Yana Klimava explores the visual world through her watercolours and acrylic works. Klimava grew up in Belarus where she attended the Minsk Lycaeum of Visual Arts. She finished high school in Canada and went on to Carleton University's School of Industrial Design. She's been living and working in Calgary for three years and I talked with her about her artistic practice and the intersection of art and design.
During our conversation we talked about what has inspired Klimava as an artist. She says, "One of the most influential things in my life comes from my early childhood. It was a small art class where kids were given all the freedom they wanted and no one ever assumed anything and no one judged. I do actually keep in touch with my teacher from that class. He definitely erased the fear of the white paper and helped me along with expression and not being afraid of what the result will be."
Another major influence, Klimava tells me, was her formal artistic training. She says, "My opinion is that in order to be able to do stylized work you need to have a foundation of classical training, You can always fall back on it. It gives you an understanding of the world and you can make it your own. By no means have I excelled at being a classical painter yet. Its just something you constantly have to be working at."
Detail and Challenge
Kilmava is full of exuberant energy as she discusses her passion for watercolour. She says, "I enjoy it because its a tough medium. You only get a couple of chances to really get it right. I think watercolour lends itself well to that kind of loose expression that can be absolutely captivating."
The artist tells me that for her, drawing often satisfies her need to work out the details. She explains, "Sometimes I want to get in there and just work something out perfectly. It doesn't matter if its a sphere or an apple I want to get all of the light and shadow right. The satisfaction of getting something right inspires me. That process of building something up with pencil drawing allows you to get so many layers. It gives depth to your work."
Our conversation turns to the balance between art and industrial design for Klimava and she points out, "Its a perfect combination for me of the technical and the artistic. I find it balancing. If I were to do art all the time as a full time job it would become just a job. One of my strengths in design is this artistic base. This appreciation of form and colour and understanding basic stuff like light and shadow. Many of my product designs are highly visual."
Where Art and Design Meet
When I ask Klimava about the intersection between art and design she says, "I think that the balance is in the process. With any design project it starts out really loose. That's where I get a chance to play. Its not just loose in terms of execution, its also loose in terms of ideas. Through the process it gets tighter and then you get the other side with the watercolor and the drawings where you get into the nitty gritty of it and you work out the details. For me its not really a division between the art and the design. Its a balance between the different stages. I approach design as more of an artist than an engineer."
I can feel the passion in her voice when Klimava talks about her desire to help others through art. She says, "The Virtuo visual art toolset that was my last project in university was definitely inspired by helping people getting more in touch with their creative selves. Visual art and visual expression has helped me in so many other areas that I think people would very much benefit from exploring that themselves and applying it to any field they're in. That program is a very good example of how I'm trying to nourish art and bring people the idea that you don't need to be an artist by trade to start doing something creative."
The artist chuckles when I ask her about how much relevance she feels artistic education has in Alberta. She says, "In this area of Canada I don't think the relevance is relevant enough. I don't want to blame anyone but I just don't think that people generally pay enough attention to the arts. I think through exposure to different things and paying attention to creative expression people can learn a lot about themselves and apply it. The creative process can be applied to so many things and applied with thought."
There's a sense from Kilmava that the process of creating art and having people derive enjoyment or emotional experience from her art is more important than selling it. She explains, "I do sell a bit of it. I sell some stuff online and some through Arts Astray as well. I don't want art to become my main source of income. I actually give some of it away as well when I can see a person truly likes it."
For more information on the artist please visit: Yana Klimava's website and her Arts Astray profile.
The interview with Yana Klimava was conducted on Tues. Jan. 4th 2012 via telephone.
