Art

Item Description

TITLE OF PIECE: ‘In Different States’

INSPIRATION FOR THE PIECE - ARTIST NEUROSCIENTIST MATCH UP:

Stacey Walyuchow with the Branch Out funded project of Jeremy Viczko from the University of Victoria. 

'Breathing and Brainwaves for Memory'

I find everything about the brain fascinating! It’s incredible what it is capable of and the capacity to grow and train our brains to make our lives so much better. Over the past couple of years, I have been introduced to the practice of mediation and have gained such appreciation for it. Mr. Viczko’s research incorporating the use of neurofeedback devices to potentially enhance meditative training processes was intriguing for me, as an artist who finds it hard to reign in my thoughts and concentrate on breath.  

My work represents one person, shown in two states. The woman on the left is a non meditator, easily distracted and has no assistive neurofeedback device working to enhance her meditative training. The woman on the right is another version of the same woman, in a much more relaxed state, represented by neutral colour dress, hair is down, head is lowered and eyes are closed. She is wearing a neurofeedback band around her head, an EEG device that interprets her mental activity to help guide her back to her breath. 

The gold lines represent brainwaves also resembling lightening bolts with the ever intelligent raven perched upon one of them. The bird, along with the idea of lightening, represents distraction, all around the woman and in her mind. The color block lines at the bottom of the image are representative of spectral analyses samples and the tiny black lines around the women are representative of the expert and novice meditator brainwave samples provided by Mr. Viczko.

ARTIST BIO:

Stacey Walyuchow is visual artist and creator of FosterMAK.com, an online gallery representing Calgary Artists. Based in Calgary, Alberta, the business was launched in 2014. Her style/medium emerged from a fairly dark time dealing with depression and anxiety, where art became her therapy and a way to express her feelings and illustrate her experiences. She began to develop this style of hand painting fragile, imperfect pieces of paper, and then attach those pieces to sturdy canvas or wood panel. Stacey also believes this to be a direct illustration of the exceptional durability of a human’s ability to persevere and fight through.