VANL-CARFAC presents “MORE EASY PIECES” Winter Draw 2010. All proceeds go to VANL-CARFAC Programming including the Colin MacNee Emergency Fund. Draws for 3 incredible collections of artworks by notable local artists.

Each of the three collections is valued at between $1000 - $1500. All three draws will take place at 59 Duckworth Street, St. John’s on March 26, 2010. Tickets just $20 each. See the Paypal link at the end of this post to purchase tickets online.

Tickets Printed: 500
Printed by: Long Brothers Printing

Click the artist name to view their piece in the collection.

Collection Number One - Works by:
(1) Valerie Hodder
(2) David Kaarsemaker
(3) Reed Weir
(4) Jennifer Barrett
(5) Margaret Ryall

Collection Number Two - Works by:
(1) Candace Fulford
(2) Audrey Feltham
(3) Jay Kimball
(4) Marlene MacCallum
(5) Mavis Penney

Collection Number Three - Works by:
(1) Michael Pittman
(2) Anita Singh
(3) Charlotte Jones
(4) Colette Urban

BUY YOUR TICKET NOW THROUGH PAYPAL!

http://castroller.com/podcasts/WeekendArtsMagazines/1450987

Visual Artists Newfoundland and Labrador is pleased to announce that it is launching a Professional Development Workshop series in the new year, with two workshops that will travel to several different locations. The workshops, Presenting Your Artwork Professionally, and Grant-Writing for Visual Artists, will tour to Lab City-Wabush, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Corner Brook, Gander and St. John’s in February and March 2010. Facilitated by visual artist Marlene Creates, these sessions will be a combination of presentation and hands-on workshop.

“The workshop series is an important step towards offering more services to all areas of the province.”, states Executive Director Sara Tilley. “We are thrilled to be initiating this project and hope that visual artists from across Newfoundland and Labrador will take advantage of Ms Creates’ considerable knowledge and experience by participating.”

Presenting Your Artwork Professionally deals with creating artist statements, professional CV’s, artwork documentation and submission packages for public galleries, artist-run centres and commercial dealers. Bring an artist statement and CV to be workshopped.

Grant-Writing for Visual Artists will give in-depth advice on developing applications for various funding sources. Bring a project description to be workshopped.

Both of these workshops are supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). Presenting Your Artwork Professionally is also supported by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.

Workshop Dates:

Lab City-Wabush, Arts and Culture Centre Green Room:POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER. NEW DATES TBA.

Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Hotel North Conference Room: Feb. 20, noon-3 pm, Presenting Your Artwork Professionally

Feb. 21, noon-3 pm, Grant-Writing for Visual Artists- **bonus special after-session at 3 pm with Donna Roberts from the NLAC

Corner Brook, SWGC Rec-plex: Feb. 27, noon-3 pm, Presenting Your Artwork Professionally

Feb. 28, noon-3 pm, Grant-Writing for Visual Artists

Gander, Sinbad’s Hotel: March 6th, noon-3 pm, Presenting Your Artwork Professionally

March 7th, noon-3 pm, Grant-Writing for Visual Artists

St. John’s, Beatrice Watts Board Room, Room 2014, INCO Innovation Centre: March 13, noon-3 pm, Presenting Your Artwork Professionally

March 14, noon-3 pm, Grant-Writing for Visual Artists - ** bonus special after-session at 3 pm with Katrina Rice of the NLAC, Libby Creelman from CEDP and Kay Anonsen from the City Arts Jury

Each workshop is $20 for members/$10 for student members, or $35/$15 for both workshops.

Non-members rates are $70 for one workshop/$85 for both, $25/$30 for students (includes 1-year membership in VANL-CARFAC).

Pre-register to save your spot in the workshop by using our secure Paypal links below. Contact Dave Andrews at vanl-carfac@nf.aibn.com, or 1 (877) 738-7303 for more information.

Single Workshop - Presenting Your Artwork Professionally

Artist Member $20.00 Student Member $10.00 Non-Member $70.00 Student Non-Member $25.00

Single Workshop - Grant Writing for Visual Artists

Artist Member $20.00 Student Member $10.00 Non-Member $70.00 Student Non-Member $25.00

Both Workshops

Artist Member $35.00 Student Member $15.00 Non-Member $85.00 Student Non-Member $30.00

Many people may see my work on display at various Interpretation Centres throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.  These are codfish dolls that I designed for Parks Canada as part of their Making Fish Program.  These soft-sculpture dolls are designed to be processed:  ie.  you cut off their heads, slice open their bellies, remove their guts and rip out their spines.  Used to demonstrate the process of salting cod, there are over thirty of these codfish dolls floating around Newfoundland and I’ve recently been informed that they were used in a cooking class to show people how to fillet a cod before cooking it!

My most recent accomplishment is winning the 2009 Bank of Montreal First Art Award that is awarded to graduating visual arts students across Canada. My submission was a pink codfish doll that was made to generate dialogue in Toronto (where the show is held) about Newfoundland’s codfishing industry.  I went to Toronto for the opening of this show in October at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and had the pleasure of meeting fellow winners and art collectors who showed great appreciation for the codfish doll.

My favourite medium for sculptural work is metal, clay, porcelain and glass.  I am practising my welding techniques in order to create large, sturdy sculptures that resist the elements of weather and time, much like humans do on our life journeys.  The work I prefer to do is site specific installation pieces in nature that are built of natural materials in their natural settings, photographed and left to disintegrate over time.  The ephermeral nature of this work fulfills my desire to be immersed in nature while making work that addresses the fleeting natural resources we have left and the time I have left with which to do it.

10 Questions

1. When did you first realise that you wanted to become an artist?

I don’t think you “become” an artist, rather you are predispositioned to creating obsessively or you are not.  I’ve always spent a lot of time working with my hands, making constructions.  Whether or not I am an artist depends on the viewer.  At any rate, I’ve always done what I am doing now, I just pick up more skills and experience as I age…

2. What mediums do you work in, and why?

I work in metal, textiles, clay and natural materials for my sculptural forms and I prefer screen print and wood block printing when I am making 2D work.  I use screen printing because I like the texture and feel of pushing and pulling the thick inks across the screen, and wood block printing is a meditative process involving natural elements that fulfills my need to be linked to my materials.  Right now I am keen to make multiples of my work as I have an obsessive practical streak that requires me to perfect a technique and prove it by repeating the process over and over again.  I like print making as it is quite a sculptural process and I am waiting until I am old and more immobile to practice my drawing technique. While I am young I prefer the physical labour of sculpture and labour-intensive processes as such.  I do not like to sit or stand still for long periods of time so I will pursue these forms now, while I am strong and healthy, and save painting and drawing for when I get older and calm down more.

3. How do you get ideas for your artwork?

They come to me constantly in everything I do, see, hear or watch.  It is natural for me to take anything I read, feel or think and try to turn those feelings into something tangible.

4. What other artists influence your artwork?

The original native people of North America who made beautiful things for the sake of things being beautiful, practical and functional influence me far more than any contemporary artist today.

5. What are the ‘big’ themes in your artwork?

Respect for nature, respect for the history and work of those people that came before me.  Things that disturb me or memories that need to be revered make up the content of much of my work.

6. What is the greatest challenge that you face as an artist working in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Having to wake up at 3:30am to fly out of here is a pain, but a small one.

7. What is the best thing about working as an artist in this province?

The geographical and mental space available to me in Newfoundland and Labrador is liberating.  Here I can think clearly and without much of the nonsense found in massive cities.  There is solitude here…

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Let the winds blow me where they may…

9. If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

I’d rather not say…

10. If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

Harmony around the block.  Also, I wouldn’t mind being invisible with the ability to travel back and forth through time….

Jennifer Barrett is a painter, printmaker, and comics artist from Paradise, NL. She holds a BFA from Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and has been on the board at St. Michael’s Printshop since 2004. In 2009, she had her first solo exhibition at Eastern Edge Gallery, called Werebears and Only Children. Her comic of the same name appears bi-weekly in The Scope and on her website. She was also an NL Arts and Letters Awards winner and was selected as Emerging Visual Artist at the VANL-CARFAC Excellence in Visual Arts (EVA) Awards. She is represented by The Leyton Gallery of Fine Art in St. John’s, and her work can be seen at http://jbarrettart.com .

10 Questions

When did you first realize that you wanted to become an artist?

Since I was small; I used to make little books and copy comic strips and would incorporate drawing into any school project possible. But not seriously until after my first year of university.

What mediums do you work in and why?

I mostly make acrylic paintings these days, and I have also been making some water-based linocuts. My comics are hand-drawn and then touched up and coloured in Photoshop.  These are materials that are safe and easy to use in the small working environment I currently have. And they dry fast and are easy to find. I would like to do more screenprinting.

How do you get ideas for your artwork?

Most of my paintings now are based on blind-contour drawings. Sometimes I will just go for a walk and take a sketchbook and make some drawings if I happen to see something interesting. Alternatively, I’ll take one with me when I hit the zoo or the park, where I know I’ll want to make drawings. For example, I went to Marineland a while ago and was sure I would want to draw some whales. Turns out they swim around pretty fast and I couldn’t get a sketch I was satisfied with.

What other artists influence your artwork?

Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Seth, Darwyn Cooke (and many other comics artists). Also, many pop artists, Marcel Dzama, and Will Gill. Probably quite a few more, that’s how it goes.

What are the ‘big’ themes in your artwork?

Mostly humour. Either trying to make others laugh, or to humour myself. I’ve also done a lot of animal drawings lately. This is because they look funny I suppose.

What is the greatest challenge you face as an artist working in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Trying to get the art supplies I want easily, and at a reasonable price. I’m currently in Toronto and it’s amazing that I can walk down the street and buy pretty much whatever I need whenever I want.

What is the best thing about working as an artist in this province?

The artist community is pretty lovely, once you take the time to get yourself in there. There is a lot of support if you want it.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Making lots of comics and selling t-shirts on the internet.

If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

I did a year of engineering at MUN before heading to Grenfell. I’d like to think I could have continued on with that if I wanted to. I doubt it though.

If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

Unlimited wishes, of course.

Want to be our next Member of the Month? Email your answers to the 10 Questions, plus a short bio and a photo to sara@vanl-carfac.com before the first day of the month to qualify for the random draw!

Artists interested in applying for the Artist Talk Series can check out the full guidelines and obtain an application form here.

Craig Francis Power is an artist and writer from St. John’s.

1. When did you first realise that you wanted to become an artist?

When I was a kid. 10 years old, maybe.

2. What mediums do you work in, and why?

I generally work in video, installation, performance and drawing. I like the instantaneousness of these mediums.

3. How do you get ideas for your artwork?

I get ideas through looking at art, reading, watching films, paying attention.

4. What other artists influence your artwork?

David Askevold. Manet. Courbet. 70s Conceptual artists. Mike Kelley. Folk art. Merle Haggard. Walter Benjamin. Duchamp.

5. What are the ‘big’ themes in your artwork?

Kitsch. The idea of the rebel. Humour. Having fun. Creepy things like ghosts. Issues pertaining to class. Rural life. Craft.

6. What is the greatest challenge that you face as an artist working in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Lack of exposure to contemporary art and artists, and a complete lack of critical engagement on the part of artists and critics in the province.

7. What is the best thing about working as an artist in this province?

Because we’re removed from the major centres, there’s a real freedom to experiment. There’s no pressure to become an art star.

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully still making art.

9. If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

Farmer.

10. If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

World peace.

Valerie Hodder is an artist and art educator. She currently serves on the Board of VANL-CARFAC, as well as its Finance and Planning and Human Resources Committees.

1. When did you first realize that you wanted to become an artist?

My parents were creative people. Dad drew cartoon figures for us as kids for entertainment. Mom was a teacher and a quilter and made our clothes out of bargain fabric or by recutting old clothing. They were the original recyclers. We made toys to play with out of egg cartons, magazines, foil wrap and cardboard boxes. Dad worked at the paper mill in Corner Brook, so we always had paper! My sister and brother both draw. My sister continues to paint. My Dad and brother played guitar and wrote their own songs. We were always encouraged in our explorations. There was no such thing as wanting to “become” an artist. Art was just a natural part of life. I just made it take up larger parts of my life.

2.     What mediums do you work in and why?

Being an art educator, you tend to work in everything, at first, so you can know a little about everything and at least give your students a place to start their own personal explorations. I studied photography and printmaking for the first 2 years at NSCAD. Then the painting bug hit me. I worked in oil until, many years later, the solvents began to become a problem physically. I reluctantly moved to fluid acrylics, only to have my ideas about it changed by the flexibility of the new acrylics, which led to mixed media. And mixed media is probably where I will stay, as it opens up so many opportunities to explore and play. And I do love to play…to maintain that childlike wonder about art, the art media, and life.

3.     How do you get ideas for your artwork?

I call what I do figurative narrative. Like most Newfoundlanders, I like to tell stories about people and places.

4.     What other artists influence your artwork?

Klimt, because of his lush use of color and patterning, as well as his obvious love of the human form. Georgia O’Keefe for being a pioneer in so many aspects of being a strong, female artist in North America. And then there are the surrealists…

5.     What are the ‘big’ themes in your artwork?

The emotional journey of life.

6.     What is the greatest challenge you face as an artist working in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Finding places to exhibit provincially.

7.     What is the best thing about working as an artist in this province?

Having a studio overlooking the ocean, surrounded by woods and a little bubbling brook – the sounds, the smells, the wildlife dropping by the door! As well as the ability to be able to get to know so many other wonderful people who continue to live and work as artists here, and the artists who come from away and stay because they “get” why we stay.

8.     Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Continuing to stretch my own boundaries, both in life and in my artwork.

9.     If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

I’m an art educator and a visual artist. I’d still be a teacher…maybe English. Seeing people grow from the inside out has always been a particular joy of mine.

10.  If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

I wish that it were easier to be a working artist in this province without having to worry about affording supplies over basic necessities. That’s a harsh reality for so many talented and passionate people in this “beautiful, terrible place”.

Mark Adams of Corner Brook is currently completing the fourth year of his BFA at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. Mark works in a variety in mediums, including painting, various printmaking mediums and video. 

What is the greatest challenge you face as an artist working in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Ceramic sculptor Reed Weir is a Newfoundland based sculptor who explores the moment when action becomes stillness and ignorance becomes understanding.

She was born in 1956 to artist parents in Parry Sound, Ontario. Weir learned the craft of pottery from her mother and graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design (AOCAD 1985).

In 1991 she moved to Newfoundland and Labrador and with her husband Brian Banfield, established the production pottery studio Phaedrus Applied Arts. Her life in rural Robinsons fuelled Weir’s figurative ceramic sculpture with enduring themes and compelling images, which have been enthusiastically received by public and commercial galleries. She has been exhibited in Canada, the United States, Germany, Japan and Thailand - notably Earth Works, organized by the Gardiner Ceramic Museum for Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany and Autoportrait, 10th Biennale Nationale de Ceramique, Trois Rivieres, Quebec and Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario (2002).

In celebration of Craft Year 2007, Jonathan Bancroft-Snell Gallery of London, Ontario commissioned the sculptures for The Flood at Furnace Cove. Weir’s sculpture is held in numerous private and public collections including The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, The Burlington Art Centre, and Mount Saint Vincent University.

Reed Weir’s artwork is featured in Gail Crawford’s Studio Ceramics in Canada (2005), Lark Book’s 500 Animals in Clay, Contemporary Expressions of the Animal Form (2006) and the American Ceramic Society’s From Mud to Music (2006). Reed was the winner of VANL’s 2009 Large Year Award.

1. When did you first realize that you wanted to become an artist?

Both of my parents were artists and the house was always filled with art, books, and catalogues. When I was four I clearly remember painting a “Miro” and being so proud of it. I took it to my mother and told her I was going to be an artist.

2. What mediums do you work in and why?

Predominantly I work in stoneware clay. I like the plasticity of it and modeling appeals to me. There are technical challenges at all stages. Clay readily combines the intellectual with the emotional. My formal education was as a painter and I tend to apply my surface decoration in a painterly manner. When a piece is completed I like how it is permanent yet fragile, fluid yet rigid.

3. How do you get ideas for your artwork?

It is a constant growth or development. I work in continuum. That way I am always thinking as I am working on what comes next. I am often three or four series behind my thoughts. The forward direction changes and gets edited as I go along. Usually I work in series constructing a few sculptures to figure out the technical requirements, a selection to complete the idea and as a wrap up I let the idea and material lead me. I keep a sketchpad to jot down ideas and my concept development and then I develop the ideas in clay. I generally am working in clay all the time so I keep the sketches simple as clay has its own language and I want to resolve the ideas directly into the medium. I concentrate on themes that are relevant to both my rural community as well as away. Sometimes I think of my work as a sort of anthropology of living culture.

4. What other artists influence your artwork?

Originally it was painters that mostly influenced me. I was raised in Windsor ON and spent many Sundays at the Detroit Institute of Art. Diego Rivera’s amazing mural stands out as well as Seurat. I guess even as a 2-D artist I was interested in form and social content. I mention these two artists because they come directly to mind; however, over the years many artists have inspired me. My parents as well were strong influences as they were both active and I was surrounded by their work. Two ceramic artists I admire are Philip Eglin and Gertrand Mohwald. . . both work figuratively and sculpturally.

5. What are the ‘big’ themes in your artwork?

Culture and society - the human experience.

6. What is the greatest challenge you face as an artist working in Newfoundland and Labrador?

I would have to add “rural” to this question, as I do believe there are different challenges to artists working in the rural regions. Distance can pose challenges. Being far from any cultural hub of activity limits my networking within the industry. It also adds cost to shipping things to and fro. Material and equipment have to be ordered in advance.

7. What is the best thing about working as an artist in this province?

I like the population size and how the province has a strong cultural community. As a rural artist the distance from a cultural center, especially during my developmental years, made it necessary for me to be independent. The distance allows me to be part of this community while maintaining a personal autonomy.

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

A lot can happen in 10 years. If at all possible I will still be in Robinsons and still producing work. To do so I will need to expand my studio and kiln capacity.

9. If you weren’t an artist, what would you be doing?

If I weren’t an artist I wouldn’t be me.

10. If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

The chance to work to my full potential for an extended period of years.