Sally Wilson

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Sally Wilson was busy in her small studio and gallery in Muskoka, Ontario, when two women walked in. They loved what they saw. “Can you pack up your paintings and bring them to California?” they asked. “We’ll do the rest.”

‘The rest’ led to Sally exhibiting in California for three years, including a sold-out exhibit at Oprah Winfrey’s Art Café in San Luis Obispo.

Not bad, for someone who never took a single art class. “Taking full credit for the paintings feels weird because I just feel something inside of me knows something, and it knows it goes on a canvas and it just works,” she says. 

“I don’t know why, but people just resonate with what I put on a canvas.”

Sally is widely know throughout North America for her bold abstract works. In addition to her extensive client base in California, she has exhibited in Canada for more than 25 years. Her works have been published in art magazines, including Architectural Digest.

Sally is also well known for her collaborations with non-profit groups, always focusing on encouraging the creativity of young people. One such collaboration, with Chebucto Connections in Halifax, led to her being publicly honoured on the floor of the Nova Scotia Provincial Legislature.

Sally lives now in Nova Scotia. “I have always been drawn to the ocean and I think that’s why I eventually packed up after 25 years running my studio/gallery in Ontario and moved to Nova Scotia to be close to the majesty of the ocean continuously.  It has brought me so much inspiration.

“The ocean is my muse and inspiration for all things creative. I have been a lover of beauty my whole life and have always felt a strong desire to capture the beauty I see but not replicate it.  

“When I close my eyes a different sort of viewing point happens from what I was looking at and this becomes my art.  It feels more like the movement of colour and energy rather than the details my eyes alone capture. Transferring the movement that I see inside of me to the canvas is absolute pure joy.

“I would consider that all my paintings are guided through my spiritual practice of going in and listening to the deep callings inside of me.  For me they are messages for whoever is open to see them.  

"The paintings themselves seem to have the ability to open up conversations between my clients and myself about energy and how we can see the world through deeper curiosity of things that are not obvious to the eye.”