Kendra Bailey and Emma Pink set sail for new artistic horizons

June 28, 2018 · 0 Comments

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

Two lady artists, whose experiences and styles are very different, are joining forces to make their dreams come true. What they have in common is that they both paint and want to share their work with the wider world. In a telephone interview with the two of them, their differences and what will work for them as team came through loud and clear.

First and, perhaps, foremost, they are taking as a shared rental, a studio at the Alton Mill Arts Centre in Alton. Kendra lives in Alton and the two of them find the Mill, “really beautiful with so much going on in the arts world. We’re just starting out – it’s hard to start a new business.”

Emma, who lives in Orangeville, told the Citizen something of her own life: “I started painting just two years ago, after a break up, actually. My mother suggested it– she’s a painter. I needed a different way of expressing myself.

“I have actually been painting on my own and now, I’m running a workshop at the Moccaberry coffee shop, where I work. We do the work shop in the back. I call it Express Yourself. We put on the workshop two times a month, and everyone gets a gift certificate from Moccaberry for coffee and a dessert.”

Her method is to “trace their pet [as a theme for the one workshop] on canvass and people express themselves with the painting.”

She speaks for her own feelings by saying: “I am really a huge supporter of local. Local coffee shop, local people.”

About her painting and style, she explained, “I have an impressionist influence in my work. I paint nature – landscapes, pets, flowers – use negative space. I paint the way I see things. My father is a wood carver, so we’re an arts family.

“I like to paint to influence other people through my painting. It’s simple for people to be creative when they look at my paintings. I use acrylics to paint.”

She has been winning her struggle with life: “I was diagnosed bipolar. So, I decided to heal myself without drugs, supporting my energy into [what is] local. I’ve been drug free for two years.”

She did the best, most therapeutic thing she could: she wrote a book.

“It’s called ‘It’s going to be a really good day’,” she said. “I published it through an editor. It’s in the [Mill Street] Library. All the hard copies I had, I’ve sold, I’m happy to say. It is kind-of my mentality and how I got to where I am now.”

Kendra Bailey, moved with her family to Alton from Brampton when she was about 16. She retuned home after a year and a half stint on the “west coast.” Returning to the University of Guelph to finish her degree in English and history, she has been painting all her life and, although she did some painting at university, she considers herself mainly self-taught.

“It will be an experience to take our art work to the next level” she commented, adding with wry philosophy, “it’s very hard to move your paintings when the only person who sees them is your mom.”

Here is when the contrast between the two artists came to light.

“We have very different styles,” she Kendra averred. “mine are more dreamscapes. They are like photographs of dreams or fantasy. I want people to look at them and feel that they could go to that plane.”

She added, “I’ve always been a fan of science fiction and fantasy – I’m writing a book too. I did some creative writing at Humber College. So, my painting kind of reflects that.”

When asked if she dreams, she replied, “Wow, I sure do and very vividly. I get that a lot from the native art I grew up with. I’m Metis.”

Kendra also works in hospitality with a job at Forage Restaurant, where two of her paintings are hanging.

Like most aspiring artists, these ladies hope to make their lives working in what they love best.

Emma summed it up: “I hoping personally that art and writing will become a career for me – my primary job.”

They are enthusiastic about being at the Mill during its opening hours of Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, including holidays; in fact, it is open this Sunday and Monday, the Canada Day holiday, at the usual hours.

“I like to paint outside,” said Emma, “all the flowers, trees…” She can certainly do that at the Mill, where the surroundings are so beautiful.