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studio 2: elke bzdurreck At the age of six, growing up in the town of Minden, Germany, I dreamt that I would become an artist. At 18 I had enrolled in the College of Art in Cologne to study fine art while my parents, who were funding my education, thought that I was learning a practical trade in graphic design. The City of Cologne in the late 60's was a haven for young artists and the energy of the work I found there confirmed to me that I would pursue art to the end of my life. In 1969 I followed my brother and sister, both designers, to Toronto and became a Canadian landed immigrant. I worked as an illustrator to earn a wage while working on my Button series. Soon I was exhibiting in several galleries in Toronto and met A.Y. Jackson at the Annual Art Show at City Hall in 1970. I married in 1973 and that summer moved to Pontiac County to live a simple life and to paint. Our son was born and raised in a century old farm house with nothing more than a hand operated pump and a Universal Favorite cook stove. I felt like a pioneer and took my inspiration for my paintings from communal life and the bountiful beauty in the fields around us. In 1981 a group of us published the Architectural Heritage of the Pontiac for which I did the illustrations. My art has continued to flourish. In the 80's I worked on the Communication series and the People of the Pontiac series for which I received grants from Quebec Cultural Affairs. I painted two murals, the second in 1992 at the Shawville hospital. I participated in international shows in Germany, the US and in Russia. Then came a transition in my life with the untimely death of my brother. My emotion took expression in the series From Birth to Death and Beyond. I subsequently painted the Fire series basing my impulse on the fact that there is no life without the cleansing, warming and energizing influence of fire in all its forms. With my Focus on Fire series I realized that in order to achieve ones goals in a lifetime one must define them. All my life I have used my art to best express feelings that are not easy for me to express with words. I call my recent work Eye to Eye, Look at Yourself. It is a self reflecting series of mandala like Sun-Eyes. I see the sun symbol in many natural occurrences, an eye, a flower, a planet or a star. It is the soul of energy and gazing at a Sun-Eye may induce a meditative state. For more than a decade I have also been creating cartoon like expressions that are stimulated by the current impact of daily life. I call them Artoons. Visit Elke's website. Read Elke's C.V. (PDF). Contact/studio information: GPS coordinates (WGS84 datum): N45 36.253 W76 20.270 |
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 Last updated: March 17, 2008 |
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From the Front Line, ink & watercolour, 10" x 10", 2007