Art by David Portigal
Fine Artist and Photographer
My Story
To me art is the expression of our inner world, the ability to share the beauty and wander within ourselves in a way that others can see.
Hello Friends, I'm happy that you are here so that I can share some of my art and my journey with you.
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Art has always been an important part of my life, ever since I was a small boy living here in Calgary, Alberta, I have filled sheets of blank and lined paper with doodles and drawings and anything that grabbed my attention or stirred my imagination. I drew everything to monsters and animals, to my friends and I as super heroes and warriors.
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Like most people my art when I was younger was simple, much of it inspired by my usual reading material, comic books and fantasy novels mostly. It became a way for me to make the fantasies real enough to see and touch, and made it possible to share them with others.
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Most young artist can attest to this, but it was normal for most people to give me art supplies and such for gifts at most events. One year, my mother got me acrylic paints and some canvas paper and encouraged me to try them out. I sat down with them and a picture of a cougar and completed my first real painting.
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To be fair, the painting was rough and unfinished, but to this day it is still one of my favorite pieces because of what it represents. That painting opened the doors to my creativity and showed what I could be capable of.
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I picked up photography for the first time around this time and began taking pictures of everything. I became the unofficial photographer for all of the events my friends would put together. It might be more accurate to say that I always brought my camera with me and took random candid shots of people and a small group of posed group pictures.
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I have had many teachers throughout my life who had an impact on me both personally and in my art. Each helped me discover something new and find a way to incorporate it into my practice.
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Random people whose faces I can barely recall, have their lessons layered in with art teachers from high school all the way up to today. There are a number of teachers who I can think back to who were there more consistently and whose lessons formed the bedrock of my education and practice.
My high school art teacher was a small Chinese man who grew up in Jamaica, (those who know him, already know him I’m talking about). He was the first art teacher who refused to allow his class to be an easy “A” for any student, though he did reward students based on effort. He taught me to never settle for what you already know and the skills I already thought I knew and to keep pushing and improving what I have learned.
Another class that I loved in high school was my Theatre Arts class, taught by a tall thin man with a dry sense of humor and calm demeanor. This class had me staying late after school to work on the set construction and painting of the sets, the feeling of connection and community was great. I enjoyed this class and the group that surrounded me so much that I put aside art and went to Mount Royal College to attend Technical Theatre Arts.
This is of course before it became a university. Another school where I spent long hours there, nearly living within the hallways as I would arrive often before 7am and would stay most days until after 9pm trying to rediscover the sense of community I felt in high school. I never found that community or did not do much work in the career but I did gain many technical skills that I could apply to my art and even made some progress in developing some skills in sewing and pattern making.
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He was the first art teacher who refused to allow his class to be an easy "A" for any student
One of my favorite teachers and mentors so far has been Holly McWilliams (link). Holly is a professional artist who taught classes through Swintons Art Supply in the south of Calgary. She has always had an easy and relaxed method of teaching that makes you feel good about your efforts while pushing to improve your every brushstroke. Under her mentorship I rediscovered my fading love for art and even applied and was accepted to Alberta University of the Arts (AUArts).
Painting became my main focus at AUArts, but I also used this opportunity to learn about and improve my photography skills. Painting became more research based, exploring the work of those that came before me and less about my personal journey and feelings. My work needed to be informed by those that came before, and the beauty of the inner world was no longer an acceptable composition. In these classes, it became harder to create and produce art.
What I loved to create was not acceptable and received rebuttals and requests to push my art in a different direction. One comment that has always stuck with me, “forget everything you think you know, put that aside and create something new. Something that no one has ever done.” Not as easy thing to do, and the harsh criticism from that professor when I tried to match his criteria seemed to not take into account that this was a new direction to me.
Photography classes on the other hand, were great. My professors were professional and clear and insightful. I learned a great deal about the science and technology of photography and how I could apply these to improve my own shots. In just a few years I took my photographs from being decent shots, to being some truly spectacular images of what I have seen and managed to capture. I believe I have much more to learn here, but this was a great beginning.
My art journey is not complete. I have many new lessons ahead of me and much more to share. The sacred grounds within my mind and soul have barely been explored and I look forward to translating these to paint and canvas and other mediums. Today is only the beginning.
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