Cartoons I have drawn for English Lit class and for the Malaspina University-College Paper The Navigator.

Shattered

Shattered

“Shattered” is the story of a child who is being sexually abused. Peering into her realm, the silence is broken and her anguish is captured into the illustration. This artwork creates a lasting impression that portrays the ramifications of child sexual abuse. By using limited colours, a foreboding mood is created within the art. The colours illustrate the darkness, solitary, shame, and alienation of abuse survivors. In addition, the stitches used to attach the shattered face symbolize the traumatized image of the adult survivor. The pain of abuse is temporary; the consequences, however, are forever. The primary role of this artwork is too bringing clarity and insight an issue that often goes ignored.
I usually create beautiful art with subjects that inspire my daily existence. The splendour of a sunrise, a dog chasing a ball or the smile of a child inspires me to cast my brush. Images such as these keep me seeing what is most important in life. Although “Shattered” is not beautiful, it is meaningful. All art is personal, for it is the creation of the artist. It is impossible for me not to create my own image from my own perspective. Through “Shattered”, I acknowledge my past and depict my personal experience and the traumatic effects of child sexual abuse. These aspects are deeply poignant, and they are etched upon my soul. “ Shattered” was created to honour the child I used to be and to bring awareness to abuse that still infects our societies. Out of the darkness comes the light, and in breaking the silence, there is a cure for abuse.

Shattered was given a Honourable Mention by the BC/Yukon Society of Transition houses in June of 2006.

The Power of Addiction

The Power of Addiction

The Malaspina theatre group asked the Visual Arts students to come up with artwork that represents power. I chose to do “ The Power of Addiction” in dedication to the countless children I have come across who have parents lost to their addictions. On the back of the canvas I placed the children’s names to honour them and to bring awareness to a growing problem.
Addiction is powerful enough to make people steal from their loved ones, to commit murder, or to neglect or abuse their children. It is these children who are weak and their voices and cries are lost beneath the addictions of their parents. It is a growing problem in Nanaimo that needs to be recognized and organizations put in place to help these children.
The image of “ The Power of Addiction” is created on two large canvases, with oil sticks and oil pastels. It is a drawing and not a painting. The bright colours were used in the negative space to pull the viewer into the message on the wall. With the use of dull colours on the woman, it is an attempt to represent the decaying effects of her addictions. The uses of colours state, that taking drugs do not improve ones appearance, for it only, brings only death. With the babies, I attempted to demonstrate their neglect and reactions to their parent’s addictions. Children learn by what they are taught.

Currently “ The Power of Addiction” is in the care of Cedar Community Secondary School.

Help

Help

Abuse can take many forms, and it can happen to anyone. Abuse can be from a loved one, co-worker, friend, and from a perfect stranger. It can occur in many forms, such as physical, sexual, emotional, or verbal. Neglect can also be a form of abuse. When someone’s emotional and physical needs are left ignored, this is abuse. For example, the physical and emotional needs are not met for a child; it can leave permanent physical and emotional problems throughout their lives. Without proper food and love to grow, children who grow up without may have emotional and health issues.
Abuse in a family can happen to anyone, regardless of culture, religion or social standing in society. Sometimes parents abuse one another, which can be difficult for a child to watch. A child watching this act of violence can set the same pattern in their future. Parents may also abuse their children by neglect, physical, verbal or sexually. The illustration of “Help” was created to help bring awareness to the abuse that happens in families. This image was placed behind a window frame, where two of the frames are behind glass. The third frame has no glass, and the figure is reaching out to the viewer, silently asking for help. The viewer has two choices, they can shut the curtains and ignore the abuse that they are witnessing, or they can take the persons hand.
I strongly believe, that in breaking the silence of abuse, bringing out awareness to this growing epidemic and helping one another, that abuse can be stamped out. Abuse is like a virus that spreads from one generation to the next. If this virus is allowed to fester, it will infect future generations. These generations will become abusive in their families, or accept abuse from others. What can a person do to help a person that they know is being abused? The first thing abuser will do is alienate their victims, by doing this the abuser gains power. A person must not take heed and totally disappear from the victim’s life. Find away to be apart of that victims life, even if it is just conversing over a hedge from the neighbor’s house. What you say holds great importance to that person. Sometimes it takes more than a few words to help a person stuck in a violent situation, it may take police interaction, and preventive plans in order to save that persons life. Sometimes all it takes is to listen to someone, to change that person’s life forever. The most important thing of all is not to ignore abuse, by shutting the curtains. We are all responsible in stamping out this epidemic.

Urban Jungle

Ever since I had an unexpected run in with a cougar I have had a fascination with them. Between my screams and the horror of watching my cat being gobbled up between the great jaws of this magnificent cat, how could I not see her beauty? After that experience, I became interested in the cougars habitat and what their daily struggles are. I discovered that logging has caused cougars to not only decline in numbers but has caused these magnificent beasts to enter into our backyards looking for food and territory. Male cougars will fight to the death to maintain their territory, and so many young males are forced to roam into human populated areas. Clear cutting is destroying much more than trees, but also our wild life.
‘Urban Jungle’ demonstrates the cougars struggle in our environment. We know that a Cougar will never take over New York, for we remember the fate of King Kong. However fictional these characters are, it makes us stop and ask ourselves, what if? What if these beasts ruled our universe and not human kind? Humans would become the bottom of the food chain, but would there be problems with global warning and the complete destruction of the earth?
‘ Urban Jungle” is created on rag archives paper, drawn and rendered in oil pastels for it vivid colours.