I help you stay connected to the times and places you had to leave behind through my original hand layered mixed media paintings. My art will reconnect you to the beauty of the world by evoking memories of the past and inspiration for the future.
From November 7-12 my work will be part of the 32nd Foreign Artists Exhibition (FAE32), organized by the Central Japan International Society (CJIS), with the generous support of Nagoya International Center (NIC). This exhibition encourages dialogue and the exchange of ideas among the citizens of Nagoya and foreign artists living in the Chubu Region of Japan.
The 32nd Foreign Artists Exhibition will be held from Tuesday, 7 November to Sunday, 12 November. Painters, potters, photographers, sculptors, printers, and other fine artists will display their original artworks in the well-appointed 4th floor Exhibition Room at Nagoya International Center (NIC). The exhibition will be open to the public, free, from 10 am to 7 pm daily except the last day (Sun.) which will end at 5:00 pm.
Right now I am working on something special for this upcoming exhibition! I am exited for this awesome opportunity to share my work with the amazing people here in Nagoya. I will be on location during opening hours to answer your questions and I am looking forward to sharing art and stories with new friends!
Moving to Japan has been wonderful, inspiring and amazing but, as an artist, it also comes with a unique set of challenges. The biggest being the hunt for the right materials. My amazing hubby had already located some amazing art supply stores with great assortments of acrylic paints and mediums by a variety of Japanese, European and North American brands. Granted, the sizes of the bottles are definitely smaller then I'm used to but I can get the stuff that I need. They also have a decent supply of cradled wood panels available, the sizes are somewhat different they measure in centimetres after all, but they have a good variety and the largest is compatible to 36"x48", a size that I like to work in. On a side note, this is probably the largest size that I would be able to fit into my Japanese sized studio anyway ;)
I am going to be part of a group exhibition for foreign artists here in Nagoya early November (more on that in my next post) and I thought it would be nice to have a 'Nagoya' piece to display. So I created a 36"x24" composition, prepared a panel and then I ran into problems.
As may or may not know, in order to transfer my many photographs to my panels I use a technique called image transfer, a technique where acrylic medium picks up the ink from a laser print after which the paper is taken away which leaves you with a clear acrylic sheet called a gel skin. Because my pieces are quite large, I like to print on 11"x17" or A3 sized paper. In Canada I had a large format inkjet photo printer, I would print my images and bring them to a copy shop to have them copied on a particular type of paper by a laser printer.
Here in Japan I was going to do the same, but then my trusty large size inkjet printer died :( Instead of buying a new large size inkjet printer my husband suggested investing in a large size laser printer instead so I could skip the step of copying my photographs and make my process more efficient. of course I happily agreed with his suggestion :D
After the new printer arrived, and we politely convinced it to speak English instead of Japanese, it was time to get to work. Having figured out the printer part, it turned out, was only half of the challenge. For the transfers to come out perfectly I need a specific type of paper and that's where the real challenge started. Event though a paper looks and feels the same, doesn't mean it will actually work the same.
I scoured the city with my little foldable shopping trolly and found a whopping 7 types of paper to try. Then I spent a day conducting paper tests and I am happy to announce that I found my paper! After my experiences with papers in the past it should not have come as a surprise that the paper coming form Kinkos is the one, it beat Canon, Epson and several Japanese brands by miles. Unfortunately they only sell it in individual sheets so I guess I'll be the weirdo who comes in to buy empty sheets of paper but hey, which cares, I found the perfect paper, work in my new studio can finally start in earnest :D
I am finally back to working in my studio, my first official task was packing up a painting for shipping to a new collector which made getting back to work extra special :)
It is funny how it always seems to take at least 3-4 months to get back into things after moving. I am still trying to find the right balance between studying for my Japanese classes, exploring Japanese culture and techniques and spending time in my studio. But with a group exhibition here in Nagoya coming up in November getting back to creating art is high on the to do list. Especially since I know that finding al the right materials and services is going to require some extra time and patience for the first couple of pieces.
Thanks to my amazing hubby I've been able to find quite a few good art supply stores, I'm still having difficulty finding some of the supplies I'm used to working with but between these stores and the internet I should be able to find most things. I am very excited to try some Japanese brands as well, I bought some acrylics the other day that I am eager to try!
Another thing thats high on my to do list is trying out as many Japanese art techniques as possible, I've already done some calligraphy and I have another class coming up later this month. A couple of weeks ago I got to get my hands dirty behind a classic Japanese pottery wheel and I can confirm that they do indeed turn in the opposite direction. I am also looking into trying out Yamato-e painting and I'm looking forward to finding a Sumie class.
And of course I have done lots of exploring with my camera so as has become sort of a habit, I will leave you with some more of Japans awesome :)
