My beau and I visited the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition on Sunday. It was a beautiful, sunny day to enjoy the assembly of over 500 artists and craftspeople. The majority of the artwork was incredibly good (although art is so subjective and what I see as lovely another may see as garbage and vice versa).
The beau and I have very similar tastes and tend to migrate to the whimsical, unique and colourful pieces. We did find that most of the work was terribly overpriced. My understanding is if the venue is free and no commission will be taken from the artist then the prices should reflect that. I was surprised to see many student artists charging the same prices as the more seasoned artists. I also don't think you can charge thousands of dollars for a piece just because its on a big canvas, if it isn't much more thoughtful than a smaller piece. Still there were many pieces which obviously took a lot of time and consideration to create and the artist's were deserving of their compensation.We both really like a small piece by an artist named Carrie Chisolm. Her style is based on blind contour drawing from a photo and then painting the result which adds up to distorted, ugly yet enchanting images. An example of one of her works:
Other favourites at the event included Rob MacInnis, Julio Ferrer, Liz Kain, Melanie Macdonald and Mike Parsons. I found the show quite inspiring and would recommend it to anyone who likes arts and crafts. In the summer we try to make our way to various shows and events like this... its fun to see the work (even if you don't buy anything) and especially nice to meet the artists. They are often so passionate and excited about what they do that you can't help walking away thinking "wow I gotta get me some of that feeling"!
In my pursuit of the meaning and manufacturing of creativity in my own life having other artists to be inspired by is paramount. In art as in everything, I feel like I need a theme to get me motivated... in reality I just need to go ahead and be brave enough to do it.
2 comments:
I RECEIVED THE BEAUTIFUL STRAWBERRY BRACELET THAT YOU MADE FOR ME, IN THE MAIL TODAY!!! I'm so excited, and can't thank you enough for making it :0)
Veggiegirl, I was so excited to know that you would have it! I'm making a matching one for myself :)
You have really inspired me to think about what I eat too... so every time I wear mine I will think of you and remind myself to eat more strawberries!
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