Artist Karyn Kowal’s display of Paverpol multi-media sculptures and portrait canvases drew a gasp from some of the visitors stepping into her reception display, at Arts Mosaic’s CPR Historic Centre gallery.
The reception held Friday, Jun. 2, saw a steady flow of people; some had taken classes in Paverpol, offered by Kowal, and others were eager to sign-up for an upcoming class.
Paverpol is a product from a company in Holland, not offered through stores, but through distributors who know how to use it. This medium, sort of like glue and like a glaze, makes it possible to drape and shape fabric as simple as cotton tee-shirts, and lace, over a framework of wire, and tinfoil. Under Kowal’s hand, these pieces, be they a few inches high or three feet tall, are stunning.
And, a wonderful bonus, these sculptures can stand outside year-round as a deck or garden piece.
Kowal is a semi-retired nurse, now living at Oak Lake, who has introduced Paverpol Sculptures to the area.
She points out items she uses - the leaves, threads from a cotton mop, cotton make-up pads and other things not commonly associated with art. “Once you’ve been doing it for a while, you sort of know what you can use, and you collect things,” she explains. “I see things that other people would just walk by and I say, ‘I could use this’.”
Clothes blowing on the line stand out from an acrylic canvass piece.
“You just come up with ideas. I’ll just go for a walk, or even be lying in bed ...and I’ll have this whole idea come up in my head,” she laughs.
Kowal was painting, long before she took Paverpol courses to become a certified instructor. As a teenager she was into art, but put it on the back burner while raising her family.
Since then, she blossomed as an artist, while living in one of Canada’s hot art communities, Victoria, BC, where she studied art at Vancouver Island School of Art, and took numerous workshops and art classes.
Kowal sympathizes with the would-be artist who feels lost on a canvas. She acknowledges that it can be hard to get going without some instruction. And, in turn, innate talent is developed through classes and mentoring.
She says of her canvas work, “A lot of my art, my drawing, is done on a grid, which anybody can do,” explaining the process of placing a grid over a photo and transposing it onto a canvas. “I was taught to do that by some very good artists.”
She points to two large portrait canvases that were done in art class with an artist who only allowed a single, rather large brush to be used. “The only colours he allowed you to have were the three primary colours of red yellow and blue, plus white.” Kowal is speaking of West Coast artist Nicholas Pearce.
A number of Karyn Kowal’s pieces are for sale; some are marked sold. This lovely display will be in the Virden CPR Historic Centre Gallery for the month of June.
