Meet
Catherine
Catherine Chan is a Hong Kong-born artist raised in Toronto, currently based in Vancouver with her husband Alex. Since she was a child, she would be seen carrying around her coloring books and copying books, which could be the earliest hints of what she would be good at one day.
Catherine has inherited her strong sense of colors from her mother, who was an experienced 35mm film colorist with strong eyes in manual CMYK printing. She discovered this inheritance at the later stage of her art journey when she exposed herself into acrylic painting. While her mother gave her the color senses, she has inherited something much perceptible by hands from her father - penmanship and craftsmanship. Her father who demonstrated strong control of fine details on his crafts and calligraphy. Catherine followed his father in studying Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting, and exhibited their paintings together in her teenage years.
During her university period, Catherine has pursued her studies in architecture and landscape architecture, that was the time when she fell in love into architectural model-building. The details, the accuracy and the use of hand tools fascinated her. And she began her craft journey in making wood and leather crafts with her hands. It was a big wide door ahead of her, fulfilling her creativity, curiosity and the desire in creating a tangible piece in her hands.
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While she was excited to continue her craft journey to her new home in Vancouver. She volunteered at the BC Craft Council immediately after her move to Vancouver, however, this craft journey has pulled a hard brake abruptly when Catherine suddenly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, an incurable disease that damaged all her joints. Her wrists and fingers took the first hit within the first few weeks of the diagnosis. She has lost her ability to control fine movement in her fingers, and her strength in holding any objects without bearing the pain. This sharp turn has not just taken away her basic abilities to look after herself, but her craft journeys, her travel plans, her goals and her dreams have since then been locked into the black box.
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Catherine called this chapter of her life "The Dark Untold Time". Her life was stolen by chronic pain everyday. Not many people would understand a glimpse of her daily struggles as a human, as a new resident to a new city and as an artist. It took her years and years to cope with her new body by understand her own physical limitation, and to strive through all ongoing obstacles with perseverance, patience and gentleness. On her 6th year of battle, as Catherine was playing with her husband's leftover acrylic paints and canvas, she discovered that her hands and fingers could finally hold and handle a paintbrush, and she could paint without further hurting her wrist. This discovery, to her surprise, has also led her in accepting an unopened gift from God. Almost like a hidden super power that she could accurately match colors 100%. She is still in shock and in disbelief. Catherine found new joy and enjoyment expressing herself through colors. Sometimes her hands are too painful to paint, she would pause then continue when her body is ready. Each paint strokes take strength and give strength.
"From Hope to Desperation to Fair to Appreciation" 1 , quoted from an interview of Catherine in June 2023. She cannot guarantee if her hands and fingers can keep painting, but she believed that "When I am weak, yet I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10) She is excited to explore and connect with more artists in this art journey together. Currently she is actively engaged in local art shows and markets in Vancouver as well as her hometown Toronto.
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INTERVIEW:
RECENT WORKS
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"One Spark"
Acrylic on Wood Panel
- Summer 2024 -
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We all just need that one spark to get ignited. Some start that one spark from chasing the dreams. Some start that one spark from the magical moment when looking into one's eyes. To keep it running is a lifelong exercise. Too much tears would extinguish that little flame. Don't cry baby.
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"Overcast"
Acrylic on Canvas
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As much as we want to see what is ahead of us, and take control of our everyday. The truth is our future can be a blur. This blur is full of unknown, mysteries and fear, but can also be full of excitement and beauty. We choice our own lens.
Meet
Alex
aka
"MisterGraphite"
Alex Leung is a visual effect artist specialized in FX simulation and lighting for feature movies and episodic animation series. In his career, Alex has been engaged in various exciting roles such as being a painter, an art teacher, a video editor, a videographer, a sand art performer and so much more.
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Alex's greatest passion is in Art of different formats. Since teenage years, Alex fell in love with Art. He explored and experimented as many art forms as he could. His curiosity and desire in Art led him to various opportunities.
Alex's career began as a junior lighter, later on, he became an intern 3D artist at Side Effect software in Toronto, Canada, that was his first exposure to the procedural package (Houdini).
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In 2008, having a passion in telling great stories through Media, Alex had spent 7 years in the a media production field as a video editor and a travel videographer. This wonderful journey opened his eye and took him to different parts of the world, including Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Zambia, and etc. Later on, Alex became a senior editor and then the production manager in his previous employment.
Recently, Alex resides in Vancouver, Canada and became a FX Supervisor by profession. He continues to follow his passion in telling stories through Visual Effect, Fine Art, and any innovative art form.
