For the first time, during this weekend's Eastside Culture Crawl in Vancouver, Bronwyn McIvor will be inviting the public to come and explore her artwork in her studio – something she admits is out of her comfort zone.
“It’s important for me (to participate) because I’m not the most widely out-going person and it’s kind of amazing to be able to do this kind of work and put it out there and say this is me, you can look at it,” said McIvor, who is an oil painter and art teacher.
The artist added that the culture crawl is also a way to connect with other artists.
“You don’t often get to see artists at work,” said McIvor, explaining that artists are not like musicians or actors who have live performances.
McIvor has been an artist ever since she first picked up a pencil.
Art has the power, she said, to invite people and to have the ability to make people “examine their daily world” by questioning their reaction to objects through a different lens.
Her art focuses on food as well as images of “monstrous characters.”
“Most of what I’m depicting is not pristine food in classical paintings, but more of peelings of bananas, apple cores and the not quite perfect strawberries,” said McIvor, adding that she is trying to turn these objects into something different and to monumentalize them a little bit.
Meanwhile, she has recently brought monsters into her paintings through a project called Townfolk series, where she works in collaboration with several writers.
“(The writers) would write a short story or poem depicting the character I had drawn,” said McIvor.
“The monster characters straddle the line of being sinister or off-putting, (…) but they have character and a bit of humanity to them.”
Although McIvor’s art studio is in Vancouver, she still works and teaches students art at Phoenix Art Workshop resulting in “having strong roots in both (cities).”
The Eastside Culture Crawl will be taking place throughout Vancouver from Nov. 14 to 17.
Studios and exhibits are open to the public from 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
McIvor’s studio is located in Studio 580 at 580 Clark Drive.
