Art
Commentary: Art therapy, a not so new way to help cope with life’s stressors – CHEK
Times are scary right now. We are in a worldwide health pandemic impacting everyone globally, countries aren’t the friendliest to each other, and there seems to be no end in sight for any of it.
Every day is a stark reminder that the world is hurting, and if you are like me, you may feel helpless at times. I have ventured into art therapy to cope with the stress and negative emotions, hoping that it will give me some relief. It turns out, it works. Ever since I was young, I was always writing, taking photos, painting or doing other creative works. It helps me focus my emotions, and sometimes I ended up with a pretty decent result. But, I have discovered, it’s not the result is not what matters. What’s that saying “It’s not the destination but the journey that matters?” Well, whoever thought that up, you are right!
You might be asking what art therapy is. Merriam-Webster defines art therapy as “therapy based on engagement in artistic activities (such as painting or drawing) as a means of creative expression and symbolic communication.” Primarily, you use art to express your emotions and help you de-stress. I have to admit; I was skeptical at first. Until this pandemic hit, and I was forced to stay home, I didn’t realize that I hadn’t done any of that in a few years. Why? Because life gets in the way. I was travelling a lot for work. Several family members and pets had various health issues. I even had some scary health moments, and I was mentally drained and emotionally exhausted. When I’m like that, I feel like I can’t be creative. On the other hand, that’s when you need to push yourself to be creative because it will help you through it.
I have spent the last five months on a self-discovery, self-care journey, using art therapy to help me cope with life stressors, and the results are amazing. I started writing. Publishing my first paranormal romance novel called The Prophecy (now available at Bolen Books in Victoria, BC), I also published a kid’s picture book series about Vancouver Island called Let’s Explore (with more planned), started a website and have picked up my camera again. I have to say it feels good.
Writing a kid’s book, let alone four, wasn’t at the top of my list until my two cousins had babies, and I couldn’t spend time with them on the mainland, and they weren’t able to travel to the island for visits because of the pandemic. It inspired me to share the island with them, and when they can get out and explore, they will be excited to check out the places in the books. It also got my creative juices flowing but helped me immensely to reduce anxiety and stress.
I have always been a big fan of reading, specifically paper books. I love it, from the smell of the pages to holding the book in your hand. Reading is good for your mental health, and that alone is a worthy reason to fill up your bookshelves. The top benefits I have realized are:
- Reading other people’s stories has helped put my own life into perspective.
- Reading actively lowers my stress and promotes relaxation.
- Reading allows me to escape into other worlds and cultivates my creativity.
- Reading has improved my problem-solving skills and enhances my knowledge of the world.
Are my daily stressors gone? No. But, I spend my days ensuring I dedicate regular creative time to what makes me happy because, like Howard Thurman says, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.” My writing, photos, and other creative hobbies make me come alive. I challenge you to share what makes you come alive with the family, friends or the world, because we need more of that, especially right now.
Please stay safe out there. For more information check out my website www.jenniferdowd.ca.
Jennifer Dowd is a writer, photographer, painter and author of the new novel ‘The Prophecy and the kid’s series called Let’s Explore.’ She has spent many years reading novels and now has written her own. She lives and works in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, and spends her time on her artist’s pursuits, with her family and her two fur babies, Baylee and Willow.
Art
Unique art collection on display – CTV News Vancouver
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Unique art collection on display CTV News Vancouver
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Art
This N.B. artist joined an online movement. Now her art is being shown across the world. – CBC.ca
Since joining a community that dreams of an internet free from giant corporations that can exploit users’ time and data, Victoria West’s digital artwork has been exhibited across the globe.
West, a photographer and digital artist based in Burton, 30 kilometres southeast of Fredericton, has had her work shown in Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Townsville in northeastern Australia, Miami, New York City, and even a museum in Albuquerque, N.M., — all through connections she’s made in Web3.
West warned it was a “rabbit hole,” but what she found in wonderland she doesn’t believe she’d find anywhere else.
Web3 is a future version of the internet.
Web1, West said, was the first version of the internet, in which users passively consumed information.
As the 2000s dawned, Web2 emerged, and users could now post their own content — think Twitter, blogs, YouTube. People are now creating more and more in digital spaces, but the downside of Web2 is that corporations are technically still the owners of all that creation, and they could take your data and potentially do with it as they please.
Enter Web3, which still exists more in theory: nobody and everybody owns the internet. This version aims to be decentralized. It doesn’t eradicate the distrust some people have in mega companies like Google and Meta — it just removes the need for it, because no one person or organization can own the blockchain Web3 operates on.
West said within Web3 there’s an art movement, with artists working together and taking control of their work. Imagine if Leonardo da Vinci had an internet connection, as well as Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. It’s the renaissance all over again, West said, except it’s happening with digital art.
“And it’s happening online on a much bigger scale.”
Before learning about W3 in 2021, West said she was in a photography bubble.
Photography isn’t the art form West imagined herself pursuing when she was younger. But when she bought a camera after the first commercial digital models arrived on the market in the mid-2000s, she was hooked.
“I was bothering everybody around me to take their portrait,” she said.
She built up her portraiture business, becoming involved with the Professional Photographers of Canada and competing in photography contests. Still, West didn’t want to just capture moments — she wanted to make them.
That’s when artificial intelligence came on the scene.
West was using Midjourney, a generative AI program, when it was still in beta testing. Around the same time she became involved with Web3, she experimented with blending AI-produced textures into her photography. In her business, AI quickened her workflow and allowed her to change backdrops and furniture.
While creating a piece in 2023 called When I Die, West wanted to design a man underground with roots blossoming into a tree. Well, there aren’t any blossoming trees in Canada in February, West joked — so she made the tree using AI.
“I feel like someone took handcuffs off me, and I’m free,” she said.
Lauren Cruikshank, an associate professor in culture and media studies at the University of New Brunswick, has spoken about the use of AI in universities, but she also thinks about it through an artistic lens.
From the camera to spell check, Cruikshank said the same discussion happens with each new medium: how much of the artistry belongs to the artist, how much to the tools they’re using?
“For some people where it gets uncomfortable is where the role of the human is minimal compared to how much the AI tool is creating or having creative influence,” she said.
With AI, Cruikshank agreed there are degrees — there’s a difference between prompting an AI to generate an image of a beautiful sunset and claiming it as your artwork and what West is doing, combining AI with her own artistry.
“That sounds really compelling to me,” Cruikshank said.
When West first saw Lume Studios on Broadway in lower Manhattan, the place she’d eventually display Eden’s Dye, her immersive art exhibit, she knew she wanted it immediately.
She collaborated on the exhibit with some of her Web3 friends. Los Angeles actors and poets Laurence Fuller and Vincent D’Onofrio wrote poetry to accompany each piece of art, which West created using both photography and AI. A coder friend joined the crew, and the result was a floor-to-ceiling immersive exhibit. West’s collaborators also choreographed performances to complement the art, using music produced by AI.
“Why wouldn’t I do that if I can?” West asked. “It’s freeing, I think, and lets you push the boundaries of photography and what you can do with it.”
While the exhibit leaned heavily on romantic, classical themes and Baroque aesthetics, Eden’s Dye is almost a premonition: minted, digital artwork taking up entire walls in people’s homes, flowers growing from code, experiencing art in virtual realms.
Demand will only grow, West said. Technology will progress and the internet will change. But what she really wanted was for people to walk into Eden’s Dye and be amazed by the art they were experiencing.
“They came because of the art, and they were there enjoying the art. You don’t really need to understand anything beyond that.”
Art
Niagara quilt expo to explore history of modern art form – Welland Tribune
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These aren’t your grandma’s quilts.
Being a grandmother herself, Lorna Costantini said she’s not a huge fan of the above phrase, but she can’t help but use it to describe modern quilting.
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