Artist in our Midst 2020 Nadina Tandy

Artist in our Midst artist-in-residence March- June 2020

Dear friends and art lovers,
Beginning in March through June of this strange year, with the support of the Sunshine Coast Arts Council and Sechelt Downtown Business Association, I was thrilled to be the inaugural 'Artist in our Midst' of a newly established artist-in-residence program. A vacant storefront in downtown Sechelt in the BMO building was generously provided as a working artist's studio with plenty of room to explore and develop ideas with an eye to community engagement through art. This would provide a challenge in a time of social distancing and isolation.

At the beginning of March, I brought my selected art supplies to the place I came to call Studio S. Starting a new project always has a few false starts, but once I'd established my routine, I was on a roll. I worked 5 days a week drawing strange and fantastical images on the windows and creating dreamlike collage creatures, mounting them on sticks (almost like shadow puppets) and grouping and rearranging them in the windows in a strange dance that people could view without entering the studio. Unwittingly, an art exhibition in isolation was created fulfilling the requirement for community engagement by being accessible to all, safely from the street. My final contribution and leave behind was to enlarge a few select collages and wheat-paste them to the wall on Periwinkle lane.

As part of the Artist in our Midst residence, I took over the sunshinecoastarts Instagram account for a little over a week in order to share the work and progress coming out of Studio S. I attempted to engage interested art fans and managed to add some followers to the SCAC account. I even had curious visitors tap on the window after learning the location of Studio S and what was going on there through Instagram. The takeover also drew new followers to my own personal profile, as well. While providing challenges as a closed studio, I managed to find creative and playful ways to connect and engage with the community visually.

The studio was an enjoyable and productive experience for me and I was able to focus, explore and develop a series of new works. As well, several opportunities emerged as a result of the work I created during my artist-in residence. I was contacted by North Vancouver's Artists for Gordon Smith Gallery to participate as a featured artist along with Karin Bubas for AFK at Home video hosted by artist and educator Amelia Epp. Also, a thrilling invitation for Artist-in-residence at AFK Gordon Smith Gallery is being planned for Spring 2021.

There was a social-distancing interview with Rik Jespersen for the Coast Reporter and countless interactions with people looking through the window at the art I was making. Also in response to the weird and wonderful collages I created at the Studio I have ventured into the production of custom designs for t shirts, ready to be ordered and worn. There will be more products and ideas to come so please check back for up-dates. In the mean time open the link for a boo at the Collage Character designs, order a shirt or two and take them for a walk.
Thanks to all for the support to explore and build new work. Having an unfamiliar studio space and trying to engage the community in the age of social distancing forced me to flex a different set of creative muscles and is an important part of my forward creative momentum.

Warm Regards, Nadina

Photo credit Christina Symons  ‘Installation 2020’, Periwinkle Lane, Sechelt, B.C.  by N.Tandy

ARTIST AT WORK

Spring update from my studio …

I’ve been a little quiet as of late but don’t you worry, don’t you fret because I have been spending my time making art, sorting stuff and cleaning up and I have just not felt like feeding the self promotional social media machine. As it turns out taking a break from the demands of the electronic world has been a most refreshing and productive time for me.

I am curious at what point the role of artist became the role of marketer. Are they one and the same? How do you handle the transition?

 Thoughts ~

Winter Artist Retreat

Winter Artist Retreat

Dear friends and art lovers,

It's hard to believe that 2017 is quickly coming to a close and looking back, I realize what a full year it has been. The time has flown by with both creative and domestic endeavours. There has been art exhibits, workshops facilitated and new work produced as well as family visits, care for a beloved ailing pet and the removal of a large cedar tree that had stood on our property for decades. And now it is time to recharge and renew.

To that end, I am going to be taking some time to catch my breath and to explore the new ideas that have been percolating in me throughout the year and I want to let what unfolds be unencumbered by the demands of social media, the sharing of work in progress or the pursuit of sales. And so, I am calling a time out and embarking on my Winter Artist Retreat.

I will be spending the time only a stones throw from a beach on the steel grey Salish Sea, facing the bracing winds and walking the green trails of the nearby forests. Reestablishing my connection with the natural world is grounding and a source of great inspiration to me, helping me to be present, in the moment and open to the beauty that surrounds me. This natural connection, as well as the odd combination and permutation of memory and dream that run through my imagination is an endless source of inspiration and a springboard for my creative expression.

I will return to social media and the sharing of my progress in the spring. I am excited to see what evolves from this getaway, my focused artist retreat.

Warm regards,

Nadina

Proserpine 1874 by Dante Gabriel Rosetti

Sunshine Coast Art Crawl studio 42 Nadina Tandy

AN INVITATION TO ART

Dear friends and art lovers,

I would like to welcome you to my Gibsons studio on the weekend of October 20-22 for the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl.

No. 42 on the Map Guide & Artists' Listing.

Sunshine Coast ART CRAWL

October 20-22, 2017

Fri - Sat - Sun: 10am - 5pm

Map Guide & Artists' Listing found on Sunshine Coast Art Crawl link as well as brochures in various locations.

What to expect when you visit the Studio. Nadina's mixed media drawings incorporate the weird and wonderful using found material, illustration and paint.

Exquisite Corpse PARLOUR GAMES Donna Balma and Nadina Tandy

 

Exquisite Corpse Parlour Games

Donna Balma and Nadina Tandy

Dear Friends and Art lovers,

This last fall a magical collaboration between respected visionary artist Donna Balma and Nadina Tandy birthed a playful, inspired and surreal collection of a number of Exquisite Corpses. As a result of this collaboration, Donna and Nadina have been invited to exhibit and share their collection and the game with the public at the Sunshine Coast Arts Council, in Sechelt, BC.

 July 5 -30th Opening Reception July 8th 2-4pm

Meet the Artists July 15 @ 1:00pm

Sunshine Coast Arts Council, 5714 Medusa in Sechelt, B.C. CANADA

“Surrealist artists played collaborative, chance-based parlour game, typically involving four players, called Cadaver Exquis (Exquisite Corpse). Each participant would draw (or, in some occasion , paste and image down) on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal their contribution, and pass it on to the next player for his/her contribution.” ”

— Museum of Modern Art

Exquisite Corpse Parlour Games

It was an invitation to tea that started it. The creative collaboration between Donna May Balma and Nadina Tandy began in the fall of 2016 as a whimsical thing, an amusement. Over cookies and tea and talk of art and life they began playing the surrealist parlour game, 'Exquisite Corpse'. Originally based on a collaborative poetry game, 'Exquisite Corpse' was adapted by members of the Parisian surrealist movement in an attempt to 'draw a poem' of unexpected ideas and imagery.

In the days and weeks that followed, illustrated heads, torsos and feet began flying back and forth between the two artists in decorated Mail Art envelopes, dutifully delivered by Canada Post.

Once each received the other's contribution, the receiver would add to the previously drawn, scratched or collaged, but hidden image. This addition was then folded and concealed and mailed back to the previous contributor for them to add to. And so it went.

The result was a series of images of unexpected, but connected expression of colour and form. Now, this collection of 'Corpses' has grown into a village of surreal imagery and an unusual, unedited and beautiful body of work created by two artists of imagination and talent.

Donna Balma is an innovative and prolific Canadian artist and is a member of the West Coast Surrealist Group. Her work is profoundly affected by nature and her internal vision. Donna has established herself as an imaginative artist who's work has been variously described as fantasy, singular, outsider, visionary, naive, classical, folk, cosmic pop and surreal while she considers it simply painting the reality of her dreams and fantasies.

As a young child, Nadina Tandy used to draw on every surface she could find: inside book jackets, on door jambs, the underside of tables.“I had this constant impulse to make my internal world visible.” Currently living on the Wild West Coast of B.C. Nadina continues to make her internal world visible. The essential nature of Tandy's work in various media might be summed up as forceful sensitivity, a combination of elements that leads to her vibrant and moving art.

Sunshine Coast Arts Council Exquisite Corpse Parlour Games Donna Balma and Nadina Tandy

July 5 -30th Opening Reception July 8th 2-4pm

Meet the Artists July 15 @ 1:00pm

Sunshine Coast Arts Council, 5714 Medusa in Sechelt, B.C. CANADA

Up-coming Group Exhibits  

 'The Sunshine Coast Pavilion'

JUNE 29-30, 2017 Gibsons Public Art Gallery

'Exquisite Corpse Palour Games', Donna Balma and Nadina Tandy

JULY 5-30, 2017 Sunshine Coast Arts Council

 '50 Canadian Things' This exhibition is based on stories from the book "A Number of Things" by Jane Urquhart. AUGUST 2-20, 2017 Sunshine Coast Arts Council

 Eleven Equal Artists presents : 'Power of Paint' AUGUST 18, 19, 20, 2017 Seaside Centre 

Warm Wishes from My Sunshine Coast Studio To You

Dear friends and art lovers, 

There really is not much more one could ask for in life but to love and be loved.

Merry Christmas

Happy Hanukkah

Thank you all for being a part of my life.

warm regards, 

Nadina  

I remember this unbearable snowsuit and being afraid of that bearded man.  

A VISUAL POST BY NADINA TANDY

Dear friends and art lovers,

I am gathering focus to work in the studio. My Blog/News is a visual up-date also a special Thank You for supporting art and the artists.

Touching the art ! Casting spells ! Nadina's mixed media piece, 'Dreaming of Home

Touching the art ! Casting spells ! Nadina's mixed media piece, 'Dreaming of Home" is off to a Collector in Vancouver, B.C.  photo credit Derek von Essen

Stay Warm, ink on paper. Available soon: The Art Rental Collection of North Vancouver Arts Council.

Floating Tattoo, ink on paper. Soon to be included in The Art Rental Collection of North Vancouver Arts Council.

  If you would like to own your own unique pencil case designed by Nadina you can order on-line at Art of Where  ~  5 chairs and 1 tac  front and back view photo by Tracy Barron Goyer

Power of Paint 2016 ANNUAL SUNSHINE COAST BC ART EXHIBITION

Dear art lovers,

Thank you, on behalf of the Eleven Equal Artists for another outstanding Power of Paint Exhibition on the Sunshine Coast, BC. I am not certain that 6 or so years ago, when we first conceived of Power of Paint that we realized what it was we were doing. Eleven Equal Artists have not only begun an art show, we have brought to life an event.

Through hard work and shared vision we have mounted not only an exhibition of our own diverse styles but an event which included a collaborative art piece, a bursary, live music, food and drink and the attention of the community at large.

Despite the collective hard work of all the artists involved in this show, it would mean nothing if not for you. The success of Power of Paint really lies with the art supporters, the curious, the casual observers and true believers who have attended this event at different times over the last 5 years. For that we thank you.

Special arty thank you to our volunteers, supportive partners and to Ginny Vail for raining in the toddlers.

Eleven Equal Artists :  Morley Baker, Josefa Fritz Barham, Todd Clark, Elizabeth Evans, Greta Guzek, Carol LaFave, Kim LaFave, Ian MacLeod, Cindy Riach, Nadina Tandy and Marleen Vermeulen

Click on image for slide show of Power of Paint 2016 Sunshine Coast BC

From my Sunshine Coast studio

Dear Art Lovers, 

I've been gathering my work over the last few months while trying to decide which pieces to exhibit for the upcoming Power of Paint show. I'm drawing from a raw, yet lighter and more vulnerable body of work. Please come say hello at the weekend exhibition details below.

with love, Nadina

Upcoming Exhibition The 5th Annual Power of Paint Exhibition takes place August 12-14, 2016, at the Seaside Centre (5790 Teredo Street, Sechelt, BC) with an opening reception Friday, August 12 at 5pm. The unique quality of Eleven Equal Artists as a group is in their varying styles and deep respect for one another. After 15 years of meeting regularly to share their work, they conspired to exhibit together on the Sunshine Coast in what has become an annual event. This year's collaborative piece is "What Does Power of Paint Mean to You?" With their commitment to giving back to the community the proceeds from this event will help finance Eleven Equal Artists Bursaries. All artists will be in attendance during the show: Morley Baker, Josefa Fritz Barham, Todd Clark, Elizabeth Evans, Greta Guzek, Carol LaFave, Kim LaFave, Ian MacLeod, Cindy Riach, Nadina Tandy and Marleen Vermeulen.                                                                                 photo credit: Rhoni Lloyd Whyard, 2011

Musing from my Sunshine Coast studio.

A  simple yes or no, what to keep and what to burn. Yesterday I took a look at my 'no' pile and thought I liked the shapes of one but not the piece as a whole. I was ripping the paper before my brain had anytime to stop and think, before I knew it I had a yes from a no.