Drawing From the Margins
March 27th, 2021 - May 15th, 2021
Main GALLERY
Featured Artist:
Laurie Landry
Featured Artist:
Robin Hodgson
FEATURED ARTIST:
Bruce Horak
LAURIE LANDRY
www.laurielandry.com
“When diagnosing deafness, the medical professional prefers to use clinical terms, which would be “hearing impairment” or “hearing loss”. For many people, being deaf is a medical or physical condition that needs to be corrected, by way of cochlear implant or hearing aid. For a deaf person, it is more than just a hearing loss. It is a gain in culture, community and a rich language full of expressive gestures and body language.
In Deafies, I explore ASL, a sign language used by North American English-speaking Deaf community, and focus on Deaf or HoH people by allowing them to have a voice in their portraits. I want to show that we are more than an impairment, that we are a community with a rich culture and language.”
Laurie Landry was born in Calgary, Alberta to a nurse and an oil industry worker. They moved to Wells, BC when she was 3 months old, and then to Prince George, BC at the age of 3 for the educational resources available to her as a deaf child.
Laurie has always been interested in art since she was young, preferring to draw and colour with crayons, and making sculptures with Play-doh. Her real introduction to art as a vocation was at age 11 or 12, when she attended Wells’ Island Mountain School for the Arts in the late 1970s. Her course was learning how to paint with watercolour with BC artist Edward Epp.
Laurie continued to pursue art, excelling in high school, and then to Emily Carr for a semester. After a long break where she worked as a graphic designer, she decided to return to painting as a professional artist. She went back to Emily Carr University of Art & Design and completed the Fine Arts Techniques in 2008, and has since continued training with a mentor program and in-class workshops.
In December 2010, she completed training in life drawing at Studio Escalier in Paris, France, where Timothy Stotz and Michelle Tully passed on their training that could be traced back to the Old Masters such as Michelangelo and Raphael. Laurie says: “My biggest highlights of that month in Paris were training at the Montmartre studio that was once the studio of Suzanne Valadon and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec; and being able to sketch-study in the Louvre everyday.”
Laurie now lives and paints in Vancouver, BC.
ROBIN HODGSON
www.robinhodgson.ca
Canadian artist Robin Hodgson (b.1984) was raised in Kamloops, BC, where he currently works from his downtown studio. Robin’s multi disciplinary art practice is divided between his own work in painting and sculpture, and his efforts in promoting the development of contemporary art in his community.
Since the age of 19 Robin has been a C5/C6 quadriplegic. Prior to his injury, Robin was an accomplished snowboarder and a member of Canada’s junior national team. His earliest interest in art came from his mom working at the Kamloops museum, from skateboard graphics, and the graffiti on rail cars that would pass by his childhood home.
This mysterious art movement found on the rolling galleries of freight trains inspired him to pursue his own legacy of fame and become a local hood legend among his peers. Graffiti was accessible, and opened the door to explore other modes of creativity. Prior to social media Robin would take photos of these graffiti pieces to collect and trade with his friends by mail in the form of a zines. Robin’s current artistic interests lie within the contemporary realm of painting, sculpture and installation.
Hodgson holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC. He is regularly creating new work, applying for grants and exhibiting in group shows throughout the province. In 2019 Robin received the Kamloops Mayor's Award for the Arts, as Emerging Artist of the Year.
Robin’s community interests have led him to sit on the board of directors for Arnica Artist Run Center, and to the co-creation of two non for profit studio and exhibition spaces in downtown Kamloops, Padlock studios (2014-2017) and REpublic Gallery (2018-2021). These gathering spaces provided studios and exhibition opportunities for emerging artists in the community in addition to hosting various arts related community events.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Robin’s paintings seek to find a connection between artist, canvas, and the viewer. He utilizes memory and emotion, then filters them through the form of narratively rich paintings. His most recent body of work presents a vibrant collection of characters, as the artist investigates the psychological and emotional nature of post able body life.
Hodgson’s paintings dance on the edge between abstract and representational, often seeking to find humor amongst conflict. Robin paints in a direct and instinctual manner, that involves spontaneous application and vigorous brush strokes. Compositionally, his work is influenced by the drama and symbolic conventions of renaissance painting. During these times of rapid social change, Robin’s work advocates for those living with disabilities, reminding us all that we’re only (TAB’s,) temporarily able bodied.
BRUCE HORAK
www.brucehorak.com
At the age of 18 months Bruce Horak lost over 90% of his eyesight to Cancer and identifies as Legally Blind and Visually Impaired. Using assistive technology, acrylic, oil, and canvas his paintings celebrate the vision which remains by delighting in the play of light and shadow.
Horak hopes that by focusing on the joy and the beauty in the world he can get up in the morning and inspire others to do the same. And maybe… make the place a bit better or something…
Bruce Horak has pursued a career in the Arts for over 25 years, developing skills as a writer, actor, musician, singer, director, improviser and painter. He has spent the last 10 years travelling across Canada as a HoboSapien living out of a backpack and performing/creating works for stages, galleries, and found spaces. In 2016 and 2017 Horak appeared in A Christmas Carol at the National Arts Centre, and in 2020 became a company member at the Stratford Festival.
Horak paints a portrait of the entire audience while telling the story of how he became a visually-Impaired Visual Artist in Assassinating Thomson, he portrays the living embodiment of the disease which shaped his unique perspective with a wicked wit in This is CANCER, and was most recently an artist-in-residence at the Emily Murphy Centre in Stratford where he painted an 86 square foot mural.
Horak is currently sheltered in place in Stratford and eagerly awaits the time when he can get back on the road. He has shifted his portrait painting to the digital realm and now does international sittings over Zoom.
As we reach the one year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s becoming harder to ignore the social, physiological, and psychological toll the pandemic is having. This is the first truly global pandemic in modern times and each of us has been forced to grapple with its effects, both individually and collectively.
It’s far too easy to become caught up in the immediacy of our own experience, forgetting about the larger narrative and far reaching impact on our society as a whole. We continue overlook the profound impact this has on the more marginalized members of our community. According to Statistics Canada, just over one-fifth of the Canadian population has one or more disabilities. People living with disabilities have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the publicly available data on COVID-19 cases has so far not been properly disaggregated to show the impacts on people with disabilities, disturbing reports are emerging on the severe impacts on people with disabilities. Lockdowns have also led to increased difficulties in obtaining home support services which provide such basic assistance as showering and using the restroom. Public restrictions, self-isolation, and disruption of community life have also resulted in a marked increase in reported violence.
This exhibition aims to lift the veil and introduce you to the work of three incredible artists and activists, each of whom has had to overcome unimaginable challenges to be able to function within the confines of our increasingly unpredictable and ever-shifting landscape. For Laurie Landry and Bruce Horak, they have both learned from the beginning to live and function in an able bodied world, with many people unaware of that Laurie is deaf and Bruce is legally blind. Robin Hodgson, on the other hand, is in the unique position of having grown up able bodied and then becoming a tetraplegic in 2004. At the age of 19 he broke his C5/C6 vertebrae in his neck. This injury left him paralyzed from the chest down, with limited arm and hand function. After several years of rehabilitation and adjusting to his new lifestyle, he graduated with a BFA from TRU.
I am grateful for the trust and time each of these artists have afforded us to gain insight into their world. I hope the lasting legacy will be an increased awareness and sensitivity to those living with disabilities in our community.
Paul Crawford, Curator
