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Sunday, February 29, 2004
North Shore News
Vancouver, BC
Artist gives back by teaching
by Kate Zimmerman
According to the Vancouver based painter, he does little else but make
art. Paintings, watercolours and pen-and-inks flow from his fingertips
in a torrent. "For me, there is nothing worse than having an idea
and not being able to bring it to fruition," he told the North Shore
News recently, describing himself as " a massive well that's overflowing
with ideas."
"The art tends to control me," he explained. "This is my
whole experience, my art." Picard is not just prolific - he's also
proficient, so much so that his work has received attention in New York,
where it was shown at Pier 92 in 2003, and in London, where it was on
view at the Art on Paper Fair last fall and will be seen at RM Fine Art
in a group showing with works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Davis
Salle in March. A documentary about his artistic viewpoint and mastery
- entitled James Picard: Off the Canvas - has also been made about him;
it has aired on TV's Bravo channel.
So it sounds like the folks at the North Shore Neighborhood House, Seymour
Art Gallery and North Shore Continuing Education have a bit of a find
in Picard. He has been teaching figure drawing and painting on the North
Shore for about eight years. It's an opportunity to share his experience
and his knowledge, he said. " It's kind of like a giving back thing."
It's also a pleasure. When Picard leads something like the outdoor landscape
workshop he'll offer April 17 under the auspices of North Vancouver school
district's continuing education program, he finds himself among people
who, like him, love both art and nature. When he nurtures their interest,
"it starts to become a real community. I feel I can give a lot to
the students besides 'Let's all pick up a brush and learn how to paint,'
he said. " For me, it's not just about teaching. It's about keeping
that whole art of communication going."
Picard also helps advise those who are starting to show their work. "That's
what artists used to do all the time - support and inspire each other,"
said the burly 40 year old, who was awarded the Vancouver School Board's
award for Outstanding Teaching in the Field of Art for 2002. "...I
think part of my job is to educate people." Then again, in Picard's
view, education is one aspect of an artist's role. "To me, art is
huge... it encompassing everything. When we find a civilization and start
digging down and (figuring) out where they came from, we look at science
and (we look at) art.
That massive scope may be one reason that he has always wanted to be an
artist. His native talent was crucial, as well. As a child, Picard used
to sketch on the backs of cupboard doors or in bed under the covers with
the aid of a flashlight. He eventually attended both Sheridan College
and the Ontario College of Art. Then he went to the University of Guelph,
where he took anatomy in order to inform his drawings and paintings. "...
the more knowledge I could grab, the better."
He also apprenticed with the Canadian painter Harold Town. After seeing
a retrospective of Town's work at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Picard called
the artist, got invited over and benefited from Town's influence for a
while. "...and then that was it for me. I was hooked on fine art."
In 1988 he moved to Vancouver, making art at the same time as he made
cat scratch posts, among other unlikely paying jobs. Over the years both
private and public collectors have amassed his works. A few of his aficionados
appeared in the documentary raving about Picard's talents.
A self described " mass insomniac " these days he has no trouble
getting a lot of work done in a short period of time. Even so, he hasn't
had a big show in Vancouver in five years. He has been concentrating on
exhibiting elsewhere, he said - New York and London, in particular. Most
recently, his works were hanging alongside those of Lucien Freud, Pablo
Picasso and Henri Matisse at the Art on Paper Fair at the Royal College
of Art in London, England. He said he received a great response. "
At first I felt a little awkward having my pieces among these artists
but it seems to have worked well."
It's his old fashioned versatility that tends to impress the viewers,
according to Picard, who draws and paints in oils, acrylics, watercolours,
inks and sculpts in clay. Artists are generally encouraged by their galleries
to find a style or gimmick and not to deviate in order to sell paintings,
he said, but that's not his way. As a result, he hears people make comments
like " Wow, this guy can paint like Rembrandt and at the same time
he's doing these light watercolours and drawings... he's all over the
place."
"The art tends to control me and I'll just get pulled in a certain
direction," Picard explained. His watercolours, for instance, have
been influenced by such masters as Gustav Klimpt, Egon Schiele and Henri
Matisse. They usually begin with a pencil and ink base. Matisse, I think,
said drawing in ink is one of the most daring things you can do because
you have to know exactly what you're doing. I tend to go a little bold."
Picard will have a solo exhibition in Vancouver April 1-12 at the Ayden
Gallery in the International Village on Pender. his work is also exhibited
at the Werx Gallery at 2- 1825 Nelson St. In the meantime, fans and the
uninitiated alike are welcome to attend one of his local classes.