Campus artists showcased in award-winners display
Taking on the role of an artist as a career in today's modern setting can be a daunting task. In a sea of many striving artisans, you need to display drive, skills, creativity and knowledge of your craft to set yourself apart in the field. Fortunately, the odds can be stacked in your favour if you study art within a post-secondary institution, where you can get the skills and competence to take baby steps into the art world while you study.
The late Mackie Cryderman was a woman who knew the importance of a good education; she distinguished the priority of supporting aspiring artists. Cryderman, considered one the most important women in London's art community, was a painter and was best known for her wood carvings and jewellery-making. As a member of the Board of Governors, she was instrumental in the induction of Fanshawe's Division of Applied Arts, now known as both the Art & Design Division and Communication Arts Division.
Last year, an opportunity was presented to first- and second-year students in the Fine Art program to be one of three chosen students for the Mackie Cryderman Award.
This year's winners of the Mackie Cryderman Award are John Loaye, Daniel Carter, and Adam Grenier, currently all second-year students who submitted their ideas at the closing of their first year of school. Their work was created over the summer months with the aid of the financial award, was on display in “H” Gallery, until November 14th.
John Loaye's submission, “You and I in A Meadow/You and I Buried You” is an acrylic painting on canvas, accompanied by an audio CD for the listening pleasure of his viewing audience. His intent in his art is to create a connection between the visuals of painting and the music. While looking at the vibrant blue and peachy-orange ocean-like swirls of the painting, everything appears to spiral inwardly. At the same time, there are bold drips of white paint running towards the bottom of the painting, across its organic shapes. The music, composed and performed by Loaye, has a lovely acoustic sound, with almost a Beatles-esque pop sensibility to it. When you look at the painting and connect it to the music, things begin to have a slightly psychedelic feel. The vague shapes begin to form objects in your mind, similar to watching clouds and guessing what they look like. The more you take in the lyrics of the song- -“in the Switzerland hills, I buried you”, and “throw that boy away, he can't paint you like I do”- -the more you connect the visual imagery with your auditory sensations.
Daniel Carter has two pieces featured; “Solvent” is an acrylic on canvas diptych with two separate figures, a female and a male, painted in a photorealistic style. Each are on a separate panel but are pressed together side by side. In the process of his art, Carter uses his imagination to conjure up a visual depiction of a selected word or phrase. In this piece, he centres on the word “distance”, in hopes that the audience will look at the painting and personally relate to it while trying to make their own interpretation of what they look at. As the two figures share a superficial attachment to one another, it's clear to see there's a void between them, both emotionally and physically, in the fact that they are veritably separated. “Amplified Distance”, a small book of photomanipulations paired with text, is Carter's second featured piece. The dark, abstracted photos, most with the presence of a female figure, produce the same feelings of “emotional detachment” as in “Solvent”, which is also well echoed in the poetic words they have been married with. The artist says that “Amplified Distance” is supposed to portray “an entry or exit to ‘Solvent'.”
“Untitled” is Adam Grenier's acrylic on canvas triptych. The massive 7x3 foot panels of immense, vibrant colours tower over their viewing audience from the walls of the gallery. Grenier's inspiration from the abstract minimalist art of Wasily Kandinsky and Kasimir Malevich shows a great presence. The painting is covered with dabs of every vivid and bright colour imaginable, contrasted well with slick, strongly defined geometric shapes. Grenier also incorporates a series of Kandinsky-like mark making in the middle panel, which grows into the inner edges of the other two panels. The artist's aim with this painting is to create something “playful” yet “edgy”, and to make a statement about looking past oneself while deciding whether to stand alone or seek others. The three separate but linked panels serve to reflect this joined separation as a metaphor.
The show exhibits the potential of the students, and serves as good preparation of what is later to come in their career paths.
The late Mackie Cryderman was a woman who knew the importance of a good education; she distinguished the priority of supporting aspiring artists. Cryderman, considered one the most important women in London's art community, was a painter and was best known for her wood carvings and jewellery-making. As a member of the Board of Governors, she was instrumental in the induction of Fanshawe's Division of Applied Arts, now known as both the Art & Design Division and Communication Arts Division.
Last year, an opportunity was presented to first- and second-year students in the Fine Art program to be one of three chosen students for the Mackie Cryderman Award.
This year's winners of the Mackie Cryderman Award are John Loaye, Daniel Carter, and Adam Grenier, currently all second-year students who submitted their ideas at the closing of their first year of school. Their work was created over the summer months with the aid of the financial award, was on display in “H” Gallery, until November 14th.
John Loaye's submission, “You and I in A Meadow/You and I Buried You” is an acrylic painting on canvas, accompanied by an audio CD for the listening pleasure of his viewing audience. His intent in his art is to create a connection between the visuals of painting and the music. While looking at the vibrant blue and peachy-orange ocean-like swirls of the painting, everything appears to spiral inwardly. At the same time, there are bold drips of white paint running towards the bottom of the painting, across its organic shapes. The music, composed and performed by Loaye, has a lovely acoustic sound, with almost a Beatles-esque pop sensibility to it. When you look at the painting and connect it to the music, things begin to have a slightly psychedelic feel. The vague shapes begin to form objects in your mind, similar to watching clouds and guessing what they look like. The more you take in the lyrics of the song- -“in the Switzerland hills, I buried you”, and “throw that boy away, he can't paint you like I do”- -the more you connect the visual imagery with your auditory sensations.
Daniel Carter has two pieces featured; “Solvent” is an acrylic on canvas diptych with two separate figures, a female and a male, painted in a photorealistic style. Each are on a separate panel but are pressed together side by side. In the process of his art, Carter uses his imagination to conjure up a visual depiction of a selected word or phrase. In this piece, he centres on the word “distance”, in hopes that the audience will look at the painting and personally relate to it while trying to make their own interpretation of what they look at. As the two figures share a superficial attachment to one another, it's clear to see there's a void between them, both emotionally and physically, in the fact that they are veritably separated. “Amplified Distance”, a small book of photomanipulations paired with text, is Carter's second featured piece. The dark, abstracted photos, most with the presence of a female figure, produce the same feelings of “emotional detachment” as in “Solvent”, which is also well echoed in the poetic words they have been married with. The artist says that “Amplified Distance” is supposed to portray “an entry or exit to ‘Solvent'.”
“Untitled” is Adam Grenier's acrylic on canvas triptych. The massive 7x3 foot panels of immense, vibrant colours tower over their viewing audience from the walls of the gallery. Grenier's inspiration from the abstract minimalist art of Wasily Kandinsky and Kasimir Malevich shows a great presence. The painting is covered with dabs of every vivid and bright colour imaginable, contrasted well with slick, strongly defined geometric shapes. Grenier also incorporates a series of Kandinsky-like mark making in the middle panel, which grows into the inner edges of the other two panels. The artist's aim with this painting is to create something “playful” yet “edgy”, and to make a statement about looking past oneself while deciding whether to stand alone or seek others. The three separate but linked panels serve to reflect this joined separation as a metaphor.
The show exhibits the potential of the students, and serves as good preparation of what is later to come in their career paths.
