Origin
On June 2, 1947, the urgent spring work on the Laycock farm south of Lethbridge, Alberta, was halted while Hugh and Audrey Laycock welcomed their second baby boy into the world. Brent was fortunate to be born into an LDS (Mormon) family that had deep spiritual roots, worked hard and had a rich involvement in the cultural arts. His parents provided Brent the opportunity to have extra-curricular instruction in art from various Lethbridge artists including Jessie Ursenbach, Ernest Reithman and Kathy Evans. He eventually married Kathleen Palmer, whose family were close friends of the Laycock’s in Lethbridge.
Formal Education
Like all his siblings, Brent left southern Alberta immediately after high school in Raymond, Alberta, to attend Brigham Young University where he studied art. His BFA in printmaking was completed in 1972, and he went on to earn an MFA degree in painting from BYU in 1974. During his university years, his work was discovered by Heino Deeken who managed a small gallery called The Art Studio on Fifth Avenue in Lethbridge. This gallery presented annual exhibitions of his student works which helped finance his university tuition and also launched a long relationship with fine art galleries.
Between graduating with his BFA and beginning his graduate studies, Brent married Kathy Palmer, and they set out on a long honeymoon driving and painting their way across Canada. They only got as far as Quebec City, when they had to turn around and head home, but on the way, they managed to become connected to several art galleries who offered Brent exhibitions. In this way, his exhibiting career was launched even before his education was completed. Kathy has always been an energetic supporter of Brent’s career.
“Real Jobs” in Graphic Design
After completing his MFA, Brent and Kathy moved their tiny family to Calgary where they hoped to find a “real” job. He was fortunate to land an interesting position as a graphic designer and illustrator with the new Calgary Board of Education’s Media Services department in 1974 where he quickly learned many skills related to commercial art and design and photography. This led to further work in advertising with Freeman – Yipp Advertising agency in Calgary. In 1981, he left this job to branch out on his own as a freelance graphic artist as well as an exhibiting fine artist. Miraculously, they did not starve and managed to raise five children. Because this early graphic career was launched in the pre-digital era, the transition to digital world has been challenging. Brent always felt that the graphic skills of design, photography, and graphic design were vitally important in his success as a fine art painter.
Fine Art Career
His artwork has always been inspired by the diverse landscape of southern Alberta. For most of Laycock's career, he has worked in watercolor or in acrylic using a fluid, spontaneous style in which the paint is applied in bold direct strokes rather than conforming to a preliminary drawing. In his painting, communicating an emotional or spiritual response is more important than detailed representation.
He is represented by the following commercial galleries: Wallace Galleries in Calgary, AB; West End Gallery in Edmonton, AB; Mountain Galleries in Banff, Jasper, AB, and Whistler, BC; Gust Gallery in Waterton Lakes, AB.
During a career spanning five decades, Laycock has held many solo exhibitions across Canada, in the USA and in Australia. He has participated in numerous juried group shows that have toured Canada, the USA , Mexico, Europe and Japan. He is a member of the Alberta Society of Artists, the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, the Society of Canadian Artists, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Art.
His work is represented in the collection of Canadian watercolours that was presented to Her Majesty's Royal Collection at Windsor Castle in 1986. In 1991, the Albert Government presented one of his watercolors to Queen Margrethe of Denmark. His work was even collected by the Burger King corporation but, sadly, not by Dairy Queen! He has received a variety of awards for acrylic and watercolour painting. In 2006, the Province of Alberta awarded Laycock the Alberta Centennial Medal for contribution in the arts.
The major commissioned work of Brent Laycock has a surprising contrast in scale. In 1982 and 1984, he was commissioned to do small paintings of Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park for Canada Post's $1.50 and $1.00 stamps. He has produced large mural canvases for various institutions in Calgary, Lethbridge and Toronto and an outdoor historical mural in the Town of High River. He was commissioned to create a design for the large flat roof of the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. This artwork, the size of half a football field, was designed to be viewed from tall buildings and aircraft and was created with different shades of roofing gravel.
His work is represented in the university collections of Brigham Young University, the University of Alberta, and in public collections such as Calgary's Civic Collection, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Glenbow-Alberta Institute, and in many corporate collections. The book Waterton: Brush & Pen features over one hundred Laycock paintings of Waterton Lakes National Park accompanied by essays by renowned author, Fred Stenson. Other articles and reproductions of his work have appeared in many Canadian and international art magazines and books.
WhitePine Productions has produced two instructional DVDs featuring Laycock’s acrylic and watercolour techniques. Laycock has served as a popular lecturer, workshop instructor, mentor, curator, designer and juror. He has also designed many art catalogues for various Society group exhibitions.
Upon reflection of his long career, Brent Laycock commented, “The most rewarding thing about painting my beloved Alberta landscape is when someone tells me that a certain painting has brought them much joy. That is the best motivation!”
As a boy on our southern Alberta prairie farm, I was profoundly moved by the forms of land and sky, and I still find endless inspiration from the landscape. For me, painting is an exploration that allows the discovery of something new from something familiar. The subject matter is merely a starting point in the development of a composition. And even if I try to use the same shapes and colours that exist in the real landscape, I want some new emotional dynamic to occur on the canvas or paper.
Southern Alberta with its contrasts of flat plains, intense skies, jagged peaks and undulating coulees offers a wealth of landscape subject matter. The stunning scenery of the Rockies has inspired my work for several decades.
As a student, I was interested in the abstract qualities of music such as rhythm, repetition, melody, movement, contrast, harmony etc. These principles have their counterparts in visual design and are often useful in creating an abstract visual composition. Even when the subject is recognizable, I believe that a painting should possess a successful abstract composition which actually evokes feeling.
Although I like to think that my procedure and thought process is similar in whatever medium I work, the actual medium does play a role. Watercolour tends to be a bit more abstract and loose because I can allow the medium to flow and change as it will, and I like to accept the accidental effects of the watercolour medium. Acrylics offer an easier way to make changes and corrections, but I still prefer to use this medium in a loose, spontaneous style.
But whatever technique is used, I hope that the viewer will see beyond the trees, hills, water and flowers and become intrigued with passages of colour, texture and melodic line. I hope that in each work the viewer can experience their own personal discoveries.