Two artists, Jenica Vaneli of Roberts Creek and Kimiko Hawkes of Gibsons, became the first recipients of the Patricia Richardson Logie bursary last week. They edged out 20 Coast applicants who approached the Gibsons Public Art Gallery for the new bursary to boost their artistic careers.
Though the cash award, $500, was greatly welcomed, both women seemed equally honoured to meet the artist who had inaugurated the award and to take a tour through her Hopkin's Landing studio. Logie celebrates a 40-year career in painting, mostly portraiture, and is noted for her book, Chronicles of Pride, a collection of 31 paintings of proud Aboriginal people.
Vaneli has always been artistic. Her family was too poor to afford a television, she recalls, so her mother set aside a portion of the house for creativity, even allowing the kids to paint on the walls. Vaneli uses pencil crayons to this day after realizing as a kid that they were an affordable medium. She is known in the community for her performances, music and comedy routines, and she has worked at construction to make a living. All that changed in 2006, when she broke her hand on the jobsite and had to endure a cast for two months. It was time to step back. She realized she might have lost her precious ability to draw and, once the hand was healed, she quit construction. She picked up a pencil crayon and drew Blue Mask, a piece that evokes First Nations imagery and that was exhibited last year at her Roberts Creek gallery opening.
"At the same time as I got my cast off, I was also discovering my native roots," she said. She had recently learned that her father was of the Heiltsuk Nation of Bella Bella. "All of a sudden my artwork took on new meaning to me," she said.
Her heritage, Finnish and now Heiltsuk, have strong carving traditions, something she enjoys. She quickly found a way to marry the carving ability with her construction experience and now custom designs headers for doors, vertical "story boards," corner pieces and window sills for new homes. An allergy to cedar sawdust has not deterred her. She simply moved her operation out of doors and hopes to set up a shelter using the bursary money to work on her art through the winter.
Hawkes also started drawing at a very young age. Half Japanese, half British, born in Canada and raised on a First Nations Reserve in Alert Bay, she considers her cultural background as an interesting blend that gives her work its originality. At first, her career path took her to an anthropology degree in Montreal. In 2001, when she was diagnosed with leukemia, her treatment and subsequent move to the Sunshine Coast changed her life. She rediscovered her passion for art.
Sick and bored, she began drawing and painting along common themes: food, rice bowls, fish and colourful characters inspired by the numerous children's books she read to her son, now eight years old. Her illustrations have been compared to manga comic art, but Hawkes doesn't agree.
"To me, they're whimsy. It's about having fun," Hawkes said.
Though the characters often appear melancholic, there is something joyful about the bright colours and the clean lines. Her most recent work has taken on a Coast influence: tall trees and chunky birds, totemic in their style.
She identifies as an Asian Canadian but says that there's nothing of Asian traditions in her life. When she sells her art, particularly at the Japanese-Canadian Powell Street Festival every year, she meets others like herself - a unique Canadian blend. Often her fans ask about her latest work, so she will set up a website using the bursary funds to promote her marketable images. Currently, she sells prints, cards and dolls through the Vancouver Art Gallery shop. Both Hawkes and Vaneli have made tentative plans to show their work at the GPAG in the future.
Logie and other GPAG directors are delighted with the success of this first bursary award and plan to continue the program next year.
