GABRIELLE TYRIE
The new disinterest in capturing the world around her is what nudged our Open Art winner, Gabrielle Tyrie, to explore new mediums and subjects for her art. She began collaging during the pandemic after photography, her primary practice pre-pandemic, became a non-option due to the many COVID-19 restrictions. She watched as many businesses in her neighbourhood closed for good and the population without housing increased. At one point, the possibility of civil war became tangible. With the government seemingly indifferent, she felt as though the world was "flooded and somehow on fire" at the same time.
Gabrielle describes the act of making art as synonymous with "to cope," especially with the tragedies of the world that she felt helpless too. The collection she submitted for the Open Art competition she described as a visualization of her own escapism.
"I am an avid collector of old art books and ephemera, so in a very haphazard way, I am pulling all these materials from my desk and building these works layer by layer. From the ones I submitted, there are a couple that I have inlaid photographs of my friends. Those are really meaningful to me. Another focuses on different depictions of women in artwork. And another has a loose narrative going on with a princess and her knight."
Gabrielle, a recent graduate from Ryerson University with a Fine Arts degree in Photography Studies, is an artist and photographer fascinated by ideas of history, science and incorporating these themes into her work. Digital photography, film photography, cyanotype-an analogue method of photography that doesn't involve a camera, collage and crochet are her mediums of choice.
Currently, Gabrielle is still working on her sketchbook collages. In the future, she plans to pair her artwork with writing and use her collages to illustrate some kind of narrative.
You can find Gabrielle on Instagram @gabrielletyrie or on her website https://www.gabrielletyrie.com/.
Also, check out her Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GabrielleTyrieArt for iPhone cases, blueprints, and collages.
GALLERY
ARTIST STATEMENT
Personally, I reached my pandemic lowest during the 2020 holidays. I felt my most isolated. I missed my family that I couldn’t see. The cold kept me inside. The most human to human contact I received was through customers at my essential job; which took place through layers of masks and clear plastic.
When January rolled around I knew I needed to intervene before my mental health made a serious spiral. As part of that effort, I began journaling and sketchbooking. Every day I would make myself collage. I would flip through my second-hand art books, my collection of vintage postcards and repurpose “failed” artworks I had made before. I would paint and use pastels. I would let my hands get messy and feel accomplished when I would wash them once I finished. I would let myself be transported by the artworks I was deconstructing. I would travel to Italy or back in time. I talked to Donatello and Ingres and they talked back to me too. Some days I felt like I did a good job and other days I thought I really did not. However, the impact of making something every day was integral to feeling like a person again in the mist of all this. So, please enjoy a selection of my sketchbook pages.
