Toronto Craft Alert

Image copyright Anneke van Bommel. Used with permission.

Interview and photos by Sara Titanic

Anneke van Bommel is an an artist and active member of the Toronto craft community who creates works out of sterling silver, acrylic, nickel silver, wood, and resin. She works out of studio space in a 100+year old building in Downtown Toronto, and also works as an instructor. She spoke with TCA about her artistic process and current obsessions.

Describe the process of creating your work. What is involved for you to make one of your pieces?

For the last number of years my work explores themes of iconic Canadiana…I spend a lot of time researching old text books, looking at vintage postcards, Canadian souvenirs and antiques. Then I experiment in my studio until I find the best materials to express my concepts. Here is a bit of my current artist statement that expresses my work:

Snow capped Rocky Mountains, orange pup tents, Coolers (giant and green), Mounties in their musical ride, campfires, bedrock at the oceans edge, loggers, dusty stubbies on a shelf, that photo of the Queen… these are symbols that have become a foundation for my recent explorations.

My current body of work explores the icons, symbols and clichés of Canada. While these symbols are often nostalgic and romantic, they are symbols that I reluctantly embrace and identify as being Canadian. Within this body of work are several series that represent both obscure and iconic provincial destinations, people and symbols. These works explore an “idea” of Canada, and allude to the souvenir. The desire to take a “piece” of a place home with us and to somehow authenticate a journey is a shared one. This common need allows us, as Canadians, to relate to one another despite our distance across such a vast nation.

What projects are you working on? What do you have coming up?

I am currently working on several things in my studio:

What are some of your favorite spots in the city?

The bike trails in High Park, Poor Johns Cafe in Parkdale for brunch, Kensington for groceries/coffee/scuttling, Squirrely’s or the Communists Daughter for pints, Skyline Restaurant in Parkdale for club sandwiches, Romni wool, the pool at Trinity Bellwoods, my studio at Queen and Bathurst,The Opera House for live music, The Public Butter for old furniture.

When are you most productive?

When I have clearly established deadlines, I like to do things well in advance. I find I am usually pretty productive because I have to be due to my schedule. I spend a lot of my evenings teaching at George Brown College, which is a lot of fun and inspiring. The students are great!

What’s your current obsession?

Hmmm….current obsessions: cabin couture, urban lumberjacks, thrift shops, milk glass, log cabins, banjos, coronation images of the Queen, campfires, cbc radio 3, sailors, the Atlantic ocean, road trips, haunted things, gold plating, cutlery, Mounties, and plaid blankets.

Was your art school experience positive? Tell me more about how it affected/influenced your art?

I really enjoyed my art school experience. I studied at NSCADU (The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University) in Halifax. The studios were truly inspirational, the school before the expansion was a weird labyrinth of haunted hovels, narrow staircases and quiet spaces to work, the faculty engaging and the classes intimate. I met some of my current, closest friends and colleagues at NSCAD, and some really great artists while I was a student there. I have gone back to teach a couple of courses there, and I really look forward to returning to the historic Harbour Campus.

I think that the school influenced my work in terms of my productivity. I studied with a great group of students that were really ambitious and spent a lot of time working in the studio. We really challenged each other and motivated each other to make conceptual, well fabricated work. The faculty at NSCAD were also a big influence, they were all very productive in their fields, and this was pretty inspiring.

Anneke, any last words?

Buy handmade….. :)