May 2, 2013
AGBU Toronto had the pleasure of exhibiting exceptional works of art by Alina Sahakyan on three successive days, April 19th, 20th, and 21st, at the Alex Manoogian Cultural Centre. Ms. Sahakyan was born in Russia, grew up in Armenia and now resides with her husband and daughter in Stouffville, Ontario, just north of Toronto. She began to study art formally from the age of 13, graduated from the Yerevan Pedagogical University of Fine Art and subsequently refined her skills and knowledge at the Art Academy Maximiliene de Meuron in Switzerland.
Ms. Sahakyan’s art education, her identity as an Armenian and her present life in Canada were all evident in one way or another in the compositions she exhibited at the AGBU. For example, her work entitled Under Sunlight was reminiscent of the brush strokes displayed in some of Vincent Van Gogh’s canvases. Vineyard recalled Mardiros Sarian and the cultivated fields one finds driving through Armenia. Armenia was also evoked by one of her other compositions, Pomegranates. Sakura depicted a tree resplendent in pink announcing the arrival of spring. Fall very much conjured up the Canadian country side much in the sense that Tom Thomson’s or the Group of Seven‘s works do. And Ms. Sahakian’s emboldened use of colour in all her works was inspired; colours explode in her works with a Fauvist’s sensibility.
This isn’t to say that Ms. Sahakyan’s works aren’t imbued with her own particular sense of style and originality because they certainly are. Ms. Sahakyan is an accomplished and talented artist adept at painting in oil or drawing in ink. However, her art exhibit at the AGBU was not of the usual kind. It truly was unique particularly because Ms. Sahakyan’s works on display were produced employing the ancient method of felting, a procedure which uses needles and wool. When asked, Ms. Sahakyan mentioned that she worked every day for over a month to produce each one of the works.
The technique of felting isn’t new. But the way Ms. Sahakyan has manipulated her yarns and needles in creating her compositions is new. Instead of brushes, she has used needles, instead of paint she has used an exuberant array of coloured wool yarn. They suffuse her works with a quality that transcends the medium. A case of Art meets Craft. And in that sense she has succeeded in providing us with wondrous works of art that engage the senses and give poetic meaning to rustic scenes and everyday subjects.
