Alexandrya Eaton

Alexandrya in her studio, 2019, by photographer Hailley Fayle. Published in Created Here magazine, issue 09, HERS.
Alexandrya in her studio, 2019, by photographer Hailley Fayle. Published in Created Here magazine, issue 09, HERS.

Alexandrya Eaton is a contemporary Canadian painter whose studio practice has grown to include rug-hooking and weaving, incorporating the same vibrant palette and simplified shapes across all mediums. Eaton’s work aims to explore phases of womanhood, combining traditional textile techniques with contemporary imagery.

Eaton has had over forty-five solo exhibitions of her work and her paintings hang in numerous private and public collections. Eaton’s work has been acquired by: the New Brunswick Art Bank; Mount Allison University; RBC Dominion Securities; Aliant Telecom; Nesbitt Burns; NB Power; the UNB Art Centre; Toronto Dominion Bank; Atlantic Lottery Corporation; Centre d’Art de Baie-Saint-Paul; and the Masterworks Foundation, among many other public and corporate collections.

“The feeling I get when I look at her paintings is of life, movement, and happiness”

A Collector

Early in her career, Eaton was invited to participate in the Symposium de la Jeune Peinture au Canada, in Baie- Saint-Paul, Quebec. The youngest of fifteen international artists, her large twenty-foot painting then traveled to the exhibition, TERRE-TERRE, at the Museum of the Americas, in Washington, D.C.

Over the years, Eaton’s paintings have been included in several important group exhibitions, such as: Anecdotes and Enigmas, curated by Hermenegilde Chiasson; and BLISS, curated by Shauna McCabe. BLISS combined the work of four international artists exploring the image and idea of flowers and flowering, and its relationship to the poetic, questioning modern perceptions of beauty. 

"Superhero Warehouse", 'HOT POP SOUP' exhibition, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 2012

In 2012, Eaton was invited to participate in HOT POP SOUP: Neo-Pop Trends in Contemporary New Brunswick Art, a group exhibition at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Curator, Terry Graff, brought together the work of ten New Brunswick artists working within the realm and influence of Pop Art. Eaton’s resulting work, “Superhero Warehouse”, confirmed current themes in her work, an ongoing series titled “Busy Woman”, a modern interpretation on the idea of an everyday superwoman. 

Over the years, Alexandrya has received many project grants to continue the development of her work. In 2015, she was awarded a creation grant from artsnb to carry out a two year fibre arts project. This pivotal project resulted in a large body of work and ultimately the solo exhibition, Becoming, which was shown at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, in 2018; Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre, in Saint Andrews, in 2019; and the Saint John Arts Centre in 2021.

Becoming was also included in Eaton's retrospective exhibition, Everything in Between, at the Owens Art Gallery, in 2021. Everything in Between was curated by the New Brunswick curatorial group, 3E Collective, and celebrated thirty years of Eaton's art practice.

3E Collective, comprised of Emilie Grace Lavoie, Erin Goodine and Emma Hassencahl-Perley, also wrote the accompanying retrospective publication, Everything in Between, which looks back over thirty years of Eaton's artmaking, placing Eaton's work within the critical context of time and place, and offering insights on motherhood and femininity. With over one hundred colour images, the book offers a thorough survey of Eaton's art practice over the past three decades. Eaton gratefully acknowledges that funding for the book project was provided by the New Brunswick Arts Board. 

In 2022, Eaton will mentor two rughooking workshops in Caledon, Ontario, and will present a solo exhibition of her hand hooked rug works in Nova Scotia.

For now Eaton is hard at work in her studio exploring how to combine painting and weaving. She lives happily in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Alexandrya at the opening of her solo exhibition,
Alexandrya at the opening of her solo exhibition, "Becoming", at Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre 2019
Alexandrya's solo exhibition,
Alexandrya's solo exhibition, "Becoming", Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick 2018
Alexandrya's solo retrospective exhibition,
Alexandrya's solo retrospective exhibition, "Everything in Between", at the Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, 2021