Artist Project 2020 has come to a wrap but we still have some mini interviews to share. Learn more about Canadian artists Andrew Sookrah, Diana Bahr, Mark Johnson, Kira Varvanina and Olivia Di Gregorio below. We also asked Artist Project’s jury member Ashley Mckenzie-Barnes to share what she looks for when judging art.
Andrew Sookrah
Andrew Sookrah, Another View Gros Morne, 2019
What is the first visual memory that you can recall, whether it is artistic, audiovisual, sensory, or other?
Should I go waaay back? I remember some vivid details from a very young age, one such is spatial. I remember thinking this is a big space, it’s bigger than the one I was just in.
What is something you love about your featured work at Artist Project 2020?
I was up at Canoe Lake (Oxtongue, Ragged Falls) area of Algonquin Park in January and was humbled in the presence of such raw spiritual beauty. These paintings from Oxtongue Lake are on display at Artist 2020.
Second, I was in the Arctic last September on an Artist in Residence expedition with Adventure Canada and we were exposed to a shared experience of adventurers on aboard—historians, Inuit artists, hunters, scientists, musicians, geologists. My one artistic expression on display in my booth presents a recognizable piece of equipment as a metaphor for our contribution to climate change.
What inspires you the most?
I find inspiration in everything.
Diana Bahr
Diana Bahr-Vintage wax and oil paint on tracing paper photo print and recessed birch panel, 20 x 20
What is the first visual memory that you can recall, whether it is artistic, audiovisual, sensory, or other?
My first memory is of me sitting on my aunt’s lap, having a sip of her beer. Apparently I was three years old!
What is something you love about your featured work at Artist Project 2020?
My Traces series is about memory and is usually monochromatic; I am excited that for Artist Project 2020, I have some pieces in colour.
What inspires you the most?
Right now, I am inspired by family stories and the ancestral research I am doing for my Traces series of artwork, and for a possible future book of fiction.
Mark Johnson
Mark Johnson, Sky Stories, 2019
What is the first visual memory that you can recall, whether it is artistic, audiovisual, sensory, or other?
My earliest memory is of being aware, and I am with a presence that would be my mother. There is soft skin, a warmth, white cloth wrapping me close to the presence.
What is something you love about your featured work at Artist Project 2020?
What excites me about my work here at the show is the possibility that my vision is clearing and my skill set is catching up to my vision. A wonderful place to be in for any artist, feeling like I’m on a cusp.
What inspires you the most?
I get inspired by beautiful visuals, and by science. The two seem to come together and tell me stories that I want to share.
Kira Varvanina
Kira Varvanina, Equanimity, 2019
What is the first visual memory that you can recall, whether it is artistic, audiovisual, sensory, or other?
When I was a kid I spent summers outside the city in the woods with my grandparents. Thus my first visual memories are connected to natural surrounding world. Gathering plants for a herbarium was my favourite pastime.
What is something you love about your featured work at Artist Project 2020?
This is the first time I am exhibiting the body of work featuring laser-cut, multi-dimensional sculpture pieces. I am fascinated by the idea of marrying technology and nature in the form of art. By combining techniques such as tracing, laser cutting and silk screening, I hope to bring a renewed interest and awareness of the nature around us.
What inspires you the most?
Having lived most of my adult life in the city, I begin to realize that what inspires me as an artist lies outside of its boundaries. As a result, my artistic practice is a study and interpretation of the various shapes and forms of the Earth’s environments.
Ashley Mckenzie-Barnes (Jury Member)
Courtesy of Artist Project
What do you look for when judging art?
I look for technique, personality and an overall good sense of aesthetic. As a curator I typically want to see if the artwork is moving you or telling a specific story or if it’s something that an audience can adapt within their own lives, as a personal piece.
I don’t have specific genres of art that I’m attracted or a favourite style. I enjoy and collect a range of art from afro-futurism, to sculpture, to pop-art, street art and installation-based pieces.
What catches your eye?
These days I am attracted to lighting and sculpture. Experiential and structural work. Design heavy work.
What distracts you (in a bad way)?
Perhaps how work is displayed. Is it too cluttered? Is it disjointed or are the pieces not connected through a curated vision? More so than the art itself, I am more distracted by poorly displayed work.
Olivia Di Gregorio
Olivia Di Gregorio, Praetermissa, 2019
What is the first visual memory that you can recall, whether it is artistic, audiovisual, sensory, or other?
I think the most prominent memory for me was the glow of the sun coming in from the window, and how it beamed onto my family’s old dark leather couch. It was so bright, and lit up the entire room so clearly, that I can only associate this kind of light with good memories.
What is something you love about your featured work at Artist Project 2020?
What excites me about my work here is that it tells a story about where I’ve been in my different thought processes. It all leads back to my most recent pieces, describing where I want to go in more fantastical landscapes with deeper narratives, and how everything has led up to this point in the world I’m building.
What inspires you the most?
I feel like the majority of my paintings are inspired first from music, and then from the human condition. Music is not immediately visual, but when you hear a certain arrangement, it can suddenly feel like a field opens up in front of you, and the way someone settles into that moment is akin to something so sincere, that people record it in their journals, and wear it even in their expressions.
A few more works we’re fans of:
Julia Campisi, Cute, Love, Xoxo, 2019
Julia Mercanti, 'Julia and Marcello,' 2019
Gordon Shadrach, Cross Hairs, 2019
More of Sidewalk Hustle’s Artist Project coverage can be found here.
