings 2007 to present Co-founded and served as Program Director of Academy of Art Canada and instructor. He currently resides with his wife Tanyss and daughter Serena in Toronto Canada.
He has exhibited works at Academy of Art Canada’s annual show of faculty and student works since 2004 and also by invitation at the City of Toronto at the 2000 Portrait Show at the Toronto Rotunda Gallery, the 2002 Figurative Art Show at the Laird Gallery in Toronto and the Woman’s Art Association in Toronto in 2018.