Finding safety in paint

OLGA LIVSHIN

“I always feel safe in the world of my paintings. Every frame is a safe place,” said Vancouver-based painter Melanie Fogell. Fogell spoke to the Independent recently about her solo show, Safe Spaces, which opened on March 10 at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.

On a visit to the gallery, the walls seem swathed in what appears like greenery, like walking into a blooming garden. Trees sway in a slight breeze, their tangled branches allowing curious sunlight to touch the grass. Multicolored flowers flaunt their petals. Little fish dart around in the blue of the sea. Everything breathes tranquility, inviting viewers to seek adventure in the serene, lush universe, to follow the girl in the painting “I’m Not Lost.”

Like that girl, Fogell has always found gratification in her painting, she said. She wanted to be an artist from a very young age, so, after high school, she attended the Vancouver School of Art (which became Emily Carr University of Art and Design), where she earned her degree. To her chagrin, she soon discovered that it was hard to make a living as an artist.

Fortunately, she had a second career path waiting for her. From the age of five, when she first heard a piano player, she wanted to play the instrument. Tremendously gifted in music as well as in visual art, she received her second degree as a musician and piano teacher. Music absorbed her life for years. She performed. She taught. She raised four children. And she kept on painting as a hobby.

At 42, craving more education, she went back to school. She received a master’s in women’s studies and a PhD in educational research from the University of Calgary. Later, she worked as an instructor there and at the University of British Columbia.

In 2006, Fogell published a book, Ambiguous Selves: New Jewish Identities, which grew out of her doctoral research, investigating identity from the point of view of 15 Jewish women after they immigrated to Canada.

Throughout her versatile career and throughout motherhood, the pull of visual art was strong and, though she never stopped painting, her style and palette have undergone a gradual transformation. Her earlier direction was somewhat dark, full of anxiety and contemplations of the Holocaust and, at that time, her paintings were peopled.

Now, after retiring from academia and freeing herself to paint full-time, her color scheme has become predominantly blue and green, peaceful and full of light, and there are almost no people there. “I’m never lonely when I paint,” she said with a smile.

In the current show, only one human figure appears among the 30 paintings: the little girl in “I’m Not Lost.” She guides the viewer on their journey into Fogell’s artistic vision.

“When I was young, my family went to Penticton for a summer vacation,” she remembered. “I went to play on a playground. I was alone. There were trees there and flowers, and I felt so safe and happy. My parents couldn’t find me; they worried so much they called the police, but I was safe there. That’s what I tried to show with this painting. Safety is in your head. You can be safe and have an adventure in the wilderness.”

Unfortunately, even the safest, most joyous forest can turn dangerous. “There is an overlapping Jewish theme there,” Fogell explained. “So many Jews were killed in just such peaceful, sunny forests.” Even if she herself is too young to have experienced those deaths firsthand, her Jewish soul remembers, she said.

Fogell seeks safety in her art. “That’s why I’ve been painting underwater for a long time. I have a series of underwater paintings. Being underwater is like being back in the womb. It’s safe there.”

Besides the theme of safety, another motif permeates Fogell’s art – music. Her paintings are full of under-the-surface melodies. “Winter’s Over” rings like a spring symphony, while “Overcast” sounds like a quiet cello adagio. Fogell always listens to music when she paints. “It depends on a composer,” she said of her painting. “When I listen to Chopin, my palette is often darker. With Debussy, it’s pastel.”

For many of her paintings, Fogell said she uses photographs as inspiration. She has a collection of photographs, some taken by her or her friends, others ripped from newspapers and magazines. “A photo is only a starting point,” she said, describing her creative process. “I work on a painting for a long time. You can always play with a painting, improve it, add more color here and there. It’s hard for me to decide when a painting is done. And when I sell a painting, it’s a little sad. You create something, and then it’s gone.”

Safe Spaces in on at the Zack Gallery until Sunday, April 3. Visit jccgv.com for more information or call 604-638-7277.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She’s available for contract work. Contact her at [email protected].

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