Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!
Thank you, Elton. Today we have with us a woman who is an abstract mixed media artist and a social cultural anthropologist. Her name is Audra Townsend. Audra describes herself as a free-spirited, British born, Jamaican Canadian. Her work has been exhibited in Toronto, Vancouver. Madrid, Milan and Brussels. To our audience, meet Audra Townsend!
Hi there!
Hello, Audra. How are you doing?
I'm doing great. Thank you.
You have a honor degree in social cultural anthropology. So how has your background. As a social cultural anthropologist influenced your approach on creating abstract art. Before you answer, I've seen online some of your work and I thought it was absolutely fascinating. So please tell us how your degree has influenced your art.
I just wanna add as well. In addition to the degree, I also went to Manchester University of Manchester in order to do my master's and the master's in the anthropology was basically a research research postgrad. It's when, okay, so when you study anthropology it makes you aware of things that are going on around you. You pay a lot more attention to it. The research aspect Makes you focus on the details.
It makes you focus on how you are being manipulated through space, how you are being navigated through space. And when I say that, I am going to just give you a little bit of a background on what the anthropology is, especially the social cultural anthropology.
Anthropology is the study of people, social, cultural, social cultural anthropology is the study of the impact of various political social, economical, historical issues on people, how they impact their lives, how they impact their lived experience. And there's a lot of theory. There's a lot of really great studies.
That take place when we talk about the political and the economical applied to art art, what has been defined as fine art is based on an idea by the dominant culture what is considered fine art, what is considered folk art. When you look at the fine art versus the folk art, you're getting the primitive versus the modern folk art was considered primitive modern art is, or the fine art is considered the modern art. That definition comes from western. It's a western idea.
So when you look at statues and paintings coming out of places like Africa, it's considered folk art. It's not fine art.
Where would you consider your work to?
Okay so with my work my work is abstract. I do abstract and mixed media. Abstract that the history of abstract abstract was developed to challenge those ideas, those western notions about what is considered fine art. When you think about that, you think about Jackson Pollock Jackson Pollock and Picasso, they were challenging the notion of this fine art by developing another stream of art, my work, like when I produce my abstract I base it on intuitiveness like my, i my gut feeling.
I am not a trained artist, so I don't necessarily know all the rules. I do what feels right to me, however, when I run into a problem, I will check, I will Google the rules on line to see if they, those rules can help me solve a problem and in abstract one of the rules is that no corner each of the four different corners of the painting should be different. Another rule is that in composition you've got three spaces. Three spaces on your board. One of those three spaces on the board.
One third should be more interesting than the other two thirds, and that is just basically how people see. So if you want a good composition you give them something that's really incredibly interesting in that abstract piece of work. And you play with the colors, the shades, the tones, the tints and things like that. To make it even more interesting for the eye of the, for the deal work.
You've told us a lot of things. For me I'm hearing pushback against western ways of defining us, western ways of saying what's beautiful, what is considered fine, what is considered proper. Thanks for sharing that with us. I think we need to spend more time with you talking only about that. Let's move on to my next question. You describe yourself as British born, and I know that you are. Tell us about the journey that brought you from Manchester, England to Canada.
Okay, so just, so first right off the bat, that journey was not mine. That journey was first my grandparents and then second my parents. My grandparents immigrated to England right after the war. They are part of the group historical group that migrated from Jamaica called the Windrush generation and of course they immigrated from Jamaica for work. The grandparents always say, Winston Churchill invited us to come help rebuild a devastated Britain. Okay so of course parents came with them.
Actually parents traveled a little after they did. The first set, the grandparents came without the kids, and then they sent, once they were established, they sent for my parents. And that's both on both sides. The paternal as well as the maternal. That's where my parents grew up in England. They were teenagers when they came. After they married the, they met in Manchester. They married, they had myself and my siblings.
And Manchester was slowing in terms of being an industrial center like it was transitioning. It was the beginning of a recession in Manchester, so of course the parents needed to find other areas where there was a lot of work, and that was Canada, that was Mississauga, Ontario. Mississauga, Ontario was going through its own evolution from farming communities, several farming communities to, to an industrial center or an industrial city. So of course we immigrated.
My dad this was 1975 when my dad came to. Mississauga. He found work at, I think it was Massey Ferguson the great big farm equipment manufacturer. Then from man Massey Ferguson, he went to Reka Blow Molds, Reka produced molds for different bottles and things like that. My father was tool and die. He trained as a tool and die in Manchester, England. So he was a good fit. He, he worked he slotted in there into Mississauga and that is, yeah, so Mississauga is my hometown.
I was eight years old when we got there, and I lived in Mississauga up until 2010, then I moved downtown. So Mississauga is my hometown.
Thank you for that. Mississauga seems to be a great home for thousands of individuals. I wanna go back to something that you mentioned earlier about how the canvas is divided into three. That rule applies also in photography, which I'm very much, much into. So as you were describing how the. Sections of the canvas should be looked upon, I'm wondering, what thoughts do you hope you invoke when your viewers look at your abstract art?
It's something I always think about cuz it, it's what attracted me to painting was a curiosity. I, I want when they look at my paintings, I don't want them to automatically, view an image that they see in the real world. I want them to view it from a curiosity perspective, a wonder perspective. How did she do that? Oh, look at the texture. Oh. I have to point out my art needs to be touched. So again, it's breaking the rules as well to touch it, like you're allowed to touch it.
I've got bumpy surfaces. I've got smooth surfaces, and I've got all sorts of variation in colors. I've got lines, I've got Squiggles and scribbles and you name it so it's curiosity. I approach it, be entertained by it and hopefully it leaves them with like a very good feeling. They enjoy, they enjoy looking at it. It also happiness as well too. If I, if.
I'm inspiring, curiosity and wonder of course there's a little bit of a, an adrenal adrenaline rush in the person and they're happy to have, seen my painting. I should point out too, what I'm finding is that the kids my art appeals to a lot of younger people, which amazes me really amazes me because it gives me, a new way of relating to them. So I like that. I really like that. My solo exhibition at Artscape Western Commons.
That one is going to be geared towards black youth younger emerging artists. I will be explaining to them my journey of becoming an abstract artist and why that journey is important. It should be held in the same regard as any other profession.
Sounds to me as if you like to break the rules, and I really admire that about anybody because to some degree that's considered resistance and I think historically our people have always had to resist and what else could we do but break the rules. I like what you said as well, Audra, about your art needs to be touched. My eyes rolled when I heard that I'm fascinated with that. So that's a new way of enjoying and appreciate the art. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that.
When I first met you, art was not on your radar, I don't believe.
Yeah.
Tell to us about this segue from anthropology to civil servant to visual artists.
Okay. So that is a really interesting really good question. My background my occupation has, I've been for quite a long time a civil servant Ontario. I was a policy and program first analyst, then advisor within the Ontario government Ministry of Health. I decided, you know what, if. I'm gonna do the postgraduate. I want to do it in a topic that I am fascinated about. I chose anthropology and I've been interested in people for a very long time.
I've been fascinated by, different cultures and things like that anthropology seemed to be the good fit. It also the research methods and theories in anthropology also helped to inform my work as a civil servant. You apply the same research skills into the work that I did from a policy perspective, from a policy program and project perspective. It's those tools were. Everything I learned in anthropology was directly applied in that work, and it's still being applied in my day job.
I am a certified privacy professional and the anthropology looks at people. In the privacy, I look at people as well. I look at how the issue of the understanding as well as the issue of privacy impacts them in their daily life. I do a lot of digital health, in my work. So anthropology is a big part of that as well, too, on a professional in my professional work, how anthropology applies to my creative. It's not just my creativeness. I've also done quite a lot of genealogy.
An amateur Jamaican genealogy an amateur Jamaican family historian and anthropology fits in there, especially when you take a look at the the history from a genealogy perspective, the mapping back of ancestors. Throughout the years, et cetera, et cetera. And also there's a social aspect just taking a look at their lived experience during certain periods. So the anthropology works informs my genealogy the anthropology informs my genealogy work as well, even though it was a hobby in the painting.
Painting is something that makes us human. We've done it ever from the earliest of our ancestors. The cave paintings, the fingerprints, on the cave walls, the drawings of the animals.
Sure if painting makes us human, why am I not a painter?
We draw what we see in our real world in order to try to understand it. That's what makes us human. We're fascinated by our surroundings, and we've always tried to reflect what we've seen in the form of a painting, a cave painting, you name it, even directional as well too. When we are trying to communicate as people, we develop maps, some of the earliest maps from what they found in Australia are fantastic.
The maps were for basically based on, turn left here, you're gonna find food, turn right there's danger and things like that. So we're communicating we create things in order to communicate with other people as well as to to understand our experience as humans.
I noticed that you use sand and stone, and I wonder what other materials you use in your art. How does all of that play into your creative expression on top of being the anthropologist? When you are creating a piece, do you think about who you are trying to relate that work too?
I'm gonna start off by saying by describing some of the other things that I've used or listing them. I've used tea, I've used feathers, I've used gravel, I've used crayon. I've used charcoal, I've used markers. What else? Modeling, paste. I've also used glue. And all of those things. Create different, not just the different textures, but the different expressions in the painting. For instance, when I use glue, you get this old, like it's a, it's an old, an effect.
The glue is mixed into the paint and when it dries, it starts peeling back, the glue tightens. So you're gonna get crackling in the paint, and that's a really interesting kind of an effect. I don't necessarily create those different effects to appeal to certain people, it is to give some life to the painting, give it a little bit more depth. There's almost like a 3D kind of an effect and when you do that 3D kind of an effect, people are, that, that sparks our curiosity.
They want to get closer and touch it. AGO, Art Gallery of Ontario is now starting to realize that people want up close experience with the painting. So you're allowed you're allowed to actually go right up to somebody's painting just to see with your own eyes what they've done and to experience the texture. The only thing you can do is you can't touch it.
As SpeakUP! International purpose is to inform, to inspire and to educate, and I'm being informed, inspired, and educated by Audra Townsend. Talk about anthropology and her artwork. I'd like to pivot a little bit to something that's a little bit more personal. You mentioned somewhere that you are a person who lives with dyslexia. How did you know you had dyslexia?
So when I went back to Manchester to do the masters, I was, I got certified. I had many different discussions with a friend, a few friends about that. A friend who's an educator, she says, okay, you need to tell 'em, look you've got this issue that you can be supported. So I went back I was assessed based on my background as well as based on an evaluation conducted by a, an educational psychologist. So I'm certified, I'm a certified dyslexic. Dysgraphia is in there as well too.
There's other things associated with the dyslexia. My background is that I, when I first came to Canada, I did not know how to read. I entered the school system in Canada, and they, for the first couple of months I was just sitting there crying because I couldn't keep up with the class. I was in grade three and then they did an assessment. They determined I couldn't read, I needed to go to special reading class. I spent the majority of my younger years in a special reading class.
So this is from grade grade three, all the way up to my first year in high school. In high school I resisted I pushed about I pushed back at being a special needs kid. So I studied hard. I dropped from the, how they used to have grade 13 program. I dropped from the grade 13 program to the grade 12 program. Started hard, that was something I could achieve. Was getting the grade 12, I did the grade 12. I got honor in the grade 12 and then I said, okay, let's do college.
Two years of college, I did really well in college. I was voted I wanted to be a writer at the time the writing student of my class. But it wasn't enough. I kept pushing. I got into U F T, U F T, Mississauga and then decided to go to York and pursue my degree on a part-time basis there. I pushed back against it UK educational system, they don't care. They just push people forward in the years without actually checking to see if they can read.
You're pushing back Audra tells me again that you are good at breaking the rules and in many ways, that is activism, that is this advocating on your behalf and perhaps ultimately on behalf of other people that are coming along with issues that you experienced. So thank you for pushing back and breaking the rules.
You are welcome. You are welcome. I when I speak when I describe my artistic journey to, to the younger folks I will like, that is something I always mention, I tell people, Hey, look, this is me. Just recently in 2020, I also found out I have the adult attention deficit syndrome, and that was due to COVID. COVID really had an impact on me and my ability to focus. Like I lost quite a lot of stimulation from the outside world so coping on my own became difficult.
So I will explain that as well too and how art the art was important during that time cuz it gave me something to focus on something that I was really interested in and I could focus on it, I could work through it. Actually it saved me during Covid.
I noticed that you have been focused. You have work in Vancouver between May 4th and seven, and that's going on right now. I'd love to know a little bit about that and you have an exhibition that's coming up with ArtScape in July, between July 11th and August 3rd. So can you tell us a little bit about those two exhibitions?
With the Art Vancouver, Art Vancouver 2023, it is an international art fair there's a lot of artists that come from all over the world that participate in this art fair. It is an opportunity to present your full, like a full body of work. I will have 10 pieces. I shipped my 10 pieces off yesterday that I will be sharing with the public that walks through this art fair.
The art fairs are very important to artists because it makes you, you have, it gives you an opportunity to speak to your work directly to an audience as well as to potential curators, art gallery art collectors and things like that. For a person who consider myself an introvert, just the thought of having to do that. Oh, it was painful. My first year was last year at Art Vancouver. I was shaking in my boots.
But what you will find with the art community is that they're very supportive of each other. So it's great to be in a, an environment with other artists doing the exact same thing because they will support you. I enjoyed it. That's why I'm going back this year to participate again. I'm looking forward to seeing fellow artists that I met last year. I established a little bit of some friendships, I'm gonna say in Vancouver, and I'm looking forward to seeing them as well too.
And I also took the opportunity to reach out to Black Arts Vancouver. It's similar to the Nia Center that's here in Toronto. Black Art Vancouver's run by a group of young black artists there. I reached out to them as well too. I've offered tickets for them to come out to Art Vancouver. I'm hoping to find other parts of Canada that also has those types of international exhibits.
My solo show in the summer will take place from July 11th to August 3rd at the Artscape Western Commons that's in Western Ontario. ArtScape has this massive facility that they built in order to encourage arts in specific communities within Toronto. So Artscape is all over Toronto. The exhibition space are their it's walls like it, it's their hallways. It's their front reception where my paintings will be exhibited. And they also have a collection of not-for-profit.
I'm gonna say arts related organizations that call Artscape their home. It's also a residence. There's a residence at Artscape that is filled with artists and their families. I believe there's clowns in there as well too. It's a great community.
Thank you so much. Audra for inspiring, educating, and informing our audience. Now I see your interview as a gift to SpeakUP! International, and I'd like you to wrap that gift now. In a beautiful wrapper and put the bow on it by asking you this question. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
I, okay. So the, it's actually a saying that has resonated with me over the years, and it's in for penny, in for a pound. There's no, no such thing as doing anything halfway. If you're going to invest like a lot of emotional energy into something, it doesn't matter if it's your work or your school, school or my art. You you don't go halfway. That's why they're saying infr a penny in for a pound. You give it your best.
Black excellence. I hear. I thank you for joining us today, Audrey townsend.
You are absolutely welcome. It has been my pleasure.
My pleasure as well!
Thank you for listening to speak up. Exclamation point. International. To reach our guest, Audra Townsend and to find out her schedule art shows, please feel free to contact her using the following email address info@speakuppodcast.ca. If you would like to have a conversation with us speak up international. Please drop us a message containing your name, company name, the service you provide to your community and email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca.
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