Pilar Mehlis

Thank you for your invitation to submit work to the Union House Artist of the month competition.

My submission is “Passarin I (Trust)” a sculpture in polymer gypsum, bronze powder, resin, paper, wiremesh and steel plate.

It was a challenge for come up with a work for this competition.
The theme of self portrait was an invitation for me to consider and ponder my identity. This year 2020 was, as for everyone else in the planet, a really challenging one on many levels.
It literally brought me down to my knees.
Our family suffered the death of a dear cousin, she was too young and vital to be taken from us so suddenly.
My father suffered a stroke and my efforts to go see him and help my family in Bolivia were useless given the many fears and constraints for travellers of vast distances during this time in history.
I lost my source of income from teaching and my planned exhibitions were cancelled.

There were many tears this year and yet my soul was never troubled. I never doubted that I was at all times being kept under and guided by a loving Divine Gaze. This gave me hope and strength every day.

So, this little Ornithrope figure which usually represents flight, journeying and the ability to soar the skies, I find, fittingly represents my interior life this year.

I grew up in La Paz, Bolivia until, at the age of twelve, my family moved to Whitehorse, Yukon.
At the age of 17 I moved back to La Paz where after graduating high school I started attending the local academy of Art.

I once again moved to Whitehorse and eventually found my way to Victoria, BC, enrolled in the Visual Arts program at the University of Victoria and obtained my BFA double majoring in Visual Arts and History of Art in 1998.
In 2001 I moved to Vancouver, B.C. and have been living and working in this beautiful city since.(with a two year interruption in Kelowna BC.)
I pursued further studies at the former Art Academy of Vancouver, Langara College, at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, USA and was mentored by master sculptor David Robinson.
I grew up Catholic and through all my travels and in my imperfect relationship with God I have found my faith to be the source of strength and consolation. It has also provided me with a rich resource of reading and visual materials that in one form or another have manifested in my work.
I believe that my work is an extension of my life and faith experiences, however weak or strong the latter may be at one time or another. There is no separation between the two as to distinguish one would diminish the other.