Two local artists are the second to use the RBC Work Room at the Art Gallery of Alberta, a studio space that “offers visitors the opportunity to watch the progress of artworks in the making as well as the production of a finished exhibition.” View their exhibit through February 19.
Dara Humniski is an Edify Top 40 Under 40 Alumni
Q: How did you start out as an artist?
Dara: Professionally learning how to be an artist began in university. I started in the industrial design program at the U of A; it’s a great program because, even though I was able to focus on furniture design, there’s still a lot of room for other work. So this openness in fulfilling credits started me off on a path to become a practising artist, even though I wasn’t in a BFA program.
Sergio: I started at the U of A as well and was doing graphic design, and I took couple of studio classes. I was always fascinated with art, but I never pursued it until I graduated.
Q: What is it like to be working on a piece collaboratively rather than alone?
D: I am definitely excited about having somebody to bounce ideas off of. It allows you to still progress but you don’t always have to be the one making final decisions so it seems like a more ideal way to make work.
S: We are interested in a lot of the same things but maybe come to them from different angles. It’s interesting to see someone else’s perspective or view on a particular issue and it does kind of open up things once you get stuck.
D: It’s supportive but also challenging in a really good way.
Q: The exhibition is in the RBC Work Room, which allows the audience to see the whole process instead of just the finished project. How do you feel about that?
S: I am curious to see how engaged people are with what’s happening and how many questions they have about the process and so on.
D: I feel like there will be many polite people who will kind of just look at what we’re doing but not necessarily want to engage or question us. I’m really hoping that people will go a little bit further and maybe ask us about the themes or questions what our ideas are; that they get a little bit nosy.
