Empty Easel, Online Art Magazine Offers Help

I am updating my resume and my artist CV, and I was looking online for some examples of artist biographies and statements when I came across this extensive online magazine for artists called Empty Easel. From art tutorials to business advice to artist profiles this is, at first glance, a huge bank of information and one I will be returning to when I have more time. Take a look at:   http://emptyeasel.com/    and let me know if you find any interesting articles.

2011 in Review

Happy New Year everyone!   Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and creative 2012 ~ Tiana

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,000 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 17 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Scavenger Hunt for a Bunny

Can you find this Bunny in the bush?

     The holidays are upon us, and no doubt you have a few days off. If you’re not busy enough how about some outdoor activity to fill your time? How would you like to find my bunny? I like creating treasure hunts, or scavenger hunts, games to play and  to puzzle over. No GPS is needed, just ask me some questions and I will supply you with the answers. Those that know me can phone me, others can email me, or write me a comment here. All hints will be shared with everyone.

     Some history – This is an old bunny I once received for Easter. I was moving and had to get rid of some things. I decided to let Bunny go free into the wild, but she’s a city girl at heart and stayed near the action instead of heading off into the mountians. I last saw her in her new home near a higher place of learning. It was the summer and I wonder if Bunny is still there. Can you help me find her? Ask me a question and I’ll tell you a clue.

     If you actually find the Bunny take a picture and send it to me and I will reward you with a prize of my art.  Happy Holidays!

Culturedays This Weekend

Celebrate culture in Canada by taking in a variety of events this weekend. I will be at Lansdowne Mall in Richmond on Sunday from 11:30 to 1pm demonstrating poem and mini picture collages and helping people create their own. This event is organized by The Community Arts Council of Richmond. For other events go to the Culture Days website.  http://www.culturedays.ca/en

Experience the Arts with The Community Arts Council of Richmond

Vancouver Art Gallery visit – Ken Lum

Why go to the PNE when you can see fun house mirrors at the VAG? Today I visited the Vancouver Art Gallery to view their current show “The Colour of My Dreams – The Surrealist Revolution in Art”. However it was the solo show of Ken Lum’s work over the last 30 years that made a greater impression on me. Up on the second floor I stepped behind a wall into a maze of mirrors. Within a few feet I had to tell myself to heed the warning sign to “walk slowly” so I would not bump into a mirror. My walk was an exercise in brain control. I had to tell myself to keep calm. I had to concentrate on where I did not see a reflected image of myself so that I could walk in that direction. I believe good art should affect you in some way. This piece of Ken Lum’s deeply affected me. I don’t know if I have ever felt scared by a work of art before. It was a relief to see the exit. Yet, once out, I wanted to go back in and experience it again.

You can see a review of “Mirror Maze with 12 Signs of Depression” in The Vancouver Sun.   http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/cultureseen/archive/2011/02/09/ken-lum-fracturing-the-self-in-mirror-maze.aspx     You have until September 25th to walk through the maze yourself.

Make Your Own Book With Blurb

I recently created a book to celebrate my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary.  You can view “Lorraine and Richard, Looking Back at 50″ here:

Lorraine and Richard Looking Back At 50 by Tiana Kaczor | Make Your Own Book

My first intention was to make a scrapbook of photos, but then in dawned on me that a more polished production would be achieved if I used the online service Blurb. This wonderful tool lets anyone upload their own photos and text into a variety of templates. Then the company produces the book in any quantity you desire, and ships it out to you for a reasonable cost. You can keep the book private, or share it with others and offer it for sale. No longer must one wait for a publishing company to accept your manuscript, you can take the plunge yourself. Have a look at Blurb.com for inspiration for everything from artist portfolios, to wedding albums, to storybooks.

Eagles in the City: Who Bought Tiana’s ?

On a recent trip to Mexico I finally found out the destination of my painted eagle sculpture. A year ago, after the BC Lions Society had their auction of 135 painted eagle sculptures at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, I knew “It’s Our World” was bought but I had no other information on the buyer or the sculpture’s destination. My young co-artists at James Whiteside Elementary were curious to know the fate of this artpiece they’d had a part in creating. Well, let me finally inform you that the original sponsors bought the eagle and wish to donate it back to James Whiteside Elementary for display.

It’s rather amazing that I had to travel part way across the world to find out this information. Do you ever find that when you are far away from home that you sometimes run into people you know? I was on a tender boat going from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, back to our cruise ship, the Sapphire Princess. We were talking to people around us and I found out I was sitting next to a superintendant from the Richmond School Board. I’d met her at the unveiling of my eagle sculpture at James Whiteside Elementary. People look a little different in their holiday clothes than their business clothes, so I didn’t recognize her at first. She told me that the sponsors would like the eagle to be displayed at Whiteside, but there are a few installation concerns that need to be addressed first. Hopefully they will be worked out soon, if they haven’t been already, and the children will soon be enjoying their artwork.

New Home, Same Studio

Hello everyone. Sorry it has been awhile since my last post, and even longer since the last time I shared some new art or music, but I moved at the beginning of May and things have been a little crazy. For those of you who would like the address of my new abode please email me. My music studio has moved with me because how can one create late at night when your equipment is across the city? However, I rarely have late night visual art experiments, so I have left that studio in its old location which allows me a lot more space to make art.  Now that the dust has settled I hope to be posting more regularly here, on Flickr, and on Reverbnation. Stay tuned!

Youth Art Course with Tiana at Richmond Art Centre

Send me your teens! Tiana needs a few more students for her Youth Art Studio course at the Richmond Art Centre this spring. This course will be about teens developing their portfolio, researching careers in Fine Arts, and trying new materials and methods. Instruction in contemporary as well as historical art movements will compliment studio projects in drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and mixed media.

Arts – Studio – Youth (13-17 years)

Wednesdays 3:45-5:45 pm

# 99502, April 13 – June 15 $159. 04

Contact Tiana for more information or phone the Richmond Art Centre.

Richmond Art Gallery ATC show

There are only 2 weeks left to view the hundreds of ATCs at the Richmond Art Gallery’s 5th Annual Artist Trading Card Exhibition. Local, national, and international participants have created miniature works of original art measuring 2.5 x 3.5″ that are made to trade. Get to the gallery before January 22 to view these miniature art pieces.

Tiana has 9 watercolours based on family photographs of her father and grandfather in various gymnastic poses.

9 Watercolour ATCs by Tiana Kaczor, Winter 2010.