By Max Himsl
The investigation into the so-called artists of Art Farm 5 leads us inevitably to the Chairperson, Rickee Lee Webster. Whether this is a case of saving the best for last or merely cornering responsible and assigning blame to the guilty is a decision best left to the reader.
I met Rickee Lee, a painter, in a crowded coffee shop where she knew every other patron by name and we had a relaxed and casual conversation between her text messages and phone calls.
“Who is your target audience?”
“Humans,” says Rickee-Lee. “I’ve tried showing my paintings to the dog and the horses but I just don’t think they grasp the concept and it actually kind of creeps me out when the cat sits and watches me while I’m painting. He’s a really harsh critic.
“What is your favourite subject matter?”
“Portraits mostly. I love to paint people and animals and I especially love the power of the eyes. I feel such a deep connection to my subjects, as though I can see right into their souls.”
“Where do you show it?
“I post a lot on Facebook. I put up a lot of images of my work, or slideshows of a painting in progress.” She grins a bit sheepishly. “Well, and lots of photos of my dog and family of course. But lots of pictures of my work too. I’ve also had arrangements with some local businesses where I have displayed as well as at the Signal Hill and Allie Griffin galleries in Weyburn. Besides that? Well I do private exhibitions as well and, of course, at Art Farm 5. Did I mention Facebook? I don’t think I did. I post a lot on Facebook.”
“Why do you keep doing it?
“I want to push myself to get better. I am always experimenting with new techniques, trying to find my limits and then to get beyond them. More than that, though, my painting allows me to express myself to a wider world. The creative act mirrors life in that the beginning is uncertain and exciting, the middle is filled with self-doubt and questioning, the end, hopefully, a feeling of exultation tempered by regrets yielding refinement and improvement. Beyond that? Well, I want to remind myself and my viewer that art can be beautiful but it can also be scary, ugly, exciting, romantic and so on. I want my art to say all these things and more.”
“When do you talk about it?”
“Everyday. By living we are creating. Every act, our speech, our thoughts, our actions and inactions, every one is a piece of a continuously evolving act of improv theatre. All the world is a stage and I want to be a lead, not an extra.”
Having asked these deeply probing personal questions of a group of artists and to have received such informative responses have inevitably caused me to question my own aims and motivations. A sense of high-minded fairness, admittedly reinforced by some fairly lowbrow threats of retaliation and revenge, compels me to respond to my own questions, “just to see how I like it.” Very well then.
“Tell me, Self, who is your target audience?”
“Honestly? I haven’t a clue. They must be wealthy, I suppose. I’ve never seen a home decorated in a fashion where my sculptures might look like they belong and some people have suggested they should not be displayed in public at all. It seems like a pretty exclusive clientele, anyway.
“Ok, Self, what is your favourite subject matter?”
“I don’t actually have a lot of control over that. Certain pieces of wood draw me to them and then once in my workshop reveal themselves to me as I carve them. I mean, I have some idea of what the final result will be at the start, but there are often significant details that I will only discover far into the process. The fact is, my sculptures kind of grow themselves. Now, all that being said, I want to create plausible space aliens.”
“Where do you show it?”
“The Weyburn Arts Council puts on a show every year called the James Weir People’s Choice Exhibition. I usually manage to sneak something into that show since anyone can enter. My stuff actually spends most of its time in crates in the garage, but I do drag it all out for Art Farm and the occasional other gallery show.”
“Why do you keep doing it?”
“Yeah, not too sure about that either. I mean, with the cash I pull in from sales and endorsements, the free European flights for gallery openings, the TV appearances, sometimes I just get so tired. Sometimes I just wish I could give it all up and just raise a few chickens and goats, you know? But I have this new lump of birch that has just the sweetest song, can you hear it? I have to go hold a chisel and stare at it and medicate-i-tate. Tate. Meditate, I mean. Yes.”
Art Farm 5 will be held at the van der Breggen farm from noon until 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 10. Admission is $4 with children ages six and under free.
