VANL-CARFAC
Visual Artists Newfoundland & Labrador

Rodney Mercer

BIO:

 

Rodney Mercer was born in St. John’s in 1971 and raised in Dildo, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador. He moved to Corner Brook, NL in 1995 to study visual art at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University and since then, he has been a fixture in the community and is considered a local treasure.

Mercer is a full-time, self-employed visual artist living off sales and commissions of his work. He also gives private instruction to children, adults and people with special needs.

Mercer’s practice has ventured into visual languages that include hard edge abstraction and materials such as seal skin to create works in defense (and celebration) of his culture, but he is best known for his realist, narrative, figurative paintings and prints that are often allegorical.

Executed with the classical precision of the Old Masters, Mercer’s paintings possess the same haunting resonance that can be identified in the work of Alex Colville or Christopher Pratt.

Mercer draws heavily on Baroque traditions such as chiaroscuro (intense light and dark), rich colour, drama, and tenebrism (dramatic illumination) to generate mood and tone. The contemporary subjects (modeled after photographs of friends and/or recognizable figures in his community) posed in interior spaces or black theatrical voids, act out narratives that transform ordinary things and people into evocative spaces of mystical contemplation.

 

 

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

As far back as grade school.. In grade two friends and family liked my doodles and were very encouraging. I enjoyed how these little drawings and would get people excited. As I got older, more notably at the time I was in grade six I was introduced to the works of Gerald Squires, Mary Pratt, Christopher Pratt, Don Wright and Stewart Montgomerie. Their works were featured in “Doryloads” which was a school text book produced by Kevin Major for Breakwater Books. A little later our school art club went on a field trip that visited the then newly opened Emma Butler Gallery. The works of Bill Ritchie and the Pratts had a huge effect. Even though I was still very much “just a puppy” I did sense that there was much more to the works than the image. You could feel it. I thought “That’s a good job!”

 

2. What mediums do you work in and why?

I work in oils, acrylic, various drawing media and printmaking. In my own practice I enjoy very much the act of drawing. I enjoy the craft of making pictures and recognise the value of drawing and how it is often the “starting point”

 

 3. What other artists influence your artwork?

That’s a big question and a really good one! I would confidently say that every artist I have been exposed to have had an influence on my work. They reinforce, sometimes change and other times dismiss my ideas about art and my art practice.

 

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

Change, place, permanence, order, disorder, chaos, I could go on. My work is multilayered. Its relationship to the viewer, myself and the time period it in which it is viewed is not necessarily one in the same.

 

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

The arts are a renewable resource that brings new dollars into the province. It is the artists that facilitate and sustain the culture yet it is so vastly underfunded. More money need to be invested. It has been proven time and time again in outside regions how investment into the arts boosts the economy. While it is great that money is provided to promote the culture with colourful TV and print ads to boost tourism it also seems somewhat redundant if the said culture is suffering to the point where it becomes even impossible for some to engage in an arts practice.

 

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

In the global community this province is unique in what it presents to the world stage. It is both contemporary and well rooted. It is ever evolving. I can never give what I have received from this province’s artists. To even be some small part of that is incredible and something i don’t take lightly.

 

7. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In my studio making pictures or preparing to do so.

 

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

I would be practicing medicine as a Paediatrician. Something I had strongly considered persuing when applying to university.

 

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

In relationship to being an artist: 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 air miles so I could regularly travel the globe to experience as much art as possible.

 

 

Photo by Lisa LeDrew Photography

 

April White

BIO:

April White is an artist and arts worker who lives in St. John’s and makes watercolours and animations in her downtown studio. White received her BFA majoring in Visual Arts with special interest in printmaking, performance, and sculpture from Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. After graduating, she was awarded with the Don Wright Scholarship through St. Michael’s Printshop as well as an NLAC grant to continue her art practice in St. John’s. White has worked at Eastern Edge Gallery as Assistant Director and as Art Marathon Festival Manager and is now Vice Chair of the Eastern Edge Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the St. Michael’s Printshop Board of Directors. White’s work examines uneventful moments in every day life that would normally be passed by and considers ways those moments can be metaphors for other aspects of life. Her work is currently showing at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery until December 2016.

www.aprilmarylynn.com // @aprilmarylynn

 

 

 

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

I knew I wanted to study art and have an artistic job from a fairly young age, but it wasn’t until later—in art school—that I realized that I wanted to pursue art itself as a career. I didn’t know it was possible to actually be an artist until my views were expanded when I was studying art in university.

 

2. What mediums do you work in and why?

Watercolour is my main medium of choice these days, as well as animation. I was originally drawn to watercolour when I was living away in a small town in Ontario and needed a medium that was portable and suitable for a very small studio set up. When I got to painting, I realized quickly that watercolour not only suited the subject matter I was working with, but also that I was tantalized by the quality of the colours and the nature of the process. Watercolour is a great medium for painting an image to look like a memory, with the delicate washes and subdued colours.

 

3. How do you get ideas for your artwork?

Inspiration for my work comes from every day life. I find moments in every day living—particularly mundane moments like cooking breakfast or watching TV—oddly beautiful and worth being elevated through art. There is so much about everyday life that goes unnoticed. I think it is important to take the time to examine moments that would normally be passed by because it might turn out that those moments are incredibly important.

 

4. What other artists influence your artwork?

I am in love with British artist Tracey Emin’s artwork. Through her work, she has turned her life into an open book and the projects she has done over the past twenty years are powerful and constantly teach me new ways to re-approach my own practice. Local St. John’s artists like Will Gill, Pam Hall, and Philippa Jones also influence me. They all have such diverse art practices and fresh takes on important ideas.

 

5. What are the “big” themes in your artwork?

The “big” themes in my artwork are also the titles of three Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art books of mine: Time, The Everyday, and Memory.

 

6. What is the greatest challenge you face as an artist working in Nfld & Lab?

There are two main challenges of being an artist based in NL: one is money and the other is travel. It is difficult to be a full time artist and pay rent, especially when you are still trying to establish your practice. And travel is a challenge because—again to do with money—it is expensive to get off this Island. Seeing art in other cities is a great way to expand one’s knowledge of what is happening in contemporary art nationally and internationally. I need to see where I fit in to contemporary art outside of NL and it’s hard to do that with just the Internet.

 

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

The St. John’s art community is incredibly supportive. It is number one, top notch, phenomenal. I came to St. John’s through the Don Wright Scholarship at St. Michael’s Printshop, and a yearlong placement as a gallery assistant at Eastern Edge Gallery. The support continued through my absolutely wonderful artist & arts worker friends, through ArtsNL and City of St. John’s grants, through a fantastic studio and studio mates, through The Rooms, and through work at the Anna Templeton Centre, and HOLD FAST contemporary arts festival.

 

8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

That is a tough question. I’ll say that in the next ten years I see myself making more art, travelling, and pursuing further artistic education. Also, I really want a black lab and to become a really good banjoist and bass player.

 

9. If you werenʼt an artist, what would you be doing?

I cannot imagine not being an artist. However, when I’m not making art I am an arts worker. I want to do what I can to make other artists’ lives easier and more successful.

 

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

My first wish would be for 100 more wishes and then I would wish for more funding for artists, art organizations, and arts workers, and also equal pay for all genders and ethnicities. Then I would wish for more art education in the school system, and more funding for the teachers. Then I would wish for communal studio spaces in St. John’s, and cheaper flights, and the list could go on and on. Oh, and I’d wish for Shia LaBouef’s art collective to come to St. John’s and do a project here.

© VANL-CARFAC 2015