Teresa Hart: Artist Feature

Teresa Hart’s work is on display at the Vancouver Island Regional Library in Comox until September 3, 2026.

Originally from Alberta, Teresa Hart has called the Comox Valley home since 2006.  After visiting friends here, Teresa and her family fell in love with the area and chose to make the beautiful Comox Valley their home.

Teresa's first solo exhibition offers a glimpse into the breadth and versatility of her artistic practice. The works have been thoughtfully selected in response to the character of the location, showcasingsome of her larger, bolder pieces to work with the bold wall colours. Spanning several decades of creativity, the exhibition reflects Teresa’s enduring fascination with nature, life, growth, renewal, and the ever-changing beauty of the world around her.

Working across acrylic, watercolour, and pastel, Teresa chooses each medium to serve the feeling and message she hopes to convey. Her work is rooted in a deep appreciation for her surroundings, expressed with both passion and a desire to hold memories of summer to be savoured throughout the year.

We discussed a piece from a previous show to start, 'West Coast Tapestry', which was recently exhibited and sold at the 'Flourish' exhibition. It is the largest and most complex piece Teresa has created to date, inspired by the intricate watercolour of an artist she encountered in Hawaii. The complexity of that work inspired her to also create a bold composition, using multiple photo references, combining realism with a restrained but surreal colour palette. At the 'Flourish' show, the piece found its new home almost immediately, with a customer eager to bring it into her own surroundings to cherish forever more.  

For Teresa, one of the greatest rewards of creating art is the connection it makes with others. “When someone feels something towards my work, it is gratifying,” she reflects. That emotional exchange is at the heart of her practice - the possibility that something she has felt, observed, or experienced might resonate with someone else.

Her artistic practice is closely intertwined with her passions beyond the studio. The environment is deeply important to Teresa, and her love of gardening and floral arranging continually informs her creative work. For three years, she has volunteered once a week during the season at Anderton Gardens, creating beautiful bouquets and immersing herself in the rhythms and richness of the garden. She is also a member of the horticultural society, further nurturing the connection between her creative life and the natural world.

Winter becomes Teresa’s season for painting. While inspiration gathers throughout the rest of the year - in landscapes, fleeting moments, and the changing seasons - winter offers the quiet and time to return to the studio and transform those impressions into paintings. In this way, she keeps the feeling of nature alive throughout the whole year. 

In 'Coneflower Ballet', Teresa brings together the vibrancy of fluid acrylic with the softness and delicacy of watercolour. Her approach is guided by an intuitive question: Which medium would best represent what I’m trying to say? The answer varies from piece to piece, allowing the medium itself to become part of the story.

'Enchanted Garden' captures one such fleeting moment. For nearly 20 years, Teresa had travelled past a particular spot on Huband Road on her way into town, but one day she encountered a remarkable display of flowers she had never seen there before. The sight was so extraordinary that she felt compelled to capture it. She has never witnessed the same spectacle there again, making the painting a record of a transient and almost magical moment. The work becomes, in many ways, a reflection on life itself—ever-changing, evolving, appearing and disappearing with time.

'Iris Dream' explores the idea of manifestation. Teresa painted the irises growing in her own yard while simultaneously carrying a desire to own a beautiful ragdoll cat. She deliberately brought that wish into the painting, imagining the scene she hoped one day to experience. Years later, that dream has become her reality. The work brings together her enduring love of cats and flowers, echoing an old photograph she recalls fondly of herself as a small child holding a cat in one hand and a poppy in the other.

Together, these works reveal an artist who pays close attention - to landscapes, seasons, memories, and dreams. Teresa’s paintings are not simply representations of the natural world; they are records of moments that moved her, invitations to pause and notice, and expressions of a lifelong appreciation for the beauty that surrounds us.