Me & my long-haired, Shiba Inu dog (he is not a fox, though he may look like one ; ), “Fuji”.
Currently living and working in the Southern Gulf Islands | born 1965 | Stockholm, Sweden
yasemin.i.demir@gmail.com | IG: @yasemindemirart |
www.facebook.com/YaseminDemirArtist & www.facebook/ArtistYaseminDemir
http://www.YaseminDemirArt.com
Education
University of British Columbia, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1991
Vancouver Community College, Langara Campus, Diploma of Fine Arts, 1988
Bio:
Yasemin came from away, landing in the Vancouver area on the West Coast of Canada with her family as a child. She has been on excursions around and back since, but now, she’s happily home in the Southern Gulf Islands on Galiano, BC.
An array of animals have been a part of her life since almost before she could walk. As a toddler, in Norway, she was caught approaching mink and wanting to pet them. In elementary school, she filled ice cream buckets and margarine containers with frogs, riding her bicycle home with them hanging off the handle bars. She filled inflatable pools with snakes and tried catching field mice to bring home, not knowing that one day, as an adult, she’d be living on Galiano and conversely trying to keep them out of her home. As a child in Turkey, her love of animals by then full-blown, she was given and caught all kinds of animals and reptiles, a feral kitten & dogs, a rabbit, numerous turtles and lizards, to keep as pets.
Yasemin’s love of animals and nature inevitably shows up in her art and is a common subject if not directly, through inspiration.
Her primary area of study in both college and university was Fine Arts. She has only recently started to re-incorporate art actively into her life, after well-intended people convinced her to get a “real job” (and she apparently listened) when she was younger. Now, she easily finds inspiration all around, in the natural surroundings of Galiano Island.
Artist’s Statement:
I have been drawing since biology class, when the fruit fly notations became detailed sketches that led to something more.
Now, whether with paints and or pencil crayons, I touch down on patches of canvas, cradled wood panels and archival paper, where I explore the nuances of my environment. Inspired by the country and wild nature set deep into the surrounding water channels and churning sea, to domestic and wild animals known and yet to be. The places / beings I portray define a sweet space in my psyche. The characters and settings behind the paintings unfold as I skate around the surface, with the intent that my chosen medium tickles life into blank spaces.
CV
Shows
2024 2Aug-5Aug Buttercup Gang
2024 Spring Has Sprung, SDAG
2023 Changing Light, South Delta Artist’s Guild.
2023 Summer Showcase, South Delta Artis't’s Guild, Deep in the Forest
2023 For the Love of Colour, (BcG) Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa
2023 The Oil & Water Juried Show, South Delta Artist’s Guild:: My paintings ~ Where the Garden Meets the Sky & Deep in the Forest were 2/85 chosen by a jury from 350-ish submissions.
2023 “Off the Beaten Path”, Solo Abstract Expressionist, Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa
2023 Arts on the Islands, SGI Regional Art Exhibition, Artsea Gallery, Sidney, BC, My painting Let There Be Light, won the People’s Choice Award.
2023 Small, Smaller, Smallest, South Delta Artist’s Guild
2023 Sea to Sky, Gallery 1710, South Delta Artist’s Guild
2023 Flora & Fauna, Gallery 1710, South Delta Artist’s Guild. My painting, Breaking LIght, was chosen to represent the show and used for the publicity.
2023 Boundless, Gallery 1710, South Delta Artist’s Guild
2022 BC Ferries Art Display, the Queen of Cumberland
2022 The Galiano Club/South End Community Hall. A group show with the Buttercup Gang.
2022 South Delta Artists Guild, Juried Show, 2022 Oil & Water: “Breaking Light” & “Wild Orchid Eclipse” were 2/90 chosen from 400 submitted works.
2022 Artsea Gallery, Tulista Park, Sidney, BC. A Buttercup Gang Group Show.
2021 The Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, The Buttercup Gang, “On the Wild Side” show.
2021 The Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, “Land, Sea & Skyscapes”, Solo Show
2020 The Yellowhouse Art Centre, Abstract Group Exhibition
2020 The Galiano Inn Oceanfront Spa & Resort, The Buttercup Gang Fine Arts Show
2020 Cowichan Valley Arts Council, Virtual Fine Arts Show
2020 Yellowhouse Art Centre Virtual Art Show
2020 Southern Gulf Islands, Arts On The Islands, catalogue & virtual show
2019 “in a small way xiv”, the Galiano Oceanfront Inn and Spa
2019 The Galiano Library Show, Solo
2019 Lions Club Fiesta Group Show
2019 Whaler Bay Studio / Gallery, Galiano Island
2019 Galiano Island Studio Tour
2019 BC Ferries Art Display, the Queen of Cumberland
2019 Solo Show at the Sturdies Bay Bakery & Cafe
2019 The Buttercup Gang, Artist’s Cooperative Show
2019 The Yellowhouse Art Centre, Print & Photo Show
2019 The Log House Lodge Winter Art Show & Sale
2018 The Yellowhouse Art Center, “Reclaiming Daydreams”
2018 BC Ferries Art Display, the Queen of Cumberland
2018 The Yellowhouse Art Center, Drawtober
2018 The Yellowhouse Art Center, Green and Blue
2018 The Lions Club Art Show
2018 BC Ferries Display, Salish Eagle
2018 Tour Des Isles, Southern Gulf Islands
2018 BC Ferries Display, Queen of Cumberland
2018 The Yellowhouse Art Center, Galiano Island
2018 Festival Active Pass, Mayne Island
2018 Works on Paper, Federation of Canadian Artists, Granville Island
2018 The Love Show, Portraits of Your Passion, Semiahmoo Community Centre, W. Rock.
I won 3rd place for my horse drawing “Copper & Wine”.
2017 International Pencil Art Society, Canada, Online Juried Exhibition.
My art work was 1/60 chosen from an international pool of competitors.
2017 Canada 150 Art Show, Kimoto Gallery, Vancouver. “Harnessed Horse” was chosen to participate.
Memberships
The South Delta Artists Guild
Southern Gulf Islands Art Council
Artsea Gallery, Sidney, BC
Cowichan Valley Arts Council
THRIVE Mastermind Member, Vancouver
Pencil Art Society Canada
UK Pencil Art Society
Pencil Art Society of America
Federation of Canadian Artists
Pursuit of Excellence