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January 23, 2013
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Vancouver Island School of Art Newsletter
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Dear Students and Friends of VISA,
Happy Belated New Year to everyone! My year was off to a somewhat harrowing start after spending ten days at the Royal Jubilee Spa. And while I did appreciate the spacious light filled rooms with sofas in the new wing, Tripadvisor neglected to mention that patrons get woken up at 5 am to have their blood taken. And also the food is served in plastic dishes. These elements make the venue less than ideal. It turns out that I had a bad reaction to Tylenol. As someone who rarely takes medication, I didn't know that if taken 'as directed' could practically kill you (I now find out this is fairly common knowledge). Acetaminophen is no friend to the liver. That said all is well and I am back in action and almost returned to my normal colour. At one stage of this ordeal I was bright yellow, which looks cheery on the Simpsons cartoon characters, but trust me it does not suit regular humans and fashion choices are next to impossible when trying to work with such a skin tone. I think the Simpsons can pull it off because of their outstanding hairdos. Events like these always lead to time for reflection and analysis of how one is living and I feel a major shift has occurred in my attitude to spirit, body and mind. Before I was living more in this order: mind, spirit and body. Now I see that everything has to start with spirit (however one defines that) because it includes our relationship to the bigger outside world and to others, and then the body because we need a healthy one to live well, and lastly the mind, because a mind can be a danger to the first two so it sometimes needs to be kept at bay (that said of course it is definitely worth paying attention to one's mind). It just can't take priority because our mind can also be our enemy if we give it too much attention. So that's the story of my absence from the newsletters...
I did get some good down time and lots of reading done. One of my favourite reads was Patti Smith's Just Kids. Its a wonderful memoir because Smith is a good writer but also the book really focuses on the creative life that Patti led with Robert Mapplethorpe and it was wonderful to enter their world where everything in their lives totally revolved around their art practice. It was also a very interesting glimpse into the New York art world at that time (early 1970's). Another great experience I had lately surrounding thoughts of creativity was hearing Ed Pien talk about his work at the AGGV last Saturday. Unlike most artists, he very generously went into extreme detail about his creative process and technique. Sometimes technique can be the least interesting aspect about the work (depending of course on the individual process or technique involved) but the way Ed presented his information was extremely engaging. I found Ed's talk to be such a great experience because seeing Ed in talking in front of his work, he seemed to physically embody the work. He became the work. I saw the order of things I mentioned above manifest itself at Ed's talk: spirit, body and mind. I really felt inspired to get back to the studio when I left the gallery. Ed's work is part of a newly installed exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria called Traces. Also included in the exhibition is work by Alison Norlen and Daniel Barrow. Definitely worth making the trip up to the AGGV to see this one.
Wendy
 Detail from paper cut by Ed Pien |
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Starts tomorrow, Thursday, January 24, 1-5pm
 Come try out this new printmaking workshop format we have at VISA: four consecutive Thursday afternoons. This workshop combines elements of drawing, using graphite, charcoal or India ink, with reductive printmaking, where an inked matrix is created on the plate and areas of the ink are eliminated through wiping or stencil use before a print is pulled. Students will be encouraged to explore composition, using line and shape and the play of light and dark. Personal expressive mark-making is the core element of this exploration. Color will be a limited component. A series of large images will evolve where a dialogue exists between the drawing and print mark-making. Open to all levels of experience. Instructor: Jenn Robins Tuition: $225.00 (18 hrs) January 24-February 14 (4 sessions), Thursdays, 1pm-5:30pm Material Fee: $30 (all materials included, additional paper available at the school) Image: Allison Long Hardy |
This Saturday, January 26, 10am - 5pm
 This dynamic one-day workshop will use some basic structures of architecture such as line, form and shape to create three very diverse and interesting drawing projects. Projects include pencil drawings, collage and watercolour. All materials are supplied, so you just have to show up. This workshop is perfect for people with no drawing experience or for those who want to try something new.
Instructor: Wendy Welch |
ARTIST TALK at UVIC tonight, Wednesday January 23 @ 7:30
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CRYSTAL PALACE Blue Republic
The notion of the crystal palace comes from Peter Sloterdijk's Im Weltinennenraum des Kapitals and signifies an ideal of life after the end of history, where the last living inhabitants of the Western world are preoccupied solely by varied consumerist pleasures.
Blue Republic is a critically acclaimed, multi-disciplinary collaboration by artists Anna Passakas and Radoslaw Kudlinski. Blue Republic has been involved in presentations, exhibitions and projects in Canada and internationally
Exhibition Continues to March 2
Deluge Contemporary Art is located at 636 Yates
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For more information about our courses or events contact
Linda or Jen at the office: 250-380-3500 or info@vancouverislandschoolart.com
Website
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