Vancouver, BC – written November 6th, 2024 – Fiona Ackerman, a prolific and innovative artist renowned for her engaging abstract works, is set to showcase her creativity at the upcoming Eastside Culture Crawl. With nearly 15 years of experience at Parker Street Studios, Ackerman has become a familiar and beloved figure in the Vancouver art scene. This year’s Culture Crawl, running from November 14 to 17, 2024, provides an excellent opportunity for art enthusiasts and the local community to explore her latest pieces, connect with her artistic journey, and experience the vibrant energy of open studios across East Vancouver.
Interview Questions:
Elke Porter: Where are you located?
Fiona Ackerman: I’m at Parker Street in East Vancouver, in the Parker Street Building Studio. As you can see in the background here, this is what it looks like before I clean up for the Culture Crawl!
Elke Porter: That means you have people coming into your studio?
Fiona Ackerman: Yes, for the Eastside Culture Crawl – You’re familiar with the Culture Crawl, I’m sure?
Elke Porter: No, this is my first time.
Fiona Ackerman: Okay! It’s a huge event that runs from Thursday, November 14th until Sunday, November 17th, 2024. The Eastside Culture Crawl celebrates its 28th anniversary this year. For more details, check the website. https://culturecrawl.ca/
It’s a major open studio event where hundreds of studios open their doors, and thousands of people come through Parker Street. Since it’s such an established building, people know about it, and there’s so much to see, especially if the weather is uncertain. It’s a really fun event, and there are some people I only see once a year, during the Culture Crawl, so I look forward to it!
Elke Porter: Great! Just a few basic questions: Do you have any connection to Germany?
Fiona Ackerman: I do. My father is German and lives in Berlin, and my half-brothers are also German. My whole father’s side is German.
Elke Porter: Nice! Do your brothers or half-brothers do art as well?
Fiona Ackerman: My oldest brother does some painting, but he actually runs a martial arts school, so that’s his main occupation.
Elke Porter: Oh!
Fiona Ackerman: An entrepreneur, yes!
Elke Porter: And how about your younger brother?
Fiona Ackerman: He’s still young—just in his twenties.
Elke Porter: Nice! Okay.
Fiona Ackerman: Yeah!
Elke Porter: How many years have you been doing the Culture Crawl?
Fiona Ackerman: I’ve been at Parker Street Studios since 2009, so I’m approaching almost 15 years. I need to check my resume to find out the exact date I moved in. I’ve taken a few years off due to being too busy with other things, but I’ve been involved for most years.
Elke Porter: You look so young!
Fiona Ackerman: No, no, I’m not!
Elke Porter: Maybe art keeps you young!
Fiona Ackerman: I must have a filter this camera or something!
Elke Porter: Where did you study art? How did you get involved?
Fiona Ackerman: I grew up in Montreal, studied at Concordia, and then Emily Carr, which is why I moved to Vancouver.
Elke Porter: Oh!
Fiona Ackerman: My father is a painter, so I spent some time studying with him in Germany.
Elke Porter: Nice! Where in Germany?
Fiona Ackerman: In Berlin.
Elke Porter: In Berlin? Wow!
Fiona Ackerman: Yes! When my son was younger, we moved to Berlin for a few weeks or months to have that experience. I worked on an exhibition while I was there and have traveled back and forth numerous times since. I’ve tried to learn German, but it seems to disappear as soon as I come back to Canada!
Elke Porter: That’s funny. Alright, those were my background questions. Now I’m going to ask you more esoteric questions about your art.
Fiona Ackerman: Okay!
Elke Porter: Your work is rooted in abstraction but has evolved across different styles and series. How do you decide when it’s time to shift into a new direction or explore a new theme in your art?
Fiona Ackerman: That’s a good one! I wish I were the one who decides, but unfortunately, I’m not. It’s often unavoidable. I’ve had exhibitions planned and pitched to galleries, thinking I would continue a particular series, but when I get to work, it sometimes takes a completely different direction. I’m just sort of along for the ride. That’s why my work has changed direction so much over the years. However, with enough time, I think it does circle back and reconnect with itself, cycle after cycle. I just follow whatever piques my interest.
Elke Porter: Nice. Okay, you’ve exhibited extensively across Canada and Europe, and you have quite a long biography. How do you think your work resonates differently with audiences in these various locations?
Fiona Ackerman: That’s an interesting question. It’s hard to say because, to be perfectly honest, I usually fly in for the opening and am not present for the duration of the exhibit. So, I would have to ask the gallery directors to find out what the feedback has been, and I’m not sure they always receive direct comments from the audience. However, I do know that Canada has a very vibrant and young art scene.
It’s a different experience in Europe. I’ve had numerous exhibitions in Germany, and I recall one in Münster at a very established gallery that has since closed. I exhibited paintings based on the studio of a Berlin printmaker, who is also a sculptor. He was a well-known figure in the German art scene, and the gallery represented many prominent German artists, giving it a distinctly established ambiance. There were catalogs everywhere, compiled by collectors—businesses would have thick catalogs showcasing the work of the artists they supported. Careers in Europe are often built on a cultural foundation that doesn’t exist in the same way in Canada. I found that to be a fascinating comparison, especially regarding how culture is woven into the economics and society of Europe, which we don’t see as much here.
Elke Porter: That is very interesting. You were long-listed for the Sobeys Art Award and received an honorable mention for the Kingston Prize for Canadian Portraiture. How did these accolades shape your career and artistic journey? These questions did come up with ChatGPT, of course.
Fiona Ackerman: Oh, yes, those were some time ago now and represent different phases of my career. The Sobeys Art Award, when I was long-listed, focused on artists under a certain age. As for the Kingston Prize, I believe they are approaching their anniversary this year. I work in many different directions, primarily painting, and sometimes my work just fits into various venues depending on the opportunities available.
Elke Porter: Okay, can you tell me more about your recent project at the Facade Festival and how it felt to have your work projected onto such an iconic venue as the Vancouver Art Gallery?
Fiona Ackerman: That was fantastic! It was a huge project, and I had to learn a lot, especially how to use a computer to animate my artwork.
It was one of those projects where I learned so much by doing it that as soon as I finished, I wanted to start all over with everything I had learned because I knew I could do it better. But it was a really great opportunity, and it sparked my interest in combining painting and music in a dynamic way. During the pandemic, I found myself spending a lot of time at home, creating little animated abstract videos and music for the internet as my moving gallery. This has really become an ongoing exploration, igniting my interest in moving abstraction and how to add duration and rhythm to painting.
Elke Porter: Your murals, like the one at the City Center Motel, add another dimension to your practice. How does working on large-scale public art differ from creating for gallery exhibitions?
Fiona Ackerman: Well, I think I’ve only done one mural as part of a collaboration with other artists, so it wasn’t solely my vision. It’s a completely different experience. For murals, you do proposals and work closely with the space, considering factors like the surface, lighting, and how it will read in the community. There are many elements at play. For example, I’ve done smaller murals inside cafes, which oddly take more time than larger outdoor murals because you have to be very detailed up close, whereas with larger murals, you’re viewing it from a distance.
In a gallery, I take pride in curating a collection of paintings that come together for an exhibition, while a mural is more of a definitive statement. For a gallery exhibition, I usually start without a clear idea of what it will become, and as I create, it evolves organically. In contrast, for a mural, everything is decided beforehand, from the colors to the design. It involves meticulous planning and execution. Plus, murals are physically demanding; you need to wake up and stretch every morning because holding the right positions to create straight lines can be quite exhausting.
Elke Porter: Okay, you’ve lived and studied in both Montreal and Vancouver. Have these different environments influenced your creative process and artistic style?
Fiona Ackerman: I left Montreal when I was young, so it’s hard to distinguish what was due to my age versus the city itself. Over the years, I’ve become many different people; I started as a student and have evolved into a working artist and mother. My mom still lives in Montreal, so I still call it home for my family and go back often. It’s a great city but very different from Vancouver. I spent years comparing the two until I learned to appreciate each city’s unique merits without competition. Now I don’t go to Montreal expecting to find Vancouver, nor do I come to Vancouver looking for Montreal. That realization made things clearer for me.
Elke Porter: That sounds wise! Vancouver is known for its outdoor nature, while Montreal is often noted for its architecture.
Fiona Ackerman: Yes, exactly!
Elke Porter: Outside of painting, are there other creative mediums or activities you enjoy exploring? How do they intersect with or influence your work as a painter?
Fiona Ackerman: Well, I do play music and have a band…
Elke Porter: What’s your band’s name?
Fiona Ackerman: We’re called K Car. We’re just a fun, scrappy punk band comprised of women. https://kcar.bandcamp.com/music
Elke Porter: Neat!
Fiona Ackerman: We enjoy it just for fun when we have the chance to practice regularly and play shows. During the pandemic, since many of my musician friends were grounded and had time, I worked on a collaborative project with a musician and video artist friend, Arjan Miranda, who lives in Brooklyn. I had an exhibition lined up at Gallery Kramer’s in Berlin for the spring, but I couldn’t travel or do anything in person. We decided to collaborate on a project themed around metamorphosis. I created the paintings, sent him images from those works, and he animated them using some creative techniques that I didn’t fully understand. He’d then send me back video footage, and I incorporated bits of that footage into new paintings.
We intertwined the video and painting processes repeatedly. In the end, we composed a piece of music by exchanging files since he has all the necessary facilities, and I already had some compositions on my laptop. We displayed it all together in Berlin, although I unfortunately couldn’t attend due to the lockdown. The exhibition featured the paintings, a catalog, and the video projected with the music overlay. That project was a great example of blending everything together.
Elke Porter: That wraps up my questions! Just to share a bit about myself: I write for the West Coast German media blog, which focuses on German people, places, and events. Anything related to Germany gets a mention. If you have anything coming up or want to add to my events calendar, feel free to share!
Fiona Ackerman: Sure! After the Culture Crawl, my next German-related event will be a trip to Berlin in April for the Paper Positions Art Fair. https://www.paperpositions.com/cities/berlin
Elke Porter: Cool! My blog is mostly a labor of love, but I’d like to get more paying clients too. It’s meant to promote German artists, singers, dancers—whoever shows up.
Fiona Ackerman: So what’s your connection to this?
Elke Porter: Oh, well, I started my blog for fun in 2007.
I walked into the Fraser Bakery—I think it’s now a Breka Bakery—located at Fraser and 49th. This formerly German bakery had recently been purchased by a Russian lady. She pointed out that while the Russian community is small, there are three newspapers, while the German community is large, yet there were no newspapers available to offer her customers.
I saw an opportunity and started a newsletter, which then turned into magazines and eventually a blog. It focuses on German media, but I had to reach out more due to Covid. The audience in western Canada was too small, and everything was closed down, so now I am starting to reach out directly to Germany.
Fiona Ackerman: Oh, that’s great! Will you come by the Crawl?
Elke Porter: I really should! It’s only a couple of days, and I should be able to carve out some time. It was nice meeting you, and good luck with your exhibit, and maybe I’ll see if I can drop by and take some pictures and fun stuff.
Fiona Ackerman: Sounds Great!
Elke Porter: Thank you so much Okay, bye, bye!
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