As an activist artist, I want to bring to attention the crisis that has been happening since 2014 and make an active move to support Ukraine in any way that I can. With that said I’m planning on having all profits from my sunflower prints and the original sunflower painting donated directly to the Red Cross Humanitarian Crisis in Ukraine Fund. The Sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine and is used as a symbol of peace for Ukrainians. In purchasing this print I hope that you can share your support for the nation of Ukraine.
The events happening in Ukraine are truly devastating and heartbreaking. Coming from a Polish background I’ve never felt so concerned for my Urkainain neighbors as they flea away from their homes and loved ones with nowhere to stay. I’m glad to identify with a country that has opened its homes and lives up to Ukrainian refugees but in Canada, however, it is not the case. Ukrainians can come to Canada but can not yet receive refugee status. Recently the Polish and Ukrainian communities in London and all over Canada have been pushing government officials to change this status, but we need your help.
A month ago people were turning their heads to the deadly battles that are present in Ukraine, but a month later society has moved on to the next tending Twitter post. The nation has asked the whole world to recognize the war crimes that are taking place, yet we are still sitting in our comfortable homes acting like this will end soon. The reality is that it won’t end without your help.
Last semester I took SA 2620A: Introduction to Painting hoping to get a mark that would boost my GPA like any other student at Western. As a lifelong artist and painter, I thought this class was going to be a breeze; boy was I wrong. Next thing I knew I was staring at 4 giant (3’x2′) canvases with not a clue of what to produce. Each assignment was wildly out of my comfort zone and the other immensely talented students in my class were intimidating. I spend around 24 hours on each canvas, not including the time it took to plan out a full composition. Needless to say, this experience was one of the most challenging of my art courses but it helped me develop much stronger skills in my art practices.
This was truly a hard project for me in which I hated every step of the process. Transferring my Jocelyn Hobbie college to a 2 x 2.5-foot canvas, the goal for this assignment was to utilize every section of my composition important to the overall composition story. I was challenged to use a variety of painting techniques (ex: washes, thick paint, masking, texture, glazing, etc.) that resemble your college as closely as possible.
Meeting the expectations of the class felt impossible. Looking at the final project, however, I’m actually starting to appreciate and accept my creation. I named this piece after Ophelia from the Shakespearean play Hamlet. I figured the water background reminded me of her scene where she floats in the pond filled with flowers.
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OPHELIA
Matte print of the acrylic painting “Ophelia” by artist Bridget Koza. A Jocelyn Hobbie-inspired painting mimicking the technique of collage through acrylic paint.
Print comes with the artist’s signature. Framing available for customers in London, Ontario
You’re not just looking at 18 strawberries, but 24 hours of blood, sweat, and tears trying to complete this project. Using a still life image, in this case, strawberries, the goal of this assignment was to develop the “Perceptual Colour Technique” in acrylic painting. This process involves looking for “shapes” of colour rather than blending colours or using lines. I was required to exaggerate and emphasize the colour that I saw and challenged to not let colours blend, not to use black, nor use any outlines.
All that hard work and a rush to complete the project before the due date was so worth it in the end. This project has made me realize the strength I have when it comes to recreating still life and has taught me that patience in the practice results and a great final product. I’ve gotten many comments from people that this painting is by far their favorite painting of mine. Last December I posted this painting on Redbubble and started selling on merch, such as stickers, journal covers, and clothing (click the links below to see the merch for yourself). I currently have the phone case with the strawberries on it and I love it! It reminds me each day how proud I am of myself and pushes me to keep creating my artwork. When I was finally done with the painting I was happy that I had a little photoshoot with it and posted it on my socials. Let’s just say I’m “berry” glad to have created this painting.
LAS FRESAS phone case!
KOZart’s is breaking into the world of merchandise with a collaboration with Redbubble. In my shop, you can find my art work on virtually any piece of merchandise, not just a phone case and not just a strawberry painting.
This item is not purchased through kozart.ca but through the Redbubble site.
For my final large-scale surrealism painting, I wanted it to encapsulate this trapped and overbearing feeling that 2020 has brought me and the rest of the world. Specifically, I wanted to express a feeling of being a swimmer with no water to swim in, rather an ordinary home office space. The painting has become this confusing space where you don’t really know if it’s underwater or on land. You can notice that my painting takes all elements of my studies including the textures, the background, and the figure. I’ve provided some close-ups since the painting has quite a bit of hidden details you probably wouldn’t notice at first.
This painting took 3 weeks to plan, paint, and focus on making details realistic. Here are some progress pictures from the beginning to print.
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This painting, along with two other paintings of mine, was featured in a Publication by ICONOCLAST Collective, STARDUST Volume 10 Spring 2021. ICON was created to support personal, intersectional, and interdisciplinary examinations of student lives at Western University. Each issue aims to be a nuanced discussion about an idea—the glitches in our lives, the plasticity of modern society, existing in a state of resistance. Their publications and events explore the complex connections between art, identity, and politics, in every medium imaginable. To view the full publication link to the button below!
Matte print of the acrylic painting “Floating” by artist Bridget Koza. An image that encapsulates the trapped and overbearing feeling that 2020 has brought to the world. Specifically, it expresses a feeling of being a swimmer with no water to swim in, rather an ordinary home office space. The painting has become this confusing space where you don’t really know if it’s underwater or on land.
My work is an abstract painting inspired by the warm summers spent at Wasaga Beach. For my family and me, Wasaga was the scrapbook of our childhood memories and a place that brings us great joy and peace just thinking of it. I challenged myself to mimic the textures of the beach with several techniques including paint drippings and a hairdryer to push the paint across the canvas. As a finished product, I’ve gotten many different interpretations and the more I look at it I’m able to reveal deeper levels to the narrative. One unique addition to this piece is the actual sand from Wasaga beach is glued onto the painting- a subtitle addition that adds to the emotion of the piece. This place was an exploration of my relationship with nature. It’s an appreciation for its gifts that nature has given me and a chance for audiences to interpret its organic forms and textures. This painting evokes audiences to think about their contention with nature how it makes us feel.
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In February 2021, “The Beach” was fortunate enough to be a part of sustain.ability, an online environmental art and sustainable fashion showcase hosted by USC Public Arts Commission, Envirowestern, and USC Charity. This event seeks to highlight student talent while also raising awareness and funds for environmental preservation. To learn more about the project or see my artwork in their virtual gallery click the button below!
This painting project was actually not an assignment in SA 2620A whatsoever. In my free time after finishing the semester, I created this bitcoin-inspired painting as a special gift I give my brother Adam for Christmas. Adam is a Cryptocurrency fanatic and also very hard to buy a gift for so this painting was very suiting. The reason why I decided to include it in this blog post and in the exclusive Spring Print release is because it was heavily influenced by the many techniques that I learned throughout the semester. Without realizing it, I used several different acrylic paint techniques and textures, I used the Perceptual Colour Technique to recreate the subjects and elements, I juxtaposed elements that are not normally put together and inspired by the sand on my abstract, I used mod podge to include glitter to make the center Bitcoin shine.
Creativity has always been my superpower, as a child and into adulthood. Throughout my experience in education, I’ve struggled to learn through the traditional reading and writing format. Discovering the arts (visual art, music, dance, and drama, etc.) gave me a voice, healed my anxiety-driven mentality, provided me with the knowledge needed to succeed in life, and has become my way of making long-lasting friendships. Growing up, however, art education was denied as a beneficial use of time and was generalized as a hobby, by teachers, constituents, and family members. Even worst, my experience today in academia doesn’t fully accommodate my visual learning mechanisms. Through my research, I strive to prove these generalizations false. Creatives spaces can empower children and it should be encouraged at the utmost in childhood development even if a child isn’t inspiring to be an artist. While there is a privilege behind affording a creative space and being recognized as creative, there is also flexibility to change our perceptions of creative practices and inspire children and adults to create freely.
Children’s literature has evidently supported the need for creativity and artistic spaces. Unlike a normal research essay, I took a backward approach, creating the art before researching and deciding my thesis. Inspired by characters of 4 children and adolescent novels who engage in creativity, I challenged myself to recreate creative spaces in my own life. I noted how the characters use their artistic moments as a space to communicate, a space to explore, a space to meditate, and a space to build relationships. Representing each novel, I used 4 different mediums that were in my visual art capacity: canvas painting, sculpture, collaging, and rock painting. From this practice, I concluded that novels promote diverse creative spaces which empower children with a voice, brilliance, well-being, and friendships. With my secondary research, I discovered the importance of these 4 types of spaces, concluding the benefits that art practices have on children and adolescences.
A SPACE FOR COMMUNICATION
Acrylic painting is my strongest medium of communication, allowing me to take feelings and intimate experiences, and give them a physical form. The space that painting creates is comforting and gives me a sense of direction in my life. Likewise, in The Planet of Junior Brown, playing the piano is the only space where Junior feels comfortable and in a true area of play. As Junior’s ability to create solar systems and play the piano is being withdrawn from him, we see how he becomes powerless, losing his figurative voice and losing his sense of direction in his world.Here, I paint Junior’s hands playing the soundless piano, floating against a space background.
For me, Magazine collaging is the most relaxing and expressive medium, it feels almost like a puzzle or a personal journal. In New Kid, Jordan’s journal is a space for meditation, allowing the frustration and emotion he experiences to be transformed. His drawings develop an awareness of self and keep him mentally stable when there is no one to relate to. While Jordan’s character development is a cause of many factors, this artist practice for him generates self-confidence and reduces his anxiety. Artistic practices overall improve resilience, emotion regulation, mood, coping/social skills, confidence and self-esteem, empathy, and ability to pay attention and focus. Here I collage
the “Two Planets” scene in
Jerry Craft’s “New Kid”
I find sculpture to be an adventurous medium, forcing me to expand my mind in 3-dimentional forms. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, shows how Claudia is empowered by the museum space and how her attention to detail is emphasised in the story narration. Claudia’s museum experience in improves her creativity and bodily kinesthetic intelligence justifying the effectiveness of an open-ended learning experience. Creative spaces allow exploration and brilliance to collide, weather its touring a museum or doing a short-term artistic activity, it is proven to improve memory and the function of the brain. Here I paint the penguin edition book cover of Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia.
As a child I would paint on rocks with my friends and we would imagine them as magical stones. This medium became the perfect way to represent artistic practices as a space for connection. In relation to Bridge to Terabithia, we see Jesse’s confidence develop through his imaginative play with Leslie. Jesse suffers from isolation from his family, but drawings, playing music and imagination help him be comfortable around others, build his self-confidence and heals his loneliness. Creativity can bridge friendships through the attribute of sharing creations and experiences together. This space of acting and improvisation also offers a diverse spectrum of cognitive play and expands understanding about the world. Here I crafted the Angle by Michelangelo in which Claudia and Jamie heavily admires
As part of my creative research methodology, I went on a photo scavenger hunt to collect images in my London community. Each of the photographs represents either 1) space where I feel or felt empowered, 2) a space that drew connections to one of the 4 novels I analyzed and 3) a current or past creative space of either communication, meditation, brilliance, or friendship. This was a brief meditative experience that aided in collecting my thoughts and organized the areas of my thesis that I wanted to focus on.
Creek in childhood neighborhood
A creative space similar to “Bridge to Terabithia”
Lastly, with all my artwork, photos, and my Wasaga House map painting from a previous assignment, I curated a home art gallery to display my Unessay. Inspired by the many museums that had to shift their in-person experience to an online platform I designed this webpage to act as a virtual gallery to share my story and research.
“This semester, we were tasked with a deliberately open-ended “Everyday Life Project.” Our assignment: to commit to a weekly practice with the goal of shifting our habits of attention. Beyond this minimal directive, the only guideline was to try to forge new connections between our daily lives and lives beyond our own.“
The Pottery Practice is a collection of hand made pot planters using clay from the eroded wetlands of the “Coves”. This piece examines sustainability with the art practice as well as relationships with nature as a circular ritual of leaning, practicing and teaching.
Despite its visual aesthetics, this project is more about the practice and the process. In the Everyday Life Project course led by Professor Kate Stanley, I was asked to take on a project bigger than myself in midst of a pandemic, and for me, that meant exploring a type of art that I was not yet acquainted with. Fortunately, Michelle Wilson, a visual arts graduate student at Western, who had been previously exploring the clay from the Coves was willing to help. Wilson showed me how to filter, mold, and form the clay into pottery. When practicing what Wilson taught, I began to feel overwhelmed with stress, taking on yet another independent art project. This inspired me to branch out to the people that surround me ―sharing with my family and friends the same practices I had learned. By transferring the clay-making workshop to a Zoom setting allowed me to create with other people while in the contemporary pandemic.
Soon enough the premise of The Pottery Practice became more about implementing the sustainability practice in other people’s lives. As the fall semester reached its ending, I had the opportunity to display my work in the Satellite Project Space along with other SASAH students. Combined the short videos I took throughout the course of this project and combined them in a documentation. This video played in the bottom blank corner of my display to guide the audience through the process of the composition. In the processes of setting up the gallery my project crossed paths with Sophie Wu, a fellow SASAH peer, as she placed a plastic leaf, she found on the street on top of her pot. This statement helped emphasize the need for sustainability and connected Sophie’s artwork to mine. While I hoping to fire and glaze the ceramics, I realized this downside was also making a point of sustainability. Fired, glazed ceramics will take 1,000,000 years to decompose, but by retaining in the planters in clay form they can be recycled for any other opportunities to share my pottery-making practice.
This project is a work in progress, as the final installation will be expanded further for a display in the Western Visual Arts building. Working with Michelle, we have found more ways to push this project towards sustainability including recycled wood hanging shelves, held together by macramé cord made from old cotton t-shirts, cut into narrow strips, twisted and tied together. Michelle has also suggested painting the pots with berry harvested dyes and glazing with a beeswax finishing. Additionally, the pottery will give a place to host cattail seedlings indoors over the winter season. Cattails are native to the Coves, and support water filtration for many wetlands. In the spring, when the seedlings start to sprout, they will be transferred back to the Coves in order to fully restore my thanks to nature as my artistry muse.
Through experimental and empirical research, I have created a circular ritual of learning, practicing, and teaching. In turn, I hope that this project evokes audiences to reflect on their own relationship to nature and look for ways to share their gifts with the community.
My Final Video Project
Interested in learning more?
Check out my class website to see the success stories of the everyday life projects with students and within the community.
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