The second in an ongoing series showcasing local artists in and around Saskatoon. Jessica is a talented artist who I have really only met and had dialogue with through cyberspace. She has kindly allowed me to include her right her on TP. Her work is mostly done with traditional painting, however, lately I have been reading some of her more creative writing via her blog. As I do not know her that well, I will let her Artist Statement be the voice for this showcase, along with a few images of her work below. (Click read more to see)
“The compulsion to create is nothing new or unique. But over the last few years I’ve become continuingly convinced that creating art is a vital part of who I am. It’s my goal to give voice to issues of faith, relationship and process through visual media and engage the viewer in the type of peaceful dialogue that is hard to come by in such matters.
My recent work is in acrylic, but I am trained primarily in drawing. Drawing has certainly affected my painting style, as line continues to play an important role in my work. Recently, I have focused on acrylic painting because of the opportunities it gives to create texture, both actual and implied. Painting is a very traditional media, and it is this reason I feel prone to it. Large canvas paintings have been a staple throughout art history and I seek opportunities to continually reinvent and rethinking figure and landscape painting. Both the past and present inspire the themes in my work. The local community and landscape of my hometown of Hepburn have informed my work greatly. It is important to me to set my paintings within my own personal and historical context.
The series I am currently working on is about distance. Living on the prairies certainly informs one on the power of distance. It is not only a physical distance that I want to understand; the distance between the surface of the canvas and the implied space beyond it; but this series is also about a relational distance and the space that exists between one and another. The space between, and the beautiful journey that traverses that space, is what I seek to explore.”
*If you know of an artist that I need to feature (even if its you), please email me some info about your work, a website if possible, and a couple pics to darylgrunau AT mac DOT com.
So this week marks the end of the Calbreak production. As I type this message the final titles are being added by Greg Benson to all the sections of the film. I am so thankful that I am not doing this part of the production as I have spent many many hours on this video already. Plus, Greg is amazing at stuff like that and will make the final product so much more professional looking. All that will be left tomorrow is to produce the DVD with the special features and menus, etc. I am looking forward to having the first MASTER DVD by the end of tomorrow night!!!
