BERNADETTE McCORMACK

Biography

Born in Lamont, Alberta in 1964, Bernadette McCormack has pursued a culturally diverse life. At nine years of age her family moved to Holland for three years where they had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Europe.

Bernadette graduated in 1987 from University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Education with a specialty in Early Childhood Education. Her teaching career began in Edson, Alberta where she remained until 1992 when she embraced an opportunity to travel and teach in Mexico. The experience of the elements, the culture and the people of Mexico moved her to begin her watercolour journey and by the time she returned to rural Alberta a year later, Bernadette’s approach to her artwork had been transformed and she was well on her way to developing the maturity that is evident in her style today.

During the following two years Bernadette lived in a small hamlet in the Alberta Coal Branch where she taught in one of the last two-room school houses left in Alberta. During this time she met her husband, a local musician, and in 1995 they settled in Edson where Bernadette began to receive new exposure as an artist. Surrounded by the beauty of the eastern slopes, she continued to explore watercolour inspired by the landscape. As her career gained momentum her energies focused on the many requests for commissioned paintings throughout the region.

With their two small sons, Bernadette and her husband Andy remained involved in the art and music communities of rural Alberta until another international teaching opportunity presented itself to the family.  Yearning to expose her children to a new culture, she accepted a teaching contract at the International School of Santo Domingo and moved to the Dominican Republic.  While there, Bernadette once again found herself completely inspired by the Caribbean Islands and the power of the elements. Haitian folk art was prevalent on the island and through the influence of primitive craft, the essence of tribal spiritualism surfaces in her current work.

Bernadette returned to Alberta with her family in 2002 and  settled in Calgary. She joined the Night of Artists in 2003 and has been involved in NOA art shows in Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa.  She recently wrote, illustrated, and published her first children’s book titled In the Land of Sweet Dreams  (Hummingbird Studio 2005)

Bernadette currently lives in Duncan, B.C. on Vancouver Island with her husband and her children.