Feature Artist - JANIS NEDELA

JANIS NEDELA

is an accomplished artist based in Munster, Western Australia,

 specialising in the discipline of altered book art.

The artworks Janis is submitting for the Personal Histories exhibition explore elements of his parents Latvian heritage.

For 14 years to 1993, Janis served on the curatorial staff of the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth, lectured in Art Management and Art History at the Central Institute of Technology (Perth WA) for 7 years to 1996, and was Exhibition Programmes Manager for CRAFTWEST Centre for Contemporary Craft (Perth WA) from 1996-1998).

As well as being an Authorised Valuer for the Commonwealth Government's 'Cultural Gifts Program' Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme (TIAS established 1981), a preferred Provider for the Acquisition of Art and Craft by the State Government of Western Australia, a member of the Arts Consulting Association of Australia (ACCA incorporated 2006), a member of The Asian Arts Society of Australia, he is a Board member of Artsource, Western Australia's leading representative visual arts organisation.

Since 1985, Janis has held over 26 solo exhibitions, participated in over 260 group exhibitions locally, nationally and internationally; as well as completing 12 special projects and public/corporate art commissions.  He has undertaken residencies at the KURB Gallery in Perth, WA (2006); Residency and Information Centre in Riga, Latvia (2006), Guildford Grammar School and at Atwell College, Atwell, WA.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST JANIS NEDELA

Janis' artworks are held in many public collections both nationally and internationally including collections in Australia, Latvia, Malaysia, Cuba, USA, Lithuania, Canada, Japan, Italy, Brazil and Poland.  You can find a full listing of collections holding Janis' works on his website.

Feature Artist - ERSI MARINA SAMARA

Ersi Marina Samara

was born and grew up in Athens, Greece, where she studied graphic arts, interior design and painting.  She later moved to Spain, where she is still living today.

Her interest in general human culture and history led her to study Social Anthropology in the Universidad Central de Barcelona.  She has also studied photography and creative writing.

Ersi Marina is currently using mixed media techniques, almost exclusively on paper.  She works with watercolours, acrylic inks, gesso, ink and collage, creating mainly abstract and conceptual compositions.  More recently she started creating artist's books as a self-taught discipline and is now also exploring the field of paper installations and monotypes.

She is expanding her technique with contemporary embroidery on fabric and also with rusting cloth and paper.

The different artistic processes she applies establish an ongoing dialogue that brings forth new ideas, new questionings and a constant search for plastic answers.  Her work has been described as 'subtle' and 'calming' and she prefers suggesting ideas rather than stating them, insinuating rather than telling.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST ERSI MARINA SAMARA

You can see more of Ersi Marina on her blog and website.

Artist Residency Opportunity

A different sort of post today.

I very recently highlighted Susan Reynolds as a feature artist on this blog.

Susan was all set to start a 2 month long residency at Listhus i Fjallabyggois in Iceland throughout June/July of this year.

Unfortunately, Susan's circumstances have changed suddenly and dramatically and she can no longer take part in the residency programme.

Susan is hoping that someone else may want to take her spot in the artist residency programme.  Please note, there are costs involved, but if there is any one out there who would be interested, or knows someone who may be interested in taking up an artist residency in Iceland at short notice, it would not only be a great opportunity but also a great help to Susan and her family.

For any one interested, details and contacts can be found at:  Listhus i Fjallabyggois Artist Residency

Feature Artist - ANGELA CAPORASO

ANGELA CAPORASO

is an Italian artist focusing on mail art and artists books, working with the mediums of collage, trash-art and, more recently, digital formats.

Angela's art has always been characterised by constant research and experimentation.

She has worked on the words of the main contemporary writers and has dedicated some of her exhibitions to Albert Camus, Emily Dickinson and Pier Vittorio Tondelli.

Influenced by Pop Art, she has inserted in her works the typical comic "bubbles", as well as advertising references, decontextualised and transformed into a proper artistic language.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST ANGELA CAPORASO

Since her first exhibitions, which date back to the eighties, Angela has revealed a constant strain towards new expressive languages.  This constant research has led her to contaminate sign with colour, font with image, literature with painting, as though one single medium was not sufficient to express her complex imaginative world.  Angela works with un-recyclable waste material, humble and inert, which acquires a new sense and meaning thanks to the artist's intervention.

Feature Artist - GUYLAINE COUTURE

GUYLAINE COUTURE 

lives in Montreal, speaks French, teaches graphic design 

and shares her discoveries on her blog.

   

     

Guylaine started making artist books after a short bindery workshop some years ago.  She has had an obsession with creativity and paper for a long time.  As a graphic designer, Guylaine is upset by the enormous quantities of paper and words used and abused to push a commercial message.  

The re-use of printed documents, pieces of photos and chosen words is a perpetual game for her.  Using collage, drawing and manual printing she tries to give a new direction, a second life to this material.

Each book attempts to create a fusion between the contents and the container while questioning the manipulation of the object by the reader.  To browse slowly through one of the artist's books is an experience, a conversation, a relationship with her and her concerns.  

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST  GUYLAINE COUTURE

Guylaine has participated in exhibitions in Canada, the United States, England and Australia.