Tiera Cruickshanks

Visual Arts Portfolio

From the Artist:

While I have always been a creative person, growing up I hadn't taken art very seriously. I have created so much personally, for others, for fun and just to get an idea out of my head. But I never took it further; I never challenged myself. Until recently that is. I took on new media, started taking classes and started to truly respect the practice that has taken me this far.

This portfolio is part of my new experimentation. It is an experiment and a new challenge of how to show my art. It is also a personal challenge to get myself out there, to show who wishes to see what I have made and to do so with pride. Attached to most pieces will be the name and some small bit of information on the piece itself. On more important pieces, with a more personal touch, I may add a statement or excerpt underneath. and in the future, I hope I will be able to expand upon these pieces and what I have to say about them. Perhaps one day there will even be quotes from peers, friends or family under them as well.

'Serene Afterthoughts' Gouache and pen on deer skin drum

Serene Afterthoughts:

When I was in my grade 12 year I had been tasked with making and painting this drum. Something to announce that I personally made as I walked the stage with my diploma. That didn't happen with this drum. My allergies to dust and cedar made it impossible to work within the school's workshop. So my drum was made for me and "Sts'ailes Community School Grad 2022" was written on it for me. Besides the writing, I walked the stage with I bare drum that wasn't even mine to take credit for.

A year into my gap year I was fed up with looking disdainfully at the plain drum. So I sat with it, there on my bed, and stared at it. Another week went by and it remained untouched. That is when my mom asked me to paint a drum for a raffle she was planning on doing. Now I was sitting in bed staring at two blank drums. I'd like to say I had a spike of inspiration with two of them in front of me and started work on them then and there. But regretfully I didn't start until two months after receiving the second drum.

Once I finally started to work on the drums I wasn't sure what to put on them. One was meant to be mine, I had to decide what I wanted to see on it. The other was up to me, as my mom didn't have any plans for it she just wanted me to be the one to paint it. That's when I went back to staring at them. But this time something changed. I saw images in the patterns. I knew then and there that I didn't have to decide what to put on them. The drums would show me what to paint on them. So that's what I did. Let the drums speak for themselves. This leads us to my finished graduation drum which I can proudly say is mine.

Progess 1

Progress 2

'Many Graduations' Febuary 2024

'Many Graduations' reworked August 2024

Many Graduations:

This painting (acrylic on canvas, originally gouache) was the first piece I had ever completely restarted. Initially, it was a project from my Intro Studio class at UFV (The University of the Fraser Valley). The project was to take a photo of an important object(s) and then paint it; the secondary objective of the project was to show an understanding of light and shadow. While the original was all well and good, it was still rushed. A piece done the night before. This shows the more you look at it: poor shadows and colour choices, brush strokes lack movement with the piece, and no thought put into the perspective of the relative placements of the Eagle feather and necklace on the table. Either way, I had gone through with submitting it. At my critique, I hadn't received negative feedback for the most part, but there also wasn't any positive feedback. Once it came to my professor to share her thoughts, I got more constructive feedback during this critique. Unfortunately at the time, I received it poorly, but giving her words a few months helped this piece get to where it is today. She helped me fix all of the problems just by pointing out minor details and strengths I could enhance. Along with a push in the right direction to improve upon my use of materials - which to buy and use when.

I am proud of where this piece is now and the process that took me there. I appreciate the encouragements and critique it received to help better me. And many thanks to those who brought it, and myself, to this point.