Don’t be surprised if you recognize the subjects on display at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives art exhibit next month, because there’s a good chance you’ll know a few of the models.
Over the past 10 months local artist Jason Bartziokas has been painting portraits of local Jasperites for his art exhibit, Familiar Faces.
“The majority of the paintings have been done alla prima, as they call it, which means I painted them as they sat in front of me,” said Bartziokas, explaining each portrait took at least two and half hours to paint.
“I just started painting people that I knew and were willing to sit down and it snowballed from there.”
The exhibit, which opens on Dec. 31, will showcase at least 18 portraits of different Jasperites, from Bob Routledge, owner of Senate Skate Shop, to John Wilmshurst, a Fitzhugh contributor.
Using oil paints and gessoed masonite, a type of board made with compressed woodchips, Bartziokas painted in 15 minute intervals to allow his subjects the chance to move about.
“The important thing when I have these people sit for me is that I’m getting the colour correct,” explained Bartziokas, adding that in a few instances he finished the portraits using a photograph.
“There’s colours that the camera is just not going to pick up and the subtleties, so if I have to work from a photo I’m still going to look at my study I made while the sitter was here.”
He said one of the hardest things about painting people he knows is how they might react after he finishes the painting.
“I think it’s a little bit easier when you don’t know them that well because at the end you have to show the person what you think of them,” said Bartziokas.
When he isn’t painting portraits of people, Bartziokas makes a living custom painting goalie masks for various clients, including Andrew Hammond of the Ottawa Senators and Chad Johnson of the Buffalo Sabres.
“Having these people come into my studio is great because the goalie masks that I work on for 40 to 50 hours at a time, they’re not talking back to you, there’s not a lot of interaction, so one of the most enjoyable parts about painting people are the conversations,” said Bartziokas.
Familiar Faces is the first exhibit in a larger project that Bartziokas has in mind.
Next year he hopes to showcase an exhibit featuring travellers that have passed through Jasper, calling the show Perfect Strangers.
The idea popped into his head last summer when he started taking pictures of tourists in town and using those pictures to paint caricatures of them.
“Instead of showing the exhibits together I thought it would be easier to split them up between locals and tourists,” he said.
Familiar Faces opens Dec. 31 and runs until Jan. 30, 2016, at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives. Bartziokas will be at the museum Jan. 8 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. to mingle and talk about his work.
Paul Clarke
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