THE BATTLEFORDS — Aside from the washes of vibrant colour, rich brushstrokes and often familiar subjects for those living in the Battlefords and area, Alexi Anseth says her paintings often search for a sense of meaning in the more mundane elements of life.
And as she paints scenes from her hometown of North Battleford, Cut Knife where she was raised, and other spaces she frequents, she told the News-Optimist on the final night of her solo exhibition in the Chapel Gallery, she finds herself searching for connection — both to the Battlefords, and her cultural Métis and Ukrainian identity.
"I'm always trying to be more mindful of the spaces I occupy and what that means in terms of my cultural identity," Anseth said, adding that because her heritage is so mixed, it can be conflicting.
She added that the Métis are known as the flower beadwork people, and Ukrainian people often utilize striking textiles and fabrics in their clothing or are known for their Easter eggs. And while she searches for her cultural identity in a fine art context, she also says she uses her artwork to find joy in the mundane.
"My art for me is very much therapeutic, helps with my mental health, helps keep me grounded. And the bright colours in these spaces I've navigated really help me to kind of romanticize my own daily life," she said.
"When things are kind of glum and I'm not feeling great I can twist it and manipulate myself into feeling a little bit better," she added, laughing.
Later that night, during a speech, she said that she treats her process almost like a journal in a way.
"So every time I look at my own art I'm going to see and recall where I was during the memory of the piece ... and I also recall where my life was at in the process of making it."
And it's something that materializes in her painting of the bridges between the Battlefords that cross the North Saskatchewan River, something she says reminds her of Christmas Eve last year, but also of the summer when she painted it. Or the painting that featured K&K Glass, who fixed her car window after it was broken and her paintings were stolen months before her exhibition.
Anseth was then forced to spend months making new paintings in time for the show.
But she says that bright things are ahead.
"I'm getting ready for the next one already, working on some large-scale pieces. [You] can't really fit anything too big in this gallery, so I'm looking at getting into some bigger spaces in the future, working on some projects with LED lights, and lots of exciting things coming up," she said.
And bright things are ahead, according to Leah Garven, the curator for the gallery, who told the crowd on Nov. 10 that the 25-year-old artist is indeed wildly talented.
"Her work speaks for itself, she is exponentially talented and has a great vision of what she wants to do ... as you can see it just illuminates and it sparkles."
