Lori S. Lukasewich

September 16, 2010 is the opening for my newest exhibit Common Whimsy at Axis Contemporary Art Gallery in Art Central. Please mark that date in your calendar. Doxie is a little teaser of a look at this new and fun body of work. This summer is one of intense painting for me in preparation, whew!

Also, coming up in November will be a Calgary relaunch of my children’s book The Night Fire that was published in 2001 by Stoddart Kids. Arts on Atlantic in Inglewood will be offering – for the very first time – the original paintings from the book. Please stay tuned for the exact date and time.

And for those of you interested in furthering your art education here are the classes I’m offering in the fall:

Ongoing classes at Swinton’s Art Supply and Instruction. Wednesdays from 9:30am – 12:30pm and 1pm – 4pm. Both these classes were almost full at the end of June, so Swinton’s has begun a waiting list for me – when we have a solid 4 new students we can start a new class on Thursday mornings. Sign up!

At the Alberta College of Art and Design I will be offering 2 classes in Extended Studies in both the Fall & Winter sessions:

Fall:
Acrylic Painting I:  Sat, Sep 11 – Dec 4, 9:30am – 12noon
Children’s Book Illustration:  Thu, Sep 23 – Dec 2, 6:30 – 9:00pm
 
Winter:
Acrylic Painting I:  Sat, Jan 15 – Apr 9, 9:30am – 12noon
Children’s Book Illustration:  Wed, Feb 9 – Apr 13, 6:30 – 9:00pm

And at Wildflower Art Center I will be offering possibly Watercolour 1 or 2, or Life Drawing or Portrait Drawing. Fall session on Wednesday nights or Winter Session on Thursday nights. Keep your eye out for the Fall & Winter Program Guides from the City of Calgary Parks And Recreation folks. We normally don’t know exactly what we will be teaching here until about a week before classes begin.

And if you’re in Cochrane for the Cochrane Labour Day Parade watch for this little baby – Fast Asleep – she’s one of my husband Luke’s newest creations. You can see more of his work on http://www.steelstonebone.ca – There’s some pretty cool stuff there.

I hope you’re all having a terrific summer!

You might say that realism is my genre and that I’ve been influenced by the Old Masters, but who hasn’t been, one way or the other.  No disrespect intended to them – they are not called the Master’s for nothing and my admiration of them is profound. But I don’t want to have just one genre – I want a broad and deep experience here. I’m a contemporary artist in that I’m alive right now and I and my work are constantly affected and influenced by the dynamic world we live in – like most other artists I know. Its all good – not always comfortable – but good. The most I can hope to achieve as an artist is to be as authentically myself in my work as possible, and that I be as open and generous as possible in my thinking.

The Alberta Community Art Clubs Association has once again asked me to jury the Southern Zone Show. I’ll also be doing the critique. So I’ll be in Lethbridge Alberta on both Saturday May 15 and Sunday May 16 to spend some time with those lovely folks. I always look forward to hanging out with them. Lots of fun and art.

bilton contemporary art is proud to host the first exhibit of artists whom we will be representing throughout the coming years. Many of these artists are from around Central Alberta and will be both familiar and unfamiliar to many people around the community!

Held from April 9 to July 2, the inaugural exhibit, bca artists: It’s in the bag, will hold its Opening Reception on First Friday, April 9 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm

For the first time, the bilton will be hosting artists that we will be representing and have worked with over the past couple of years and many new artists who will be unfamiliar to our Red Deer public. A feast for the eyes in its diversity, this exhibit will lead the bilton on a new path to representing artists of note from Central Alberta and beyond!

From oils and acrylics, to raku ceramics to fine blown glass, from landscapes to portraits to mixed media work, this exhibit of one-of-a-kind art will demonstrate the wealth of talent to be found in Central Alberta and from around the province. Representing artists:  Dave More, Vivian Bennett, Pat Matheson, Darren Petersen, Susan Woolgar,  Kate More, Steve Coffey, Jim Coffey, Lori Lukasewich, Teresa Posyniak, Ray Van Lune,  and many more. If you haven’t visited an art gallery before, now is the time to come and see what exciting art is being produced across the province.

be original.

buy original.

bca

bilton contemporary art

Hours:  Tuesday to Saturday 11-5pm

4B 5809 51ave

Red Deer, AB

T4N 4H8

www.biltoncontemporaryart.com

info@biltoncontemporaryart.com

403.343.3933

Sinister Rabbit. The first of my new series dealing with many and various odd and interesting objects. Why do we make what we make, like what we like, buy what we buy, and live with what we live with? Our stuff can have much longer lives than we do. Do we see our stuff as it is or is it always about the context or memory the stuff is associated with?

Now – onto more rabbits.

I’m a few days late getting this first post of the year up because I’ve been struggling with a familiar situation. Maybe some of you are familiar with it. The painting I was hard at work on and really optimistic about before the holidays – upon a return to the studio – became tough and resistant to my liking anything about it. I did not like it and did not want to work on it. Several days of my giving it the evil eye and finding other convenient ways to avoid it went by. And then a couple of days ago my aggravation reached the point where I had to call someone in frustration, even opening up my palette and getting my brush wet had no effect. Still awful. My husband said , “Thats because it is awful, get rid of it and start a new one!” Humpf. He was right – but what had happened to my initial great idea? Before the holidays I had had a brainwave  - brought on by second thoughts – about the colour. I thought I should warm it up. Chose my palette, mixed my paint – and got started. The rest you know. Its funny how these things work. After I talked to my husband that day I went and had a nap – classic avoidance behavior. But after lunch I went to look at it again and – EUREKA! – the solution was to go back to my original idea and palette and now the darned thing is kind of painting itself. And I love it. I think there were two major factors in this little drama. First I changed my original exciting idea because – and this is the important part – I had second thoughts about whether or not people would like it – I thought it might be too…creepy. Which is exactlly what I had loved about the idea in the first place. Why do I always forget that my paintings are 99% right about how they want to be? Every time. The second factor was, of course, the Christmas break. Getting back into the flow always takes me a few days and for some other unknown reason that always catches me off guard too. Now all is flowing smoothly. We’ll see how long we can prolong that. Its really good to be back in the studio.

Every year I think I will get more painting done in December than I actually do and its all because of Christmas. At first I resent Christmas for disrupting my plans – but then the shopping has to be done, the planning, the cleaning and the cooking. I always feel better when I stop resisting and just flow with the season and remember what its all about. Its all about – for me – the joy of giving my best to the people I love – and whoever else gets in front of me, and relaxing into that makes it a huge pleasure. A gift.

So I wish all my readers the very best the season has to offer – may you all enjoy your family traditions – invent a couple of new ones and mostly – may you appreciate all the dear ones you’ll be seeing. Merry Christmas to you all.

This will be my last post of the year – but I will resume again on January 5, 2010. Happy New Year!

The beginning of a new series is always an interesting time for me, and in the case of the most recent I’m not really sure its that new. I’m really intrigued with the object – more specifically with the way that objects hold meaning. This started in Marg’s Museum when I was working with things that had belonged to my Mom. They were and still are full of meaning for me. So I’m thinking – do objects rely on context and memory for their meaning – and if so does that disappear with the individual for whom it had meaning. Or in a broader context what cultural influences determine the individuals perception of meaning? How does where you are generationally affect your perception of the objects you see? These are the ideas I’m working with right now – it will be interesting for me to see how they play out through the painting process. The painting – Her Panda’s – above – is a painting of some of the initial objects of inspiration. Why do we choose the objects we choose?

Well – here is the  End of Disaster. I’ve had a very interesting time with my Summer Experiments. The acrylic mediums I’ve been experimenting with are fascinating and have tremendous possibility. The painting itself is not, I think, one of my best, but I’m not embarrassed by it and feel I’ve resolved it – in other words – it isn’t squeaking at me anymore. And there is some nice symbolism in it. I wish I had about 8 more lives so I could explore explore more artistic avenues in greater depth. What I’ve found here is that I’m really missing the deep process of my still life oil paintings. And so I will resume my new series of those on Friday. The studio is now clean. Stay tuned for my thoughts and progress reports.

Well – here is my ” Disaster”. It seems that I can’t stop working on it no matter how sideways it goes. This image is of the first time I thought it was done. I’m liking what is happening just now a little bit better and will post it again next week so that you can all see how it transforms. Wish me luck! Hopefully it will be finished.