In a beautiful mountain town in Northern BC, halfway between prince George and prince Rupert on highway 16. Smithers BC is the home to many, very talented artists. And I've decided to sit down in conversation with some of them and find out. Just what makes them tick. Welcome to. Conversations in art.
Perry Rath:I'm Perry Rath and I live in Smithers BC. On the Unceded territory of the Wet'suwet'en nation. And how I would describe myself as an artist. I'm definitely a mixed media artist who dabbles in a lot of different media types over the years and different kinds of series that explore different ideas. In terms of my painting. I do a lot of layered kinds of paintings. I've had a few different series on the go, but yeah, basically if I were to try to encapsulate what I explore sense of place, and how our identity is tied to our place, how we interpret our place and how that influences our internal life. And that sort of communication between our internal landscape and the external landscape. And then I'm also very, I dunno, I've been very aware in my life of my position as a white male and the privilege that comes with that. And so I've also done a lot of art work that explores a lot of social justice issues or environmental awareness trying to spread that those sorts of ideas around, and looking at ways of how to amplify other voices through my art. Yeah, I guess that kind of would package it up in a way.
Moe Kafer:I, noticed that you tackle some pretty heavy subject matter
Perry Rath:some of it. Yeah, for sure.
Moe Kafer:Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Perry Rath:last few years, that's been put in front of that acronym series sequence to honor the fact that we're on indigenous lands. So two-spirited LGBTQ plus, so lesbian, gay BI trans. Queer questioning plus, and then there's all sorts of other identities that keep being part of that mix. Yeah, for that particular grouping, when I started teaching at the high school, I, yeah, there's the other component of my artistic practice is, art education, really. And so I'm an art teacher for youth at the high school and spend nearly 20 years now. I've been doing that. And when I first started. I helped start a couple of groups. One was called youth for a better world and it tackled social justice and environmental awareness things like some of my art has done because that has obviously been an interest of mine since prior to teaching. And then we started also what began as the gay straight Alliance, and then evolved into the gender sexuality Alliance as these identities became more diverse. So I get to. You mean, youth are very much, they're our future. And they're, they encapsulate a certain kind of energy. And they're trying to navigate these structures of the world. And oftentimes that the they're the stereotype of the youth are the rebelling against the constraints of the world kind of thing. And so I get to see how youth tried to navigate through that. And as a, as an adult, who's interested in these causes and issues. I try to help them understand these structures and how to push against them. Obviously they've got their own energy too. so I've done a series of portraits of queer youth because I see how many times over the years they've had to, they've had to stifle their identity to protect themselves and to feel safe from either family members or the community or whatever. And they don't get to real. Feel understand, you know, really delve into their identity until they leave the community. Although there's some, definitely some who just are adamantly who they are and they're courageous in that. And so it's great that I've been able to be part of that, helping to facilitate that. And so I helped to start Smithers pride, seeing the need once kids graduated for a wider community acceptance
Moe Kafer:Would you say, you've done portraiture, so you're documenting as well as using art as a therapy form, for them to, express themselves.
Perry Rath:Yeah. Lots of the things we do in, lots and lots of the queer students, I have, you definitely use art as a therapy to understand to just explore and express themselves for sure. Sometimes in very concealed kind of ways so that someone looking at the art may not realize what they're trying to say or whatever. But they're exploring their queer identity. And me being an active, modern, contemporary artist as well, I'm super interested in and I have lots of active artists, friends around the world really, so I can help point kids to, Yeah you're a young queer artist, check out this work by this person. And it's great to open doors like that. And so yeah, as you say, I am documenting, so my own artwork is just documenting queer youth in that way. That's the stack of them just over there as we're talking. Etching them into barnboard and there's various reasons why I used the materials I do, and the techniques for each of the things. Another group of artwork I do that kind of documents. Things is I've done some of indigenous youth as well as they've tried to reclaim their identity, their connection to their heritage and their culture, because that's all through colonial structures and oppressive histories, that's also been stamped out of them. So I as well tried to encourage my indigenous students to look into their own connection to their culture. Not necessarily in the traditional sense of like they have to make ovoids and that kind of thing, but because there's a lot of really exciting contemporary indigenous artists, as you probably know, are really pushing the boundaries again, of what it is to reclaim their culture in a modern world. So I've done some large portraits there in that big, huge crate there. of overlaying students on top of old history pages from very old textbooks and And things like that. Yeah. So definitely being a teacher and my connection and exposure to youth has influenced my art as well. Yeah.
Moe Kafer:So I guess in a sense, would you consider yourself in political artist or?
Perry Rath:Yeah, I guess, I'd have to say yes, not all my works are like that. A lot of them come through that lens. For sure. I wouldn't be able to avoid having that sort of political lens looking at a bunch of my artwork for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I've definitely had some people respond to my artwork in ways that are like, they just, they'll say, oh, I didn't know anything about that issue. Thanks for letting me know, or they'll say. Ah, I think you're being a bit too strong, in what you're trying to say or whatever. So like I had an art show at the gallery Smithers this gallery this summer, and it had a few people, but I'm also open to conversation. So I had a few people mentioned to me I'm not sure about your take on a past historical figures based on your artwork that was critiquing them or whatever kind of thing. And conversation dialogue for exploring what historical figures have brought us to in our modern world today and what influence they've had and whether it's been positive or negative and ultimately art, I think poses more questions than it necessarily answers for sure. And so my art sometimes it's very. It can be very clear what I'm trying to say, but it also is just like questioning the status quo. And I think a lot of artists tend to occupy that space of not necessarily just making pretty pictures or not necessarily just promoting. Society as it is. I don't know. A lot of artists are always like, have a little bit of dissent about what's going on in the world, mainly at the very least, because artists may not be supported. So at least there's going to be artists that will be like I have to do so much to make my living as an artist. I know. And so therefore the system is against artists in general or whatever. Anyway. So at the very least there's reasons why artists should not necessarily just accept society yet, base level
Moe Kafer:And I think, when you have work that brings up questions or instills a feeling within someone, anyone, I feel like that's a point of purpose of art as well. It's it'll go stoke that fire a little bit. Okay. Let's see what comes out of that.
Perry Rath:Yeah, totally. I think it's a great communication device for sure. To get people. Think about things and walk away from looking at your art. I think there's definitely value in art that's just transcendent and sublime and making you just be in awe of the beauty around you, but also to make you think as well. And I know some of my artwork that is more like landscape based, like my salmon paintings, where my other layered landscapes come with aspects of just aesthetic appreciation. There also can be deeper meanings in there too, but so someone can walk away with this oh, it's a beautiful painting of colors and salmon and shapes that I like. But as an artist, it just so much just layers into it that it can be taken at a surface value, or it can be looked into as to other depths as well.
Moe Kafer:Yeah. Like for instance, I was looking through your portfolio on line and saw the field gaze piece, which is quite an interesting piece because it is very it's provocative on many levels, the way that it teeters and adds contrast to art. So if you could describe that piece and what was your thinking behind that piece?
Perry Rath:So I was invited to be part of a show that was called disturbances in the field, a group show. And so again, I was really thinking about the relationship of humans with our natural environment and how we dominate and wanting to control and consume the nature around us. We also want to appreciate it and support it in many ways, so I was really thinking of, again, these open-ended questions of our kind of. Troubled relationship that we have with nature that we really enjoy going for people general, like going for hikes, like going like lots of outdoor recreational activities, but also we tend to want to control it. And it was, yeah, I just started making these sketches and ideas. And so then this sort of weird. Bird feeder type of thing came out of that. And so I started to just push that direction. Like it's it's always interesting how ideas get generated, and then you can go any number of different directions and then you decide you commit to one and then you just see where it takes you. Also where I was living at the time, I had lots of old barns that were like different degrees of disrepair and falling down. If you go into a city, there's all sorts of construction and there's the the standard timber frame, orderliness of the way, humans try to take a tree and turn it into some dimensional lumber. That's usable, that kind of thing. And I started to take scrap bits of one by twos from my classroom and from. The dump that we have here in Smithers, where you can salvage things, if you're lucky. And and then thinking of the gaudy bright colors that we use with spray paints and how that would look very obtrusive out in nature, very gaudy. And then started to think of this sort of bird feeder kind of thing, as as an interior. Space within this sort of triangulated geometric structure. that looked like it could fall over at any time. Yeah. And then I mounted it on these. I just displayed it on these firewood rounds again, to show the relationship between raw wood and manufactured lumber. And so the little inside this triangulated teetering bright colored structure is this kind of geometric head shape. Like human head shaped, dangling thing that held suet it for birds to eat. And it was like both, just, it just was exploring that contrast that we have as humans. Like we want to feed birds, but we also want to keep birds away. And is this like a bird feeder? Is this a glorified, artistic bird feeder? Or is this like a scarecrow thing? Are birds actually going to be attracted and curious and. Yeah, it was displayed in a gallery, but it was also meant to be taken out. The curator, took it out to various different places in nature. And then after the show, I did the same thing. I just took it out. It's now in my yard here pretty much pretty deteriorated, but, and we tried to document what we could and it would be like some animals that would come close to it. Birds, crows, smaller birds, like Sparrow. It was a night at my online property or a Fox had tipped it over. I also documented the time when new these mushrooms were growing underneath it and the, a, in a fairy ring kind of thing, like right underneath it. So that was interesting. So it was just, again, really exploring our relationship in a, to nature in a way that didn't necessarily have any answers again. What a bizarre, art's allowed to be bizarre, right? So it was just and it made me think it made me wish. I, I, that I had the time and the energy and the resources to make more of these and put them all around Northern BC and just document their eventual deterioration and their interactions with humans and with nature. I dunno, that's the other thing I could always come up with, come up against as an artist. It's you just don't have enough time and resources to really flesh out your ideas as big as you want. So this was a one-off kind of thing, but it was quite interesting. And then I did a series of watercolor sketches that kind of related to that idea too.
Moe Kafer:Cool. So very multimedia artist.
Perry Rath:Yeah. Yeah. I definitely don't limit myself. Which at first in my art career was hard to figure out because the advice you get is like from galleries wouldn't stuff was like, you've got a specialized, you've got to make your signature style and then you're recognizable. And then people know, and what to expect from you. And I just couldn't do that. I just couldn't stay pinned down to one thing. I certainly have some series that I, that have been ongoing since my early years. And so they become a recognizable style, but they are not exclusively what I do. If I get an idea, I'll dive into exploring different media types that I might want to do it. And I haven't really done much in the way of technological media yet anyway, but mostly I like lots of hands-on kind of stuff, so I've been mostly doing things like, yeah. Printmaking and watercolor and painting and installation sculpture. So in my early installation, sculpture was also using very peculiar materials, like dried chicken feet, human teeth, dead insects, things like that. Yeah.
Moe Kafer:You have a great artist's statement. Oh, very interesting. Oh, yeah. So relationships of memory, renewal presence, absence history time. So talk to me more about the meanings of objects for you when and your art working.
Perry Rath:A lot of my early works that I was referring to that are like found objects, installation, or altered objects really came out of my interest the meaning of objects themselves and how you come upon something like something that has been discarded or something that, and you just don't know the history of that object. It could have meant something very important to somebody at some point or what, what sort of history is embedded in that, that we'll never ever know. Whether it's an unearthed artifact or just an object that's been discarded or something that came from your grandma, you never know the emotional vibration around it. what is meant in this world. And to some people it's just a piece of junk for instance. But you can start to imagine stories and narratives that come out from this one object, or you can do some research as well and find out actually where it came from or what his history was, or, how maybe went from an heirloom from through to the family or whatever, this, all these things, but like a literal twisted piece of metal. Could be a remnant of something that was super important at some point. So I started to really think about our relationship to objects and the narratives that could be embedded in this object. And so I started to play with juxtaposing these objects. So they started to create a dialogue with each other as well? And so a lot of my early installation work was about creating peculiar kind of juxtapositions and then giving them a titles to make people. Think about, oh, that I never really thought of that object in that way before and now. And how it's related to that other object that it's placed with in this particular orientation or so I, yeah, I've and I guess I'm I dunno, a bit nostalgic in that way. I do like collecting weird objects and then. After this group of installations that I did, people were definitely bringing me weird things or dead hummingbirds, they found on their window sill or things like that. And so then I just began keeping this collection of weird objects. And so it's hard for me to let those go because I'm like, oh, I definitely can use this in some way. Or I just really like the poignancy of that artifact or whatever. Yeah.
Moe Kafer:Storyteller artist historian teacher all seem to be an
Perry Rath:interesting collection of descriptions that I think I could agree that I fall under those sorts of things, yeah, because sometimes with these objects, for instance, I was creating imaginary narratives. Also in terms of documenting, like for instance, the indigenous youth and all that, and colonial histories, I'm also trying to explore other views of history, but yeah, I guess storyteller and historian are embedded within that artistic practice for me. Yeah. Yeah. I hadn't really, I hadn't really thought of it like that. Yeah.
Moe Kafer:And so where did teacher come in.. Cause you teach in high school.
Perry Rath:Yeah. Yeah. Teacher plays a few roles. One is, I mean, when I left art school you're a young artist and so you've got to do a lot of different things to make ends meet. And so I had lots of odd jobs, but also I was teaching workshops and stuff and I seemed to get linked up. With a youth group at the time. And because I was also, I also had my activism side as a young person. And so it was like, I was teaching art workshops to young environmental activists on how to use art in a way to connect with nature or to express your ideas. So I always had, the education component of. art-making was always part of my makeup, and then of course it's a way to make a living that's consistent because it really is unpredictable when you sell a piece or when you don't sell a piece, it's just so impossible to predict when that will happen. And when I did move to Smithers it was an interesting time because it was. The year, 2000. So that was like the whole Y2K vibe going on of it just seems like ever since then, there's always been this, like, when's the end of when does the end of society coming or whatever. I was moving away from bigger cities. And so there was this sense from other people I knew who were like, why are you leaving a big city? Because there's where that's where artistic opportunities are. And I had to find other ways to make, expose my art and make a living and all that. Anyway, I ended up having a conversation with the high school art teacher at the time. And he said that he was gonna retire soon. So I was like, okay, I think this is a good segue for me to get my actual teacher training and jump into that. And just, it really evolved quite nicely. But when I started teaching, I was adamant that I wanted to make sure that I didn't like, you hear plenty of time when teachers just develop themselves to become a teacher and then they let their own artistic practice. They just don't have the time for it. It just falls away. And I really wanted to be very conscious that I didn't become that kind of an art teacher, where I just devoted myself to the system so strongly that I didn't keep making art myself. So from my early years of teaching, I can remember definitely showing my students my own artwork. And I just definitely found that it fed them and me being around young people also fed me. And it just because I'm a, in a creative environment all day long, they're mostly serving our youth so helping to facilitate creative opportunities for them. Even though I'm not actually getting to work on my own art in that time, I'm still in a very creative environment and it just helps to keep that energy up in me. And so then I would, try to make sure that I had enough energy late at night to keep working on my own stuff as well. And I really love being able to open creative doors for people in general, but especially youth. Really trying to figure out who they are and what, how they fit into the world. And obviously it's pretty, it's a pretty big time in our lives to figure out our own identity, who we are and we're trying on different things. And being a teacher in a high school, basically the high school of the community, I certainly don't only get kids that want to take art in my class. I get lots of kids that. I have different reasons for wanting to hang out in the art room. And so I just try to make it as welcoming as possible, figure out how I can help them uncover some creative spark in themselves, even if they don't consider themselves artistic. And there are some kids that go on to become to do art. Post-secondary art and I've. Good handful of kids, of former students who are carving their own identity in the art world now as indigenous or as queer artists or regular heteronormative type art folks. But I think that legacy is important to not just be secluded in my studio, making my own work, but to, Help create that in our community help create more of a creative feeling in our community and for young people to follow into that. And so that, that feeds me a lot too, for sure. Sometimes it's very draining, but it also feeds me a lot. Yeah.
Moe Kafer:And so what's the kernel that sparks you, or is it a variety of different things at different times?
Perry Rath:Yeah, it really is a variety of different things. Also being a father of three kids is, it comes with its own demands. And so I've just learned to find, I don't know. I remember when I was in art school, my friend and I having this conversation and we came to the conclusion, like everything is, everything is education for me as an artist, because I'm always, there's always any kernel of something that I can take out of any experience I have, whether good or bad whether I'm consuming another artwork, like watching a movie or weather I'm influenced by the news or whether it's more coming from inside me from a more reflective place. I think it's just this compulsion to always want to convert what I'm thinking about into a visual object. And it's a way of creating a kind of journal of my inner thoughts and workings. And so that way it can be quite widespread and all over the place. Like it can be very much about A quiet personal space and almost meditative spiritual kind of experience for me when I'm making art, but it can also bring in the components of the sociopolitical sphere and express my thoughts or things that I might be outraged about or things that I think need to change or whatever. It just feels, it feels all those pieces and And ever since I was a little kid, I've always been, my parents have always said, I've always been creating and crouched on the floor or doodling or drawing or something. And and that's so I've just always had that particular desire and drive to Make things. And I happened to have enough of a talent, but again, as a teacher, I definitely let kids know, like you don't need only talent to be an artist. You need to just make stuff and experiment, and then that's how you learn and grow. There's certainly some things that I'm not good at in art. For sure. And there's some, there's plenty of artists out there who were better at certain things than I am in art. And I think that's what makes art so fascinating is there's an incredible wealth of amazing expression out there in art. And so that also, it can be inspiring. It can also make you feel like all there's just too much art who needs more art from someone like me and I that's what I, since I feel that I also try to let my students know and anyone else who I give workshops to it's like all the world needs every one's expression. For sure. Yeah. Cycle through those sorts of things. And, but ultimately I've my own ignition to want to make art. And I also feel like most people, sometimes you feel like you hit a creative blockage and you're like, wow, I've done these all these series. And I guess I could continue bits of these series, but then what comes next? And then I'm always surprised at some other idea comes through me and then I start to work through it and then some kind of image comes from it and I'm like, oh yeah, I can make a whole other series about this. And I like the way that this aesthetic is coming together with the idea. And then it just carries you. So you just gotta be open to surprises, and know that if you give it time and space that you'll come up with new things.
Moe Kafer:Do you feel that with the teaching and working with, other young blossoming artists has opened you up to collaboration because I saw a piece that you did with the paper plates, which was very collaborative?
Perry Rath:Yeah. For sure. I definitely, yeah. Seem to be drawn to collaborations for sure. And yeah, I've done collaborations with recent, graduate students of mine and other community members and artists and non-artists and more widespread people. There's a part of me who loves to just be quietly alone in my studio, because I rarely seem to get that kind of time. And so I appreciate that time, but I also just see the need for art to bring people together and for ideas to get more and more impactful as they filter through more different people's hands. And and just being around students and young people all the time, as you say I think that just opens me up To the importance of collaborative approaches to art making and to society building community building, because we're all not living in a vacuum in our own little world. We have those opportunities, but I think the more that we can try to connect with other people, I think that's going to save us in our society today with how things. Seemed to emphasize division more than ever these it seems
Moe Kafer:well, yeah, it's funny because, when I started this, these interviews, we were, in COVID, or people had already been, sequestered for a solid year. And for some artists that's, very liberating because now they don't have to be social and they get to have all their time, but then it comes to a point where it's no longer. A delicious stolen moment. It's now being locked away and kept apart.
Perry Rath:Yeah. Yeah. It's a different, it's solitude like for the first little bit. It's like this enjoyable solitude, but then you start to feel isolated and cut off for sure. Yeah, COVID has been an interesting time for that. I've always been busy in the school. I've always been busy as a parent, so I feel like I couldn't dive into. Solitude as much as maybe some people could have, but it's definitely been an interesting time to explore those relationships of what it means to be an artist and to be working on your own thing, but also to be part of a larger network and how important that can be too.
Moe Kafer:Yeah. It'll be interesting to see what happens now that things are opening up to. And dividing there'll be hopefully some interesting art coming out of that. Do you have any inclination or things bubbling away for that?
Perry Rath:I have some series that I haven't fully taken as far as I want to, that I started before COVID that were part of my show, this past show in Smithers, which are these pieces over here that I came to title that the whole series passages. I wasn't sure what to title them at first, but essentially my first painting that was quite large. but it was a piece I did before COVID and I never really done artwork of interior spaces before. I've traveled in Europe and I'm interested in abandoned spaces. I remember when I graduated from art school, one of the first things I joined a freshman friends and I created this art collective, which we called the Indira, which stood for industrial era art collective because there was this old, a bunch of old foundries on the end of our edge of our town. And so it was just these abandoned industrial spaces. And created all these bizarre installations inside these abandoned industrial spaces. So I have had themes of interior spaces in artistic life before, but I just started wanting to paint it stylized interiors, but contrasted with humans in a certain way, and then also natural objects in a certain way. Here's a piece of that where there's birds and was shells and a human in there. But so that sort of set the tone for what I was mostly working on over my, over the COVID time. And I'd like to keep exploring that and the fact that it was, I dunno, the fact that COVID came up and that we were all about like how. We're trapped inside wishing to be outside. And what does the, what do the natural elements symbolize in there and what did the structures of interior space symbolizing? There are these beautiful interior spaces that we've built to protect ourselves and create as a home, but then we feel trapped by them. So I definitely want to keep painting like that. I have more ideas on that sort of trajectory of themes.
Moe Kafer:And you did that piece before COVID hit,
Perry Rath:not that particular one, that one was during COVID. The only one I did before COVID was that one of which that's a piece of, but then these other smaller ones I did during COVID realizing the meaning of what I first started before. COVID it was like, wow, this seems very. On cue with where we're at right now. And I really love how different it is than what I've been doing before. And so I, I definitely want to keep working on those. And I'm sure other ideas will bubble up and other collaborative collaborations will come together. I've certainly been in touch with other artists over the COVID times we've been, and we've been talking about ideas. Sometimes it takes so long for ideas to really gel and really emerge in a certain way. There was, there's a poet that I've been talking to again since before COVID and we've just been trying to meld what his poetry is trying to say and what artwork and styles of artwork, like an S has to come together just right. And so it's been. But it's not like a quick instant thing, but that'll probably continue on as well. And there's other dancers who I've been in touch with. And certainly there was a good stretch of time when I was working with Miriam Colvin being the visual artists and her being the movement based dance artist and us making artwork and actually curating art shows together that explored that kind of idea.
Moe Kafer:And any shows coming up?
Perry Rath:Yeah, I don't have any shows booked right now. I haven't put a lot of effort into booking shows or submitting. Part of that is again, The dilemma of being a working, of being an artist who also works as a parent and has other volunteer duties in the community. It's like you only have so many, so much time in the day to research places to submit stuff to source. That's always hard to accept for sure. That's one of the limitations that's that I find hard for sure. I wouldn't want to give up my teaching, but I love I'd love it. If I could have three days in the classroom and two days in my own studio, that'd be a great balance, I think. And then I could not only have more time to make art, but more time to outreach, but I've still chipped away as I could. So I look forward to having some more time to or making the time to do some more Portfolio submissions to different group shows or galleries or, the whole gallery system also changed over COVID, I guess I do most of my selling over the past couple of years of COVID has been through Instagram essentially, really. I mostly don't show in commercial spaces, really. I just show in public galleries and that kind of thing, which like the Two Rivers gallery in prince George has been great. So it's a great Northern gallery for sure. Public galleries allow you to make art where that you don't have to worry about whether it's sellable or not, which is also a hard thing as an artist you don't want to pander your art to a marketplace, for sure. Because then you reduce you're thinking too, like what will somebody maybe want to buy? But you don't want that to limit what your ideas create for sure. But. You also have to support yourself and make a living. So I happen to have the teaching component to fill that role.
Moe Kafer:Do you think tools social media tools, like Instagram and Facebook have changed the marketplace for artists?
Perry Rath:I think so. Definitely the physical galleries are going to have to figure out how they're going to navigate themselves. Out of the COVID era. I know a lot of them have tried to pivot to having a lot of online presence. But a bunch of artists I know have taken that kind of side of things into their own hands. And social media has definitely helped to provide artists with that kind of platform where they can take it on themselves. It just means. It's another thing you've got to do. You've got to manage. So it takes away your time for creating, for sure.
Moe Kafer:So it's double-edged sword, but just another job just to add to your list.
Perry Rath:Yeah. Yeah. Galleries have had their place for sure. When you went and you could be like, okay, you take care of all this kind of stuff. I'll take care of this kind of stuff. And then you can put it in their hands, but
Moe Kafer:it's a funny double edge sword in a sense. It gives you exposure to an audience that not even the gallery would be able to reach, which makes art as a business, more attainable for any artist.
Perry Rath:Yeah. Yeah.
Moe Kafer:But in the same sense, now you have to do all the work. Yeah. And, you have to build your own client list.
Perry Rath:So that's one of the component that I've also been having to talk to students about a lot more too. And help them set up their online presence. Obviously a lot of them are pretty astute with online social media kind of stuff, but some of them are like, it's all just social for them and all that. It's just like, how do you turn that into actually trying to make it a business? But yeah, indigenous beaders in my class who have been working on beading as their art form. And once they've graduated, they've set themselves up on Instagram and they can post the earrings or any kind of jewelry they've made. And I think they're doing okay, selling their stuff. It's a momentum thing once you can. sell a little bit and then start to expose yourself and then other people start to get attracted and then start following you. Like it does, it is a bit of a momentum game, for sure. But yeah, so I've seen some students being able to transition from not even going to art school. Like they're like, I can't afford to go to art school, but I'm going to try to sell my stuff just online through my own Instagram account and not even through a shop or something. That's another component of being an art teacher too, is like you've got to help kids that want to go that direction, understand what it is to be an artist in the world today. Many,
Moe Kafer:Many caps you don for sure. Yeah. You're a busy guy. Yeah. That's very exciting. Thank you very much for sharing. You're a very interesting artist. It's been a pleasure chatting with you.
Perry Rath:Yeah. Yeah. Have I'm happy to have this opportunity to talk with you Mo. Yeah. So would you mind if I took a couple of pictures? Yeah, absolutely. And I can dig out anything that's leading up or whatever you want. Some of these ones. Yeah. Is it better than some kind of last or so, would you be okay if I took some pictures, like I won't do a single shots severe, but I'll do a group shot and then they'll go up. Cause it's nice for people to see the art that we're talking about. Yeah, totally. And these are hard to see in certain light, for sure. But that's just part of the meeting as well, but for you'd have blend in, in certain ways. Do have other lights if you want to. Nope. Yeah, no, it's awesome to see. Can I get you to stand in here? And I might just open this door a little bit, a little natural light. can I just get you to stand a little, like little bore step forward? There we go. Perfect. Yep. Yeah. And then maybe we'll go and do some over here with sure. yeah, you're free to move. Any object is if you need to get back further, for instance is quite cool. Cluttered. Those things are super durable, but yeah, it's hard. I, on the other thing, when I think of, when I make my art studio like this, it's gotta be space for raw materials. There's going to be space for packing materials space for. The tools space for the finished art. It's like hard to fit it all in sometimes. And so where do you set up when you're? I'm, as I mentioned, as I think I alluded to I've ever since I was a kid, I'm a, I'd like to paint and work on the floor. Sometimes if it's a small piece, I'll work on the table here, but oftentimes I'll set up on the floor with something big, or I know I'll move things around as I need to swing. And the summertime I opened up the garage. And also I can store some things outside that are excessive, that don't need to be in an enclosed space kind of thing. So I definitely make use of milder days to move to clear things out of here, but yeah, I can move this table over. I can, if I'm working on a big piece, but I also make use of my classroom after hours too. If I'm working on a particularly big piece or something I have it stored in my storage room. And then after school's done, I'll take it out and work on it for an hour before I come home or something like that. So it's nice to have both those, I think you're quite lucky to have such a big space. I've seen some small spaces, a lot of people are painting in their homes, right? Yeah. Moving stuff. They're family. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, totally. I feel like I'm lucky for that too. I remember, my early days when I was just in a corner of my house too, and then I remember like making it a priority okay. When we buy a place, I definitely needed a distinct studio for sure. Yeah, when I was in university, I remember just taking over this, the basement. I was in, obviously like a student, how does everybody else? But I was like, I'm going to take over this corner of the basement and this can be my studio and it's cold and everything down there. Like here, but it's drama, heat and yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Yeah. So I'm going to do basically another I've done six of these and they were up and on up and going. Okay.