The creations of a Priddis artist whose work delivers unpredictable results are on display at the Sheep River Library.
Barb Fedun dabbled in realism, but developed a preference for creating soul sketches in alcohol inks and abstract acrylic ink and paint landscapes. Her creations are on display in her exhibition A View of My Own at the library until April 27.
The exhibition is a rare occasion for Fedun to showcase her work in the Foothills. Her work is also displayed at the Bluerock Gallery in Black Diamond and the Priddis View and Brew.
“It’s a great opportunity, especially because it’s in my general community,” she said. “I belong to a couple of groups and I’ve been doing shows in various places in Calgary for almost 10 years.”
Fedun began creating soul sketches about five years ago for a Priddis practitioner who asked her to paint healing images for her clients.
“She married my ability to listen deeply and my artistic ability and then sit down one-on-one with the person,” she said. “I do the art, but the person is part of the process. They choose the colours and they might blow through a straw to start the colours moving.”
The process is typically done on paper made of ground stone that reacts to people’s energy, said Fedun.
“I always have the person hold it and the heat in their fingers comes right through,” she said. “They know it’s their energy in the piece. They feel something is trying to be said within and want to get it out in a way that can be worked with soul sketching.”
Fedun uses bright, colourful alcohol inks, which run quickly and can’t be controlled. As a result, each image is unique.
Fedun learned about the medium at an artists’ retreat at River Rock Studio west of Calgary, which she attends each fall.
“We each bring something to share with the other artists,” she said. “One of the artists brought these alcohol inks. I saw them and I thought this medium is crazy, it’s bright and beautiful and you can’t control it.”
Now Fedun teaches the process in one of her art classes.
“You have a group of people who are working with this process and you can see them getting into the moment because it keeps changing and morphing moment to moment,” she said. “As it’s changing they’re exclaiming because things show up that’s unexpected. It’s beautiful for beginners and I’ve had professional artists want to learn more about the technique because it’s very freeing.”
The majority of pieces on display in A View of My Own are Fedun’s acrylic ink and paint abstract landscapes. Many represent mountain scenes.
“I use abstract techniques in almost all of my paintings, but it is something you would recognize,” she said. “They are abstract techniques, but at the same time you can tell there is hills, mountains and sky. They are not realism, yet they can recognize what it is.”
Fedun initially created realism art because she thought that’s what people would recognize, but soon became drawn to abstract techniques.
“As I got into it more and more it became more important to me to express feelings, express what was inside on the paper and search for a forum to do that,” she said. “That’s how the inks came to be. They move so quickly and are a little less able to be controlled. That seemed to fit very well with my desire to express.”
Her preference still lies with acrylics.
“It’s a really good medium to use because it dries well,” she said. “You can work it and work it and work it, which you can’t do with the watercolours so much.”
What Fedun also likes about acrylics is their ability to layer.
“I will take some of my work that I’ve done on the stone paper with alcohol inks, cut it up and do collages,” she said. “The acrylics lend themselves very well to do layers and more work.”
Fedun will host an artist reception at the Sheep River Library March 17 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. where she will invite people to work with alcohol inks on stone paper. She will also teach a class on the technique at the Leighton Art Centre on April 28.
To learn more about Fedun go to www.soulsketching.com and www.barbfedun.com. The Sheep River Library is open Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays to Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
