STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Left BehindThis is the name of my last show exhi...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ:
Left Behind
This is the name of my last show exhi...: Left Behind This is the name of my last show exhibited in Oxford, Nova Scotia at the Riverside Gallery.  A reflection on my parents lif...

Left Behind
This is the name of my last show exhibited in Oxford, Nova Scotia at the Riverside Gallery. 
A reflection on my parents life.

The image of the acrylic painting on the top was taken from a photo of my father's last week living. 
My mom, left behind with emptiness.

Over 60 years they had been a unit.

The following images are created as monotype prints on envelopes fond after my mom's death under her pillow when we cleaned out her apartment.

Shoes, after the war was over and she was released from the prison of war camp in Russia she valued things, formed an attachment to material things. She was taken into the work camp when she was 17 a teenager, full of longing for nice clothes a symbol of life, how it used to be. Therefore, the shoes symbolizes my mother's need to create the years that she missed, the trauma she experienced, being well dressed seemed to create some equilibrium in her.

 The bicycle, my father suffered from dementia. On his last bike ride, he described heat raising up his back and he could no longer continue his ride. A doctor was called and he was transported into a hospital, where he suffered his first dissociated episode. Finally, my mom did not need to make excuses for him anymore. 

The woman and the suitcase, only one suitcase was allowed to be taken to Russia. When you look closer, there are three images of the girl, fading away, a life that has become a shadow.
  
The last picture is taken from one of the last photos of us all together. Our mom and dad are gone, my brother and myself left behind. 

What will our relationship become with the glue of our parents gone. 

 

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Monotype Printing Workshop I am so pleased to in...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ:   Monotype Printing Workshop I am so pleased to in...:     Monotype Printing Workshop   I am so pleased to inspire people to explore their creativeness. This summer, I have ventured ...

 

 

Monotype Printing Workshop

 

I am so pleased to inspire people to explore their creativeness.

This summer, I have ventured out to give monotype printing workshops. 

A wonderful experience!

Seeing the happy looks on peoples faces when lifting a print.

The inner child is coming out to play.

Inspiring me to explore something different in creating my monotype prints.

I am happy, if after the workshop I get a message asking questions about the material,

then I know, I have reached some who will continue encouraging their right side of their brain.

Thanks for the great experience set in a great venue!

 

ArtQuarters in Pugwash

 

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Creative Summer

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Creative Summer: Art Show at the Humani-T Cafe in Halifax/North End Vignette of Girl Watercolour monotype print     This summer has been wonderf...

Creative Summer

Art Show at the Humani-T Cafe in Halifax/North End

Vignette of Girl Watercolour monotype print

 

 

This summer has been wonderfully busy with creativity. 

Love, Love it!

I have had time and internal space to produce art.

I allowed myself to make my heart sing.

In May, I had a showing of new work at the ArtLab in Parrsboro.

A new venue and new people came into my life.

In the beginning of June, I was part of the Fraser Cultural Center's member show in Tatamagouche.

Wonderful engaged people.

July had been busy with planing for my first monotype printing workshop. Great turnout and great work produced. 

Further, I have been producing Art Cards. I think they are great! I love art cards produced by local artist. 

Today, after finishing this post. Mary and I will be driving to Halifax to hang a new show of my work at the Humani-T Cafe in Halifax's North End.

A little nervous but also excited, I will be showing mono and monotype prints at the Humani-T Cafe.

If you are in Halifax stop in have a look, the show will be exhibited for the month of August and enjoy their great selection of gelato.

 

 http://humanitea.com/contact/north-end-halifax/

     

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Trace Monotype PrintThe Sunday after launchin...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ:

Trace Monotype Print


The Sunday after launchin...: Trace Monotype Print The Sunday after launching the Event  Monotype Printing Workshop What a journey, last Sunday I launche...

Trace Monotype Print

The Sunday after launching the Event 

Monotype Printing Workshop

What a journey,

last Sunday I launched a page advertising the monotype printing workshop 

I am to give on July 15th.

I feel

excitement,

to share a technique I find so inspiring

 with others.

Not only will this workshop inspire the partaker, 

they will take it and inspire others with these techniques.

I am grateful

for the overwhelming interest 

this workshop has received.

Yesterday,

I was in Halifax to stock up on material we will be using.

I love shopping at the art supply store,

feeling the paper between my fingers,

imagining the possibilities.

Next week,

will be spend on designing the outline of the workshop.

Finalizing the flow of Friday morning.

I am looking forward 

to meet the creative souls

diving into the journey of  monotype print making with their wooden spoon in hand.

    

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Accordion Player - Trace Monotype Print New Art...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Accordion Player - Trace Monotype Print


 New Art...: Accordion Player - Trace Monotype Print   New Artwork   I am fortunate to be able to show my art work. In the last month, I had...

Accordion Player - Trace Monotype Print

 New Artwork 

I am fortunate

to be able to show my art work.

In the last month,

I had a show

at the Art Lab in Parrsboro, NS,

and at the Fraser Cultural Centre in Tatamagouche, NS.

Parrsboro,

is creating,

or is,

a creative hub in Nova Scotia.

Not only,

do they have

the Ships Company Theater in their community,

they also,

as I understand it are attracting artist 

to emerge into their community

through teaching their skill to others,

or however they see fit being part of this

hub. 

The long term plan,

again as I understand it, is to attract  a lot of 

creative people to live and work in Parrsboro. 

What a wonderful idea!

My partner Mary

and I have taken part in some

of the activities going on in Parrsboro.

I can say,

not only is the Parrsboro surrounded by a wonderful landscape,

it is also 

inhabited by wonderful people. 

I have

become a member of the Art Lab

and had my first show there

however,

I was wondering

how the opening would be going

not knowing anybody.

I had nothing to worry about. 

Some of the Pugwash Art Collective

came and supported my venture - how wonderful! 

And I also

was received by the Parrsboro artists

with open arms.

They definitely

put their money where their mouth is

and make artists feel very welcomed. 

This is the website of the Parrsboro Creative worth checking out   

 https://www.parrsborocreative.com/

 

Trumpet Player 1 - Monotype Print

Trumpet Player 2 - Linoleum cut

Rain 1 - Linoleum cut

All artwork done by Archan Knotz

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Kindness Do we know the stories people hold within...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Kindness Do we know the stories people hold within...: Kindness   Do we know the stories people hold within or between each other?    My parents were hardworking, kind to each other bu...

Kindness

 

Do we know the stories people hold within or between each other? 

 

My parents were hardworking, kind to each other but I never thought of them as being 'in love'. 

 

Working on this painting I felt the tenderness between them, the love and caring my mom felt for my dad. The heartbreak, the emptiness my mom must have felt when her beloved died. Love letters we found under her pillow when cleaning out her apartment, burned they are resting with their ashes.

 

I did not know the stories even my parents were holding between each other. It was not my place to know. Everyone holds a story, kindness is what we can offer to cradle our stories with.

 

Time is slipping as do memories and our minds.

When I saw my mom at Christmas, I was shocked how hard she was breathing, how slow she was walking, not the woman I remember from the summer before, from the years before. 

 

Time is slipping.

 

When she died, so many firsts...

The first time I saw her lying without breath

So many lasts...

touching her body for the last time, letting her physical presents go

leaving her apartment,

empty,

for the last time.

 

Grieving-  noticing even the smallest act of kindness, 

the heart is open

every little act of kindness made me cry.

 

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Make Every Moment CountSitting at my laptop lis...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Make Every Moment Count


Sitting at my laptop lis...: Make Every Moment Count Sitting at my laptop listening to an OM meditation, trying to sooth my raising mind.  I want to make ...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Make Every Moment CountSitting at my laptop lis...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Make Every Moment Count


Sitting at my laptop lis...: Make Every Moment Count Sitting at my laptop listening to an OM meditation, trying to sooth my raising mind.  I want to make ...

Make Every Moment Count

Sitting at my laptop listening to an OM meditation, trying to sooth my raising mind. 

I want to make sense of death. Two month to the day my father died. Two days ago, I came home to a phone call from my brother, saying that my mom has died. She put her hands to her heart in front of the grocery store and fell over backwards. She died instantly. 

I always wanted her to die without suffering, thank you. But what a shock.

What a shock it must be for her, I wonder? One moment she was living the next dead. 

Is there life after death? What was I doing when she died? How come I did not feel any different at this moment? 

Mary and I have been talking about the intelligence that creates us humans. I am not a scientist, but it is pretty amazing when we imagine how out of sperm and egg cells grow and eventually, in the case of a human, a human will develop. 

Even though, our body appears solid, we are more filled with holes then we think. Therefore, is it possible after the intelligence has left this constricted, sometimes painful body for it to enter a moving ocean (a word I like to use)?

Questions........

Is death an opportunity for the living? I think so, but did I need so quickly after the first opportunity a kick in the behind?

My mom and my day were over 60 years together. Mom would have turned 89 on the coming Monday. She was, the last four years as my dad's dementia progressed his main caregiver, this is what she wanted to do, needed to do, her path. When he was diagnosed with dementia she did not comprehend that he would not get better. Her world as she understood it fell apart. After he had died, her life pupose seemed to have died with him. 

My mom grew up in Hungary, lived there till she was seventeen. War! She and her dad were taking to a prisoner of war camp into Russia. Her dad died there shortly after their arrival. She was a survivor! Surviving three years of a prisoner of war camp in Russia as a young girl, amazing. When she arrived back in Hungary after the war, her mother was deported to Germany. She made up her mind to follow her, with a stop over in Austria's prison (illegal crossing of boarder), and working on a farm to earn more money in order to continue her journey. Amazing endurance! Finally she did arrive in Germany. She lived in the same village for over 60 years. She loved to garden, cook, but would not tolerate much interference. She approached life in a practical kind of way, however, I remember her also as a curious and adventuresome kind of person. Work was her path in life. Without work, who would she have been? Who could she have been?

Our visits were often strained but when I was supporting her during my father's funeral we developed a warmth that had not been there. It was hard to leave her, not knowing....

Control, death makes it clear how limited our control is... not existing.

I love you mom!  

 

Portfolio by Archan Silvia Knotz

I Am A Child Not A Disorder!

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: CalmThe last couple of month have been pretty em...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ:
Calm
The last couple of month have been pretty em...: Calm The last couple of month have been pretty emotional for me.  It feels good to produce art with lighter colours. It reminds...

Calm

The last couple of month have been pretty emotional for me. 

It feels good to produce art with lighter colours. It reminds me of summer. Well, today reminds me of spring to have 8C and sunny in February in Nova Scotia is amazing. 

Tomorrow, it will be 23 years that I have taking the journey to come to Canada. 

Just last week I have taken my Canadian Citizen test, how exciting!

Canada and it's people have been good to me, despite the cold winters, the warmth of the people is the compensation.

Sipping tea, looking out the window at the birch trees, the bark stripped by a hungry porcupine, and listening to the tripping of the snow hitting the ground. Calm! Today, not quite grounded to make some more art, but calm.  

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Father How many times have I imaged this call over...

STREETS RIDGE ARCHAN KNOTZ: Father How many times have I imaged this call over...: Father   How many times have I imaged this call over the last 20 years, how will I feel, so far away. How will it be traveling for 16...

Father

 

How many times have I imaged this call over the last 20 years, how will I feel, so far away. How will it be traveling for 16 hours? Arriving exhausted? Dealing with the funeral arrangements? Facing my mom and her grief?  Thank you adrenaline! 

 

When it came, I knew, 

I had not slept well in the night. Nevertheless, time changes, reality changes, another universe opens up when death happens. 

 

My father has died.

He had been suffering from Dementia for about 5 years, but in the last couple of month it has become to much for my mom and he had to be transferred into a full time care facility,  a unit for people with Alzheimer and Dementia. When visiting the unit, I told myself, he didn't know anymore where he was, to comfort myself.

Yes, he could no longer express himself, but was he aggressive because of it? I don't know, and I don't want to go down this road, to slippery, to dangerous for my mental health. 

 

After visiting the Alzheimer/Dementia unit, I felt deep pain and fear, I needed to get out, walk in the soft rain. Wanting to walk fast, breath hard, feel, I am still living. Walk and forget the woman holding on to me with her panic, while walking up and down the corridor. 

 

Breathing air, fresh air, 

defying aging,

walking fast, see I can still  

arrogant

however, I was already an hour older,

every second aging me

the unit a memory 

I am bound to forget.

 

The corridor, white, up and down, like ghosts, the people walk. My Dad, his spirit still sticks to these walls. 

Another man is in the room my Dad occupied, he doesn't look good, how long will he still have to suffer?

 

 When I was in Germany, my care was with my mom, making sure she is alright and are able to continue on. She is, she always was a survivor, what strength.