Interview with Harry Stooshinoff, by Camilla Cannon, The New School of Art, UK

The New School of Art, UK, with Harry Stooshinoff


Thank you, Camilla, for the great work you've done on this! There are many great interviews on the blog, and it's well worth spending time on the site, looking and reading carefully, all that you've assembled!

www.harrystooshinoff.com  

Lost Lake

 

.....remembering a long lost summer. These are the first 2 works based on memories of Emma Lake. There will likely be more in this short series of memory pieces, and more based on Emma Lake.

 

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May, On Crocus Hill

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...

May, On Crocus Hill
...I would climb the stoney hills all afternoon, armed with the little hammer my brother made in metal-shop class, and pretend I was a geologist. Acrylic collage on heavy archival paper 11 x 14 inches, images size 9.75 x 9.75 inches.

I've made so many things over the years. I made some things similar to this even as an undergrad. Those early paintings still inform everything I do in that the work is based on shape, colour and edge interaction. Colour is more or less applied flatly, and interaction of colour is paramount. There's no such thing as detail...something is either essential, or you can do without it.

And of all the things I've tried, I don't think I really discarded anything. Although I've left many styles behind, parts of my process or method resurface later. And many things coexist. This happened yesterday,....and today I made a more representational view....
 

Ridge

 

I use various starting methods and reference methods to make my pictures. This one is based on a memory, with no visual aid or reference in front of me. Works such as these tend to be more abstract in nature, and perhaps deal more strongly with mood creation....colour interaction is always key in the work.

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Heat of Day

“No good to paint in the head – what happens is what happens when you put the paint down – you can only hope that you are alert – ready – to see. What joy it is for paint to become a thing – a being. Believe in this miracle – it is your only hope. To will this transformation is not possible. Only a slow maturation can prepare the hand and eye to become quicker than ever. Ideas about art don’t matter. They collapse anyway in front of the painting.”
~ Philip Guston, November 23rd, 1978.

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Heat of Day
...at midday during a heat wave, it's tolerable only in the tree shade....another great reason to love every tree you see. Acrylic collage painting on heavy archival paper 11 x 15 inches, image size 9.5 x 12.25 inches.

A New Series of Ink Drawings

 

These India ink drawings are a bit of a new direction. I call them 'Chances' because they are almost completely unplanned. There is always a searching for something, but in these, the search takes only 5-10 minutes...then you search again. They are even more improvisational than my other things. The hand is continually moving, and I move quickly from one drawing to the other. They are produced on old pages from an old illustrated encyclopedic volume from the early 1800s....the paper has a great deal of rag content in it, and there are wonderful engraved illustrations on each page (the volume's binding was in poor condition, otherwise I would have sold it rather than taken it apart).

I want to make many of these, so I want them to be inexpensive. It's a bit like automatic writing......with certain design considerations imposing themselves seamlessly upon the task.......

The book page paper is 7.5 x 11 inches. The drawings are completed first, and then they are laminated to heavy archival paper, in this case 9.5 x 13 inches. Signed lightly in pencil lower right, H. Stooshinoff, 2016.

As of July 8/2016, Canada Post labour negotiations continue and there will be no disruption of service for the next month. In the event of a later Canada Post walkout or strike, your purchase within Canada and the USA will be shipped by Purolator Ground and will reach you in a very timely fashion. Purchase with confidence!

I am adding 2 of these drawings to my selling sites each day, over the next week or so. If you don't see them all in the active listings section, please look in the sold file!

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June End

June End (Sold)
...maturing wheatfields....evening, the last day of June. Acrylic on unprimed Whatman paper 10 x 13.75 inches, image size 9 x 12.5 inches.

Information from my wife, the plant expert. When you have a drought, plants will mature and produce seed earlier...it is their attempt to secure their survival by producing offspring. They are not healthy, but rather stunted,...but they have produced seed....so the next generation can have a go.....

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Above Lost Dog Hill

 

Just thinking and remembering....not using any external reference at all. I hope this method will become a consistent category in my work. While I've used the method before, there don't seem to be very many of these.

 

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Companion piece.....

 

This is perhaps a companion piece to the forest view with red ground.....the paintings do link up on strange informal ways.

 

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...the last few days....

...a few pieces from the couple of days. I do try to make one piece per day, but there are a few days missed overall. But in the last year or so, I don't think I've missed very many. I think today's piece might end up being a fully abstract collage....I never really know until I sit down with the materials.
Top piece is (Sold)

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From the Churchyard

 

From the Churchyard

...I sometimes stop at the churchyard at the top of the hill. I can see for miles in a number of directions, and it's interesting to walk through the graveyard and read the aging headstones. I sit on the big boulder with an inscription that says there's a time capsule buried beneath...and drink my coffee. Acrylic and pencil on unprimed Whatman paper 10 x 13.75 inches, image size 8.75 x 12 inches.

 

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Companion Pieces

 

2 companion pieces, 'The Way Out' (Sold) and 'The Way In',...leaving the property, and returning, on beautiful late spring evenings..... both acrylic collage paintings on 11  x 15 inch paper.

 

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Evening Walkout

 

In case anyone is wondering why sometimes these works start looking partly abstract, or even fully abstract without representatioal format evident....here's a brief explanation: Sometimes I'm perfectly happy being primarily an 'eye'. There is plenty of mystery in what is seen. But sometimes I'm walking, and thinking, and looking, and responding emotionally to what I'm seeing and also what I'm thinking about...the whole world gets mixed into an experience that is not only about the eye. Sometimes I'm addressing some of that internal 'mixing'.

While the whole business of making a picture rests upon formal means, the picture is never a type of pure abstraction. The picture is always about something in my world.

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Late May Collage Paintings

Fishing Rod (Sold)
...a hot, still, late May evening on Rice Lake. Acrylic collage painting on heavy archival paper 11 x 15 inches, image size 9.5 x 10 inches.

Evening, Chickabiddy Hill (Sold)
....the welcome coolness that comes at the end of hot May day. Acrylic collage painting on heavy archival paper, 11 x 14 inches, image size 10 x 11 inches.

 

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...there is a late May heatwave on at the moment. It's much hotter than it normally is at this time of year. Hopefully I'll have more energy to make a painting later this evening....

 

 

Island Home

Island Home
.......a descent to Rice Lake......looking down onto an island home on a warm Saturday morning in May. Acrylic collage painting on paper 11 x 15 inches, image size 10 x 10 inches.

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Eastern Fields

Eastern Fields
 .....a high view of May fields awaiting planting.......Acrylic collage painting on heavy archival paper 11 x 15 inches, image size 9 x 10.25 inches.

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Over Wendy's Hill

Over Wendy's Hill (Sold)
 ...beautiful, cool May afternoons. Acrylic collage painting on heavy archival paper 11 x 15 inches, image size 9.5 x 9.75 inches.

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May Rain

May Rain
........a very wet Saturday morning. It's a very pleasant thing, to stop, and look at the rain. Acrylic on unprimed Whatman paper 10 x 13.5 inches, image size 9 x 12 inches.

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Pass By

Acrylic collage on heavy archival paper 11 x 15 inches, image size 9.5 x 10.75 inches.....on an early May morning....beautiful, fresh, and cold.

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Artist at Work.....