PREVIEW
Emerging from Ignorance
Paintings by Alena Valova
Opening reception tomorrow evening from 6 to 9 p.m. Artist will be in attendance.
Runs until Sat., Feb. 24
VASA
25 Sir Winston Churchill Ave. in the Hemingway Centre
Call 780-460-5990 or visit www.vasa-art.com for more information
It’s a pretty big moment for one of VASA’s newest members.
“This show is almost like a rebirth of the new artist in me,” Alena Valova said.
Emerging from Ignorance is her first ever solo exhibition, which is the first big thing. It gets even bigger when you consider how important her work is and how hard she has had to work to get to this point.
This show, she continued, is the result of a big personal change over the last three years.
“It has to do all about the mind,” the former high realist painter said.
Even though Valova has been in a number of group exhibitions in the past, for the most part she has kept her work just to herself because it was so personal and there were many psychological roadblocks. Her father, she said, was a great artist but his negativity towards art was just as great. Her mother … well, she “completely despised” art.
“What I realized was my father and my mom and their attitudes toward art actually set me up for the fail that I did experience with my art. No matter how good I was and how much I tried to control my paintings and the result was actually set by their attitudes that I never believed in myself.”
Because of these factors, she came to hate her own work – giving paintings away, painting over finished works – even though she loved her practice and the images that came from her art. Now, she has switched to become a more expressive, abstract painter, one who is freer to explore and be herself.
PREVIEW
Retinal Circus
Artworks by artists from The Nina Haggerty Centre Collective
Opening reception on Sat., Feb. 3 from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Artists will be in attendance.
Runs until Sat., March 31
Art Gallery of St. Albert
Located in its temporary gallery space at #100, 6D Perron St.
Call 780-460-4310 or visit www.artgalleryofstalbert.ca for more information.
The Nina brightens up AGSA’s temp digs
The Nina Haggerty Centre Collective has moved in a grand collection of works from more than 20 artists for the playful new exhibit called Retinal Circus.“It’s always very, very interesting,” said director and curator Jenny Willson-McGrath yesterday as the gallery staff was still poring over the diverse, colourful creations.
“Lots of energy and activity and really, really great ideas. It’s going to be a fun show. There’s a lot of works … lots to see.”
People can see everything from paintings and prints to sculptures and ceramics to weavings and fibre pieces to multimedia works, including a few collaborative creations.
“You name it, we’ve got it.”
The gallery expects that some viewers will feel so inspired by what they see that they become compelled to create something themselves. While the exhibit is on display, attendees who feel so inspired that they just can’t wait can also take in the art-making station.
The free, self-directed art activity station isn’t new to the gallery. They even have staff available in case a younger art patron needs some assistance with the materials.
“It’s been really, really popular.”
