photography

Interview with Edmonton’s Soft Touch Photography

by Monika Blichar

Photography has to have an artistic eye behind it to stand out these days. After all, anyone with a smart phone can shoot and edit photos from their phones instantly today! When I saw Soft Touch Photography’s work come through on our submissions for our Edmonton show, I was excited because their photos not only capture the essence of a fleeting moment, but they are colourful, attractive and intriguing. Today, I caught up with Soft Touch Photography to learn more about their process.

1-What is Soft Touch Photography? When did you form your company?

Soft Touch Photography is a photography business runner by my husband and I, we formed our company in 2013, and had started as a dream, and now has developed into a reference only business and hopefully in the future more

2-You work with your husband. What are the best things about working together?

The best thing of working with my husband is that we compliment each other, we have fun, and keep each other focus and working towards something different that will take us outside the box, to create beautiful images and memories for our clients.

3-What kinds of things are your favourite to photograph and why?

This is a fun question because I love to photograph people and my husband loves outdoor photography. This works great for us because he is the one that finds the spots to do those amazing images that we sometimes are fortunate to have.

4-What kinds of products will you be selling and promoting at the Art World Expo Edmonton on Friday night?

We are going to be selling some of our most favourite prints.

5-Where would you like to see your photography business in five years time?

We see our photography business growing and being able for one of us to be full time in a studio someday soon.

6-Just for fun: Who is your favourite photographer and why?

My favourite is BARON STUDIO https://youtu.be/VQVZhEBdTT4–the reason why is because of their creativity.

Learn more about Soft Touch Photography on their Facebook Page.

Monika Blichar is an Entrepreneur and Artist. She is owner of Monika’s Art Boutique-Studio & Gallery in North Vancouver and producer of Art World Expo and Painting Dreams International Art Tours. She is always pushing boundaries as an artist and creative entrepreneur. Her love of the arts has been a part of her life since childhood.

Boxing Week Specials!

Boxing Week is here!

Enjoy 10% off everything in our online store as well as extended offers on our 12 Days of Christmas Special offers! Use promo code “12DAYS” at check out! Visit our online store: http://mabartstudio.com/store.php

MAB Ventures Inc.-An Arts & Entertainment Agency, 1335 Pemberton Avenue, North Vancouver BC

Final Call for our Art World Expo Christmas Fair Vendors!

Are you an artisan or independent rep looking for a holiday event to participate in this year? Look no further and join our exciting Christmas Fair this year!

We have a limited number of tables left for vendors at our Christmas Fair on December 16! Submit your registration today here: https://theartworldexpo.com/exhibitor-information/ Questions? Call Monika Blichar 6049996177

We love to small businesses and Artisans and our Christmas Fair will be no exception to sharing the love for all things unique and local this December!

Thank you to Two of Hearts boutique in Kits for donating $5-$25 gift cards to spend in store! Lots of raffle prizes every 30 minutes!

Preview products, join the convo and connect with participants on our Official Facebook Event Page!

When you attend this COMPLIMENTARY ENTRY EVENT, you’ll find:
-Over 50 vendor tables including art, jewellery, fashion, hand knit goods, make up, skin care, chocolate, baked goods, kids accessories, essential oils, dog accessories, home decor, and health and wellness products and services and much more! Everything you need in one venue to complete your holiday shopping and networking! Ask our vendors about collaborations, participating in your events or if you’re a gallery or boutique owner, come browse to see if you could work with one of our Artisans in 2018!

-Fashion Shows by John Pfaff, Carolyn Bruce Steampunk Jewellery, and West Coast Hatters on models provided by award winning female body builder fitness models from Team Fitness! Yes! Exciting!

-Cheeses Crust Food Truck-Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Drinks! Really good sandwiches!

-Raffles every 30 minutes-Prizes from local vendors and of course, many of our sponsors from Art World Expo! Tickets sold on site!

-First 100 people through the doors receive a complimentary goody bag! No purchase necessary! Just be one of the first 100 people at 11:00am sharp!

-Face Painting for kids and adults by award winning body painter and visual artist Francoise Boise ($10/person) She’s amazing! Don’t worry, she will do Holiday themed paints too!

-Silent Auction Benefiting Make and Break Arts Foundation-all proceeds support independent Artisans and Arts Programs and Exhibitions in BC. It’s a win win! (Huge line up of awesome stuff to bid on-great for holiday gift ideas and of course-gifts for ourselves!)

-Arts & Crafts Station for Kids-leave them at the craft station and go shop and mingle! We have you covered!

-Finally, when you’re all done, take a photo at our photo booth with visitors from the North Pole! Capture a memory and celebrate Christmas 2017 with us!

Current vendors:

Monika Blichar

Art by Edy

Carolyn Bruce Designs – Steampunk Jewelry**FASHION SHOW**

West Coast Hatters**FASHION SHOW**

John Pfaff Art & Fashion**FASHION SHOW**

Fashion Show models sponsored by Team Fitness-Award Winning Female Body Builders from BC!

LumberJax Custom Wooden Jewelry

Karolyn’s Tupperware

Inner Harmonious Peace

Kathline Essential Oils Accessories

Jennifer Haase, Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant

SPOIL YOURSELF, Cristina De Vellis

Jessica’s Homemade Alfajores-Baked Goods

Fifth Avenue Collection by Pardeep

Younique, Amanda Cherewick

The Sweet Doodle

Whisk Premium Matcha

Copper Paw Designs

Coastal Storm Gallery

Dagmar Doubkova Herbal Life

Bodacious Butterflies

Scentsy Kristi Weaver

SweetLegs Vancouver with Julia

Love Eco Jewels

Spain Gourmet Canada

Radiant Life Hoops & Styles

Petite Hippo

Earth Meets Spirit

Boise Art Works-Face Painting for Kids On Site $10/each

Deanna ArtFORMS

Diamond Movement

Andrea Renée Blackett MONAT

Diva’s Niche

All Day Shine by Julie SeneGence Independent Distributor # 384814

Crafts By Julia

Bryce Musil Azrael’s Forge Gems and Fine Jewelry

Taylore Mcmanne Jewellery

Surf Art? Yes Please!

By Monika Blichar

I always love meeting new artists and sharing them in our network. This time, I catch up with Lindsay who has a daring sense of adventure in her art and life!

Lindsay graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in Television Film and New Media then proceeded to get her MAED at University of Phoenix. Lindsay is from the Hollywood area where she worked at DreamWorks as well as other film companies and eventually took on her own clients. Some clients include Marriott, US Hanger Company, Hilton, San Diego Rescue Mission, Pussers and many more!

“My work is shows the compliments of coastal living and the carefree lifestyle of surfing. I like to do work with passion that shows the beauty of the sport of surfing becoming one with nature. I like to show how creative nature’s beauty can be. I live outside of the DC area and was born and raised in southern California which I am constantly coming back to. I create ocean art, accessories and jewelry. www.BlueFusionSurfArt.com Paradise Found is a favorite spot in Kauai.”

Interview with Shannon Ruth Dionne Photography

by Monika Blichar

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1-When did you start taking photos?

I have been fascinated with photography and cataloguing family photos since I was about 13. I started taking and then also developing my own photos in the dark room when I was about 16. Digital photography came around for me when at 23, and I’ve been wearing out my cameras every since.

2-Have you experimented with other mediums?

Absolutely, I am a Mixed Media & Multimedia Visual Artist.

3-What inspires you the most about being a photographer?

Immortally encapsulating fleeting moments that not only caught your eye and heart, but also captures a glimpse into the complicated soul of your subject.

4-What are your long term goals for your art career?

My long term art career goals balance creating, promoting, recharging and education. Essentially sustainably expanding on my current body of work and continuing towards establishing myself as a Canadian Artist with longevity and a rounded, breadth of work in Fine Art and Photography.

5-What will you being showing and selling at Art World Expo this year?

I am currently exhibiting a retrospective. A diverse collection of select works from my portfolio, reflecting on the past few years of continuous work.

Learn more about Shannon Ruth Dionne Photography on her website https://www.shannonruthdionne.com and be sure to connect with her on social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

Looking for new ways to capture moments? Try this Mini Drone

Imagine the photos you could take with this mini drone!

Take a look here!

Artists of all kinds are recommended to try this product to develop their portfolios in a new and interesting way. Imagine how your photographs or videos would look from the top of a building downtown or above the sea. There are plenty of possibilities with this product.

The drone can be steered from the top, bottom, left, right. There are six axes that will help you with the theft anywhere! Perfect for an interesting or artistic project where you want to capture different photos. The best thing is that this product is small, we can hold it in our hand. We do not need large luggage or big bags to transport equipment as it fits in the palm of your hand! The world is in front of you with this product!

Bangkok: Call Waiting – Intimate Yet Subtly Epic Photos that Capture a City in Transition

Internationally known fine art publisher Kehrer Verlag is set to bring out a photo book that illustrates Bangkok’s status as a city between two phases of existence. Bangkok: Call Waiting will be a collection of photographs of the city’s phone booths – a phenomenon that has disappeared almost entirely in some parts of the world, and looks set to do the same in Bangkok soon. These images show an interesting moment in time: the point at which an obsolete technology is still hanging on, though judging from the number of phone booths without working phones, about to become a thing of the past.

The booths can also be seen as surfaces on which to observe the ephemera of Thai society. Within them and on their glass enclosures lies every possible manifestation of quotidian life – posters and stickers dealing with housing, jobs, sex, food, entertainment, opportunities for education and social advancement, as well as endless tagging by graffiti artists. And politics; during part of this project, the Shutdown Bangkok movement left plenty of evidence in the inscriptions on the phone booths. Outside the encrusted claustrophobic enclosures and visible through the glass, life goes on as usual.

As well as occasionally being used by people wanting to ring home, these phone boxes also serve other functions; they are sometimes used as miniature warehouses for people to store goods. This photo book provides both a fascinating glimpse into Thai society via the medium of its phone booths, and also illustrates the way in which technology is left behind in the ever-changing cityscape. It’s the brainchild of photographer Frank Hallam Day, who is currently attempting to finance it via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. The book will not only contain subtly striking imagery rich in vibrant metaphor, but also give the purchaser a window into the streets of Thailand’s bustling capital.

Mountains Beyond the Clouds: A Photographic Journey Across the Alps

London-based photographer Tim Hall has spent the last 8 years capturing images of breathtaking landscapes during a journey across the Alps between Chamonix and Cortina, and is finally ready to showcase his work. He intends to do this via a photo book containing 150 stunning images, and a series of exhibitions. His photos are part homage to the 18th Century artists who took the Grand Tour, and part quest to discover what has made these famous mountains and resorts so popular over the past 100 years. They capture the otherworldly quality of the dramatic scenery that they depict, and portray skiing as an awe-inspiring union of man and nature.
Hall is an accomplished photographer, who has taken photos all over the world for Conde Naste Traveller, The Huffington Post, and The Sunday Times. He also sells his work to collectors and galleries worldwide, including those in New York, Hong Kong, Paris, London, and Zurich. According to him, each photo represents an adventure that he has taken, with him journeying across mountains on skis in search of the perfect shot.

The book will contain words by Sophie Benge and philosophical quotes about mountains by famous writers such as Robert Macfarlane, John Ruskin and John Muir. It’s scheduled for release in September 2016. Hall is seeking to fund the project via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. It’s already creating quite a stir within the artistic community, with arts dealer Ivor Braka praising Hall for his ‘awareness of the alien and magnificent power of the natural world’, and filmmaker and fashion designer Willy Bogner stating that he is ‘impressed and excited about [Hall’s] unique ability to portray skiing in his own very distinctive way.’ This definitely looks like one to watch.

3 Days Left for Early Bird Tickets!

You heard right! There are only three days left for early bird tickets! Early bird tickets end February 29, 2016-secure your tickets now!

Fashion Show by Nancy Perreault

We always love this event and each year strive to make it more interesting and amazing for the artists involved as well as the guests who attend. This year we will have an array of art for sale from over 100 artists from Canada, USA and Europe; we are very exited that once again, we have artists exhibiting from out of country. We will also continue with live painting, stage demonstrations, live music, a fashion show, silent and live auctions, food vendors, drinks and of course, the always popular body painting competition.

Little Monsters Studio returns! Photo: Gaby Saliba

Our theme this year is “Glamour Noir” as our event date falls on Friday, May 13. Guests are encouraged to adhere to the dress code and wear only red, white and black to the show.
Please continue to support this fabulous event and all the imagination and possibility that lies within it. It’s more than just a show, it’s the Art World-a place you can truly experience everything and anything creative.

Stump Artist is back-maybe even live chainsaw carving!

Michael Griffin Fine Art is back-be sure to chrck him out!

Lisa Austin, The MT Canvas, and Deanna Fligg setting up a few years ago!

A feature from the 24HR -thanks Sarah Rowland!

Producer and owner of Art World Expo, Monika Blichar is creating #GlamourNoir50 , a collection of 50 new paintings to be unveilled at this year’s event.

Gary Weston’s art is a crowd favorite!

Guests enjoying an array of stage performances all night!

Gypsy Jean and her walking art-ask us about hownto get a walking ad for your business at the show his year!

Open Door Gallery in 2015 -amazing!

Purchase your tickets before the 29th of February and enjoy early bird discounts. Order your tickets HERE.

Consider purchasing a VIP ticket including a limited edition Coastal Imagination Glamour Noir mask by Coastal Storm Gallery. Created specifically for this event in support of Make and Break Arts Foundation who annually support kids and adult arts programs, artist exhibitions, and creative professional development both locally and internationally. A VIP ticket also comes with a fast track line up, a special swag bag, and a drink ticket.

Thank you Twin Peaks Construction for your ongoing sponsorship for our annual event. Be sure to visit their website for all your home and commercial renovation and new build needs!

twinpeaksconstructionlogo

The Illusionist: An Interview with Carolina de la Cajiga

by Alyssa Laube

“Annitya” will be up for auction at the Art World Expo. Proceeds support Make and Break Arts Foundation.

Carolina de la Cajiga doesn’t call herself an artist but an “illusionist and interpreter”. To describe what she does in photography, sculpture, and painting, she explains “I create illusions by transforming my ideas into something tangible”.

Her vision is different than reality, she “adds or removes from what is there” in order to feel satisfied with the finished product. In her Portraits of Canada and Canadian Divas series, she replaced hair with flowers. In Post-Modern Glyphs, she removed the backgrounds surrounding her subject: cable knots. What used to be behind – buildings, clouds, trees – was digitally cleared away in order to obtain a clean image with only the knots visible. “My goal is simple: to represent what I see in my mind. “It’s all aesthetics, beauty,” said de la Cajiga.

Over the past few years, her work has been focused mostly on photography but, as anything she does, it is her own kind of photography. Her most recent series is “shooting dynamic light that lasts atto seconds (the smallest unit to measure the speed of light).” De la Cajiga takes hundreds of shots and carefully picks the ones she believes have the most potential. What follows is a multi hour-long process that turns those photos into de la Cajiga’s vision for the piece through the use of various methods and computer programs. “The result is a photograph that asks the audience to question whether [parts of] it ever existed -what you see is not what is, but what your mind sees… “The more of these shots I process, the more complex and intricate the images are turning out to be.” Not finding a term to describe her technique, she coined the word “Katharosgraphy” from the Greek Katharos = to scratch, to clean, to purify, and Graphy = process. Coincidentally, Katharos also means oak tree which is what Cajiga, her last name, means. At the Art World Expo, she will be exhibiting this series of work.

Many of her other works also play with altering reality. The series, City In Flux, is based on illusion and “bend[ing] architectural protocols”. Here, she twists and morphs Vancouver buildings. In What If ? she places Las Soldaderas (“civilian women who made significant contributions to both the federal and rebel armies during the Mexican Revolution of 1910”) into other important events throughout history. Even in her photography of everyday life, such as Construction – Workers, Lifting of Backhoe, Invisible in Neon, and Rain City, she added or deleted components that are unidentifiable to the public eye. Only de la Cajiga knows what did and did not exist in the moment when the photo was captured. The audience is left to wonder.

Carolina will be part of the “Love in Any Language” exhibition at the Ferry Building Gallery in West Vancouver, 1414 Argyle Avenue, West Vancouver, February 2 – 21, 2016. The opening reception will be February 2, 6 – 8 pm, and Meet the Artists is on February 6, 2 -3 pm.

You will also be able to see her work and catch up with De la Cajiga at her new studio at the 195 Pemberton Studios bustling artist community in North Vancouver.

Take a look at Carolina de la Cajiga’s collections yourself on her website. Better still, see them in person at this year’s Vancouver Art World Expo. She is in the process of finalizing a new website, http://www.delacajigafineart.com, to display the Katharosgraphy artwork. Stay tuned!

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