Karen Irving is an outsider artist. Self-taught from the get-go, the Vancouver-based creative turned to painting in 2005 after contracting a rare and life-threatening infection.
“I don't really like telling this story because it identifies me as [having been] ill, but it's the truth,” she says. "I was supposed to die, but I didn't."
Irving was off work and recovering from the near-fatal illness when her doctor suggested that she put her thoughts and feelings down on canvas. Fast forward 13 years and, this weekend, the enthusiastic artist is showing her work in the first-ever Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival at the Roundhouse Community Centre, Aug. 11-12.
Pierre Leichner, artistic director of the festival, says the inspiration for the festival came partly from Europe’s long tradition of honouring outsider artists.
“Europe has had a longer tradition of outsider art,” he explains, noting that Paris and London, among other cities, hold similar festivals. Not only are marginalized artists negatively impacted by their exclusion from the mainstream art world, but Leichner says that when their work isn’t on display, the public misses out, as well.
As a core organizer of the event, Irving, 52, has helped recruit more than 50 visual and performing artists, all of whom don’t have access to mainstream art education or institutions.
Reached by phone, Irving told Westender that her motivation to help with the show comes from her gratitude for the arts community.
“I really try to get myself immersed with the neighbourhood and give back with what I can do myself, as an artist,” she says.
Irving’s transition into visual arts was rocky. Initially, she declined her doctor’s suggestion that she try painting. Instead, after recovering from her traumatic illness, she left her job in finance and went travelling. But, in London, England, a window display of a multi-colour leather dress caught her attention. She snapped a picture and, when she got home, began to paint.
“I did everything self-taught. I used sponges from the house, I didn't know what I was doing, I just was completely alone,” the enthusiastic painter recalls.
Irving began working with different paints and tools, getting tips from the sales-people at her local art supply store, while simultaneously beginning a new career as a project manager at Vancouver Coastal Health.
Things were going well for the self-professed “workaholic.” She was making $80 an hour but working 80 hours a week. She lived in South Granville, bought high-end suits and went to fancy dinners. Soon, four years had passed and her painting skill had progressed, developing into a sophisticated technique using knives, acrylics and oils. With the encouragement of others, she donated a few of her paintings to a charity auction at her work.
“I wasn't planning on being an artist; I just was doing it for myself,” Irving says. But everything changed when she brought her work in. “People in the office were so excited, and I sold $11,000 worth of art to my colleagues, and I didn't [even] have a website.”
Then, tragedy struck again. Irving contracted Crohn’s disease, was forced to stop working and found herself with little money. “God doesn’t give you anything more than you can handle, but I wouldn’t wish this journey on anyone else,” she says with a heavy sigh, recalling how she had to rebuild her life and identity.
She lost her friends and could no longer afford to live in her neighbourhood, so she moved to the Downtown Eastside, where she encountered the community-run art space Gallery Gachet, located a block away from her new home. She quickly became a member of the organizing collective, and then a board member. "That save, save, saved me, because I met other like-minded artists,” Irving says. “Now I'm so grateful … Now I'm an artist. Now I have a fabulous life and I wouldn't trade it. And so I'm where I'm supposed to be, but I never would have thought that in a million years.”
• The Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival runs Aug. 11-12 at the Roundhouse Community Centre. Opening reception Friday, Aug. 11 at 4 p.m. Free Admission
