RECENT WORKS An exhibition of recent and past works
Alana Petrella
Table of Contents 5. Artist Biograhy 7. Background 11. Artist Statement 13. Recent Works 35. Past Works 51. Interview 57. Curriculum Vitae
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Alana Petrella is in her final year completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts at McMaster University with a minor in psychology. Along with her involvement in the arts, she has an active passion for wilderness and the outdoors. Her interdisciplinary interests reflect themselves in her artwork pertaining to human connection with the natural world.
alana.petrella@gmail.com
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BACKGROUND
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I am a curious wanderer who has always been interested in creating and expressing. I am an emotional free spirit who is attracted to the mystery and interest of the natural world. I have an urge to create and express this through direct interaction with the natural world and the vulnerability and wonder these experiences allow for. My life was turned upside down when my father passed away when I was five. This experience has taught me the importance of life and experiencing every second to its fullest potential. Through experiencing the world in a present mind, the term “flow” came up in research and has enriched my understanding of the experience and process of art and of my other passions such as climbing and nature. I have consistently been pondering why art matters. “Why am I doing this and how will it affect or enhance the world?” are questions I ask myself while thinking about and creating my art. Does it matter if others do not understand it? Is it an artifact for future generations? What would the world be without art? These are all questions that the have arisen in the past three years of art school. Why does it all matter? What is the point? Through my recent travels and the freedom from materiality, these questions have been concentrated. These experiences of freedom and lightness have enlightened me to think of art as something unrelated to physical things. I believe art is an experience both for the artist creating the work and the viewer who is soaking it in. I believe good art is art that will enhance this human experience and aid in creating an experience of “flow” for both the artist and the viewer. These ideas have also informed my interest in art as a means of therapy. Something that both attracts me to rock climbing and art is the unique feeling and heightened sensation of the task at hand. It is a feeling that can’t be accessed through other means. It is a feeling of being totally encompassed and focused at the task and challenge at hand that you forget about everything around you. It is a feeling so focused that you lose any apprehensions or insecurities and are completely involved in the present moment. Flow is a process related experience. I believe process and experience are the most important aspects of learning in art and life itself.
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ARTIST STATEMENT My art focuses on an investigation and discovery of human experiences with nature. I explore the mysteries and relationships between the environment and the human mind through my own involvement and interpretations of the natural world. Immersing myself directly into nature becomes possible through my experiences with rock climbing. The physicality and focus of climbing allows for a mind, body, and spirit connection between the climber and their environment. I am interested in a process-based approach using rock climbing as a means of drawing in order to document this connection. Using charcoal and mixed media, I record the physical movement created in the flow of climbing. I layer these expressive lines with intuitive drawings of the natural world and with found natural objects. My practice gravitates towards organic and found materials with a sustainable focus. By inviting the viewer to engage in and discover the layers within my work, I intend to evoke an emotional and moving response. Exploring growth and interconnection is an ongoing interest in my artistic practice as I emphasize nature’s fundamental role in human existence.
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RECENT WORKS
FLOW A series comprised of works documenting the movment of climbing.
Process, Boulder Wall, 12.5’x8’, 2014
Process, Climbing Holds, reclaimed wood,
Process, Charcoal, 2014
Climbing, 2014
Climbing, 2014
Remnants,8’x10’, 2014
Remnants, 8’x10’, 2014
Flow, 8’x8’, charcoal on plywood, 2014
Interior Space, Installation, 2013
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Past Works
Lines of the Wind, 32”x24”, reclaimed wood, 2013
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Drawing By a Tree, 8�, canvas and ink, 2013
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Blue Spruce Identity, 3.5’x2’, bees wax and burlap, 2014
Wearable Architecture, pine bark and sticks, 2012
Grow, 3’x1’, reclaimed wood and natural materials, 2013
Peak Experience, unraveled rope, 2012
The Tree of Life, Cedar mixed media assemblage, 2012
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An Interview with the Artist Interviewer: Michael Pett Director and Producer of Colourblind Productions Interviewee: Alana Petrella
MP: How have your personal experiences informed your current style of art? AP: My personal experiences have had a lot of influence on my current style of art. As my passions have grown and altered throughout the last three years, so has my art. I find that life experiences will always reflect in my artwork, if I am producing art that matters to me. As I became more and more interested in climbing, it started to detract from my art making. I decided that I wasn’t integrating my passions into my artwork anymore and I needed to change that. I began integrating my two passions together, climbing and art, to see where that could take me. I began with a performance piece integrating climbing into interior space. The lines that came off of my shoes onto the wall from that performance influenced my next piece, which I used charcoal on my toes to document the movement. As you can see, my art is constantly transforming and changing from project to project and experience to experience. As I am becoming more interested in alpine climbing, I suspect that will probably show itself in my artwork as well. I want to see what art can be created through this beautiful sport and my ever-changing interest in it.
MP: What inspired you to make your artwork physically interactive? AP: Sitting down and creating art just doesn’t feel as productive and fulfilling to me anymore since I have been climbing. I have experienced a mind, body, and spirit connection through moving my body with climbing. Without movement of my body, I find it difficult to experience
and movement, there is a beauty, and integrating this into my artwork adds another layer. There is a beauty of viewing that movement and partaking in that movement. I strive to find ways to document this beauty during the process of climbing to create an artifact of this movement.
MP: A number of your pieces pose a vertical problem with more than one possible solution. Was that intentional? AP: I like that there are more than one solution to the problem. In outdoor climbing, there are endless possibilities for how you climb a route. There are no rules. There is more than one solution in the vertical problems I create so that I can choose the most beautiful route.
This gives me freedom to work in the moment and make decisions intuitively. I don’t like feeling stuck in one place and this sense of freedom allows me to play and create new movements and lines.
MP: You use a lot of wood, bee’s wax and other unprocessed resources. What draws you to natural materials? AP: I have always been interested in environmental sustainability. With being an outdoor enthusiast, comes responsibility in taking care of the environment that we love. I think it is important to consciously act and make decisions that will not negatively affect this earth and promote positive action. I find it is my responsibility to act consciously and use and purchase sustainable materials. It feels wrong to me to create something that will contaminate landfills for millions of years. I am also interested in the aesthetic of natural and found organic materials. Sometimes these materials do not offer the most longevity but they do offer a history and an opportunity to change and weather. I enjoy the aesthetic qualities of wood; the raw and organic quality and the history of the lines add a layer and quality to the work. Bee’s wax is appealing for many reasons as well. I actively purchase Canadian bee’s wax. It is so malleable and versatile, not to mention is smells amazing. I enjoy the feeling of finding things and foraging for my art materials. It gives me a feeling of self-sustainability and taking the time to really connect with my materials adds to the process of creating and understanding my work. MP: How do you choose which natural materials you use in a piece?
AP: My choice of materials is pretty intuitive. I usually go outside and try to become inspired to what natural materials can do and how they work and can be manipulated. It is a lot about what I find and what inspires me at that moment. There are some materials that I gravitate to more than others for their structural properties, like wood, sap, and bees wax. There are others I gravitate towards for purely aesthetic reasons like their colour and texture. My choice greatly reflects what textures and energy I want to evoke in my work. MP: With such a focus on nature, is there any specific environment message behind your work? AP: I find my work to be an exploration of the human connection to the environment. I believe that humans need to understand a place to love a place and need to love a place to feel a responsibility to protect it. Through my connection with the earth through climbing, I have felt a deeper connection to nature and a deeper responsibility to protect it in the ways I can. I hope that through the energy created in my artwork and emphasis on using found and reused natural materials, this connection can inspire others to find a way to also connect with the earth and get outdoors.
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Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION Level IV Studio Art (BFA) – McMaster University Scholarships and Awards September 2011 – Present •Recipient of the Bertram Osmer Hooper Scholarship 2013 •Recipient of the The Alise Alexanian Hassel Memorial Scholarship 2013 •Deans Honour List 2012-2014 •Recipient of the Women’s Art Association Scholarship 2012 •Recipient of the McMaster President Entrance Scholarship and Ontario Scholar Award 2011 GROUP EXHIBITIONS March 2014 •Continuance, Gallery on the Bay, 231 Bay Street North, Hamilton ON September 2013 •En Plein Air, McMaster University Togo Salmon Hall, Hamilton ON April 2013 •Alexandra’s Travelling Bauhaus, McMaster University Togo Salmon Hall, Hamilton ON March 2013 •Mapping Paradise, McMaster University Togo Salmon Hall, Hamilton ON March 2013 •Toyota Showroom Exhibition, 999 Upper James St., Hamilton ON
November 2013 •Firstwork, McMaster University Togo Salmon Hall, Hamilton ON
CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE March 2014 Naturally Connected, McMaster University Togo Salmon Hall, Hamilton ON •A juried exhibition and auction of local artwork creating aware ness and support for the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System. ARTICLES/REVIEWS February 2014 Mapping Paradise Exhibition •CBC Hamilton http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/mcmaster-show- combines-art-ecology-1.1343135 •McMaster University Daily News http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/worth-mentioning/mapping- paradise-collaborative-art-project/ •http://mappingparadise.wordpress.com/ •OPIRG McMaster http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8D4oOeN2po&feature=you tu.be
March 2014 Naturally Connected Art Exhibition •McMaster University Daily News http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/worth-mentioning/naturally connected-art-exhibition/ •McMaster Social Activism Fourth Year Communications Student http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jchbPfb2Oj4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8HywfIETc