Artist Statement
Curriculum Vitae

Artist Statement
 

  I believe creating art is a personal, spiritual, emotional, mental and physical journey. Each new project I undertake begins a new journey. It is my search for meaning and my place in the world. These journeys are inspired by diverse sources, with diverse results. They take their forms as oil and mixed media paintings, drawings, multimedia collages and poetry.

  To an artist inspiration is everything. I draw mine from many things in the world around me and from the many artists and musicians I know, the people to whom creativity is an important priority in their lives. My father, Gary Woodward, and sister, Shelley Page, Raymond Ho, Sia Kaskas, Peggy Booth, Bill Adams, Vange Brossard, John Capitano, Stefan Kotter, Larry Lahoski, and Saki Kaskas. I also get inspiration by looking at past artist who expressed spiritual concerns or representations of the occult and flights of fantasy such as Botticelli, Carravagio, Leonora Carrington, Max Ernst, Remedios Varo, Frida Kahlo, George O'Keefe, Emily Carr and H.R. Giger. Poets such as Andre Breton, Antonin Artaud, Leonard Cohen, Jim Morrision, Henry Rollins, Lou Reed and Patti Smith create inspirational images in my mind. Other sources of inspiration include surreal films, music, nature, goddess mythology, folklore and animism.

  I feel painting or creating in any way can be analogous to other forms of physical/spiritual processes like meditation, praying, or martial arts. It puts one in touch with things that exist only in the invisible realm whether this realm be the unconscious mind or the spiritual. On this journey, are found emotions and sensibilities that cannot be touched or described by language. To experience this invisible realm one must make a journey into the inner self or into the unconscious, which is sometime gratifying and joyful, but also sometimes painful.

  I feel that art sometimes brings into physical reality the knowledge gained in the mysterious places. This spiritual journey draws from archetypes and symbols like the ones found in myths, folklore, religious documents and practices. The result is an artwork that doesn't convey a specific meaning but is reflective and emotive like poetry. Often these images combine cryptic and personal symbols with references to mythology, particularly women's cultures that utilize magic in healing, tarot, astrology and stories from Pre-Christian mythology. The story that results then lies in the audiences hands as I have already lived it.

Sian Woodward

Contact
Sian@graffiticoart.com
Studio (604) 980-1699
171 east 1st street 2nd floor, North Vancouver