Carolyn Dover

Hamilton born and Grimsby based artist, Carolyn Dover studied fine arts at McMaster University for one year before transferring to Mount Allison University, in New Brunswick, to complete her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1985. At Mount Allison, she studied under Virgil Hammock, Thaddeus Holowinia and Ted Pulford. Mount Allison is also where she acquired the infatuation to painting en plein air, which is the foundation of each landscape painting. In practicing en plein air, Dover works in thin layers of paint due to ever changing light that forces quick application and decision making.

The land being her continual inspiration, Dover has mounted several solo exhibitions over the years at the Hamilton Public Library; Dundas Valley School of Art; The Carnegie Gallery, Dundas; Transit Gallery, Hamilton; Jordan Gallery, Jordan; and Earls Court Gallery, Hamilton. Most notably was her solo exhibition, in 2005, at the Grimsby Public Art Gallery titled, “Language of the Land” which can be described as a semi-abstracted and idealized landscape exhibition of the Niagara farmland.  Since then, Dover has continued to develop rhythmic bodies of landscape paintings about the Canadian land that surrounds her. These bodies of artworks have been highlighted over the last several years at Earls Court Gallery: “Along the Bruce” 2011, “The Water’s Edge” 2014, “The Edge of Paradise” 2016, and recently “On the Ridge” 2018.

Beyond painting, Carolyn Dover has taught at Dundas Valley School of Art and Burlington Art Gallery. Her paintings can be found in numerus private collections, as well as the Burlington Golf and Country Club, and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton. Many of her exhibitions have been generously reviewed by the Hamilton Spectator, The Grimsby Star News, and Niagara This Week.