#AGAlive: Meet the Artist, Alexis-Marie Chute

2021

Join us for a discussion with Art Rental and Sales artist Alexis-Marie Chute. Not only is Alexis-Marie a fantastic visual artist, but she is also a filmmaker and author.Join us for a discussion with Art Rental and Sales artist Alexis-Marie Chute. Not only is Alexis-Marie a fantastic visual artist, but she is also a filmmaker and author. …

Key moments

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Alexis Marie Chute
Alexis Marie Chute
2:34

Alexis Marie Chute

2:34

Landscape Paintings
Landscape Paintings
15:03

Landscape Paintings

15:03

The Quiet Rebuild Portraits
The Quiet Rebuild Portraits
23:12

The Quiet Rebuild Portraits

23:12

How Long Does a Piece Usually Take You
How Long Does a Piece Usually Take You
35:17

How Long Does a Piece Usually Take You

35:17

Current Studio Space
Current Studio Space
36:14

Current Studio Space

36:14

The Man in the Mask
The Man in the Mask
43:15

The Man in the Mask

43:15

Influence or Inspiration from Other Artists Currently
Influence or Inspiration from Other Artists Currently
48:57

Influence or Inspiration from Other Artists Currently

48:57

Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
51:34

Robert Rauschenberg

51:34

Autogenerated Transcript from YouTube (if available)

Use CTRL+F to find key words if it is a longer transcript​.

0:03

hello everyone thank you for joining me today my name is sarah huckman and i am the art rental

0:09

and sales associate at the art gallery of alberta we welcome you to our meet the artist series a part of aga live

0:16

here at the gallery we embrace the teachings of patewa a kree phrase meaning welcome there is

0:22

room in our house even the virtual one everyone is welcome i’m delighted to be your host for this

0:28

hour joining me today is artist alexis marie choot before we

0:33

dive into the subject i’d like to highlight that this is an interactive event and we’d like to hear from you you are

0:39

welcome to use the chat window on the side screen to share your comments as we discuss with alexis

0:45

if a question gets unnoticed or unanswered at the time please know that we will review all unanswered questions

0:51

before we wrap up today’s event so alexis marie is an award-winning

0:56

artist photographer filmmaker art curator public speaker and best-selling author

1:04

she has received over 50 noteworthy distinctions for her work over the last 20 years

1:10

she achieved her bachelor of fine arts in art and design from university of alberta and studied

1:16

at media design school in auckland new zealand she graduated valedictorian with her

1:22

master of fine arts in creative writing from leicester university in cambridge alexis murray shoot was the 2012-2013

1:32

artist in residence at harcourt house artist run center where she began her groundbreaking fine

1:38

art photo and documentary series the quiet rebuild featuring volunteers from across north

1:45

america the series has been featured in the bellingham review photo ed magazine exposure photography

1:52

festival and was the winner of the ultimate composition competition at method art gallery

1:59

arizona her visual and literary works on the topic of resiliency

2:04

have been exhibited and published internationally she works in photography paint fiber

2:11

arts video art and mixed media her artwork has been exhibited around the world

2:17

and she has been published in newspapers magazines literary journals and beyond her bright

2:23

bold abstract paintings are represented at the arness gallery at the art gallery

2:29

of alberta please take this time with me to give a warm welcome to our september artist

2:34

alexis marie chute hello thank you so much for having me

2:40

hello so lovely to see you tonight i’m really looking forward to diving into some questions because you

2:46

are a fantastic artist you have so many so many things you do alexis um and we definitely have things

2:54

for you about that oh awesome i’m excited let’s do it cool um so let’s dive into i think one of my

3:02

favorite questions to ask folks is when did you find in your heart that

3:07

you wanted to be an artist well i think that i’ve always been an

3:13

artist even before i knew that being an artist was a thing you could be i

3:18

remember when i was a kid i would i set up an art studio in my parents basement

3:24

got paint on the carpet gave the carpet a haircut trying to avoid getting in trouble

3:30

i just i the second i could get a camera i’ve had a camera in my hands and i literally

3:36

carry a camera with me everywhere i go um i just i think that for me um art is

3:42

a way that i i process the world i experience the world it’s also a way that i share um who i am

3:50

and my perspectives and i can’t imagine doing or being anything

3:56

else so i’m excited that’s so lovely that’s awesome so other than the um

4:04

the paint and the carpet incident how did you begin your artistic practice

4:11

and how has it developed over time yeah so i think that i developed

4:18

just really at a very early age just a passion for exploration so i remember

4:26

oh i remember making artwork out of makeup i remember making art out of dried flowers like

4:33

just anything i could get my hands on um i was exploring and experimenting

4:39

and playing and making a giant mess and that really progressed throughout school

4:45

um i remember when i was uh at the in high school and i took all the art

4:52

classes the photography classes everything i could and i started working as an artist and a photographer right

4:59

out of high school when i was 18. so it’s always been something that is so natural to who i am even

5:07

exhibiting back then i just always loved creating something and and the presentation aspect is is so fun for me

5:16

yeah then i went to the u of a and like i just i think being in a creative community is

5:23

it’s stimulating um i actually one of my favorite parts about um going to the u of a in particular was

5:31

studying art history so i i devoured art history like canadian art history

5:37

the history of photography the history of advertising um those things really just spoke to me

5:43

and and so i think that so much of that experience it deepened my artistic practice

5:52

in terms of like the thoughtfulness that i bring to to my process of making and also to my

5:58

thoughtfulness and how i present my work um and many of those people i connected

6:04

with over the years both in my undergrad and my master’s i’ve stayed in contact with are people

6:10

that uh it constantly inspire me so and i feel like i’ve just never never

6:15

stopped creating it i’m always um i’m never content just just sitting

6:21

by so even during coven i’m just i’m like i’m starting new paintings and drawings and i’m i’m sketching and

6:27

taking notes about ideas i have and story ideas i think i’m like a compulsive creator

6:34

and and that really brings me joy and so i try to um convey that through my work as well

6:40

yeah that’s amazing that’s so i love the fact that um when you went to school it was like

6:46

that validation of like yes being an artist is legitimate

6:51

and and making those really cool connections and taking those courses that really feed that love that you have for

6:57

art and i totally agree once you get into that world it’s like oh my gosh there’s so much here for me

7:05

totally and at the same time i did find that it was amazing being with those people

7:11

but once you leave school you have to fight for it you have to fight for what you believe in you have

7:16

to fight for making a career in the arts because it doesn’t come easy

7:21

you know some careers you’ll go and you study dentistry and you leave school and you become a

7:27

dentist like it’s kind of like a clear path and i definitely feel like art um

7:33

almost like abstract art it’s open to interpretation you don’t know how um this lifestyle is going to come

7:40

together and i would definitely look at where i’m at today and i i would honestly say that i i don’t

7:46

necessarily think i could have anticipated um five ten years ago where i’m at today

7:51

but i am thankful for my journey the ups and the downs yeah absolutely well because once you start

7:57

on like a series of artwork you know you kind of have an outline of where you’re

8:02

going but at the same time if you started a different theories prior to that or if you decided to do a

8:08

different project that just takes you on so many different ways and i think that’s what you’re what you’re talking about

8:14

alexis of like you may have gone a different route in your career you might not have gone

8:20

to university or you might not have you know done a whole bunch of other of your accolades if you started with a

8:27

different project first or yeah you’re right and even like life circumstances come up

8:33

and i feel like as an artist your your personal life is intermingled with

8:38

your artwork it’s inescapable um so the things that have surprised me

8:44

in life have also surprised my artwork with new um iterations over the years

8:49

yeah really great point um next question for you when you were in school

8:55

what were some important lessons that you learned about your artistic practice yeah so i

9:02

i really learned during school that i need to be my own advocate and that was a hard

9:08

lesson to learn and i think that for me i’ve always pushed the boundaries of like what is art and i remember

9:16

i had some really conservative painting instructors one in particular and during that

9:24

stage i was um creating conceptual clothing out of strange materials i made a dress

9:32

out of confetti i made a dress out of rice bags um i made a dress out of

9:38

shower curtains i made a dress out of paper um different things like that and then i photographed people in the dresses

9:45

and then i would print those and then i would paint and um collage mixed media on top of those oh

9:51

wow at the time though like i got a lot of backlash from one professor

9:57

in particular and i remember like because i was i was in the creative

10:02

process it wasn’t like i had a piece i was i was experimenting and playing and so

10:09

i really had to learn during that experience that i need to follow my creative instincts

10:16

i need to believe in what i’m doing and other people might not understand it and that’s okay um

10:23

it’s hard when you’re getting graded in school yeah exactly i really learned to

10:29

through that experience to be strong and i remember being told that why are you

10:35

doing this photography is not art and those words have never left me

10:42

because i i feel like i’ve had to to grapple with that in my own way and figure out like what is what is

10:49

art to me and how do i translate that and so really like at the heart of everything i

10:55

do i see myself as an artist and so that might take different forms of expression

11:01

but it doesn’t necessarily matter the medium half the time it is the

11:06

message and the artistry that goes into it so i really learned about being my own advocate and that and that goes to so

11:13

many different um areas of life i also learned through school what um how

11:21

we have to define what success is for us so what might be a successful career to

11:27

some people that might not be what i want my life to look like so i really um figured out that like for me

11:36

while i would love to paint till four in the morning success looks to me the integration of

11:43

of my family and my career and so i’m the kind of artist that i bring my

11:49

kids to so many uh of my art gallery openings to my phone screenings they don’t know how lucky they are as

11:56

little kids to be able to see and experience these things but that’s what i had to define i learned that i had to define what

12:02

success was for me um many of my peers in art school they had a different

12:08

uh trajectory and while i love and support them i had to really figure out like what

12:13

what do i want this life to look like for myself and i have to say that i didn’t i don’t know if art school really prepared me

12:20

for the business side of like making a career in the arts i’m really fortunate to have

12:26

parents um and my parents are divorced so i have more than two parents i have a plethora

12:31

of parents who have demonstrated to me entrepreneurship

12:36

and business savvy that i feel that um has really helped me so that i can do

12:42

my artwork full time and i am really thankful to be able to do that because i i can’t imagine dividing um my heart and

12:50

my passions yeah so there’s just like less life lessons that came out of school or came as a result

12:57

of the school realizing i needed yeah you learn you learn different things from

13:03

different people and school can teach you one group of skills but um

13:09

family and then also living it is just an amazing additional education totally

13:16

yeah and that that element of entrepreneurship is so important in this in this day and

13:22

with social media and with you know doing live events like this it’s very important to be engaged with

13:30

that kind of content and one of my favorite things about uh your artistry um

13:38

is your website is very crisp and it’s very clear and you know i can look on your website

13:45

know exactly what you’re working on what you have worked on um and i get to know you a little bit

13:51

more and that’s really really cool uh to see that

13:57

i was just contemplating today i’m like should i update my website should i change my website but i guess it’s good

14:02

so let’s go don’t worry that’s awesome um i want to dive into

14:08

our little presentation that we have so that our viewers can see some of the artwork that you’ve created um so this piece

14:16

here i didn’t even recognize that this was your works i’ve never seen this type of work of yours before can

14:22

you tell me a little bit about um when this was when this was made

14:28

yeah so i i am terrible at dates so this will be like circa

14:36

2016 ish i’m gonna say um and yeah like i just i love exploring

14:43

and experimenting and so for me um nature is definitely one of those places where i get inspired and i

14:49

connect with spirituality and and i just love spending time with

14:55

friends and family so for me being out in nature with people i love is such an inspiration so i did this

15:02

little series of landscape paintings so it’s hard to tell with this image because they’re all right

15:10

i just want three so i just thought i would pop over to all three these paintings i um did them on raw

15:18

canvas so really like the canvas just soaks up the paint in such a beautiful way

15:23

um and then there’s also different kinds of paper that are collaged onto

15:29

um the mountain to create like the different layers and uh

15:35

the different stratas of mountainscape and then like letting the the the paint

15:41

just drip down on the raw canvas um i just wanted something natural and flowing and

15:47

earthy so that’s really where this series um came about and the first one uh in this series the

15:54

largest one my my daughter is like you were not allowed to sell this like it comes just before

16:02

um it is oh i think it’s like

16:07

six or seven feet wide by four four or five feet tall so it’s

16:15

giant and she’s like no you can’t sell it my daughter is like she has very specific pieces of my work that

16:21

she’s like no not for sale nope so um yeah i would love to do more in this

16:28

series yeah it’s just a matter of time i have so many projects

16:33

this is your gentle reminder to to do this series yeah there we go i’m taking a mental

16:40

note i really enjoy these ones because i can really feel that life that it has

16:46

um and yet with the dripping it almost feels like it’s fading away um it’s yeah it’s

16:54

really cool there’s really cool juxtaposition in all three of these and the colors that you chose are very bright and bold and they’re

17:00

very beautiful thank you do you know what i should say i exhibited these like many times over the

17:05

years but some people look at them and instead of seeing a mountain like looking up in a mountain

17:10

i’ve had some feedback at the last show that i had that people were like oh i feel like i’m looking down over a cliff at the ocean

17:18

whoa so then i was like okay i can kind of see that too

17:24

so that’s wonderful well yeah and that’s that’s so nice

17:29

about um meeting an artist and having those conversations when you’re at an exhibit

17:34

or like even through an event like this where you can actually get their the artist’s thoughts behind

17:41

it and then you can you know reflect and say is that what it truly means to me or you know how did i interpret that how

17:48

did it make me feel and that’s just what we love about art isn’t it

17:54

oh totally well that’s the beautiful thing we as creators put our our hearts and souls into what

18:00

we make and then we we let it like kid we let it out into the world and

18:05

um and and people can love and appreciate or or hate it and that’s okay whatever

18:11

perspective they have i just love creating uh like a response in people that’s

18:16

if my art is like just easily passed over then i’m kind of like oh i haven’t done my job i want people to stop and pause yeah

18:23

that’s awesome and when you create a piece um

18:29

do you have a specific outcome that you want to create or does it kind of you know come to life

18:36

as you’re working on it so this is where i think that i really

18:41

start with a like almost like a meditative

18:47

headspace um i think about i dream about i daydream about my work

18:53

before i even start making it and sort of my creative process that works well for me is i’ll kind of

19:00

like make a loose plan in my head of what i want to accomplish loosely and then i’ll collect almost

19:07

like a bird is collecting different things for their nest i kind of collect everything that i could

19:12

imagine using in that project or series or painting and then i really just like let myself

19:19

get into the headspace of creating and what that looks like for me ideally

19:25

is like maybe five to ten hours where i’m just working and i don’t have too many interruptions

19:32

this is unique now because i do have a lot of kids so to find that like truly uninterrupted

19:38

time at least that long no time um it’s more rare but i

19:45

collect everything and then i just get lost in the process so i don’t usually work on perhaps like

19:51

just one painting at a time like one to one to one i might start like 10 paintings at once

19:59

and go back and forth and and just figure out okay very much i’m responsive to the

20:05

creative process as i’m making and then i’ll stand back and look at the work and i’m like

20:11

okay do i need more this is a lesson um because i’ve over

20:18

painted i pushed it too far many times in my past and i’m like no i must learn restraint um yeah some

20:27

later paintings i know you’re gonna show um are have like much less like brush stroke

20:33

and they’re they’re sort of pared down and that also reflected um

20:38

the state of when i was creating it how i was feeling where i was at in my life so yeah so

20:44

that’s kind of my process i very much like i’m always thinking and reacting uh in

20:50

the creative process um opening the door for happy accidents for sponsoring um for for the mistakes

20:58

to grow into something and yeah so i’m not too like restrictive as i’m creating

21:04

that’s awesome and then now we’re going to jump into the um oh sorry this series actually

21:10

um and these ones i i have a little zoom in so that folks can see the detail

21:17

um can you tell us a little bit about these pieces yeah so this is a series i call joy plus passion two

21:25

so i did a series i feel like all of my work is an evolution so it’s almost like

21:31

a timeline of my life um so these are some of my newest paintings um where there’s really bright colors

21:38

they reflect um the experience of like where i find

21:43

myself now i’ve been through some some challenging experiences in my life

21:49

the biggest most noteworthy one was my son zachary passing away

21:54

which would have been um like this he’ll be he would have been 10 this october so

22:01

it has been a decade where my art after losing him was um

22:08

any more dark i did black and white portraiture of other people who are going through loss and

22:13

struggles and really like over time the work has become more bright more

22:21

more joyful as i’ve rediscovered who i am as a mother as a woman as an artist after

22:28

that loss and so these are definitely uh some of the light bright uh airy paintings that just

22:35

encapsulate where i’m at now at this joyful place yeah wonderful

22:43

yeah i love the the details on this

22:48

thank you and so these are

22:55

like the black and white the more uh conceptual photography that i was taking of other people so i i really felt like

23:03

i wanted to not just tell my story but also help other people share their story of

23:09

rebuilding after hardship and so i call this series the quiet rebuild portraits

23:14

i also have the quiet rebuild sculptures which are wood um wood-based but with these portraits

23:21

i put a call out for people on social media saying have you been through something in your

23:27

life that you’re now rebuilding from and so i photographed people who um had

23:33

also lost someone they loved or had they have battled through addiction or health challenges

23:39

um just really inspiring stories of of resiliency in the face of the

23:45

unpredictability of life we can’t control everything and so i can i

23:51

collaborated with these people in creating something that was a meaningful portrait to capture

23:58

conceptually what they’ve been through and where they’re hoping to go in their life and

24:03

these have been exhibited and published all over and i’m really um i’m really thrilled to be a part of

24:11

uh these people’s stories and help encourage others because definitely when these are on exhibits

24:16

people are encouraged to like come up close and learn the stories behind these people

24:22

and so many viewers can relate and and are encouraged by the hope

24:28

um and the strength that these people exhibit yeah absolutely here’s another look at uh

24:36

this exhibit uh what what uh gallery was this in this is at the renaissance the

24:42

renaissance gallery at the edmonton airport yeah

24:47

so this was actually during covid so but the people who are still passing through the

24:53

airport and like it’s it’s a really cool space there’s always pilots and flight attendants there’s

24:59

people with their suitcases walking by it’s it’s an amazing bright beautiful gallery space and

25:06

yeah i’m always very thankful to have the opportunity to share my work in a space like that where there’s um lots of passers-by yeah absolutely

25:14

it’s not really a conventional spot where people are expecting i’m going to a gallery today

25:22

yeah they’re very it’s a great place it’s a great place for like for art ambushes you know people are

25:28

just passing by and then they’re like whoa there’s art here right and so kind of like it takes people off

25:34

off guard but um yeah it’s just it’s a cool art ambush i want to like i don’t like that phrase hashtag

25:42

[Laughter] yeah awesome and they’re very like

25:49

um what is the word i’m looking for they’re very striking images like it’s not like a simple landscape

25:56

where you’re you know walking by and it’s like oh that’s nice it’s it’s gonna grab their attention for

26:02

sure exactly well making people uncomfortable is cool sometimes making them think

26:09

right i think you know we have so much content fed to us and that’s one amazing thing about art is it does

26:16

invite people to slow down and take a breath and have a longer moment of contemplation

26:22

and definitely these photographs are because they are um outside the box that’s for sure

26:28

especially the subject matter and the conceptual uh nature that they’re created in

26:33

absolutely and do you have any uh more projects that you’re working on currently that are similar to this one

26:40

yeah so actually this series of artwork um i’m just in the beginning of the year

26:46

turning uh mental planning stage of revisiting every

26:52

person that um i have a portrait of in the quiet rebuild because it’s been for some of these

26:58

people uh five to two almost ten years later

27:03

and yeah and so revisiting them and seeing where they’re at now and creating a new portrait

27:10

i’m thinking this might be something that i continue with these people over the years and then they’ll be like like a series

27:17

of development and yeah i think that’s going to be really special so that’s one thing that i’m

27:22

i’m in the process of planning i’m also

27:27

sorry what was that he said that is so cool i’m excited like i i really love like

27:34

the like photo series for example where it’s like husband and wife are taking a picture of themselves every year for

27:40

50 or 60 years and so you really see them grow as a couple like their age and their

27:45

love so i really can imagine like these people i know that so many of them have gone on

27:50

to do amazing things because of of their loss like there was another mother who lost a child

27:56

and she is she’s in toronto and she organizes um like fundraising balls uh for little

28:02

girls and to help fundraise for the hospital there so there’s just like there’s so many beautiful things one of

28:08

them’s a writer and so she has created uh poetry books that like expand on her

28:14

loss and her life and anyway so there’s just there is inspiring people so i’m excited to see

28:20

the trajectory of these people um and their stories over the years yeah absolutely

28:25

another really neat project i have a lot of i have a lot of things

28:31

that i’m sort of on the cusp of working on so i just finished releasing my fantasy uh the eighth island trilogy

28:38

series which is yeah the young adult fantasy adventure a book that follows um three unlikely

28:45

heroes there’s grandpa archie uh his mother-in-law tessa and his fourteen-year-old granddaughter ella

28:51

so they’re like a motley crew of uh world hoppers that ultimately

28:58

save everyone in every world um but i’m actually thinking about and planning and starting to work on a

29:05

graphic novel prequel to their story yeah where i illustrate

29:11

um and if you’ve seen um the handmade tale graphic novel i was really

29:17

inspired by that yeah it’s gorgeous it’s gorgeous and so

29:24

i you know like i read a lot of graphic novels and comics and like you know dogman and stuff to my

29:30

kids but i can really see that this is gonna be more of like an art

29:35

uh exploration or an art book that is also like a fantasy kind of story prequel

29:43

it’s going to be cool i’m not explaining it well but something really beautiful um an artsy fartsy once it’s created but

29:50

i think that that’s i think it’s inspiring like younger kids need some uh like beautiful inspiration like we

29:57

create like coffee table books and beautiful things for adults but i think young readers they need like

30:04

super artistic um thought-provoking books and artwork

30:09

and mashups of those as well so that’s what i’m excited to create um i’m gonna start working on like the

30:17

first draft of that during nanowrimo which is national novel writing month

30:23

every november so i’ve got about a month before i actually start like really diving into this um

30:31

writing process and yeah i’ve been working on the illustrations and things so lots of little projects i always have

30:38

lots of little projects on the go yeah absolutely and now

30:44

here’s uh joy and passion yes this came after um

30:50

the previous slide it’s actually this came before the um

30:57

the abstract paintings that are like with yellows and blues yeah so this is like joy plus passion

31:04

one and then those other ones were like joy plus passion two um so yeah so this series like i really

31:11

had incorporated uh black white gold silver um copper

31:18

and and i was really going from a different like just really changing gears and trying to be

31:25

like how can i minimally like slow down and just create really strong powerful lines and

31:33

and be really meditative and mindful in the process simplistic um almost like a breath of

31:40

fresh air and then the color is really where like that passion and the joy comes through um but it’s definitely like it

31:47

represents for me a stage where um

31:53

in my artistic life i’m really trying to be thoughtful about every mark that i make

31:58

so that’s really like this um series where that came from yeah

32:03

wonderful

32:08

i love how there’s so much movement it’s very freeing and i can definitely

32:15

feel that that joyfulness that it brings yeah

32:20

well thank you yeah absolutely yes i’m like oh maybe i should add these

32:27

together do not sell this but no i really love when like sharing my work

32:32

and selling my work to me i could drown in all the paintings

32:38

and things but um this is definitely like a series that i have so close to my heart i love it and it’s it feels so

32:45

um just like like a fresh slate for me which is awesome yeah absolutely there

32:51

are really perfect pieces for like that really modern home like i can really see that with

32:58

like a very you know angular couch and like really funky coffee wall and and that kind of stuff um but

33:06

they’re also just so um so easy and so simple on the eye that you can really play with a lot of

33:13

the colors that they have and the shapes totally oh you’re like designing a house

33:18

in your head you’re like that’s fun to do yeah so so yeah this is

33:24

a like work in progress um photograph yeah so you can see i’m not fancy when

33:32

i’m painting and yeah this is my home studio so i have a collection of desks and i’ve

33:40

uh have them covered with what actually is like boat seating pat like that’s kind of

33:46

fabric um like it’s there’s no way that any water or anything would get

33:52

through it’s spill proof um and yeah and what’s cool is like my kids also create

33:57

in this space they don’t always clean up which drives me insane but but it’s really nice that like

34:05

they’re all right down there with me um while i’m making and even my one kid who’s not artistically

34:11

inclined sort of to the left side of me in this photograph we have a space where he can play hockey

34:18

so i’m painting he’ll play hockey um my daughter will be creating and she’ll be filming a youtube video of

34:25

her art project so it’s i just i love being all together as i’m working awesome um it’s awesome like

34:33

place to be yeah to just play and and creative

34:39

yeah and i’ll ask my kids i’m like oh how does this look and and my daughter will be like sorry

34:44

mom i actually don’t like it and then i’ll be like maybe i need to like work on this door or something but yeah i just will get

34:51

like the honest feedback yeah that’s the finished um painting that’s hanging there the one i was just working on

34:57

that’s awesome oh sorry go ahead okay i was just gonna

35:02

say like this has um acrylic paint uh oil pastels um

35:10

so many like graphic things just all layered together so yeah it’s pretty cool cool i was going

35:17

to ask uh how long does a piece usually take you

35:23

that’s a good question and i would say that there is not a standard answer like some paintings

35:30

probably like some things in life some things come quickly and easily and i’m in the flow and it’s just like

35:36

oh it appears whereas some like this painting actually like i thought it was done like five times

35:43

and then i’m like oh and this was pre covered and so i had a girlfriend over and she was like oh

35:49

and she gave me some you know feedback and i just came back to it and now i’m at a place

35:55

where i’m like okay it’s done but so yeah it could be anywhere from a day to

36:00

um i just had a painting uh on a sculpture that i just finished and i was working

36:06

on it for a few years so yeah you never know you never know

36:11

how long it’ll take absolutely my current studio space is at my mom and dad’s house and i’ll like

36:19

be working on something and then i’ll come back to my house and i’ll go back and my mom will have it hanging up and i’m

36:25

like no it’s not what’s done to me so

36:31

yeah so cute obviously a fan of yours yeah challenge because you

36:38

go back to look at it and you can probably tweak something here and there and you can probably add a little bit

36:45

more color or there’s something that you feel needs to happen so i really like

36:50

that um you mentioned earlier that you’re slowing down that process and you’re just letting it be because

36:57

that’s definitely a hard place to get to as an artist especially if you have that kind of competitive drive or

37:04

you know comes with age like i’m like oh i can’t care less about

37:09

what everyone thinks now in my mid-30s um but i definitely like more like oh

37:15

i’m gonna slow down and not be quite so my mom used to call me used to call me a microwave girl

37:22

like i want everything now that was her perspective i don’t i’m not saying that that was the truth

37:27

um definitely like as i’ve gotten older and and it’s probably necessity too being

37:34

a busy person working on less different things yeah giving myself that extra moment to slow

37:40

down and to sleep on it before i yeah keep painting and make make it irreplaceable like changes i

37:47

can’t go back to

37:53

yeah exactly totally i really really enjoyed this one oh

38:01

thank you well this is another example like i had to like hold myself back but i think

38:06

it’s it’s like one of those little beautiful milestones as an artist to be able to be like

38:11

okay you know like i’m gonna stop and and it’s like it’s just beautiful as it is right

38:17

yeah and yeah i’m a huge fan like blue and yellow are my favorite colors and so that’s really like i just was

38:23

like ah the joy and the passion bubbled out of this series do you ever

38:28

make something and when it’s finished you think this is for me this is mine

38:38

well like that that large landscape one for sure is like you know one of my

38:44

children it’s hard to like me i can’t i can’t imagine ever letting go of that

38:49

but then i create some paintings too that i’m like oh my god i hate it

38:54

and then my husband’s like oh my gosh i love it and like he’s taken a painting that i did not enjoy and he’s hung it in his

39:00

office so to me i’m just like i just don’t understand but

39:07

yeah so not everything i create is great there’s there’s beauty in the failures

39:13

as well and that’s one thing um i did learn from my undergrad in visual art uh

39:20

i remember feeling blocked and like i don’t know what to do and this lovely

39:26

woman named dawn who worked in the administrative offices of art and design

39:32

she encouraged me to go and make an ugly painting and i was just like she’s like use the

39:38

most ugly colors you could think of and

39:44

so i like had like poopy green and just make a big mess but get it out there like just get

39:50

get making something don’t just stop and and be still just start with an ugly

39:56

painting and that was like one of the best pieces of advice i’ve ever received and so now like i just try not to judge

40:04

anything that i come out like whether i’m stitching or painting i’m not gonna like everything but just

40:10

the act of creating uh gets your creative juices flowing and helps you live in that state of

40:17

creativity where it’s not like writer’s block or artist block you’re just you’re flowing so it’s a nice uh trick

40:25

if you’re feeling stuck yeah absolutely well and especially if you you know are starting an artistic

40:32

practice and you are starting to make things and then you feel so discouraged because it’s not

40:38

exactly what you had envisioned in your mind i think that’s a really great trick to

40:43

just keep pushing through that and eventually you’ll you’ll get to where you want to be

40:49

yeah cool and so here is this the one in your husband’s office

40:55

no this is actually one right no i like this one

41:02

this is one of the ones i like um yeah but just again like i’ve always been drawn even

41:08

since i was a kid to either black and white which you see in my black and white photography

41:14

or really vivid intense colors that um come up against each other so yeah so

41:20

with this one i was actually picturing in like an abstracted um nature scene and just like let the

41:28

colors almost become pixelated uh and they’re it’s very textural as well so

41:34

yeah and this lawyer’s this piece which is awesome

41:42

yeah well it’s just it just goes to show that your pieces are so fun and they’re so bright that if you

41:48

just put it in like a dull office it completely makes it you know feel more fun and you know you

41:56

can get inspired by it and it’s something to look at other than you know exactly what’s in front of you

42:02

and you’re you know trying to get something submitted or whatever you can sit back and have some time to look at

42:08

the piece totally well i really i really believe

42:13

like creating um whether it’s your home or your office being creating an inspiring space

42:19

so whatever type of art resonates with you like surrounding yourself with beauty helps you to just live in in that

42:26

beautiful moment more absolutely so this is the pieces that we

42:32

have in art rental and sales um and do you remember when you made this one

42:40

yes so this would have been 20

42:45

2012 or 2013 because i made this one when i did my residency at harcourt house which is

42:50

2012 2013. oh nice and this one’s huge but it’s so like

42:56

striking because it’s so big that you just like you get lost and it’s yeah absolutely thinking the same thing

43:07

i had a client once who was looking at this piece and she kept referring it referring to

43:14

it as um the man in the mask the man in the mask man in the mask and

43:21

i was like i don’t know i don’t see it can you can you show me in and so she mentioned that the orange um

43:29

piece was like the face and then the mask was the yellow and the red or like kind of a

43:35

hat i guess you could say like a headpiece interesting that’s the cool thing i

43:43

think people like they look for the real world in abstract pieces right so cool

43:51

and this one she referred to as the dancing man okay which i totally see that if i’m

43:59

if i’m going for her yeah i can definitely see that one with this that’s for sure nice

44:07

yeah but these two pieces really complement each other uh very well i really enjoy these

44:14

yeah well i can totally for me i can picture these like in a home in an office in a

44:20

boardroom um because they are like they are almost like a little bit timeless in

44:26

terms of their subject matter and even though they might look like this one’s really good this dauntless

44:32

piece you can if you look closely you can see that there’s texture and detail

44:37

within the flat planes of color so yeah there’s a lot to like look at from

44:42

a distance but then also when you come up close um you can notice like really cool little details yeah

44:48

absolutely and i love that um when you’re when you’re seeing these in

44:54

person the colors are just so vibrant like it’s just the most

45:00

gold you’ve ever seen and it’s just so striking um yeah they’re really neat

45:08

thank you and then these ones are so fun yes i love these ones well the cool

45:15

thing with this is you can hang it vertically you can hang them all in a row um you can do like a square with them um

45:23

you can also hang them from their corners and as diamonds which i’ve done with some of the little

45:29

ones yeah so so you can hang them like in any way your imagination concocts yeah so they’re pretty cool

45:36

that’s awesome well it makes it so accessible for different spaces as well instead of having one very large piece

45:43

if you don’t have a home or an office that you can fit that in but you want some art like these little

45:48

tiny ones and especially because you can hang them differently it’s so versatile for a space yeah totally

45:57

well um and i have a couple more questions for you um what is your favorite subject or

46:05

style um that you’ve done so far oh i honestly feel like i don’t

46:14

necessarily have like one style or subject it’s almost like having to pick which is my favorite

46:20

kid right like really the heart of all of my work is

46:26

um storytelling and it is the idea of like communication and that that communication might even be

46:33

um like an emotional state like in it like an idea um abstracted

46:40

so for me when i’m like wanting to make something i really start with like the idea like the

46:46

meaning or the message that i want to create or communicate and then i ask

46:52

myself okay well should this be a painting or should this be

46:57

a film like a video format or should this be a photograph or should i like and sometimes i sketch

47:03

things out first and i’m like conceptualizing like what what way do i want to say this

47:08

maybe it’s words maybe it’s words and image or maybe it’s a poem um so in terms of having one favorite

47:16

favorite but i do i would have to say that like in terms of my writing and my visual art like my writing is

47:23

very like it comes from the head space yeah sometimes i can get like i’m like oh i need to break and

47:30

i’ll go from writing and i’ll do something visual and same with visual sometimes i’m just

47:35

like oh i’m just not like having this breakthrough i need so then i’ll switch back to writing

47:40

so i really feel like all my different art forms are connected um they all speak to each

47:46

other so for example like even one of the books i wrote expecting sunshine

47:52

it’s a memoir and then i felt like oh i need to communicate

47:57

this story and this life experience through something visual so i created uh

48:03

expecting sunshine documentary film yeah but it’s also a documentary that

48:10

interviews doctors nurses other brief parents and also has like artistic

48:15

um creations where for example when i’m pregnant with one of my

48:22

children after my loss i had one of my friends do a body art painting of three

48:28

different gestational stages um and then we symbolically removed uh

48:33

we have just different kinds of like artistic ways of communicating the message but

48:39

through film so that’s really at the heart of what i do is storytelling and i just find

48:44

whichever creative outlet best communicates that message and sometimes it’s it’s one of them or sometimes it’s

48:51

all of them yeah wonderful do you have any

48:57

uh influence or inspiration from other artists currently um

49:03

well right now i’m reading like a oh i think it’s like a 500 page book on

49:09

andy warhol and the book is so big and so heavy

49:14

because it has so many um actual like color uh reproductions of his artwork

49:19

in it i can’t even take it anywhere with me i can only read it at home because it probably weighs like 10 pounds

49:26

um i’m super inspired by his creative process not necessarily

49:32

that i want to like make art that looks like his but more of of of his artistic journey and how he

49:39

um incorporates photography into his silk screens and and paintings and like every sort of

49:46

everything’s connected and then he’s also a filmmaker which i hadn’t really known about before

49:52

i started reading this book like he was a prolific filmmaker

49:57

yeah i know lots of like drugs and sex and like you know scandalous

50:03

topics for the 60s and 70s when he’s releasing his film that he was a big pioneer of like the

50:09

underground like screening underground filmmaking um in new york at that time so it was

50:16

it’s such a like an inspiring read so i’m super inspired by him i’m always like always inspired by

50:23

canadian artists um there’s so many contemporary ones that like i couldn’t even

50:28

like the list is so long but like i love emily carr like the group of seven um and i do

50:35

think like the group of seven tom thompson their color choices are very vivid and

50:41

so i would see them as like definitely an influence of like my color choices even

50:46

though i’m not necessarily painting um you know the lake and natural

50:52

mountain and tree landscapes but their color choices and more

50:57

impressionistic and vivid colors really speak to me yeah and i’ve always been a fan of robert rauschenberg

51:04

oh language artwork so like if you visit my studio i try to keep it

51:10

clean but i have boxes of like random things and i’m like

51:15

one day i’m gonna bring all these like weird things like i literally have a box of buttons and

51:20

bells like weird stuff if i have a shed full of wood like wood i’m not

51:27

going to burn in a fire but like i’m used somehow sculpturally um

51:32

i don’t know i just i save all these little weird things so robert rauschenberg like his his artwork um like the goat that’s

51:40

painted like i can just picture i saw some of his work when i have visited different galleries in the states

51:46

and it’s just so like quirky and unexpected that um yeah i really love like assemblage yeah

51:53

i i find that like i find inspiration um and other artists but also like in

51:59

movies and like you know netflix some of these shows that they’re putting out like the way that they filmed them is so cool

52:06

so i really find inspiration everywhere i go and i think that’s something about just being attuned to the world and

52:13

paying attention um yeah like like really trying to notice people

52:18

and the places where i go um yeah inspiration abounds everywhere

52:25

wonderful yeah well allowing like you said having your eyes open and allowing that to naturally come in

52:32

and affect you in a way that you want to make something and you want to create out of that i think is really really

52:39

cool and it’s a really great point because inspiration does come from so many different places

52:44

yeah wow awesome well uh we have reached our time for

52:50

today so thank you so much for having us today alexis it was an honor to learn about your

52:57

artistic practice and um yeah i’m so excited to see what you make next all of your

53:05

things that you make oh thank you it was my pleasure and i can i can see your passion for art

53:11

and everything you do come through as well so thank you for this conversation it was wonderful yeah absolutely any folks who are

53:18

watching have any questions for alexis or for me at our rentals and sales just feel free to reach out

53:24

um like i mentioned earlier alexis has a wonderful website um so just shoot over an email to her or

53:31

over to me at art rental at youraga.ca thank you all so much stay safe and

53:37

we’ll see you next time awesome thank you take care everyone

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