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Artist Statement 
S.A.D.V. Shany Andrea Diaz Vera aka Shany

“The hand is the visible part of the brain.”
- Immanuel Kant

I, Shany Andrea Diaz Vera, daughter of the sun and the earth, individual of my gender, culture and geopolitical situation, I consider that my inner space and my body are the real real estate and the real square meters of this planet that belong to me.
Past traumas and multiple falls have clarified for me that living in old and deep wounds was holding me back.
It has therefore become essential for me to free these spaces from fear to allow the purest expression of my being to manifest.
To do this, I have determined that it is my artistic expression that will assist me in this process.
The symbolic world of dreams and personal and intimate subjects are my great inspiration.
I explore them to unblock what haunts me.
I integrate them to create my state of “flow”, to be completely immersed in the work that manifests from me with the total abandonment of a child who wonders why everyone draws inside the lines, and learn from my mistress, nature, with its endless beauty, poetry, geometry, colors and shapes.
Then, new neurons and synaptic structures are created as paths to overcome my prisons.
Slowly but surely these practices, like an imaginary theatre, help me change my nervous system and my thinking.
Create to recreate myself. Create the art that transforms me!
… and follow it for a long, long time to come…

“The first revolution is when you change your mind.” - Gil Scott Heron

05.03.2022. 20:22
S.A.D.V.
Picture





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-STATS

Born: Santiago, Chile.
Based in: Montreal, Canada.
Speaks: English, French, Spanish
Fields of Works: Drawing, Painting, Illustration, Design, Graphic Design, Sculpture, Jewellery making, Silversmith, Leather work, Custom work, Writing, Dancing, Singing, Acting, Teaching.
Formal Schooling:
Dawson College: Visual-Arts DEC,
Concordia and N.S.C.A.D.: BAC Visual-Arts
E.M.S.O.M.: Professional Jewelers certificate

CREATIVE PROCESS
Expressing desired feelings with an intuitive and technical look. Her experiences in commercial art, where the public's attention is taken over with direct messaging, the use of all the psychological theories, compositions, colors and social influences to incept their message into our brains. Using the same tactics when creating an image while feeling the effects on her person as she is making the art. Movement and body language are studied to reinforce the messages through the details of the body. Symbolism, geometry, patterns of nature and the impact the materials or media used have, all these elements inform her creation. Using techniques such as automatism, abstraction inspired by visions, dreams, stories and her unbridled imagination. With an intention and the means to create the message is transmitted to the eyes that can receive it.

“Creat to affect us, like so much advertising and marketing that floods us and aims only at
consumption, my visual product aims to transform us from the inside. To offer a new
perspective.”
​Shany Diaz S.A.D.V.

Artistic Practices

​Automatism:
refers to creating art without conscious thought, accessing material from the unconscious mind as part of the creative process.
Image
“Flight of Fancy”
De ma série: "d'Étoiles à Poussières" ou des superpositions d’images, inspirées du collage, où une variété d'éléments, de symboles et de motifs sont amenées à représenter des d'états abstraits. Créer avec des techniques d'automatismes, mes observations de la nature et les interactions entre les éléments.
Crayons de couleurs, marqueur, encre sur papier 35.58 x 43.18 cm
Abstract:
Abstract Art is that which does not adequately represent any visual reality but uses shapes, colors, compositions, and movements to achieve the desired effect.
Image
“Eye”
Avec le mouvement du pinceaux à l’encre et l’automatisme vient un centre calme dans le dynamisme des formes, couleurs et textures.
Crayons de couleurs, marqueur, encre sur papier 35.58 x 43.18 cm
Surrealism:
​An artistic movement that brings together conscious and unconscious experiences unite completely to create worlds where rationality and dreams come together. A new reality, an absolute reality, a surrealism

Image
“Saltimbanka”
Issue de technique d’automatisme dites thématiques, dans ce cas pour inspirer les éléments et personnages de l’image à venir souvent surréaliste. Une robe gâteau qui invoque un bal était le départ, de là les autres aspects se révèlent. Cette femme de couleur en possession de ses
outils et dansant un moment près des sphères. De là une narration est née d'elle-même.
Dessin graphite et fini numérique.
​Magical Realism:
​“Magical Realism” is a genre of narrative fiction and moreover in Art (Literature, painting, cinema, theatre etc.) even if the concepts differ somewhat, expresses a largely realistic view while adding or reveal magical elements to them.
Image
“Hija de la Tierra”
Central, elle prend son pouvoir de la terre même, avec ses mains et pieds bien plantées elle a sa place. Elle partage la force de sa mère. Le soleil et la lune regardent.
Crayons de couleurs, marqueurs, encre, aquarelle, acrylique, gouache sur papier bristol.
35.58 x 43.18 cm


About the Artist

    Shany Andrea Diaz Vera

 EARLY LIFE::
Born In Santiago, Chile, in 1970. Her father a window dresser, her mother a seamstress, both
self-employed, came from extreme poverty and working class backgrounds, miners, tenant farmers, street
performers, travelling candy salesmen, shoemakers, sign makers, housekeepers etc. Ill physical and mental health, depression,
suicide, lack of resources were reoccurring themes in her family history, but also hope, will and
a spark of magic.
By her 3rd birthday, Chile is in 3 days into the horrors of a military overthrow that would
destroy democracy and ultimately their place there, since 3 months later they would be obliged
to seek refuge in a new and unknown country. Far from what they had ever known, and halfway
around the world, with but the clothes on their back, trauma, hope, art and culture. Toronto,
Canada on the 10th of January 1974 snowed endlessly it seemed.

REFUGEE:
Still small, in Montreal her bohemian and uprooted childhood in five primary schools and more
moves than she can count, she became trilingual. While finding meaning in what had happened
to them and a new meaning to their lives, encounters, activities, demonstrations and Chilean
festivals united our diaspora. Raised in several cultures, including two totally different from
that of her parents, gives her access to a wide range of perspectives and expressions. Also the
ability to be a bit of a chameleon, to adapt so much to no longer know what the root of her deep
being is something to unravel even today. Authenticity is important so finding ways to undo
these habits to reveal to herself are part of her determination towards her vision of self-expression.

DEATH:
Her father, having been seriously ill at the age of 10 (ten) had to live with a prognosis that gave
him 30 more years to live. He decided to reveal this information to his children from a young age
and tried to prepare them for this eventuality. He died at the age of 45 when the artist was 14
years old. This would also have an effect on the course of her life. Her older sister, of 5 years,
suggested they start a theatre troupe. This was in fact one of the tools that their father instigated in their lives to help overcome what he saw afflicting them, past traumas, neuro-diversity and knowledge of his imminent
departure. Means that he also tried utilising to overcome the aftereffects of his past such as the
torture he suffered at the hands of the military during his imprisonment before fleeing. Death had its
appointment, a date that came before he could heal his internal wounds. The artist promised
herself at that moment to do everything she could to create and heal on her side before these wounds destroyed her.

​TRAINING:
Over a decade of stage experience transmitted to her unparalleled knowledge about artistic
expression, as well as helping with anxiety, depression, lack of confidence, alienation,  giving her
a purpose and an outlet on her path. The beneficial effects of artistic expression became more
and more evident to her and gave her tools for growth. Her college and university studies in the
arts are also important steps in her growth, but quickly without the help of mentor or guidance in
this sense and more of her trauma reactions not allowing her to see a clear path. This forced
detours towards the realisation of her artistic visions though she remained steadfast as she
continues to clarify, solidify and grow her vision. To do this, a search for knowledge and the
practice of several art forms have been explored. Singing, musical instruments, writing, dancing, performance
art, videography, jewelry design and making, wearable art design, clowning, are some of the forms of
expression explored for this growth as an artist and this healing that she needed for a
healthy nervous system that would allow it all to come to fruition.
“Being in survival mode all that time didn’t stop me from pursuing my desires, but it certainly
slowed them down. I have accepted the honor of my position and never saw it as a final
obstacle but rather as a path solely my own.”
​Shany Diaz S.A.D.V.​

ART:
“I remember my brother and I that summer, 8 and 9 years old, we walked alone on Sherbrooke
Street west from the corner of Saint-Laurent, The Main, where we lived, towards the Museum of Fine Arts where we
spent the rest of the day looking around. The painter Bouguereau was a favorite of mine, the delicacy with which he
treated his female subjects touched me.”
Visits to museums, workshops of all kinds (some organized by her father), Chilean festivals
(pena) with typical dishes, parties full of guitars, songing and dancing a regular occurrences.
Her first love was dance, too critical of herself she decided at that moment that she would find
all the ways to express herself and come out of her shell and one day return to the movements
of the music that touches her so deeply. At 10 (ten) years old she accepted (encouraged by her
father) a leading role in her first children's play produced by a new troupe directed by a mixed
couple, she from Quebec and he from Chile. During the next 3 summers she participated in
plays with up to 25 children of all origins. This experience would have a great effect on her life
and her artistic practices. She participated in several theatre and film productions in front of and
behind the scenes, artistic direction, sets and costumes, over the next decades.

TODAY
Over the years you may have seen Shany in the Festivals and Art Fairs circuits, Street Vending at Carfree days in Vancouver or on Prince-Arthur walkway in Montreal showing her art, selling her
Jewelry, giving workshops to the people of the Downtown East-side of Vancouver at “Culture
Saves Lives” or the many other live events or showings she has participate or spearheaded.
After living in Beautiful Vancouver for 8 years she returned to Montreal in 2017 where she continued her Drawing and Painting practices.
In the spring of 2022 she was invited to do a month-long Arts Residency at a small Chilean run
arts and culture collective on St-Hubert street called “La Watcha”. It was a great honour for her where she had the opportunity to present a collection of works from the last 10 years in a show.

“Miroir/Espejos/Mirrors”.
An opening and a closing night event for the show were a great
success over all. During the residency she also was able to give two (2) Drawing workshops for
families and people of all ages. Organised an evening presentation on the use of Symbolism in
art and another evening of Live Art Automatism demonstration where she was wonderfully
accompanied by hand selected DJs, general merriment and community building. The success of
these events still reverberate. Since then she has started her journey into the grants application
route for artists, one she has always known and wanted to participate in. Now she has started
the path of acquiring and learning the skills needed to get to that next level if you will.
She is also extremely proud of this website she built and the Threadless Print On Demand site
she has worked hard on advancing to make her art as available as possible to the general
public, as she continues to sell some of the originals.
She is now available for Workshops, Presentations and Live-Art Demonstration.

"I Create in order to affect us, you and I, like so much advertising and marketing that floods us and aims only at consumption, my visual product aims to transform us from the inside. Offering a new perspectives.”
​-Shany Diaz aka S.A.D.V.​ Arts EARLY LIFE::

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