The artists and writers selected as ArtAscent Gold from ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal issues.

Gold writer of the 2020 ArtAscent Abstract exhibition

Beatrix Koch

Alice’s Adventure in Geometry Land

I had a dream

The most confusing, scary, and surreal dream.

In my dream, I was little, as small as a tiny pencil point. The place where I lived seemed a big universe with lines, points and circles. I felt like a mouse in a trap, but this trap was anything just not an exactly defined place…

The stories of Beatrix Koch are often quirky, examine unusual feelings, and explore the world with a specific focus on fears, desires, or hidden motives. The texts are always relevant and shaped towards providing the readers with a sense of déjà vu.

Beatrix Koch is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Abstract call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Abstract issue.

https://www.beatrixkochbooks.com/

Gold artist of the 2020 Sensuality call

Sydney Paige Richardson

Gold artist of the 2020 Sensuality call

Philosopher and poet Henry David Thoreau wrote, “We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bone.” Artists like Sydney Paige Richardson seek to hear and render the stories told through the plasticity of bodies. “Story” is a crucial word for understanding Sydney’s visual practice. Combining her passion for photography with a profound interest in writing, she looks for ways to enrich the formal harmony of an image with additional meanings.

Sydney Paige Richardson is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Sensuality call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Sensuality issue.

www.sydneypaigerichardson.com

Gold writer of the 2020 Sensuality collection

Leah Holbrook Sackett

Spooning

Lillian and Marvin were married for 35 fruitless years.
“It’s not like nowadays where women take drugs like cocktails and voila, twins or triplets or, heaven forbid, more,” Lillian bemoaned to Stan in June.
“In the ‘70s, you still did things the old fashion way; by time fertility clinics came on the scene. Marvin said we were too settled in our ways to add kids to the picture…

In her captivating vignette, “Spooning,” author Leah Holbrook Sackett lets her reader in on a life gone wrong and the main character lost on a journey to make sense of it all. The inspiration for this piece developed following Leah’s discovery in her own kitchen of a rogue spoon. The spoon was mismatched to any set, yet was a favourite among the utensils stashed in the drawer. This facet becomes a key hinge of the story she tells and raised intriguing questions in itself to the things that we cherish in life.

Leah Holbrook Sackett is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Sensuality call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Sensuality issue.

www.leaholbrooksackett.com/

Lee Lessem, ArtAscent Gold Artist of the Grey call for artists.

Lee Lessem

Lee Lessem, ArtAscent Gold Artist of the Grey call for artists.

Gerhard Richter, a celebrated German artist, believed grey is “equivalent for indifference, non-commitment, absence of opinion, absence of shape.” But Lee Lessem takes an opposite approach to the colour, trying to prove it to be fully charged with emotions and presence. A curious fact is that grey became extremely popular among Russian aristocracy in the 19th century.

Lee Lessem is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Grey call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Grey issue.

Gold writer of the 2020 Grey call for writers

Leena Nox

Her Coat of Red Roses

When I open my eyes, the world is grey. Just as it was
yesterday and the day before that day and the day
before that. It’s like I’m trapped in one of those old
black and white films, except the credits never roll…

In the brief yet explosive Her Coat of Red Roses, author Leena Nox takes her readers on a tantalizing trip into the mind of her main character and the contrasts of colour that guides that character’s life. Setting the stage for her reader in a world dominated by grey, Leena is able to compellingly use the colours of her writing to carry the narrative of her striking vignette forward.

Leena Nox is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Grey call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Grey issue.

Gold Artist of the 2019 Portraits call, Christine Columbo

Christine Columbo

Gold Artist of the 2019 Portraits call, Christine Columbo

Portraiture is based on subtle connections between a model and its representation. British painter Lucian Freud once said, I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them.” Christine Columbo embraces this challenge with the empathic approach. It takes more than a talent for capturing something from nature to create an authentic, profound piece.

Christine Columbo is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Portraits call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Portraits issue.

https://christinecolumbo.com

2020 Portraits Gold Writer

Maria D Peregolise

God My Father: A Portrait of Divinity

“A learned man is an idler who kills time with study. Beware of his false knowledge: it is more dangerous than ignorance,” George Bernard Shaw, 1905 (Shaw, 1905)
“Just trust me”
I hated those words from my Father, along with an abrupt hand gesture that always made me flinch…

In God My Father: A Portrait of Divinity, author Maria Peregolise explores the tensions of obedience and defiance in the face of an omnipresent force and tantalizes the reader with the powerful portrait of faith she portrays. In exploring this striking theme, Maria recalls the relatable experiences in childhood when the intense pressures and overwhelming desires for acceptance and independence muddy much of our understanding of the world around us.

Maria D Peregolise is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Portraits call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Portraits issue.

Motion exhibition Gold artist

Gerald Alderman

Motion exhibition Gold artist

Exploring motion is one of the most significant challenges for visual arts. Thanks to its documenting power, photography approaches the hypnotizing synthesis of spatial and time dimensions, giving the artists like Gerald Alderman a tool for capturing all sides of the human experience.

Gerald Alderman is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Motion call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Motion issue.

Motion exhibit Gold Writer

Susan Nickerson

Exit 60

The first thing I noticed was his filthy pair of jeans. They’d been worn so often they could have stood on their own and walked. Old and tattered, holes in both knees, it was hard to imagine they once were blue. Inside them lived a homeless man, who clutches a simple cardboard sign that read, “Will Work.” His long graying hair stuck to his rugged face, his head was hanging heavy from the obvious weight of the world and a half-empty bottle of rot-gut gin…

In Exit 60, author Susan Nickerson brilliantly probes the profound personal challenges of love and loss. In doing so, she reveals for her reader the gripping challenge of trying to move forward when emotions and memories keep us motionless instead.

Susan Nickerson is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Motion call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Motion issue.

Gold Artist of the 2019 "Water" art exhibition

Tal Eshed

Gold Artist of the 2019 "Water" art exhibition

Since the beginning of modern history, there has been a sense that humanity is drifting away from our wild roots. For the artist Tal Eshed, it is water that could allow us to re-establish the lost connection with our natural selves.

Tal Eshed is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Water call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Water issue.

www.taleshed.com

Gold Writer of the 2019 Water call for writers

Taria Karillion

Planet Earth Will Soon Be Closing, Please Make Your Final Choices

The view of Earth from orbit always made Professor Verle Coby profoundly sad. In its derelict state, the sparse web of clouds that clung to its blue and brown surface reminded him of the Earth story of the elderly human who lived in her shabby, tattered wedding dress. The passengers were watching the time-lapse holo-ad of the planet’s history and ingesting the press-out pizza and bubble-gum discs from the guidebook…

Exploring a dystopian future as a means to remind her reader the time is now for action, writer Taria Karillion conjures the pain of lost existence in Planet Earth Will Soon be Closing, Please Make Your Final Choices

Taria Karillion is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Water call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Water issue.

ArtAscent Gold Artist of the White call for artists.

Leslie Carpenter-Holt

ArtAscent Gold Artist of the White call for artists.

The very first (and perhaps most banal) association with white that pops into one’s mind is snow. Thus, sometimes this color gets a slightly melancholic flavor. However, photographs of Leslie Carpenter-Holt challenge the stereotypical association of winter with a cold void.

Leslie Carpenter-Holt is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent White call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal White issue.

Gold Writer of the 2019 ArtAscent White call for writers.

Manny Veiga

Getting Away With It

I’m wearing green-tinted sunglasses as I shove my way through the crowded square. It makes the world around me look even hotter than it feels. The crowd is a hornet’s nest of flailing arms and shaking fists. It’s not just the heat that has people stirred up…

In Getting Away With It, author Manny Veiga brings to life a complex, colourful character who reveals as much as he obscures and leaves the reader poised for the next chapter in a brief yet compelling episode.

Manny Veiga is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent White call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal White issue.

https://zmveiga.wordpress.com/

Gold artist of ArtAscent's 2019 Abstract call for artists.

Jeremy Underwood

Gold artist of ArtAscent's 2019 Abstract call for artists.

When it comes to photography and land art, it seems nothing can be more realistic than they are. But a closer look reveals both of these art use tools of abstraction. How? The artwork of Jeremy Underwood brightly demonstrates that.

Jeremy Underwood is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Abstract call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Abstract issue.

http://jeremyunderwood.com/

Gold writer of ArtAscent's 2019 Abstract call for artists.

Susan Nickerson

Sugar Mountain

I sit perched on the edge of the proverbial shrink couch. I reach into my handbag and fumble around for a piece of gum before I divulge my inner secret. “I’m a sugar addict,” I blurt. “I’m also a neurotic and a long-time, anxiety-ridden insomniac.” There. I said it. I have been exposed to my core…

Blending playful fantasy with tender reality, Susan Nickerson’s short yet engaging essay Sugar Mountain offering a fascinating experiment with abstract imagination while also enveloping the reading in an all-too familiar scenario. Using a real-world experience as the inspiration for this piece, Susan channeled the sensations of a moment of misunderstood instruction into a delightful exploration of desires and drives.

Susan Nickerson is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Abstract call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Abstract issue.

ArtAscent Gold Artist of the Beauty 2019 call for artists.

John Patkau

ArtAscent Gold Artist of the Beauty 2019 call for artists.

After the radical changes in the artistic practices of the 20th century, beauty seems to longer be the core issue of art. However, contemporary artists, like John Patkau, keep researching this sphere. What motivates and inspires him?

John Patkau is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Beauty call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Beauty issue.

https://patkau.ca/filter/research/

Beauty 2019 call for writers Gold Writer

Chynna Laird

Beauty in Love

Many of us define beauty in terms of what we see, not what we feel. This makes sense since what we see gives us a complete picture. It’s touchable and real. What we often forget, however, is that how we individually interpret what we see stems from the feelings that surface when we take in a setting, object, or person…

In “Beauty in Love,” author Chynna Laird reveals a transformative moment in her youth that helped her realize the beauty within when exposed to the true beauty of love. Chynna’s story of beauty will undoubtedly resonate with many readers as it brings to mind any painful moment in life when we faced personal struggle.

Chynna Laird is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Beauty call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Beauty issue.

www.chynnalairdauthor.ca

ArtAscent Gold Artist of the Figures call for artists.

Gill Bradley

ArtAscent Gold Artist of the Figures call for artists.

Gill Bradley’s Taking the Plunge series elevates his study of the figure by capturing the nuances of personality in the most minute of gestures. Gestural yet genuine in the mood they convey, these selections reveal Gill’s sensitivity toward her sitters.

Gill Bradley is the Gold Artist of the ArtAscent Figures call for artists. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Figures issue.
http://www.gillbradleydesign.com

ArtAscent Gold Writer of the Figures call for writers.

Christopher O’Meara

Beach Bodies

Growing up my parents liked to call me the smartest, the prettiest, the absolute best. I believed all of it, for a while at least. Adolescence has a way of fracturing even the most cherished fragments of nostalgia…

One of the Hollywood icons of the 1930s, Mae West, said, “I speak two languages, Body and English.” As every language, we can use it to express ourselves or to meet others’ expectations, as proven throughout the following story by Christopher O’Meara.

Christopher O’Meara is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Figures call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Figures issue.
www.christopheromeara.com