Is change good or bad?

Some of us love change. Others hate it. Change is neither good nor bad. We have no choice but to learn to live with it. No matter the changes each of us go through in life, there is an essential part of us that remains the same. Part of our personality and memory change, based on life experiences and the people we know, but our DNA is constant. I find it fascinating to think about the part of ourselves that stays with us no matter what goes on in the external world.

I've always been interested in artists who change the genre or style of their work, but maintain their personal artistic sensibility through the transition. Two of my favourite artists provide excellent examples: Sarah Sze and Judy Pfaff. These artists use installation art as their main form of art practice, and both studied painting at the post-secondary level. Recently their work has made a shift to becoming "wallworks" based on painting and collage.

Sarah Sze makes installations with ordinary materials and often uses low tech devices such as overhead projectors and turntables to get the effect of lights moving through space. The kinetic installations appear to be something in between a planetarium and construction site. I love the intense range of scale from thin lines to large projected shapes. There is a beautiful and tentative delicacy revealed in these constructions.

Recently Sarah Sze has been making large-scale complex layered collage paintings, often referred to as "wall works". These sometimes include torn up photographs of her previous works. Despite being two-dimensional in form, they capture the intricate details seen in her installations as well as the variations of scale. Sze made the transition to these wallworks during Covid. This is an example of change because of a necessity (the inability to build installations in gallery spaces). But these works also demonstrate how enforced changes can bring us to a direction we never imagined possible. To learn more about Sze's process and her recent shift in approach: Virtual Studio Visit Sarah Sze

Sarah Sze

Judy Pfaff

Judy Pfaff

Another artist who made a shift from installation to wallworks is Judy Pfaff who precedes Sze by a few decades. Seeing Pfaff's work in Los Angeles in 1989, was the first time I ever experienced "installation art". I was amazed by the boldness and exuberance of her work. I remember thinking that I had no idea such a thing was possible in art. Like Sze, Pfaff was trained as a painter so her installations, especially the early ones as seen as above, reference the language of painting in that the wall becomes a stand-in for the rectangle of the painting format. More recently, Pfaff has been making small-scale assemblages (three-dimensional collages) that are framed and contained behind glass. These small works seem to carry a similar intensity to her large scale collages.

Many times an artist friend invites me to look at the "completely new" series they have been working on, only for me to discover that it is not as different as they imagine. Sometimes an artist thinks they have taken a drastic turn in their approach, but it often still carries the same sensibility and ends up being more of a shift in style than a completely new way of working. When I survey the expanse of work I have done over the years, I love tracing the threads of continuity that exist despite the changes of style, format and materials.

As all of us are experiencing so much change these days, whether it be related to the climate, the economy, politics, pandemics or personal situations. It is important to hold on to the things that make you who you are. Always try and remember the things that give you pleasure and joy. Often they are the same things that gave you this sensation when you were a child. This is what will get us through living in a world that is in state of precarious flux.

Keith Haring said "“To be a victim of change is to ignore its existence.” To read more about Keith Haring's and other views on change and creativity, I highly recommend reading this post on The Marginalia

Wendy Welch

Executive Director

New Website

Big changes at VISA with our beautiful new website designed by Jaiden Leach. We hope that you enjoy the look and the navigation abilities of the new site. There is an option to create a "log in" so that you won't have to fill out your name and address every time you register for a course. Stay tuned for our 10% off Winter Workshops sale for all of you who register using our new site. The workshops will be posted by November 30. Please contact the office if you have any questions about using the site or registering online.

Slide Room Gallery 

Fundraiser by the VISA Board

Join us for our Christmas Cocktail Fundraiser next Thursday, Nov 24. Event will include wines from the Okanagan Valley, appetizers by PicNic catering, $20 mystery envelopes, 7 artworks by local artists for silent auction. This is an inaugural VISA board-initiated and organized fundraising event. For more details click on button below.

Fall Online Workshops

Winter Courses

Exhibitions

As of December 1, 2022, VISA is proud to feature upcoming and continuing exhibitions of our students and faculty (past and present). Please email the office to be included.