Prints from my Vanitas and Vanitas II series are now showing at Cafe Koi, which is located at 1011 1st street SW Calgary, AB

The showing runs from May 31 to June 25

Here is my artist statement for the show ...

In a way, my work is a polished descendant of the “face-down-on-the-photocopier” self portraits most of us have enjoyed. Using a scanner is really just a non-traditional form of photography. With this technique you can achieve incredible detail that quickly drops into beautiful shadows. The colour and shadows create an ethereal-type aesthetic, which is uncanny in its resemblance to 16^th and17^th century Dutch paintings of Memento Mori. I didn’t directly choose this technique for the project; it was more of a happy accident. It was the aesthetics of this technical process that influenced my exploration of these themes, and not vice versa. I think this creative process is rare in art making, especially with new media.

A type of Memento Mori, Vanitas paintings from the 16^th and 17^th century were often characterized by a combination of enticing still-life objects such as fruit and flowers, along with reminders of the transient nature of life such as skulls and hourglasses. This juxtaposition was meant to point out the ultimate shortcomings of worldly pleasures.

For this series, I asked women to participate and to include items in their portraits, as a sort of still-life defining who they are. Through their pictured memories, their favourite mementos, or the pleasing petals surrounding them, I intended for these portraits to reflect a personal story of Vanitas for each individual woman. The sensual use of hair in this series is what ties them together, and creates a kind of surreal texture to the work. The Vanitas themes remain present reminding the viewer that vanity is futile. Despite their foreboding qualities, the images remain undeniably beautiful and hint at a sexual tension. Blushing flower petals rustling open and tousled hair could be simultaneously interpreted as either qualities of the Vanitas theme or lusty indulgences.

This series has made me view not only death, but vanity differently, and bizarrely how both are so interconnected. It takes a personal unarming to show these self-portraits, especially in large format. There is no hiding or concealing in these portraits, they are hyper-realistic, so signs of aging and blemishes are on full display. These portraits show impurities, but done so in a graceful and whimsical manner.

Inspiration: Terrariums ...

These are the cutest mini-terrariums from the Botany Factory. Designed by Katie Goldman MacDonald in her San-Francisco studio, she aims at bringing plants to small indoor spaces. See more of her terrarium designs here.

{image courtesy of the Botany Factory}

Apartment Therapy lists the top 10 succulents and cacti and succulents for interiors.

This article Gardens in glass: make your own upcycled terrarium by Stephanie Rogers for ecosalon is helpful if you are wanting to make your own mini-terrarium. She offers different options for receptacles too ...
Mason Jar Terrarium – Craftzine
Inverted Jar Terrarium – Design Sponge
Wine Bottle Terrarium – Dr. Vino
Light Bulb Terrarium – Instructables

{light bulb terrariums by tiny terra}

Check out L.A.-based Machine Project's terrarium ...


I like the philosophy behind their gallery ... Machine Project brings "together artists, architects, designers, makers, scientists, programmers, plant enthusiasts, poets, and gaming nerds. Far from being a traditional gallery, Machine project could be described as an art-gallery-turned-mad scientist's laboratory used for collaboration, experimentation, classes , lectures, and for play. Perhaps what stands out the most is that no matter how serious the subject matter, Machine brings an air of effortless fun to the equation, making the work accessible to a large audience without needing to water down the ideas." (dwell)

Two more pictures from this past week ... one more from the Sirena series and the other from a new series I have been piecing together over the last year or so, inspired by botany ...

This afternoon I had a portrait session with Carolina. She is from Chile and spent some time growing up in Brazil as well ... She loves the beach and ocean, which was the inspiration behind this series 'Sirena' ... Here are some of the proofs from this afternoon's session ...

Here is a segment from my interview -Vanitas: The Work of Rachelle Soucy,with Patrick McNally from Daily Undertaker. Click here to read the entire interview.

Pat McNally: Rachelle, your work certainly has a wonderful sensuality to it, along with some very clear references to mortality, and although there is a playfulness to your work, I do not sense an irony or distancing yourself from the genre itself. Instead, you seem to be honestly engaging with this theme, rather than making a statement about it. While your work gives the viewer a lot of food for thought, absent are the simplistic moral preaching and guilty pleasure elements that were often a part of Vanitas pieces in the past. What drew you to explore this form?

Rachelle Soucy: The entire series originated through playfulness and discovery. It was a playful experiment that led me to explore themes of Memento Mori and Vanitas – I started by arranging still-lifes on top of my scanner. I was quickly inspired by the shallow depth of field created by the scanner – it shows incredible detail that quickly drops into beautiful shadows. This aesthetic is uncanny in its resemblance to 16^th and17^th Dutch paintings of Memento Mori. Coincidentally, I was arranging all these symbolic items, flowers, fruits, shells, and hourglasses, which are typically present in these types of paintings to symbolize life’s fleeting moments, futility of pleasure and ultimately reminders of one’s mortality. For my first series, I decided to place myself amongst these items. So you are correct, I am not making a statement about this theme, more so I am engaging directly as subject matter – just as the flowers are decaying, so too am I. In general, decay is an unusual subject matter that I was intrigued by. I wanted to explore this genre personally by capturing myself in a fleeting moment and to remind myself of the shortcomings of vanity.

PM: The skull has become such a common image in our society, that either everything has become a memento mori, or perhaps through overexposure, it has lost its power to bring our thoughts to our own mortality. Your work makes use of the human skull, but in a very subtle way. This is certainly a departure from the genre tradition. Could you share your thoughts on the ever-presence of the skull in our culture, and how you chose to use it?

RS: I chose not to use a single skull in my work, which perhaps has a negative connotation or has been over popularized in our culture. Instead, I strung these carved skull beads into prayer beads, showing the skull in repetition - symbolizing prayer and meditation. I choose to use the skull as a quiet reminder of mortality and not as a logo of death.

PM: Your sensual use of hair in these pieces ties them together, and creates a kind of oceanic depth and surreal texture to the work. I don’t think I’ll see hair in the same way again, which is something that art at its best, really can do; help us to see things in a new way. Has your work and thought in this project changed the way you see death?

RS: This is such a compliment, thank you! It is the hair the ties both series together. Piecing different scans together was easiest by matching the hair in different scans … and it is this which connects all of the works. By piecing multiple scans together, I could create the illusion of long flowing hair, a type of hyper-portrait. So these portraits aren’t completely representational, there are still illusions at work in these portraits connected to vanity.

What a whirlwind trip to Toronto!!! It went by so quickly, I guess vacations always do ... I visited lots of little galleries in Toronto, but I really enjoyed the exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum ... Here are some of my favourite things I spotted at the ROM ...

Miniature room including silverware

Wallpaper from different eras

Displays of vegetation

Stairwell displays leaving the Museum

Art Nouveau flower vase

Nelson Mandela Doll

And what a way to end a vacation - the day before we flew home to Calgary, I received an email from The Daily Undertaker wanting to interview me and feature my artwork (series: Vanitas and Vanitas 2) ... I'll post the link to the article on my blog once it's posted ...

Finished my mother's portrait with her hands on the piano ...
She choose to play F, G sharp and B ...



Last post for awhile ... we're vacationing as a family for the first time!!! On our way through Saskatoon ... summers look much different than winters there ... so excited to be on the prairies for a week ...

(Saskatoon Winter, 2003)

Inspiration: my mother's piano ...

Just showing some of my work in progress ... these are the first scans I have done for my mom's portrait. I have scanned the entire piano and tomorrow I'll have her put her hands on her favourite keys/notes and scan this ... I'll add these to the scans I have already completed tonight ... so here is her piano sans hands and some of her things sitting beside the piano ...




These are my favourite portraits of Leo. I think it's the colours, textures and unusual camera angles that make them so wonderful for me ... and of course the subject - my little man. Blair Marie took the photographs.




Sharing a couple great artists and designers ...

yumiyumi makes these wonderful animal and floral prints ...


Kenyon Yeh : Product + furniture design - I especially like his furniture collection - homeless ... the idea behind it is genius!

Here is a great article IKEA Hacks: Designs by Kenyon Yeh

"I have assembled the pieces from a standard IKEA flat pack without following the instructions … Instead, I have simply composed the kits into customized furniture to suit my personal preference, adding some new details along the way."

(Behind the Scenes - UNIKEA)

(BRIA - UNIKEA)

Inspiration: Flowers, oh flowers galore!!!

I have known Elli since I was a kid, well over ten years now ... I have worked for her off and on throughout those years ... It was Elli who first really inspired me with flowers and who taught me how to be creative with flowers. When someone loves something so much, it catches ...

Lovely Elli owns a flower shop, a lovely shop, with lovely flowers ...

Here are Elli's portraits, just some of my favourites ...

p.s. we leave on vacation in a few days, through Saskatoon and then onto Toronto ... I am bringing my computer and scanner along for the ride, so any ladies wanting to have their portrait done, just let me know!!!

Yesterday afternoon I had a portrait session with Blair Marie ... Blair is a photographer ... so we looped film through her dark locks as she posed with some of her favourite cameras ... I love how you can see glimpses of her face, but it is her hair, hands and props that mostly make up the portraits ... Here are some of the ones I like most ...

Inspiration: old photographs, family and memories

I had another portrait session this evening, this time with lovely lady Kate ... She brought with her family snapshots ... These old photographs capture a fleeting moment in time, of loved ones young and vital, but now passed ... and so are these portraits of Kate a symbol of vanitas, capturing herself young and full of vitality, but at the same time remembering generations of her family in a dreamy type state amongst her portrait.

Inspiration: nature and tattoo

I have started another series of portraits, more specifically portraits of women in my life. Today I had the privilege to scan my good friend Kelly ... Showing is her back tattoo and foliage (including tiny green tomatoes) reflecting the meaning of her tattoo "There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth" ... I also included a few extra scans that I think turned out beautifully ...





You can see this portrait is fabricated in the same manner as my vanitas series - scans (whole and parts) pieced together to form a portrait. However, my vanitas series was personal. And this go around, I would like the portraits to reflect personal stories of each individual woman. The portraits will feature face, hands, etc. and objects relating to her life's stories, memories, etc. Think of these items as a still-life making up a moment or defining who these women are.

Quite possibly, I can do a sitting a week, so please email me or message me if you are interested. I plan to have a showing once completed, so portraits will be made public, but you will of course get a copy of your portrait.