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PBR: The Place, Traverse City

By Grady Olson

Rain doesn’t fall here, but it’s misty; my glasses fogged up from the humidity and there’s sandal straps over people’s ankles with shorts on but a Patagonia fleece up top. This is my Traverse City, Michigan experience, hosted by Pabst Blue Ribbon. The lawn is constantly being watered by the sprinkler that makes a rainbow. Water is no issue here due to the Great Lake. Every stretch of grass is green, and the people ask how you’re doing and mean it.

Each room is designed to a theme at The Grand Traverse Motel. There’s the Arcade Room, Dive Bar, and Rec Room. I was in the Rec Room. All are filled with classic memorabilia that the PBR brand represents. Ice cold ones are kept stocked in the hidden mini fridge. An original Nintendo set is plugged into the TV that was taken from your grandma’s house. The whole motel fits into the traditional mindset of PBR with a single metal key to get into your room after checking in at the quaint lobby. 

You can see why PBR chose Traverse City — everything about it is up their alley. The burger joints, the pubs, the thrift stores, and even the grocery store all have their own unique style and welcoming charm. At night on the weekends, The Coin Slot Arcade Bar has live music on the roof, with The Little Fleet providing food trucks and ice-cold Palomas to help fight the heat. The scene’s a mellow one, a somber one, things tend to be like that here, slowed down like the lake’s tide coming up. The lake is almost always within two blocks of where you are in town. You can always walk down for a dip to cool off or stroll the canals looking at the boats.

I heard from a few locals that wintertime in Traverse isn’t necessarily where you want to be, temperatures drop below zero and an icy wind blows off the water. I have a feeling once that snow melts next summer, I’ll be coming back for more.


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Artist Feature: Blending the natural and digital world with Vickie Vainionpää

Born in Waterloo, Ontario, now working out of Montreal, visual artist Vickie Vainionpää is weaving together painting and technology on her own terms. Creating naturally formulating shapes that curve and fold into each other much like our own cellular structures mimicking the relationship between human and material. One may see a disconnect from the machine and personal expression but for Vainionpää, it’s a fluid systematic process that has been her main focus in her work for some time now. 

"Something that nature could dream up, but that remains alien."

Vainionpää has always been interested in creating. As a kid, the lieu of going outside and playing never caught her eye as her intrigue would be inside with a sketchbook and a pen. Ultimately, that intrigue would develop into a passion she would pursue. “I guess the moment when I seriously got into painting was in university. Up until that point, the tools I was using were pretty basic acrylics, inks, and craft paints. But in the second year, I took an oil painting class and it was such a foreign medium to me. I didn’t understand how to control it in the same way that I had been working with water-based paints. It was exciting and  challenging, and still to this day I feel like I haven’t discovered all the intricacies of the medium.”

The process of her creations is layered. Using a 3D software, which she taught herself how to use and program, she generates random shapes and tubes each day at a random point formula which connects any given points in space and creates a line from that. Until numerous entire shapes are formed which overlay each other, Vainionpää then goes in and selects which random generated shape of her liking and paints them onto canvas. It is a process of trial and error. “I go back and forth between the canvas and computer a lot. In the beginning, I like to start digitally, and it takes me quite a while to settle on something I’d like to paint. I have an archive of hundreds and hundreds of renders on my hard drive. On any given day, I might feel like experimenting in 3D, learning a new part of the program, or I might feel like digging through the archive of forms and trying to make something out of them. I think I enjoy starting with 3D software because it’s the ultimate blank canvas -- there’s this virtual barren space with physical parameters that can be altered radically or subtly to produce different results every time. When I'm playing around on the computer, I am drawn to forms and textures that remind me of existing organic matter. Something that nature could dream up, but that remains alien.

"Lately, I’ve re-ignited an interest in psychedelic drugs and have been listening to Terrance McKenna and Alan Watts lectures."

After selecting her chosen composition is when she’ll switch to the physical painting process of her piece. A big challenge for her is creating a certain texture on the canvas whether by hand in pooling solvent or something more chance-based. “I think it’s important to maintain the quality of the painted surface, so I’m currently working that out in my approach. I use raw linen, which is also a conscious choice; it contrasts the very smooth gradations of light and shadow, which I feel lends to this balance of organic/inorganic. It also is my way to participate and acknowledge the rich history of oil on linen, and connect my work to the network of painters that came before me.

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Although her shapes may be generated at random by a program, the inspirational process of her pieces is found outside and within herself. Taking photographs of other artworks and the natural world, getting up close and personal with other pieces in real life, studying how other artists use paint in their own compositions. Her work is constantly changing and Vainionpää is constantly learning and trying to expand her knowledge not only on her craft but in a broader sense of her medium which she works in. 

I find a lot of inspiration by listening to lectures online, watching documentaries, having conversations with my friends… also digging through old sketchbooks to remind myself of what my interests were when I first started making art. That one is really helpful. Lately, I’ve re-ignited an interest in psychedelic drugs and have been listening to Terrance McKenna and Alan Watts lectures. I think my work has always carried a  sense of duality, but also harmony or oneness between themes like the Virtual /Biological, Micro/Macro,  Experience/Perception, etc. That’s a direct reflection of what’s inspiring to me— how can we connect  eastern and western thought, human and non-human…I’m super excited and inspired by the idea that  there’s a fundamental connection between our exponentially evolving technologies and our advancement as human beings, in a spiritual sense.”  

There is a worry about the line between the technical aspect and the free-flowing aspect and how far one could or should push that line to where it’s no longer a tool but an entire form of its own. But just as the bridge of technology and human life is becoming shorter and shorter, Vainionpää is keen but nervous a bit to see how far her work can go. But her message will always be the same and that is one of harmony between each shape in one piece each piece in her collection.

“It’s a natural flow, I’m always springboarding off of the last piece that I made. So if I recently completed something with a really complex texture or reflections, for example, I’ll switch it up and paint something more calming and minimal. There’s a balance of creative energy in that way. In terms of communicating  what I’m trying to say, I see the entire series as a whole, with each individual piece playing a part of that  larger project or message.”

"It also is my way to participate and acknowledge the rich history of oil on linen, and connect my work to the network of painters that came before me."

The future is looking bright for Vainionpää and you should keep your eye out. She is about to show two large pieces for Olga Korper Gallery in Toronto in a group show this October. As well as a residency at GlogauAIR in Berlin in April 2021. Which she’ll be at for three months to prepare work for her next solo show. As well as a duo show in Paris which is still in the works.

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Artist Feature: Come into the abstract with Amelie Hadouchi

Amelie Hadouchi is a Montreal-Canadian artist with a love for abstract and an obsession with film. At first glance, her work gives a subtle chaotic feeling; colors bleeding and bending into and along with one another; darks morphing and contrasting into bubbles that vibrate light. Yet, inside this color chaos, she instills a uniformity on the canvas — a structural hold within the piece. Each brush stroke dances with the other, luring the eye close and then into the soul. 

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Hadouchi was born in Montreal to parents who originally immigrated here from Algeria. Her father has been heavily involved in cinema as a scriptwriter, completing over 45 movie scripts with a new short on the way the two are currently working on together. Her immersion in creating and performing started at a very young age with film and theater being at the forefront — she has since never been without it.

“My upbringing was truly harmonious and open-minded. As immigrants, I saw my parents work extremely hard to give my brother and I a good life. It inspired me to be the way I am today, persistent, and determined. I was introduced to the arts at a very young age since my dad studied cinema when he first arrived in Montreal. I started working in the movie and modeling industry at the age of 5 years old. I did a lot of theatre, and I started taking painting classes at the age of 9 years old and never stopped.”

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Her involvement in cinema and performance had a lasting effect on her artistic process. Today, watching films when not working is how she passes her time. Going back to some of her favorites such as Inception, Les Intouchables, and Parasite to draw from them to help her with the conceptualization of new projects. Not just the aesthetics of them, the colors and set design, but how there’s complexity in each mixed with simplicity, and an overall humbling are all pieces she looks to for inspiration. She uses them as a portal of sorts to channel herself into another space, another time, another world. Before starting a new piece Hadouchi meditates in her own way, a more cinematic one.

“I often listen to Actors on Actors interviews since I'm really into cinema. Weirdly, listening to people talk about their craft really inspires me while I am creating. I'm always in a very relaxed state before hitting the canvas. It allows me to dig deeper and not be nervous about the outcome”

Travel has always been something that she incorporated into her life both in her work and out of the studio. Leaving the usual and taking a break, meeting new people, can spark a different view on life, a different look at a canvas or color. Getting away from her normal day to day and experiencing something different to find inspiration. Looking at photographs from past trips to relive memories and use those same emotions and color palettes she not only remembers but feels as well. Finding that unexplainable beauty in nature and relaying that onto her canvas.

“I am truly inspired by nature which is why I love traveling and connecting with natural landscapes. I am also inspired by emotions, by the people surrounding me. I’m grateful to be surrounded by positive and inspiring people. When I connect with them I have to rush to the canvas right away. People have a pretty crazy effect on my creativity. I work at home in Montreal but I also work in Laval just outside Montreal. I like going to Laval because, in just 25 minutes, I’m out of the city and in a beautiful forest so I often go for hikes there with my family. I get my dose of nature that way, I need it!”

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Amelia doesn’t have a television subscription and chooses not to watch the news too much or read the paper. Blocking out the outside world and all of its publicized tragedy is a way for her to find harmony in herself and spread that to others in any way she can. 

“For a very long time I would feel helpless and it would affect me a lot in negative ways. Now, I contribute in the ways I can and spread awareness when I believe it’s needed.”

An artist’s self-depreciation can be a tormenting trait that can either cause greatness or hurt themselves and their work. The battle between that is one of the biggest challenges for Amelia and one she is actively trying to correct. 

“I'm a perfectionist and I put a lot of pressure on myself. It goes so fast in my head. I do a show and I'm already thinking about my next move. What I learned this year is to appreciate every single step and take the time to do so.” 

 

Visit her website at ameliahadouchi.com

Follow her Instagram @ameliahadouchi

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