Only a couple days left and then I take down the Transitions Exhibition at the Richmond Cultural Centre and move the giclees back to the Anne Vogel and Transitions clinics. Here’s a few shots of the show:
View across the rotunda at the Richmond Art Centre of the Transitions photo exhibition.
Giclees of Finn Slough, Museum of Anthropology and Minoru Track by Anne Vogel Clinic clients.
Three photos from a Transitions client.
It’s here! This is the public exhibition of the project I have been working on for 1 1/2 years. The City of Richmond paired me up with Vancouver Coastal Health’s Transitions program and we also added the Anne Vogel Clinic. 17 photographs are in the collection you can see for the whole month of June at the Richmond Art Centre. Please come to the opening this Friday, June 7 from 7 to 9pm for some nibblies, music, and of course the art.
Transitions exhibition poster by Lisa Ernst
Vancouver Coastal Health’s Transitions program, and the Anne Vogel Addictions/Primary Care Clinic, offer support for Richmond adults who are on their journey in recovery from mental illness, substance abuse, and/or addictions. The staff at these clinics hoped this project would help tell the hidden stories of people in our community and allow the participants to use the creative process of art making to enhance their physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Clients at the clinics told stories and created metaphors about their challenges in life. Clinic staff helped decide to use photography as the medium for the project as using a camera seems a less threatening way to create art for people who are not experienced artists. At the beginning participants came up with the idea for taking photographs of doorways, archways, and bridges, sometimes with an unidentifiable person walking through the frame. This is to represent a person moving from one part of their life to a new part.
Participants went out into the community with their own digital cameras, or disposable cameras provided to them, and recorded images of their lives. The goal of this process, and our group discussions, was to not only have fun with making art, but to hopefully help recovering individuals address personal issues, develop social skills, increase self-esteem and gain self-awareness.Once the photos were processed and hung on the walls at the clinics the smiles on the faces of the clients and the staff proved that these goals were reached. 4 of the selected photos are by Tiana using ideas from stories she heard from clients. 13 photos were chosen from the ones the clients submitted.
With over 300 Design, Media, and Visual Arts graduates this year, Emily Carr University of Art and Design’s grad exhibition offers something for everyone. I walked through the rooms for 2 hours on Monday but was disappointed with the first few rooms thinking that after 4 years of study shouldn’t there be some art that displays a little more skill and thought? But then I started finding a few artworks that made me laugh, or appreciate their technique, or think about their message.
Parcel #1357 by Shannon McKirgan
There will be as many opinions about an art show as there are people who walk through it. Art is personal. What you like another person may hate. Some people like posters of puppies in their living room. Others would faint at that idea and thus spend hours at auctions trying to find the right Miro print to match their decor. I forget which artist said it, perhaps it was Christian Boltanski when he had a show at the Vancouver Art Gallery, but I remember this idea and use it whenever I view art: the artist said “I don’t care whether they love my art or hate my art, just as long as they have some kind of reaction. If they feel nothing then my art has failed.”
The next step would be to ask yourself why you love it, or hate it, or are indifferent to it. Art is a form of communication. So what is it saying to you? Sometimes the answer doesn’t come right away. I like Shannon McKirgan’s “Parcel #1357”, but I still am not sure why. It’s not a style that I normally pick out. The subject is a little depressing – a lone box of a building. For now I think it’s just the quality of her brushstrokes and the positive versus negative space, as well as the framing presentation.
Cachalot and Gray by Fiona Hawkes
With the whale close ups in charcoal by Fiona Hawkes I immediately knew I liked them because I appreciate the skill in her realistic drawings. I draw realistically, and thus whenever I see other artworks in this style I am drawn (ha!) to them.
Throwing by Nolan Drew
Then there was the mini installation “Throwing” by Nolan Drew. It immediately put a smile to my face because as much as I love working on a wheel, it’s not easy to make a bowl or vase or anything round, and Nolan’s piece reminded me of that frustration. There have been times when it collapses, or flies off. I still remember the expression of surprise on one of my student’s faces when she had her clay go whizzing off the wheel and splat onto the classroom wall.
You have this weekend to catch “The Show”, which ends May 19th. There is also an online catalogue at ECUAD’s website. http://theshow2013.ecuad.ca/ Hope you find something you love or hate.
Last month I thought I had a buyer for 2 of my art pieces, but with a little hunting over the internet I have discovered this email art inquiry is a scam. Here are some clues to help you discover if your buyer is a scam artist.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says to beware of buyers who are from overseas, are renting, (mine said they were moving), and ask you to send funds to a third party shipping company. Also beware of requests to send funds through money services like Western Union or MoneyGram. If the buyer sends more money than the selling price, and then asks for a return of the excess funds, this is probably a scam. When I stated that I would only accept cash or an interact email transfer I suddenly never heard from the buyer again and this is what alerted me that something was fishy.
Kathleen McMahon has some great info on how to detect a scam. Go here: http://www.kathleenmcmahon.com/info/scammer-names.html
She has also started up a blog called Stop Art Scams http://stopartscams.blogspot.ca/
I thank her for organizing this info as I was able to find almost exactly the same emails that were sent to me in ones that were sent to other artists.
We all want to sell our art and feel the excitment when someone likes one of our art pieces enough to buy it. It is unfortunate that we have to be extra careful in our online transactions due to some bad apples out there. Let me know if you’ve experienced anything like a scam, and pass the word around to anyone who sells stuff online.
Dad’s street photo in Winnipeg, 1950s
B.C.’s Knowledge Network is looking for old street photos by Foncie Pulice. He shot millions of photos of people walking Vancouver’s streets between 1934 and 1979. Check out their website here: http://fonciescorner.knowledge.ca/ They are trying to collect as many photos and stories as possible for a Museum of Vancouver exhibition later this year. You can view some of the photos on the site’s “Collection” page. They are great historical records of the changing styles of clothing and businesses in downtown Vancouver over the decades.
My family photo collection has several street photos, but I think they are all from Winnipeg. This one is of my Dad, Richard, (on the right) in his teen years. Cool club jacket!
Monk Soup cover art by T Kaczor
Feeling cold during these last days of winter? Rain getting you down? Have a listen to Monk Soup, my most recent (complete) song. “Soup” because it sounds like the rain pelting your window, and the sucking mud on your boots as you trudge through the wild trails. “Monk”, well because of the bells, what else? Or maybe it’s because I feel like I’m stuck inside, contemplating life, on these dark days, and praying for the spring sun to arrive. What do you think?
Click here for a link to the song on Reverbnation http://www.reverbnation.com/c./a4/8860781/270585/Artist/270585/Artist/link
As soon as I saw the You Tube video “Caine’s Arcade” (thanks Astrid for the link) I knew I had to post a link on my website. I have to admit Nirvan’s movie brought a tear to my eye because I see so many children that are forgetting how to play on their own, creatively like we used to years ago. I used to grab old telephone parts and light switches and set them up underneath our picnic table, imagining it to be a spaceship, or boat, that would manoeuvre across the backyard lawn to new worlds in my mind.
Caine has taken the “lemonade stand” to a new level. Nirvan Mullick’s movies, and the Imagination Foundation, have helped create a cardboard wave of creativity around the world. Watch the second movie here and then check out the original on You Tube. Then go grab some cardboard and make something, no matter what your age is!
“Riley and CJ” by Tiana Kaczor, Fall 2012, pastel and conte. Click on images to view larger.
I had a commission that was a Christmas present, so could not post it online until after the holiday. I am now at liberty to share this work with you.
“Riley and CJ” posed a problem for me as I usually work from photographs that show enough detail so that I can create quite a realistic art piece. However the photo that was provided to me was very pixelated. I am not an artist who usually draws from my imagination, except in my private sketchbook, so I would not want to take artistic licence with this commission and just “make up” the details. Instead I decided to try a different style, working like the Impressionists with dots and dashes of colour, and a different medium, chosing pastels and conte. The client agreed to my style change and I set off to create a realistic drawing of a pixelated photo.
Tiana’s process of drawing Riley from photo and photocopy.
“Work with what you’ve got.” is a rule I follow a lot in my artmaking. Whether it’s taking whatever materials I can find to make an assemblage instead of buying special sculpture supplies, or using the qualities of a photograph to determine the detail and style of the image when put into a different medium like paint or pastel. Kind of a bit like that saying “When the world gives you lemons make lemonade,” isn’t it?
Stephen Miller and I were interviewed for “go! Vancouver” the morning of the BC Lions Society’s Terracotta Warrior Banquet and Auction. You can find the segment at the 3:55 mark in the video, after the yoga studio segment. I’m always surprised how long it takes to shoot a TV show or film. In this case I was there for over an hour, getting wired up, walking through different shots, and answering the questions. Thank you to Mana Mansour and her videographer for making this a fun experience.
Tiana creates during Steveston’s Grand Prix of Art 2012
A couple weekends ago I competed in Steveston’s Grand Prix of Art. We were told our location only minutes before the race, and then had 3 hours to complete a finished work of art, whether it be drawing or painting. http://grandprixofart.com/?p=890
This is the first time I’ve ever entered a plein air competition and decided to keep things less messy by using conte and pastels instead of paint. The weather was rather chilly and an hour into the race my fingers started to freeze up. Luckily my parents came by and brought me a hot chocolate. Thanks also to Eva at Cannery Cafe for offering to bring me something hot.
“Pieces and Points” conte and pastel, 8×12, for sale $200 framed, $170 mat only.
It was great creating on the streets of Steveston as it gave me direct contact with the public; art can be such a solitary activity a lot of the time, working away in ones studio. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to take a peek at my picture and encourage me to finish in the 3 hour time limit. It wasn’t easy working so fast with no break but I did finish “Pieces and Points” just as the Cannery horn blew to signal the stop of the race. The title was chosen because the store Pieces is in my drawing, and points refers to the pointillism style I used, which turned out to look a bit like snow falling. (Maybe that was subliminal because I was cold!)
Tiana at her station on Moncton for the Steveston Grand Prix
My 8″ x 12″ pastel and conte drawing of Moncton Street titled “Pieces and Points” is for sale at $200 framed, or $170 with just the mat.
Tiana Kaczor Fine Arts 