Anna Elliott
Happy Accidents
March 20 - March 24, 2023
Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, open Monday to Friday, 10 - 4pm
Closing Reception: Friday, March 24th from 6-9 pm.
Happy Accidents is a body of work that is the culmination of my experience making art at the University of Saskatchewan. During my BFA, I have worked primarily in printmaking including screen-printing, linocut, Intaglio solar plate, Intaglio dry point, monotypes and in combinations of print media. I also work in painting, drawing, digital art, and animation. Often when creating an artwork, I have a specific idea of what I want the outcome to look like. This body of work explores my intuitive practice of art making and embraces all the happy accidents that occurred along the way. The aesthetics in this body of work are inspired by light, shadow, and colour. The compositional elements of light and color are intended to shape my aesthetics and the viewers’ perception of each piece. To do this I focused on altering representational elements into abstracted works. I used a method of creation that focuses on the serendipity of art making rather than relying on fulfilling a plan for each piece. In each work of art there are references to nature and geometric shapes, and juxtapositions in the form and colour.
Inspiration for these works came from many sources, including graphic and interior design, architecture, science, optical illusions, and florals. The show is comprised of multiple art media included printmaking, animation, drawing, and painting. Printmaking is the main focus of this show, and I enjoy the creativity involved in breaking conventions of practice in this art medium. In animation, the use of speed and layering of images allows me to mash up my various art media. Drawing and painting are media where I am free to explore the tactility of making art.
About the Artist:
Anna Elliott is a contemporary artist who combines inspiration and motifs from design and nature into abstracted fine art works. Anna will be graduating in the spring of 2023 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours with a major in studio art, as well two certificates in Sustainability and Urban Design. Accumulating a diverse background of degree and certificate programs, Anna also has a previous Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and will be entering a Masters degree in Regenerative Sustainability in the fall of 2023. Anna received multiple scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year which were the Lee Oakenfold Memorial Award in Fine Arts, and the University of Saskatchewan Undergraduate Scholarships from the University of Saskatchewan. Anna made the Deans Honours List for the 2019-2020 academic year as well as the 2021-2022 academic year. In the future Anna hopes to combine both her aptitude in science and mathematics with her passion for the arts and design in a career that revolves around integrating sustainable residential and community design planning into the urban realm.
Vince Aranda
Shapes and Sizes
March 20 - March 24, 2023
Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, open Monday to Friday, 10 - 4pm
Closing Reception: Friday, March 24th from 6-9 pm.
Shapes and Sizes is a short multi-media film consisting of screen-printed animation stills photographed as stop-motion animation and then digitally composited into 3D digital models. The film is projected largescale alongside the original screen-printed sprites of the characters displayed on the wall which are frames created in Adobe Animate used to signal action for characters in videogames. The work is inspired by early 2000s era of videogame graphics during the time that studios made their transition from 2D to 3D animation. It is thus an homage to the changing technologies used in the history of animation by bringing analogue into conversation with digital while also pointing to a specific point in time.
As a second-generation immigrant from the Philippines in the early 2000s, I wanted to depict my struggles of finding a sense of identity. It became difficult for my parents to properly teach me their native language as their jobs gave them little time to do so. As a result, I grew to fit the mould of the Canadian culture of the time as English slowly dominated my vocabulary. Through my childhood lens, I designed the parents of the protagonist in the animation to be relatively faceless to reflect the disconnectedness of my parents due to this language barrier. Representing the characters using only simple shapes expresses the feeling of being different while also allowing for flexibility in their interpretation and relatability. In my exhibition, I hope to provide insight into the difficulty of being raised as a first-generation immigrant struggling to define oneself during the less progressive era of the early 2000s while also dissecting the complexities of the animation process.
About the Artist:
Vince Aranda is a Canadian illustrator and animator working with digital mediums while also working with traditional mediums such as screen printing. He would take most interest in screen printing as it helped transform his digital works into a physical medium. His works would consist of character creation and design. Throughout his childhood he would be surrounded by animated films and videogames to which would influence his passion for animation and illustration as a tool for short storytelling and world building.
