{"id":5680,"date":"2014-07-18T00:10:29","date_gmt":"2014-07-18T07:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=5680"},"modified":"2014-07-17T23:21:55","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T06:21:55","slug":"vandusen-hosts-sculptors-society-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/07\/18\/vandusen-hosts-sculptors-society-exhibit\/","title":{"rendered":"VanDusen hosts Sculptors\u2019 Society exhibit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The art of Jesse Rubin, above, and Suzy Birstein will be among the work displayed at the summer exhibit of the Sculptors\u2019 Society.\u00a0(photo courtesy of Jesse Rubin)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

From larger than life to the minute details of life, the artwork that will be on display at the 38th annual summer exhibit of the Sculptors\u2019 Society of British Columbia will engage viewers with multiple aspects of life \u2013 and a lot of remarkable art.<\/p>\n

The exhibition, which opens July 31 at VanDusen Botanical Garden, features more than 15 artists, including Jewish community members Suzy Birstein and Jesse Rubin. Looking at the difference in style and material of these two artists alone gives an idea of what diverse interest the exhibit will hold. And, as noted in the promotional material, \u201cIn some cases, this exhibition is one of the few chances you will have to see [sculptors\u2019] work here in their home province.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birstein says in her artist statement for the exhibit, \u201cAs a child, I studied dance, Hollywood musicals, film noire and Rembrandt. As an adult, I\u2019ve been seduced by the sensuality, spontaneity and intellectual activity of working with clay and color, and the essence of romance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see my imagery as a marriage of my childhood and adult influences. The figure dominates my work as I endeavor to create archetypal icons … overlaid with the spirit of song and dance. I long to merge the power of Nefertiti with the spirit of Carmen Miranda.\u201d<\/p>\n

The magnitude of Birstein\u2019s scope is evident in her colorful, playful sculptures that engender a larger-than-life feeling, even if they are \u201cregular\u201d size. Meanwhile,<\/p>\n

Rubin operates at the other end of the spectrum, making detailed miniatures that, while also fun, are highly realistic. A self-taught artist who began sculpting 19 years ago, Rubin writes in his statement, \u201cI try to express the inner emotion of each piece, and hopefully the viewer will get a feel for what the person or creature might actually be like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nefertiti meets Miranda<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\"photo<\/a>
Suzy Birstein’s art will be displayed at the Sculptors\u2019 Society exhibit, July 31-Aug. 4.
(photo courtesy of Suzy Birstein)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Birstein\u2019s name will be familiar to many JI<\/em> readers, the last interview the paper carried with her was in 2008<\/a> \u00a0(though she wrote about her Mia Muse workshops in 2013<\/a>). Since then, Birstein told the Independent<\/em>, she has created the Tap to the Muse exhibition of life-size Muses, a film that features her dancing and her sculptures, as well as \u201cMotion Pitchers\u201d for the Academy Awards\u2019 \u2018Everyone Wins at the Oscars\u2019 gift bags.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the summer of 2008, film again serendipitously influenced my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw Mama Mia<\/em>, and it took me back to my early 20s, living in Greece. After crying my way through the film with nostalgia for Greece, I was determined to go to that island.\u201d<\/p>\n

The island was Skopelos and, as it happens, Birstein had been forwarded website information for an art centre there. \u201cI wrote to the two American women who founded the centre and the Mia Muse biannual workshops were created. I have been there three times since 2009 and can\u2019t wait to return August\/September 2015!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With each trip to Skopelos comes \u201cEuropean art adventure \u2013 Turkey, France and Spain \u2013 with new artistic influences,\u201d said Birstein. \u201cAfter France, I fell in love with painting \u2013 spent two years teaching myself to paint with oils, creating portraits of my Muses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Spain in 2013, I was inspired by Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s \u2018Las Meninas\u2019 painting. Although not in Madrid to experience the original, the influence of \u2018Las Meninas\u2019 was all over Spain \u2013 at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona, in tourist art, contemporary art. My new sculptures are inspired by \u2018Las Meninas\u2019 but, as with all my art, there is never any one influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndia is the other place and culture that greatly fascinates me,\u201d she added. \u201cI am planning to create art during an artist residency in India and to explore the giant terracotta horses of Tamil Nadu. I have just begun a series of sculptures and paintings fusing these elements together.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about her desire to merge Nefertiti and Miranda, Birstein explained, \u201cAll my work is interplay of ancient and contemporary world cultures,\u201d adding that she is \u201cparticularly fascinated with the concept of goddesses and cultural icons from Ancient Egypt to contemporary film.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueen Nefertiti symbolizes tradition, beauty, power, grace.<\/p>\n

Carmen Miranda, wild, elaborate, ornate, fun, song \u2019n\u2019 dance and with the hint of tragedy from personal life. The notion of transcending tragedy with absolute abandon to the joy of creativity, collaboration, performance and costume\u201d is what draws her to both Nefertiti and Miranda.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me,\u201d said Birstein, \u201clife as art is one \u2013 my work, person, home, garden, teaching. I am mentored by art spirits and, through this, mentor my students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birstein\u2019s recent work includes 15 sculptures that will be given out as awards by the B.C. Tap Dance Society. \u201cI have always loved tap and been inspired by Hollywood musicals \u2013 Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly,\u201d she explained. \u201cI went to the Tap Dance Festival 12 years ago created by VTDS and was hooked!\u201d<\/p>\n

She has been dancing with Vancouver Tap Dance Society ever since and is now part of Heart and Soul, their adult company.<\/p>\n

\u201cVTDS creates an amazing tap festival annually, on Labor Day Weekend, and this year they are having a silent auction on Aug. 28, giving 15 awards \u2013 five to tap artists, five to volunteers, five to patrons. They wanted to present meaningful\/personalized awards from someone within their community and thought of me, especially because I also did this for the Academy Awards in 2008. I am creating very funky, colorful ceramic shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mia Muse 2015, Birstein will \u201chave the opportunity to teach children in Skopelos at their film festival, SIFFY, followed by the Mia Muse ceramics workshop for adults. It is fabulous,\u201d she said, to be able to \u201ccombine film\/travel\/art with mentoring children and adults.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molding his own reality<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Born in Montreal, Rubin was five years old when he moved with his family to Vancouver in 1974. Here, they \u201copened the first bakery to sell bagels in Vancouver, the Bagel King, and, later, the Montreal Bagel Factory in Kitsilano.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Independent<\/em>, Rubin shared a bit about his journey to becoming an artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, I enjoyed drawing, but, by the age of 13, I began playing the guitar. Music has always\u00a0been a huge passion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began sculpting on a whim when I was 26. I bought a pound of clay and made some whimsical cartoonish characters like goofy frogs. After a few months of getting used to working with clay in that manner, I began to sculpt parts of the human body as realistically as I could. The learning curve was fun, painful and, at times, slow. It took a few years to get the fundamentals down and, in retrospect, I could have benefited from some proper instruction. Years later, when I wanted to learn how to make silicone molds in order to reproduce my work, I turned to instructional DVDs for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as the scale I work in,\u201d he continued, \u201cmy father was a jeweler, so maybe it\u2019s in the genes. I do know that I\u2019m attracted to small-scale realistic sculpture. I like the idea of condensing all that visual information into a small space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many different influences and approaches combine to form Rubin\u2019s final creations. \u201cFirst, I sculpt my piece out of Sculpey,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt stays malleable until you bake it in the oven. (My wife does a little blessing before I bake each piece because it\u2019s so fragile and, once it\u2019s in the oven, it can twist, crack and, occasionally, develop small surface bubbles.) So, once I have my baked Sculpey model, I then use it to make a silicone mold. When I have the silicone mold, I reproduce the sculpture in resin. From there, I go on to the painting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubin\u2019s art can be seen at deviantart.com<\/a>, which is a communal website for artists: search for jesserubin. Birstein\u2019s website is suzybirstein.com<\/a>. For more information about the Sculptors\u2019 Society or the exhibit, visit ssbc.ca<\/a> or email inquiries@ssbc.ca<\/a>. The exhibit opens July 31, 5:30-7:30 p.m., and runs Aug. 1-4, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., at VanDusen. (Garden admission or membership is required.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The art of Jesse Rubin, above, and Suzy Birstein will be among the work displayed at the summer exhibit of the Sculptors\u2019 Society.\u00a0(photo courtesy of Jesse Rubin) From larger than life to the minute details of life, the artwork that will be on display at the 38th annual summer exhibit of the Sculptors\u2019 Society of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[1632,1634,1633,1630,1631],"class_list":["post-5680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-jesse-rubin","tag-sculptors-society","tag-suzy-birstein","tag-vancouver-tap-dance-society","tag-vandusen-botanical-garden"],"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\/5680","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=5680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}