Mina Vancardo
Mina Vancardo
|
|
"Ethereal" 11x9 Mixed Media & Collage
"Hollywood" 20x18 Mixed Media & Collage
"I'm Ready" 10x6 Mixed Media & Collage
|
"Fingermark" 12x9 Mixed Media & Collage
"Grasshopper" 12.5x10.5 Mixed Media & Collage
"Wistera" 19x15 Mixed Media & Collage
|
Mina Vancardo
My collage work conflates the tradition of cutting and pasting with an automatism painting sensibility. The process involves collecting, cutting, configuring, and then painting.
Collecting is a continuous activity in my art practice – I am unable to turn it off and I am in constant look out for things that can be used in my work. Magazines, books, handwritten notes, or a tiny scrap of textured paper are often the triggers that initiate and feed my collage work. The cutting process is a deliberate and focused action, while I do not have the end product visioned at this point, the slow gestures of cutting, selecting and discarding are focused on feeling the line between my mind and my hands. Arranging the cut pieces is experimental; it can be quick and easy or slow and painful, but it is always intuitive. Finding the right combination of cut pieces is like a puzzle, and this point of the work involves trusting the work to lead the way. The painting process is also without conscious thought. The slow application and rhythmic application of brush to paper pulls my images together, creating playful surprises that are instinctual and self-revealing.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Mina Vancardo graduated with a BA in Art and Art History from the University of Toronto. Immediately following her degree, she completed her Bachelor of Education and has been teaching teens Visual Arts since 2001. A balance of classical and emotional (technical and experimental) instruction is the centre of her teaching practice; encouraging her students to learn from artists while experimenting and exploring as an approach to finding the artist within.
My collage work conflates the tradition of cutting and pasting with an automatism painting sensibility. The process involves collecting, cutting, configuring, and then painting.
Collecting is a continuous activity in my art practice – I am unable to turn it off and I am in constant look out for things that can be used in my work. Magazines, books, handwritten notes, or a tiny scrap of textured paper are often the triggers that initiate and feed my collage work. The cutting process is a deliberate and focused action, while I do not have the end product visioned at this point, the slow gestures of cutting, selecting and discarding are focused on feeling the line between my mind and my hands. Arranging the cut pieces is experimental; it can be quick and easy or slow and painful, but it is always intuitive. Finding the right combination of cut pieces is like a puzzle, and this point of the work involves trusting the work to lead the way. The painting process is also without conscious thought. The slow application and rhythmic application of brush to paper pulls my images together, creating playful surprises that are instinctual and self-revealing.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Mina Vancardo graduated with a BA in Art and Art History from the University of Toronto. Immediately following her degree, she completed her Bachelor of Education and has been teaching teens Visual Arts since 2001. A balance of classical and emotional (technical and experimental) instruction is the centre of her teaching practice; encouraging her students to learn from artists while experimenting and exploring as an approach to finding the artist within.