The Okotoks Art Gallery held a couple of exhibit openings over the weekend.
On Saturday (April 6), Artists Tanya Zakarow and Bruno Canadien were in attendance for their exhibit openings.
Multi-media artist Tanya Zakarow’s exhibit helps to celebrate the beauty of growing old.
“It’s called Ripe, and it’s called The Beauty and Privilege of Growing Old,” explained Zakarow at the exhibit opening. “So, the idea behind it is arriving at a ripe old age. And we need to celebrate arriving at a ripe old age. Not a lot of people get to do that. A lot of people pass away before they get lines on their faces, the road map of their story. And I just thought that it is such a beautiful thing to grow old and I am really hoping to change the perspective on aging a little bit.”
Zakarow says that we live in a culture of youth and vitality, but she is hoping to celebrate all ages of life.
“When I am drawing somebody, what’s really unique is that when I am looking at the lines on their faces, I can see the story. And it’s almost like this magical thing that happens,” Zakarow says. “It’s like you get to know the person in a really intimate, special way. And I really attribute that to our lives and our wrinkles and our age spots and our sunspots and our broken capillaries and our red cheeks and our red noses and all that stuff, our grey hair. It’s a pretty special thing to be able to capture.”
Primarily, Zakarow works in watercolour, coloured pencil, and graphite.
She also utilizes interesting layering work with her art.
“It’s watercolour on paper, and then I take drafting film, which is a transparent film, and I work both sides of that film,” says Zakarow. “And what happens is you get a really three-dimensional, kind of, blurred-out result. But it adds layers and layers and layers. So, essentially I’m doing the drawing three times, but it just adds so much dimension.”
Zakarow also does sculptures of real-life subjects.
She says she follows her heart when it comes to choosing her subjects.
“If my heart goes flip-flop when I see the picture, I know I need to draw it. That’s an easy way to put it, it’s a very internal thing. It speaks to me. It needs to be done. It needs to be shared.”
She says that it isn’t simply portrait art, but soul art, because you see their soul.
Even though she wanted to be an artist when she was young, she hadn’t picked pencil or brush for a long time, until COVID gave her the time to get back into it.
On top of this being her first exhibit, Zakarow was also the Town of Okotok’s inaugural Sheep River Artist in Residence last year.
During her residency, she created several portraits, including one of Mayor Tanya Thorn.
Multi-media artist Bruno Canadien’s exhibit was inspired by beadwork.
“The title is called Mother Tongue/Ehts’o Ket’a and that refers to the beaded moccasin tops, specifically my grandmother made and that my aunt gifted to me a few years ago,” explained Canadien at the art opening on April 6. “And she suggested I incorporate that into my practice or do something with it, I think is what she said.”
Then, after thinking about it for a while, he created the series of paintings that are on exhibit, based on that beadwork.
“‘The Dene people, my community, utilize floral designs in their beadwork, mostly, So, I was inspired by these particular moccasin tops that I was given, and that’s what these designs are based on.”
Canadien dedicated his exhibit to the women of the Dene Nation, especially those who still do traditional artwork.
He primarily works with acrylic paints but also uses mixed media such as coloured pencil and graphite, canvas, and satin ribbons.
After High School, Canadien moved from the Northwest Territories to attend the Alberta College of the Arts (which is now the Alberta University of the Arts) in Calgary.
Canadien’s work is no stranger to the art gallery, as his work has been on display there in the past.