FIONA ACKERMAN IS EVERYWHERE
Fiona Ackerman has been a very busy busy painter these past few months, with two exhibitions coming up, one at Winsor Gallery in February and another one in Calgary in March/April, is also releasing a whole new body of work into the Canadian art scene, we are very excited to be showing a continuation of her last show here at the gallery Heterotopia. Her new show entitled It's not me, it's you explores the world of the artists studio through another artists keen eye. More on this will be coming soon, but before we get ahead of ourselves, let's highlight two other great things that she has been up to.
Firstly, Ackerman has been featured in this book titled Creative Block by one of our favourite art truth seekers the Jealous Curator. It surveys a selection of advice and projects from 50 different artist to help people uncover their new ideas waiting to be hatched. Fiona will have a lot of great advice, listening to her talk about her creative impulses is like watching an artist paint, or a singer enchant, Ackerman is a great painter, and is also incredibly well-spoken.
If you are interested in learning more about Fiona, but can't wait till your copy of the book arrives in the mail, (we know you just ordered it!) you can always read this great interview by Alex Stursberg via Sad Mag.
Tempted to click aren't you...here is more temptation... an excerpt from the interview:
SM: When did you really start to identify as a painter?
FA: Probably when I was about 18. My father lives in Germany, and I didn’t know him growing up, and I was invited to go to one of his summer school courses that he teaches. And there my eyes were really opened to painting. He said right at the beginning, “we’re not here to make pictures, we’re here to learn a few fundamental things about painting” and understanding the structures and how to put together a painting really caught my attention. So I came back after that and decided to begin painting. Well it just presented itself. I started treading water and have been doing it ever since.
It takes a long time. It’s like learning an instrument. It takes a long time to get to know yourself or at least get to the point where you can at least play with enough ease that you don’t have to think about it all the time when you’re doing it. I think that’s one of the gifts that my father gave me with these classes. He said, “ten years you have to paint for”. I didn’t even think about having a painting career for years. I just worked my jobs, paid for my supplies, and didn’t worry about where I was getting. When I graduated from art school I just put my head down. I went underground. And I think mentally knowing that I had a journey to go through before I could start to have any semblance of confidence was liberating in a way.
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