David Lacey

Biography

David Lacey was born  in the small Nova Scotia village of Woodville, Kings County situated in the heart of the Annapolis Valley, a major farming area. His family was involved in the logging and saw milling industry and they also owned the local general store and post office. In addition, they owned and operated two large farms in the area. As you can imagine, art was secondary to commerce in this environment. In spite of that, his family encouraged him to draw and paint from an early age.

After graduating from the local high school, he spent some time at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. However, this was in 1968, and there was a strong movement toward abstraction at that time and little of the instruction seemed to be relevant to his personal need for basic skill and material use training. He left the college disillusioned as he had hoped for more fundamental classical training. The core atelier style methods and skills development he was seeking were lacking in their program at this time.

For the next ten years, he dabbled at painting and photography, but was employed in other fields. In the early eightys a watercolour course at the local university piqued his interest and provided him with some of the basic technical background that he had been lacking. This period of study and painting gave him the impetus to explore other mediums and the confidence to begin to show his work publicly. A highly successful one-man show at the Kings Courthouse Museum in 1985 encouraged him to seek out several galleries to represent his work. In 1988, at the encouragement of his partner, Heather Stephens, he opened the Green Shutter Gallery adjacent to his 1825 Cape house. Located on a hill overlooking the picturesque fishing village of Hall's Harbour, the gallery has been in seasonal operation ever since. The original gallery building itself was a severed portion of another Cape house located several miles away. It was dragged to the site and placed on a foundation, renovated, and made to resemble his home. The beautiful new David Lacey Gallery ,constructed as a millennium project and built entirely without grants, was proudly opened in May, 2000, and has been a rousing success for eight years.

In addition to The David Lacey Gallery , he is represented by several other commercial galleries and his work is part of private and corporate collections all over the world. He has had numerous one man shows and has also been featured in many group shows throughout the province. He has developed a loyal clientele with many collectors owning several pieces. Lacey has been working full time as an artist for many years and has been involved in many art-related design and special event projects.

Part of David's life philosophy is to give back to the community that has supported him. Among the causes to which he contributes are: The Breast Cancer Foudation, SPCA, and numerous other charity projects. He has served on several boards and commissions supporting his community. In 1997, David was one of the founding members and the first chair of the Alliance of Kings Artists (AKA), a Nova Scotia Arts Council organization where he remains as a board member. David believes that good art should be self- supporting and has never sought any sort of grant for his work.

Influences in Lacey's painting have come primarily from the French Impressionists, the American Luminists, and the Group of Seven. His painting has evolved over the years and he now works in acrylic almost exclusively. His style is best described as a painterly impressionism. He believes that no painting can be deemed successful without a strong composition and he feels that understanding the play of light within a work is essential. At this point it is his belief that being primarily self-taught has been positive in that it has allowed his style to become readily identifiable in its own right.

Nova Scotia is rich in subject matter for the landscape and seascape painter and the images that appear on Lacey's canvas reflect this. His favourite subjects include the sturdy homes that dot the countryside and the long lanes and winding roads that weave through the Annapolis Valley and along the Bay of Fundy. The Cape-style fishing craft that abound in Nova Scotia and the ebb and the flow of the tides along the coast are also found in his work. David finds no shame in attempting to capture subjects of beauty and harmony; however, he tries to do so without being maudlin or trite. Even in the harshest of his works, there is a glow indicating a future hope or optimism that reflects his personality.

David truly enjoys painting and has met with acceptance and great success in the field. Consequently, he paints consistently and is considered to be quite prolific. He usually paints in a studio setting and uses his photographs as a reference tool. The photos serve only as a recollection of a scene and he does not strive for photo-realism, but rather to capture a fleeting composition or light. He also enjoys painting on location, "en plein air ", and frequently does so. On 23 April 1999, his works were featured in a one-man show at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Art Sales and Rental Society Gallery. It was a landmark public show for Lacey at Nova Scotia's premiere commercial outlet and was well accepted by his buying patrons.

Lacey has taken part in the annual Annapolis Regional Community Arts Council "Paint the Town" celebration in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, and has been their top seller in every year he has participated. "I have found, much to my surprise, that I enjoy painting with an audience, and I love watching people bid for the work while it is in progress!" Lacey admits.

For the past several years, he has wintered in Florida and has used the time to create a body of work for the coming year. His works are featured in the new David Lacey Gallery at Hall's Harbour as well as the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Argyle Fine Art in Halifax, VanLewen Gallery, Marlboro Mass, L2 Gallery Seaside Florida, The Koyman Galleries, Ottawa Ontario, Fox Harb'r Gallery Tatamagouche Nova Scotia and Artemis Gallery, Apalachicola Florida.