After BST

It’s just my luck that I had to get sick right at the time when all the artists who have finished the Beach Studio Tour are relaxing and drinking champagne. I’ve already been sick a short while before the tour, and now, once again, I am coughing, and speaking in a voice that would make me not afraid to walk around the most dangerous neighbourhoods at night. Now, in response to the classic question of “Your money or your life?”, I can just say “What?”, and they will run away screaming.

According to the laws of the creative process, every project should end with catharsis or liberation. Maybe these laws don’t apply to me, or maybe they just haven’t discovered all of them yet. At the time of the tour, I felt wonderful, and I only used two tissues for the entire time. And now I’m sitting with herbal tea, sick once again.

This once again confirms my old idea. It may be interesting to study other primates, but the least understood creature on the planet is the human. And the most incomprehensible subspecies is the artist.

Beach Studio Tour - Fall 2010

For yet another time, I have the pleasure of participating in the Beach Studio Tour.
This tour has earned a significant place in the life of the Beaches community. It unites the artists that live in that area, along with some guest artists from other parts of Toronto. The Beach Studio tour is organized twice a year, and it’s always been a lively and popular event. I am lucky to be able to return with my works to the Beach Studio Tour this year.
This time, I am going to unveil my newest project – polymer clay sculptures. Since this is a new direction for me, you will be able to see all the works that I have created in this medium so far.

In my Birds of Paradise series, there are seven birds of varying shape and design.
My Opposites Attract series features six colourful dogs, inspired by Art Deco.
I’ve also sculpted three tiny experimental models of cheery, chubby cats, whom I prefer to imagine singing “What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?”

And finally, I am going to present my one-of-a-kind collectible doll entitled “The Horn Player”.

The Beach Studio Tour is taking place on

• Friday October 15th, 6 pm - 9 pm
• Saturday October 16th, 10 am - 6 pm
• Sunday October 17th, 11 am - 6 pm

You will be able to find me at 51 Brookmount Road. Rachel Taggart has generously invited me to exhibit my work at this location with her. All the Beach Studio Tour artists (including myself, of course) would love to chat with their audience, and answer any questions. Hope to see you there!

Nuit Blanche in Toronto

Yesterday night was Toronto’s Nuit Blanche. The event that brings so much excitement to art lovers of all degrees. We spent it at the ARTA Gallery in the Distillery District. Unlike some other galleries, where people only seemed to stick around for a minute or two, the exhibition at ARTA came across as extremely well thought out and planned just for this sort of event. Its lineup of international artists presented many diverse movements in modern art. The idea that united the main part of the exhibition was violence in the modern world. Many visitors stayed to chat with the artists and share their impressions. I think that this serves as a motivating factor for art collectors and art lovers to wander out of their dwellings at such odd hours – they like to feel that they are eagerly awaited at the galleries. It seemed that they didn’t regret coming out to enjoy the art, instead of lazing around their homes with a bowl of popcorn on their stomachs, watching Hot Fuzz for the hundredth time.

The ARTA Gallery completed its educational mission; it also played the role of the place of intellectual pilgrimage during Nuit Blanche.

Books About Art Business

Having spent several years on the frontlines ... I mean, after several years of making a living with art ... no, wait ... having spent several years in communication with gallery owners and not having cried once, I can safely say that you will not find anything new in these books. And yet they are quite interesting to read.

In Molly Barnes's "How to Get Hung" there is a sense of intrigue, a bit of non-malicious gossip, and some sound advice from a former gallery owner. There is almost no snobby attitude. It is written in a language that people can be expected to actually speak, not in the language of pretentious art critics. The author is the girl next door who, due to a lack of parental supervision, became an art dealer instead of an orthodontist.

In Daniel Grant's "Selling Art without Galleries" there is a lot of practical information for beginners. I particularly liked the artists’ feedback. It is not always polished or edited, so, you come across a few unexpected, enlightening details from time to time.

I also liked his discussion of the ridiculous amount of skills (many which have nothing directly to do with art) that an artist must have.

While I was reading both of these books, I often found myself thinking “Yes, yes! That’s absolutely right!”

Hence, even though I didn’t learn anything I haven’t already experienced firsthand, I really enjoyed the reading.

Lena

Sometimes, it turns out that several very important things may take place in a short period. This happened to my friend, who broke up with her husband, found a new job, bought a new apartment, and started collecting art in the amount of time that has got to be some kind of a record. Some people might need a couple of years to go through all that, but my friend did it in three months. She is very dynamic, and has a love of life.

I would like to tell you how she bought a sculpture of a Dutch sculptor. I got a phone call one time, and the voice on the other end of the line said “What do you think is more important – a mattress and a bed, or a sculpture? I can only really afford one of the two.”

When it comes to art, I don’t give very good advice. The only thing I could come up with is asking the owner of the gallery for a discount. This was taking place during the annual exhibition at the Convention Centre, and there was only a bit of time before it would end. The atmosphere was tense. My friend left work early that day, and ran off to purchase art.

I got another phone call, and, this time, the voice said “I didn’t buy anything”.

It turned out that my friend had been treated very rudely. Rudely and indecently. I don’t even want to describe what they’d said to their potential client.

This incident made such a negative impression on me, but it didn’t curb my friend’s enthusiasm for beautiful things. You should see her eyes when she’s buying art. So much passion! The genie has been let out of the bottle. If this genie had unlimited financed, modern artists wouldn’t be able to remain starving. And Toronto would probably boast one more modern art gallery.

Capturing the elusive spirit

Since I believe there is always room for improvement in your craft, I like to consult some knowledgeable people before I begin a new project. By this I mean that I take an immense amount of reading material out from the library.

I did this before I started a blog, and I did this before I tried taking photos of three-dimensional object (namely, my sculptures). While blogging depends mainly on your ability to describe things that interest you in a colourful way, taking photos requires a real sacrifice. It’s not even about having a big, fancy camera, or the ability to make good use of Photoshop. It’s about the object you’re photographing, and it’s about practicing.

It feels to me like the objects resist being photographed. They don’t exactly move, or make silly faces. It’s something more subtle. For example, I finished the photoshoot with my dog sculpture pretty quickly, and I am very satisfied with it, but the birds just wouldn’t come out right. The magic isn’t there. From the photos, you can’t really see that the birds are a little bit like totem animals. You can’t see that they are cheerful. You can’t see anything essential, despite the amount of effort it took me, hanging over them from various angles. It didn’t matter how much I’ve experimented with the lighting. The birds just look so ordinary on the photos. Or maybe that’s just the way I see it.

A Sculpture Reader

Everyone’s talking about the crisis in modern visual arts, but I believe that their fears are greatly exaggerated. Sure, many artists seem to exploit old ideas. Sure, many artists have gotten caught up in developing their art form for its own sake. However, each artist is part of a society that’s been influenced by so many people that have been part of it. Naturally, the art that is produced in a particular society will have at least some components that have been borrowed from the previous generations.

Oddly enough, right now I find the most interesting ideas in sculpture. Take, for example, Regina Frank. It’s difficult to call her work “sculpture” in its purest sense. There are also elements of installation and performance. As far as composition, her art can be compared to classic Greek sculpture. You can see it in the graceful lines and the elegant gestures. Also, there is Magdalena Jetelova. Her works are saturated with drama and conflict. At the same time, they are succinct, containing paradoxical philosophical ideas.

There is a type of sculpture that I don’t get at all. It has several distinct characteristics. One common feature is a heap of misshapen objects, whose collective form is reminiscent of an enlarged pile of dog poop. Another one involves carelessly scrambled human and/or animal body parts – this is probably supposed to make you think of the inevitable things in life, or something. Also, often featured in this type of sculpture are metallic pieces, which are slightly rusted, as if they’ve been exposed to the weather.

To end on a positive note – I also love Christo and Jeanne-Claude!

Sculpting Challenges

When I was a teenage art school student, we had some opportunities to visit the studios of our teachers. One day, my friend and I came to our sculpture teacher’s studio. His exhibition had just finished, and some of the unsold pieces were returned to him.

Something that made a strong impression that time was the figure of a woman with her nose broken off (and, strangely, her breast). Being quite young, my friend and I thought that this was the artist’s concept. That he was trying to make something reminiscent of Venus de Milo, except that he’d chosen to re-imagine her as having survived a trip in a crowded Soviet bus.

However, our teacher stopped smoking his pipe for a second to look at us and say “Remember, children – always make sure you create a carcass for your sculpture.”

I bend wires to make carcasses for my new creations. My new series is called Opposites Attract. I am going to exhibit it on The Beach Studio Tour - Friday October 15th; Saturday October 16th; Sunday October 17th.

Some wonderful weather

This weekend surprised us with some wonderful weather. The rain was unusually polite and decent this time. Although the forecast made it seem like it would rain a lot, it only happened a little bit Saturday night, and wouldn’t bother us otherwise.

We knew that we needed to make the most out of the end of summer, and so we decided to go hiking in an out-of-town park. While we were "deep in the forest", my cell phone rang, and it turned out that somebody (from a gallery that is now exhibiting my work) needed photos of my art immediately. That's the magic of modern technology!

I find that fall enters our minds and souls sooner than it actually shows up in nature. Maybe spring starts sooner in Italy, but at least we have more of a chance to have a white Christmas.

I always prefer that fall appears gradually. At first, the chilly nights. Then the sweaters return to your everyday wardrobe. After that, you realize that sandals no longer have a place on your feet. Hot coffee in your travel mug in the morning. The windbreaker. Warm boots. Scarves.

Hello, winter!  

The end of the Summer

Last night, my daughter had a dinner party. At first, her plan was to cook dinner for just one girl, who is leaving to study in Ottawa soon. After that, my daughter's boyfriend signed on to help her make the dinner. (A very commendable initiative.) Then another friend joined; a guy who lives nearby. He offered to amuse them with his guitar playing while they were cooking. Finally, another girl called, saying she had some free time, and she joined the company.

It seems to me like the party was a success. All the dishes remained in one piece, and only one piece of chocolate cake got smeared on the couch.

My husband and I also had a wonderful time that day. We had dinner at our favourite Greek restaurant, and then we hung out at the Apple store. Then we went to HMV and bought two seasons of Agata Christie "Marple". After that we had a little walk. I'm just sad that summer is winding down, and it gets dark sooner.