Yana Klimava is an artist who works in watercolour and acrylic. She
creates images that capture light and landscapes in her work.
Yana Klimava explores the visual world through her watercolours and
acrylic works. Klimava grew up in Belarus where she attended the Minsk
Lycaeum of Visual Arts. She finished high school in Canada and went on
to Carleton University's School of Industrial Design. She's been living
and working in Calgary for three years and I talked with her about her
artistic practice and the intersection of art and design.
During our conversation we talked about what has inspired Klimava as
an artist. She says, "One of the most influential things in my life
comes from my early childhood. It was a small art class where kids were
given all the freedom they wanted and no one ever assumed anything and
no one judged. I do actually keep in touch with my teacher from that
class. He definitely erased the fear of the white paper and helped me
along with expression and not being afraid of what the result will be."
Another major influence, Klimava tells me, was her formal artistic
training. She says, "My opinion is that in order to be able to do
stylized work you need to have a foundation of classical training, You
can always fall back on it. It gives you an understanding of the world
and you can make it your own. By no means have I excelled at being a
classical painter yet. Its just something you constantly have to be
working at."
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