{"id":33776,"date":"2019-12-13T03:59:28","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T11:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33776"},"modified":"2019-12-12T09:04:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T17:04:13","slug":"letting-imagination-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/12\/13\/letting-imagination-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting imagination fly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Janet Strayer at the opening of her solo exhibit, Wings of Imagination, on Nov. 28 at the Zack Gallery. (photo by Olga Livshin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Janet Strayer first conceived the idea for her new show at the Zack Gallery, Wings of Imagination, about a year ago. \u201cI was talking with Linda, and the bird theme came about,\u201d she said in an interview with the Independent<\/em>, referring to Linda Lando, director of the gallery.<\/p>\n

\u201cBirds appeared in my paintings before,\u201d said Strayer. \u201cThey take us into the air, into a different place. Birds symbolize freedom \u2013 freedom of movement, freedom of imagination. The flight of imagination allows us to envision different possibilities, different solutions, even different ways to see familiar things. When I considered the name for this show, I thought about [Albert] Einstein and his words that knowledge is always limited, but imagination is limitless. Imagination is the most important thing for any artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wings of Imagination is all about flight and wings. Birds populate the paintings. Bright and whimsical, they flitter around birdhouses, soar towards a distant sky or interact with other creatures, real or imaginary. Some images are bright, almost cartoonish, inviting a smile, while others seem more serious, characterized by quiet intensity and misty, pastel colours. And then there are funky collages, with real 3-D birdhouses attached to the two-dimensional pictures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are three distinct styles of paintings in this show,\u201d said Strayer. \u201cThe three styles are consistent with the theme of the show. I started it conceptually, as I always do, but I couldn\u2019t explore it in any one direction. Wings of imagination is a huge theme, and there is no one way to approach it \u2013 all the possible ways should be expressed. Freedom of expression is what it is all about; it is like several different directions of flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
\u201cPapageno\u201d by Janet Strayer, whose exhibit at the Zack Gallery runs until Jan. 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the styles is almost impressionism. The paintings\u2019 blurry lines are reminiscent of Claude Monet\u2019s foggy nights. The dream-like imagery catapults the viewers into some eldritch realms of sublime illusions with their wings and birds, sky and air.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother style is magic realism,\u201d the artist explained. \u201cI wanted to go magical. Imagination is magic. The Canada goose is flying, but his wings are magical \u2013 you can\u2019t see such pattern on a real goose, except in your imagination. Beside the goose hangs my homage to Leonard Cohen, as he walks across the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two paintings of \u201cBirdwoman\u201d seem similar in composition but entirely different in their palettes and in their emotional subtext. \u201cThe colours in \u2018Birdwoman on the Roof\u2019 are muted compared to the other one,\u201d said Strayer. \u201cOn the roof, she is open to the sky, not as loud as the other, more of a mystery. It has space for you to come in and indulge in your own perception, while the other one is more enclosed inside its room and its brilliant colours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strayer\u2019s magic realism paintings are eccentric and capricious, with clear lines between the colours and frolicking creatures from fantasy novels, while her third style, the collages, appear at first glance as a jumble of small images punctuated by birdhouses.<\/p>\n

\u201cBirds need places to live in,\u201d said the artist. \u201cI took a risk with the collages, didn\u2019t know what would happen, but it was such fun working with them. It took me three months to finish those two collages. They started with fragments, and then they led to other fragments. And feathers. And birdhouses. Things tell you what to do, until the entire image comes alive. It was like an adventure in my studio every day. Where would it go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Strayer\u2019s playful adventure resulted in two unique art installations. \u201cI wanted people to be surprised by these collages,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted them to stop and look at all the tiny details. We don\u2019t always stop and look. Even with art, so often, we come to a gallery, but we just glance. We don\u2019t stop and really look.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strayer\u2019s is a familiar name to Zack Gallery patrons. She had a solo show at the gallery in 2010, but the difference between the two shows is not only temporal but esthetic. While the previous show was black-and-white digital art and a poetic look at childhood, this one is bursting with colour and exuberance, and features mostly acrylic paintings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy creating digital art,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I wouldn\u2019t want it as a steady diet. I\u2019m an explorer. I always want to try something different. I love to work on real paintings. And I\u2019ve always loved colour.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Strayer, a predominantly abstract artist, the esthetics of her creations are more important than the telling of a story or the conveying of a message.<\/p>\n

\u201cA message should come through the esthetics,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd, if someone has a different interpretation than me, it\u2019s fine, too. As soon as the paintings are on the gallery wall, they are not mine anymore, even though I created them. Everyone could see something different, compatible with their own memories and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wings of Imagination opened on Nov. 28 and runs until Jan. 5. To learn more about Strayer, visit janetstrayerart.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Janet Strayer at the opening of her solo exhibit, Wings of Imagination, on Nov. 28 at the Zack Gallery. (photo by Olga Livshin) Janet Strayer first conceived the idea for her new show at the Zack Gallery, Wings of Imagination, about a year ago. \u201cI was talking with Linda, and the bird theme came about,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[2466,9511,9510,2722,6691,40],"class_list":["post-33776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-art","tag-collage","tag-janet-strayer","tag-nature","tag-painting","tag-zack-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}