'Homecoming' mixed media 12%22x12%22 2023 $490.jpg

Break And Bloom

deseré Pressey: “break and bloom”

May 20 - June 8, 2023

Opening reception on saturday May 20, 2023

2:00-6:00 pm


the artist will attend

“Creating beauty from my reflections on heartbreak, has been an act of courage and hope for me. This collection was made in part, by salvaging discarded wedding dresses, old love letters, bereavement cards and other treasures collected from my own and the heartbreak of others.
In a death and pain avoidant culture, I found it challenging to seek out elders for spiritual guidance while navigating my heartbreak after my engagement ended, and while putting my daughters through addiction treatment. Art making helped me become more intimate with my experience, as did spending time in nature, and sitting with others while sharing our stories to be reminded that they are our seasons. I have come to know that the deeper we allow ourselves to fully grieve, and accept this act as being holy…The more we are parenting ourselves into being unconditional with our self love… and how this in turn, helps us to become unconditional with our love of others. We can see someone in a choice they are making, or a lived circumstance they are in… and if we’ve journeyed through our own shadows, we can see another, in theirs and love them in the middle of their seasons.

When I meet someone who has a radiance to them, that settles my nervous system and allows me to feel the safety of being fully seen… It doesn’t take much time before I come to find that heartbreak has been what tumbled their sharp edges into the clarity that grounds them in the wisdom of love. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ve experienced a personal tragedy… It means that they have allowed themselves to be present enough with what touches them.. In order fully feel the joy and sorrow of what it means to dwell beyond the safety of the mind, and live from their heart.

This collection is an exploration of the radiance and love I have encountered, by spending time with people who have broken and bloomed. It is also a prayer of sorts for me… a declaration of my devotion to continue learning how to live beyond the safety of my predictable mind. My surrender to having my heart broken and expanded into a greater capacity to love.. and to make art of a life more fully lived.”
— Deseré Pressey

The Space Between 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

Remain Tender 5” x 7” (9” x 11” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $270

Eli 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

A Thousand Times 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

Rest In The Middle 8” x 10” (11” x 14” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $725

Lean In 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

SOLD This Too Shall Pass 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

Ecstatic Crash 47” x 47” (49” x 49” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $4950

Amélie Joy 23” x 23” (25” x 25” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $2350

Bloom 47” x 47” (49” x 49” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $4950

Reunion 23” x 23” (25” x 25” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $2350

Seasons Of Our Lives 23” x 23” (25” x 25” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $2350

Decay and Blossom 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

Precious Impermanence 8” x 10” (11” x 14” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $725

SOLD Homecoming 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

Tonglen 8” x 10” (11” x 14” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $725

In Between 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

SOLD Your Life Has Lived In Me 8” x 10” (11” x 14” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $725

Once More 5” x 7” (9” x 11” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $270

SOLD Give It Up To Have It All 8” x 10” (11” x 14” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $725

Ava Haeven 23” x 23” (25” x 25” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $2350

Ask For Help 23” x 23” (25” x 25” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $2350

Longing For The Shoreline 23” x 23” (25” x 25” Framed) Mixed Media 2023 $2350

Soft Centre 12” x 12” Mixed Media 2023 $490

Artist Biography

“My work is instinctual. When I paint I do not sketch, I simply begin. I am inspired by the stories of others, and my own as well as by my process. The drum of ink dancing across a fresh stretch of canvas. A slow kaleidoscope bleeding into the weave. Each stroke of my brush is an experience and the building up and burning/cutting/and scraping away of layers is an event. Wandering the topography of my work reunites me with my young curious self. Making art is a devotional practice for me, that brings me into a deeper connection with the whispers of my heart, that call me out beyond the boundaries of my mind. Letting go of the safe shoreline of familiar ideas, just long enough to grasp onto new insights…is a kind of humbling madness that holds the pearly hope of new wisdom. 

I paint to let go, and in the letting go there I am. Life makes more sense to me when I am making art.” 

- Deseré Pressey

Deseré lives and creates in her Calgary home alongside her three Children, and two cats. 

Her work is collected locally and internationally. 

Her training in death midwifery and art therapy helped her to better understand her own healing experiences of the arts, and inform her as a guide for others to heal through art making. She also volunteers at AARC (the adolescent addiction recovery centre), by providing art making experiences for the youth in treatment. Deseré has a passion for learning, and finds nature to be her greatest teacher. She can often be found barefoot on the earth, surrounded by trees and in the arms of her love. 

Deseré had the privilege of being awarded a month long residency and scholarship prize to the Chateaux Orqueveaux in France. Her work has the distinction of being included in the Imago Mundi, Biennale di Venezia collection, The Fairmont Banff Springs private collection, and continues to be favourably reviewed by internationally acclaimed art critics.