BHC Gallery • The Healing Power of Art

Deborah Black holds a Fine Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan, a Science degree from the State of Florida, and is a Brennan Science Healing Practitioner.  She spent 17 years at the University of Saskatchewan in a range of creative and administrative roles, including Manager of the University’s Instructional Television Unit and Manager of Visual Media and Computer Graphics. 

In 1993, Deborah founded dblack.communications, which she successfully led for 30 years. During its early years, the company was involved in several pioneering initiatives in the province at the intersection of design, media, and technology. Her personal and professional work has been recognized with more than 40 awards and distinctions for entrepreneurial initiative, leadership, graphic design excellence, technical communications, video production, and volunteer service.

These honours include a 2009 Woman of Distinction Award and the 2011 Consumers’ Choice Award for Website Design. Beyond her professional work, Deborah has served on numerous community boards and committees and was a founding member of the Prairie Hospice Society, a volunteer-based charity supporting individuals and families wishing to die at home. 

In retirement, Deborah has returned fully to her first love—fine art. This retrospective show reflects a snapshot of her lifelong creative journey in the art field and serves as a quiet reminder for all of us to remain true to what first called us.  

ARBOREAL ODYSSEY

Trees have always invited us into awe—into a quiet, reverent wondering at their beauty, their patience, and their connection to the great cycles of life. I have long felt their presence as a kind of divine art, surpassing anything human hands could create. As Kahlil Gibran wrote, “Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky.” 

This body of work is my attempt to honour the mystery of trees. Each piece is a meditation on the symbolic depth of these natural beings, and the deep, personal bond I feel with trees. They endure storms, droughts, wounds, and seasons of loss without prayer or complaint—simply breathing out so that we can breathe in, and healing as we heal. The rustling of their leaves feels like an ongoing conversation, as if reminding us what we already know but too often forget. Writers and artists have long captured this quiet magic. I feel it when I draw or paint–the sense that something ancient and wise is leaning close, revealing itself in colour, form, and shadow. 

In these works, trees become metaphors for the human experience—growth, strength, vulnerability, resilience, and renewal. They remind us that life is not linear but seasonal, that light returns after darkness, and that peace and beauty often come from what has endured. Each painting or drawing is a small act of meditation and hope–a gesture toward continuity, belonging, and care for each other and the world we share. I offer this collection as an invitation to pause—to breathe—to stand at the edge of something larger than ourselves. May these trees bring you the same solace, quiet wisdom, and sense of wonder they have given me. 

- Deborah Black