About Vanessa

When did you decide to become an artist?
When my compassion or angst could no longer be expressed in words.

What is your graphic design education?
Graphic Design Production, Mohawk College 2001-2003.

Future Plans
I hope to one day move to Nova Scotia to spend a few years getting to know the people there. I am drawn to Nova Scotia because it is where my Canadian roots began as a descendant of both the Scottish settlers, Mi'kmaq, and the Black Loyalists (who faught on the side of the British during the American Revolutionary War.)

Is painting a very important part of your life?
Sometimes I feel it is the only part of my life, be it good or bad. I am writing this interview in the winter of 2010 and for the last couple of years paintings have been slow to germinate. I hope to change that this year, I've said so much in the past but I have still so much to say and I feel I've barely begun.

Do you believe that artists have a higher calling in life?
Some do. You can tell when you see them. They are the artists that are often struggling to get it all out before the day they can no longer pursue it. They are driven and passionate, sometimes throwing aside a 'normal' life.

What is the role of the artist in society?
To create the perfect photograph using brush and paint where everything is or should be in the right place and in the right light and in the right colour.

What do you think are the qualities that define an artist?
I think if one is driven to be an artist then there must be a quality of workmanship that must show, always. Whatever the budget may be, low or high, an artist should consistently work within the highest quality the budget will allow. It's a great artist who can paint original work expressively and also 'get it right' at the same time.

Where is the relationship between the artist and his/her art?
This relationship is for me a delicate one. I think it is possible even now to earn a living solely as an artist, but for now I am still torn between painting for the pursuit of it and earning a living from it. The source that feeds an artists desire to work is much like nurturing a loved one, your loved one is like your source of creativity. There's such a deep inner sense of satisfaction when you create a work of art that someone falls in love with enough to buy it for what it's worth. This really nurtures creativity and self confidence. Thats the pursuit we want to try and keep going and it can be a bit of a balancing act. 'Balance' is everything and sometimes difficult to maintain, especially if you are hard pressed to make a dime, it can make you feel enslaved to your loved one and dampen your creativity. This is where I am lucky enough to have a job in Graphic Design and can put my brushes away in a safe place. I have also experienced a genuine feeling of balance when I've given away a work of art to a special person that truly loved it.

In your experience, what's the best thing about painting? And the worst? Where do you turn to when you need to find inspiration?
I always say the best thing about painting is when it is finished and I sign my name to the canvas. No, not in a self-centered way, but in a centered-Self way. As an adoptee it helps me to feel more grounded and self aware, like 'yes I actually do exist.' The worst thing for me is losing my train of thought, or worse than that, feeling too afraid to express a composition I fear may be offensive. My inspiration, again, comes from my adoption...anything that can express 'we are here', 'we have a name', 'we need to remember we are loved.'

What moves you most in life, either to inspire or upset you?
It kind of upsets me sometimes that I haven't found a mentor.

What is the most important idea, issue, dilemma or thing that you want to address in your art?
Adoption. It's like having one foot in another world and I haven't yet expressed this on canvas fully yet, you could consider that my future plans.
There is a quote by the immortal artist Georgia O'Keeffe that has always stood out in my mind 'I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way...things I had no words for.'

Where did you train?
I went to Mohawk College from 2001-2003 and did very well in Graphic Design. I found it was a great asset to my skills as an artist, and my artistic sense is also a great asset to my graphic design skills, and in my home-based freelance business I have found that they work very well hand in hand. When I was young, I enjoyed each and every summer art camp at Glenhyrst Art Gallery. It exposed me early to watercolor, oil pastel, leather-work and pottery.
I have found that the Brantford Public Library has been a great help in studying various techniques in oil painting.

Do you work from life, or from photographs or from imagination?
All of the above.
I have to be somewhat descriptive with this answer as I have created derivative portraits based solely on one photograph (used with permission of course), such as the portrait of Dr. Maya Angelou. I was totally moved by the photograph and the person encapsulated within it, and my purpose was to take the small 2"x4" black and white image and create a very large 30" x 43" oil portrait that was exactly the same as the photo in hopes to capture Maya's same strength, softness and resolve.
I like to photograph my own reference material using a Nikon D50, which is more than adequate, but as much as I love the photographs it produces I don't see myself as a very good photographer. It could be that, for me, the photos never really capture what it was that I really saw. This is not to say that I cannot appreciate the true veracity of a photograph, it's just that as an artist I see things that aren't really there, but should have and could have been there.
One way I get around this is to have a small sketch book always on hand. In my travels (as my good partner would say) I am often making notes and small sketches of things I see, if I don't then I'll forget.

What are the assets of being a bicultural artist?
Well for me it gives me an opportunity to express the Mulatto on canvas. I am Mulatto, and for me it began with some childhood emotional pain. But as an artist I have grown to see it as a gift, and this portion of my creative journey will hopefully bring similar hearts and minds along with me to a sense of healing and self discovery.