HEART FOR ART EXHIBIT

“I aim to engage the person viewing the art and, hopefully, have them leave thinking about the subject of my work on a deeper level.”

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Penny Gunderson is an emerging visual artist who was born in Calgary, Alberta and has lived in West Virginia, Maryland, and Kansas. Penny currently resides in southern Alberta. Her work features portraiture, figure work and Canadian wildlife in encaustic and mixed media. Penny has been an RBC Emerging Visual Artist through the SPARK Disability Festival and Arts Commons. She is an Artist in Residence at the Women’s Centre of Calgary. 

Penny lives with several chronic invisible illnesses including mental health and autoimmune health issues. Her interests in the disabled community and encaustic portraits were united in Invisible Illness Icons, a solo show at StudioC in cSPACE. Innovative curating of the exhibit made it more accessible. The exhibit sparked discussion and media coverage on the subject of invisible illness and the famous people who lived with them.

“My creative process involves deeply considering what matters to me and the communities I am a part of. The disabled community, being an older woman, the #metoo movement, and the resiliency and companionship of women in groups have all been catalysts in my work.”

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“I work in mixed media and encaustic, painting in molten beeswax on natural substrates. This is an ancient art form from the Egyptians and Romans used in funerary masks. I've been evolving my art practice by combining encaustic with fibre and stitching.”

Her Fall 2019 Arts Commons, Window Gallery exhibit for the SPARK Disability Festival Solo Artist Exhibit Changemakers featured installations on the theme of chronic illness and coming to terms with it. Personal Panorama includes two installation works Anger Flows and Green Hills combining fabric, wax, fibre and stitching depicting the figure as an abstract landscape.

Penny has collaborated with newcomer women from 1000 Voices and disadvantaged women from the Women’s Centre on the Mending Circle Project exploring community through encaustic, fibre, stitchery and fabric. It is currently on display as part of the Many Paths exhibit at Arts Commons. She is developing the Covid-19 Crazy Quilt Wall Hanging exploring her personal journey through the pandemic.

“I am inspired by the character of the human face and figure. I work on large, deeply colored encaustic portraits and attempt to reveal the person peering out of the face I am painting.”

  “I would like to share my love of art with others. I find art very joyful and satisfying and hope to bring smiles for others as well.”

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Afshan Khan Pakistan born and raised is a self-taught artist who learned different techniques by experimenting with a variety of mediums and tools. Afshan first landed in Saskatchewan at the age of 14, and is now a resident of Calgary, Alberta. She was first introduced to art as a hobby 8 years ago when she had her third baby. She was diagnosed with postpartum depression, her doctor suggested that she adopt a hobby to help her recuperate. Afshan used to like to draw when she was a child, so she started with drawing and moved on to painting. Art became her passion before she knew it. She has found solac and tranquility in art. Afshan used to work at ExxonMobil as a project coordinator. Currently, she is a loving mom to her little ones, a homemaker, and a visual artist.

Nature, is the major theme present in Afshan’s creations. She is very impressed by nature and believes it is the best artist at play. She also loves abstract art as it has no boundaries, and it allows you to express yourself in unique ways. Afshan likes to experiment with different techniques and tools.

Afshan wants her viewers to know that she draws her inspiration from nature and her little ones. She loves to create art with a combination of bright colours and textured tools.

Talking about what Afshan’s art means to her and what is special about her creative process, she says:

“Creating art is the joy of my life. I love the fact that it allows me to share my feelings and inspirations with others. For me art has no defined boundaries, I go with the flow and mix colours as per choice.”

“I feel free and joyous when I am busy working on a project. I like creating work based off of reality in combination with my imagination. I love mixing colours and putting them on the canvas and watching them transform into wonderful paintings.”

  “I create because I was born to create and God gave me talent. I feel better when I create. I enjoy sharing my work. I used to take my art work with me and show people on transit, in grocery stores and on the sidewalks”

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Colleen Peters, is a multi disciplinary artist; visual, literal, and performance, who is originally from La Crete. She lived in La Crete, Red Deer, and presently resides and practices her creative career in Calgary. She fondly calls her profession “Artist at Play.” She started drawing as a young child but it was in grade one when she drew a good-looking frog, she thought, "I'm an artist!". That began her interest in drawing lots of female profiles it developed into drawing other things. A self-taught artist, her major influence would be a high school art teacher and friend Mr. Lee McCullough. He led a watercolor group which Colleen attended after high school. She also attended art classes in Red Deer College, Elements, Studio C, and now, Canadian Artists Against Poverty.

While each individual’s technique is unique and different from other artists, Colleen uses bold colors and brush strokes to create her paintings. She also uses natural fibers in bold colors and textures in her weavings. In her poetry, she uses simple language and form, and often ends her poems on a light note or an unexpected twist.

“I create my art to release and then capture emotions. Collective art projects really inspire me. Also, I listen to my inner voice, my muse and intuition. Sometimes I form a new line of poetry in my head and then I write it down. Then I get the next line and write it down. It is an act of obedience to write poetry.”

My art is part of my identity. I have hung lots of my art work up on the walls of my apartment. I have also sold and given away lots of art work to people as far away as Japan. I have developed a unique style; people have come to know my art and can identify a "Colleen piece". 

According to Colleen, her goals would be to continue to grow and develop her art practice, and support herself as an artist. She dreams of being invited to places to share her art. One of her poems, “Tree of Basic Income'', has been presented at NABIG Conference (North America Basic Income Guarantee). This is starting to come true. She also wants to complete her website Artistatplay.ca “This website showcases my self-portraits which I hope to display all together in an art show, therefore they are not for sale yet. I would like to complete my art website to showcase more of my artworks.”

Colleen also wishes to publish a coffee table book with poetry, songs, paintings, weavings and drawings. “I want to keep creating.”

“I like that with art you can fix things. In life that is not always the case.”

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Yvette Lorraine Branker, a multi-disciplinary artist, originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and has lived in Calgary, Alberta since 1970. She was introduced to arts and crafts as a preschooler and has continued to this day. She studied with artists such as Marlene Johnsrude and Alicja Swiatlon, among others.

Yvette’s major obstacles that she has encountered in life is life itself. She struggles with perspective and resilience. Art helps her with this.

“I paint a lot of landscapes. I strive for magic realism and always fail in a consistent way. This has become my style. As for handcrafting, my interests are varied. I like to be able to look at an item and say, "I made that."

Yvette's technique that is unique and different from other artists, is to lose herself in the experience of making something. She works very slowly, with a lot of patience and attention to detail.

“I am a storyteller. I create art as a means of self-expression; to tell a narrative. It's an essential mode of communication. Sometimes I create art simply to explore colour. Even if a piece is only about colour, it is imbued with emotion. As an artisan, while crafting, sometimes I get lost making the same item in endless colour combinations. It's hard to stop. Each colour combination says something slightly different.”

What art means to Yvette is very personal and at the same time universal:

“I think that art is a fundamental expression of what it means to be human. Whether it be a handprint in a cave or graffiti on a wall, humans have a drive to leave a mark, to say, "I was here."

What is special about her creative process is that her art helps her to make sense of her story, and she hopes it will connect with someone else and help them make sense of their story. Additionally, making things with her hands calms her, she finds peace while creating in solitude, and sending her creations out into the world.

“Sometimes when life is very hard, we have no choice but to dream and defend what we believe. If I want to describe what belief is for me, I would say that can translate into believing that everything will be fine; we could say that we believe in God and from there, we could talk about faith.”

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 Waleska Cueto born in Puebla, Puebla México, is now a Calgary Based local artist. She is currently studying Graphic Design at Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts). Art has always been a big part of her life; “as I grew up and finished high school, my interest was to study Graphic Design or Photography”. However, Waleska could not continue with her education due to a lack of support and resources. For this reason, Waleska decided to move to Canada and dedicate her time and efforts to enroll in university. Attending university has been a challenge because, without proper education, it is difficult to find a good job, and without a good job, it is hard to save money to live and attend university.

In 2019, Waleska was diagnosed with breast cancer; this event changed her life. After eight months of treatment, she realized that life was short and she could not continue pushing her dreams aside. Waleska then decided to enroll at AUArts to continue her education and learn graphic design.

For most of Waleska’s life, she has enjoyed photography and started taking pictures of flowers on her cell phone. She got her first professional camera as a gift from her husband. Since then, she has enjoyed capturing beautiful moments, places and things. She indeed thinks “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.”

“I am a creative person, always trying to do and learn new stuff, love cooking, take photos, painting, designing, love crafts, and make all kinds of things like jam, soap, and handmade goods. I am a fast learner and I like to solve puzzles. I get inspired by design in nature as I think we have the world around us to take on ideas and inspiration.”

Waleska finds inspiration in nature. She likes to take long walks and take photos, offer a different perspective and new ideas as she has had various experiences and a love for her Latin American roots. Waleska developed her sense of visual arts by being proactive, self-learning by watching videos and exploring different applications. This exploration led her to participate in various competitions, such as a photography contest at SAIT where she was awarded first place in 2017.

In Waleska’s words; “What interests me is being able to share my ideas through visual arts. I like graphic design because we can bring ideas to life and design visual elements full of colour and creativity. Although I focused most of my time on photography, I slowly transitioned to graphic design, which always caught my attention.”

“I choose to pick a wide variety of colours for my photography composition to transmit a playful vibe in some of my pieces. I like the audience to feel a peaceful and clean vibe in the photography composition. I enjoy playing with different colours and colour combinations.” 

“I love intense bold colours. My son inspires me.“

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Sandra Ayerst was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario and now resides in Calgary, Alberta. A retired professional, she was first introduced to art in 2015 and has been practicing since as a self-taught artist.  Sandra has faced the obstacles of low income and arthritis in recent years.  Her audience will notice the vibrant, bold colours present in her artworks. Sandra points out that art brings her enjoyment and relaxation. It takes her to a place of calm. Her son inspires her the most to create what she loves.  “I love intense bold colours. My son inspires me. “  What art means to her is peace and tranquility, an escape from the world.  According to Sandra, the reason why she creates is because she loves colour and the ability she has to create, despite her arthritis.   As an artist, Sandra would like to be able to keep on creating and seeing the intense colours in her artwork and to know that she has created the art piece.