October 16th is the grand opening of a new gallery in the Art Central building. The artwork of Lisa Heinricks will probably be familiar to frequenters of Money Pennies, where some of her pieces have been featured in the past.
“This style is my Zen series,” Heinricks explained to GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine, indicating her recent series of paintings. “It’s a lot of earth tones and metallics; anything from squares to complete abstracts.” She went on to describe her methods. “[I use] acrylic paint, and a dry pigment that I add to the paint as well. …The metal based [pigment] will crack and oxidize. I never know exactly what’s going to happen but I do know that it will crack, will separate, or oxidize. That’s part of the fun, just seeing what’s going to happen.”
Indeed her paintings are striking from a distance, but even more interesting to examine up close. The sheer volume of paint gives it a 3D quality that jumps off the canvas, with the cracks and crevasses adding texture to the shiny amalgamations of metallic gold, silver, and copper paints. Some of her smaller canvases have the paint spilling over the edge of the canvas and pooling on the surface below. When hung vertically on the wall, it gives a fluid effect that seems to defy gravity.
When asked what inspired her to explore this style, she revealed that her motives revolved around finding a moment of peace in a hectic world, both for herself and for her viewers. “My life was a little out of control,” she laughed. “I needed to find a way back to myself. I started to use meditation, but painting was such a natural thing for me to do that it evolved into my paintings. The series has gotten quite large and I’m going to be splitting it into two types of painting: Zen Squared and Zen Abstract. …What my intent was with the paintings is for myself to be completely in the moment - to lose all that stressful part of life and just stay in the moment. That is also what I’m hoping the viewer will get from the paintings as well; an opportunity to just sit, meditate, be calm and stay in the moment.”
For her grand opening on October 11th she has teamed up with AIDS Calgary, implementing a unique idea to raise funds and get people involved. Participants can buy a left over martini glass from last year’s Calgary Cares, which will contain the name of a square on a large gridded canvas. They then get to paint that square themselves, using their choice of color. At the end of the night Lisa will finish the painting, and the end result goes into the art auction at next year’s Calgary Cares. All funds from the martini glass sales and painting auction go directly to back AIDS Calgary Awareness Association. “It’s disco themed. You don’t have to dress disco, but we’re going to have disco music, a DJ, lots of art and hopefully lots of dancing.”
“It’s the big launch of my new space, but it’s also a pivotal part in my art career where I’m making a partial living on my art now – I still work. But I’m doing pretty good and I want to celebrate that point in my career. It’s the beginning of the self sufficient artist.”
Lisa Heinricks
Studio Grand Opening
Thursday October 11th
5:00pm – 9:00pm
Lower Level of Art Central
100 - 7th Avenue SW
Disco Theme, $20/ticket
