The Brush of Julia Veenstra

Julia Veenstra has been a cornerstone of the arts scene on James North for years. She started on the street with a space at the Studios at Hotel Hamilton four years ago, and two years ago moved into her own storefront gallery. With an exciting, collaborative square foot show on, we wanted to catch up with her and get to know her a little bit more.
See more at www.juliaveenstra.com and visit her studio at 167 James Street North.

Can you pick a favourite painting?
Can I pick a favourite painting of the month? It would be Grand Verte; the big green. Right now, it’s my favourite. That’s a BC picture.

I take a lot of pictures, I find pictures, people send me pictures, if they post the on Facebook, I ask if I can use it. But, about halfway through the painting, the reference doesn’t matter anymore. It’s just initially for light and balance and shape, but the colour starts and it has its own life.

What drew you to painting?
I took illustration after high school, and then I never got a job in illustration. I started having children so I started doing things that made money. As my children were growing up, I didn’t have a lot of time to paint as a hobby, however I liked water colour at the time. I would do a lot of commissions. When my youngest went to kindergarten, I started painting more of a decorative type way. (I was of the age of folk art) Then I did a home décor line that got carried in a few stores around Hamilton. Then, we moved to Africa. In Africa, I started painting, because I couldn’t help it. It was the colours, and the people, and the fabrics. I would just take pictures all the time. I was a figurative painter before I went to Africa, and it exploded in Africa because of the people. When I got back to Canada, I started doing trees and landscapes, and barns, and they got really popular. I remember one lady bought the biggest painting I had ever done and it just launched me into landscape. I love doing it; the bigger the better because I can explore more shapes, more negative shapes, more divisions of the canvas.

I had more time in Africa, and I had more space to leave it set up, so I painted everyday.

When we moved back to Canada, I painted in my dining room. And because I had practiced for 5 years in Africa everyday, then I got into the habit of painting everyday again at home.

When I got back from Africa, I also brought the Wild Hope project that I had started when I was there so, I started doing shows again with the Wild Hope project (which is a fair trade project) and I would backdrop with my paintings, so my booth would do double duty.

Then, I met one of the owners’ of Hotel Hamilton’s wife and she told me to come check out the Studios at Hotel Hamilton. I thought that was nonsense, why would I pay rent when I can paint for free on my dining room table. Before I even signed a lease, they offered to let me show at an art crawl (there were 3 of them) and I sold enough every time to cover the rent. It was fun and I was getting phone calls from it. Over the course of 3 years of being there, I went from no galleries to eight galleries, people calling and making appointments, people showing up at art crawl, people wanting to find out about pieces, ordering commissions. It was an amazing experience. And it was the art crawl; I didn’t have a storefront. It was the working away from home (I couldn’t do laundry, or make the kids lunches, or watch TV).

Because of this experience, I really loved James Street. I always had this dream that maybe we could (have a storefront).

You’ve had interesting experiences, moving to Africa and coming back. What does Hamilton mean to you now?
Hamilton is where I was raised. Then I met my husband (Doug) here. We mostly lived in Flamborough. When we came back to Canada, (after living in African for 5 years), we moved back to Flamborough. When we first bought our house downtown, it was quite interesting. I knew we were making a good investment, but it felt like we were making a step backwards in that, people were going to judge us maybe that we were not doing as well, that we couldn’t stay in Waterdown. We live in a neighourhood filled with people who have moved from Toronto; we have designers, magazine creative directors.

Hamilton is really important. We’re invested in our neighoburhood, in our neighbours, I can walk to work.

What role do artists play in a city?
I often wonder, if I wasn’t an artist, would I care about art? And I’m always humbled and amazed that people are willing to spend upwards of $4000 for my work. There is something organic about owning a piece of original work vs. a print. I know it can be a privilege to own original art. I have a square foot show and I have so many young guys come in to buy for their wives because they love my work and the price is right. It’s humbling.

I’ve heard “Follow the artist, go where they go, invest where they invest because they tend to build up a community.” I think people are interested in what artists are like. I love to create, I have to create, it relaxes me.

They bring a dynamism, which is proven by our art crawl. Hamiltonians brag about it.

You have a very unique style, how did you develop that?
Practice, practice, practice. I’ve always been colourful so, it’s just a building upon that. You find something that works, and you try it again, not following rules. If I want to outline a tree in blue, I outline a tree in blue. There’s not a rule that I have to follow. I know a lot of them from my foundation from art school. They do say you can break the rules, but first you have to know the rules. It is just volume of time and seeing what works, seeing what people respond to. If you’re encouraged, you tend to succeed.

What are your inspirations?
There are artists that are my inspiration, but it’s being drawn to light and shape and shadows. It’s just strange. It’s not good for me to drive on a nice day because I get distracted. My husband gets frustrated because I have to turn around all the time. We have to stop the car so I can get pictures. I always carry my camera. My inspiration can be one photograph and I can create over and over and over again.

Who are your favourite artists?
I love Libby Lennie, (she’s a Toronto artist and a friend). I like her whole personhood. I like Gordon Harrison (Ottawa artist), LOVE the Group of Seven and can stand in front of their work for hours.

You’ve lived around the world, and you bought a house and a studio downtown. How does where you are affect what you do?
I’d be interested to go back to Africa to view the landscape. Now that I’ve painted so much landscape here, I’m interested to see what I might do. You’re right, where you are does change things. When I came home and painted African things from photos, it just didn’t have the pull. It is local. I tend to paint fall in the fall, and spring in the spring. I can’t seem to get ahead. I do paint what I’m seeing around me. It’s an interpretation of what I’m in at the moment.

Who else is Julia Veenstra?
Mom. Now I’m a grandma. (He’s 3 weeks old). Now we’re also caregivers for the seniors in our life. That is really important. I’m pretty proud of being a mom—I have pretty great kids.

So, the square foot show was something I started last year, totally stealing the idea from various galleries that do this. It is 12” x 12” paintings on sale. My square foot paintings are $395 regularly, but at the show they will be $225. So, it’s a really good sale. Last year I had 32 paintings, and sold out in an hour and a half on the first night. The next night was art crawl and I had to put all of my old paintings out because I had no square foot paintings left.

This year, I decided, instead of pushing myself to get even more square foot paintings done (and I have more commissions I have to do and this year with family situations), I have over 12 artists (a lot of them local), top notch artists. I curated them in. I specifically approached them. This show is going to be fantastic.

The square foot show is taking place on Thursday, December 11th from 7pm-10 pm. It continues on Friday, December 12th (Art Crawl) fro 7pm-11pm. 
Be sure to get there early to have the best selection!

Artists: Stewart Jones, Libby Lennie, Victoria Pearce, Gordon Leverton, Laurie Skantoz, Julia Himel, Linda Den Boer, Amanda Immurs, Paul Elia, Rob Croxford, Kerry Walford, Kathy Chandler, Julia Veenstra

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