Cas Fedowich - Art Exploration

My project is based around an exploration of art mediums with a focus on identity and queer representation. I came to Propel because I wasn’t feeling challenged in school and I love painting and creating art with a meaning. My original idea was to have a gallery of portraits of couples that show queer and GNC (gender non-conforming ) relationships. When Covid-19 arrived, I think everyone’s Propel projects got adjusted a fair bit. I altered my idea into doing one large oil painting, as I had never quite dove into oils before. The piece shows a woman holding her hands around her neck with two masks floating above her. This represents feeling trapped in your own identity and insecurities and feeling like you must pick a label to fit into society’s expectations. The dark and gloomy colour scheme also represents the hardships that come with this. Along with the oil painting, I am sewing a “Gunne-Sax” or almost “Victorian era” type skirt, using a pattern I made myself, with lots of lace detail and pleating. I’m painting along the front portion of the skirt to tie into the identity theme of my project. I wanted the skirt to be stereotypically feminine with lace and pink, while the painting is gender neutral faces, showing that even though society labels us as simply “male or female” we are all the same — just human.

I think everyone in Propel this semester had lots of challenges because of COVID-19. From trying to find a workplace at home to figuring out ways to get supplies ,we managed to work through it and complete our projects. One struggle I had with my large oil painting, as I was trying to find a canvas. I wanted a very large canvas to experiment on with oils for the first time. I ended up really liking how this painting turned out and I really like the size of it even though it wasn't what I had planned, I'm really happy with the end result.

With the skirt that I made, the road was a little bit rockier. I decided last minute that I wanted to construct a skirt using my own pattern. I really love sewing and I wanted to include the piece I was hoping to make. Fabric is really expensive to buy and around this time when I needed to go out and buy some the stores were closed. My Dad just so happened to be cleaning out my Baba’s house and found endless boxes of fabric for me to use! Along with lace, zippers, and everything you would need to sew a skirt.

My project is definitely not what I expected to be, but I think that's what made it even more exciting. I'm a lot happier with it than I thought I was going to be at the beginning of this semester. When you set high goals for yourself it an be really hard to meet them, and to feel like you can meet them in the first place. But at the end of the day, I believe you can really see the meaning in my work and what I was trying to show with it. I hope it sticks with you… and I hope you enjoy it.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed my experiences in Propel. I might not have been in the best place with myself while in the classroom, but being able to paint and express myself for my work really ended up being what I needed, especially as we headed into quarantine. I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity and for the other students I shared it with. Opening up, expressing myself through my art, and allowing myself to meet new people and make friends was difficult, but at the end of this semester it has become so worth it. Some things I will take away from Propel will be remembering to share work with others and receive feedback. Doing this requires vulnerability, but can help you to grow your work big time!

Thank you to everyone in Propel! I can’t wait to see what the future holds.