Ambera Wellmann has managed to live as a career artist for 10 years and being a finalist in this year’s RBC Canadian Painting Competition will give her more exposure and has already opened doors for her.
And if she should win, the prize money would help her live another year or perhaps two in Berlin, where she’s presently located.
Between selling her work, grants and endowments, it’s been possible to eke out a living as an artist, to travel and to study, she said. She received the Joseph Plaskett Foundation Award last year which has sustained her thus far.
Wellmann graduated from the University of Guelph with a masters degree in fine art in 2016 and a bevy of new friends and contacts that’s been critical to her success so far.
In a Skype interview last month from the studio where she works in Berlin, the 34-year-old talked about her love of historical painting and her current focus on painting porcelain figures.
These are not figurines like your grandmother has however. Wellmann’s work is deep, dark, and sometimes cheeky and she’s able to say a lot to her viewers with simple but unexpected images.
Recently she’s begun painting on large canvasses, both forcing and allowing her to see her work in a different way.
“I started repeating myself and scaling up is a way to keep things fresh,” she said. “You have to train the eye and the hand to see differently. It’s very new and very incomplete and still unclear to me.”
Wellmann calls herself a feminist artist and often her work explores representations of women in historical and present-day contexts. She said the art world in general is changing and becoming more inclusive of women and artists of different ethnicities, “but it takes time,” she said. “The cards are often stacked against us, but that can create the opportunity for interesting work and commentary.”
Wellmann said her time at U of G was pivotal in her career.
“I don’t want to be dramatic and call it life-changing, but I have a very strong connection with students and faculty from Guelph,” she said. “Faculty were smart and supportive and helped me figure out what I want to do.”
Wellmann said she knew by age five that drawing was a form of communication that helped connect her with other people.
“It was a useful method of communication and I attached myself to that very quickly,” she said.
Her advice to young artists is to read and write and develop a viewpoint; to connect and collaborate with other artists; and to be curious about the world.
“You have to leave your ego at the door,” she said, adding criticism and judgement are part of being an artist. “It’s a critical world and that means an artist cannot be lazy. So get used to talking, show your work and share your artistic ideas.”
Wellman will be back in Canada in October when the winner of the painting competition will be announced. She also has exhibits at a few Canadian galleries this fall and winter.
The Canadian Painting Competition is a joint venture between the Royal Bank of Canada and the Canadian Art Foundation and it helps emerging Canadian artists find success through mentorship and professional development. The 15 finalists will all be in Ottawa on Oct. 17 when the winner of the competition will be announced but in the meantime all of the finalists’ work will be exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa from Sept. 1 to Oct. 22.
Examples of Wellmann’s work can be found at www.amberawellmann.com.
