Artist paints for change - Maja Vodanovic

Judy Nagy
The Gazette, April 29, 2004

For Beaconsfield painter, Maja Vodanovic, the West Island is both an artistic inspiration and a political battleground. Born in Croatia in 1968, Vodanovic immigrated to Canada with her family when she was 8 years old. She enrolled soon after at La Palette Art School in Beaconsfield where she eventually became a teacher. Her degree in Art History from McGill provided Vodanovic with a solid grounding in traditional master works while her Fine Arts degree from Concordia motivated her to bring her revolutionary vision to life.

Viewer challenged to question power. ‘Each work is a short story or chapter derived from my personal beliefs’

A passionate environmental and social activist, many of Vodanovic’s paintings proclaim a powerful social message. Her work challenges the viewer to question power, to take a stand on environmental issues and to share material wealth. This quality is further enforced by the artist’s choice of titles for her work such as Contemplating Power and La Femme et la Force.

Many of Vodanovic’s works are intensely personal.

“Each work is a short story or a chapter derived from my personal beliefs, my home life, my childhood memories and my experiences in the West Island, such as the nature walks I take with my son and daughter.”

One work, titled Maternity, portrays a woman’s ripe figure boldly sketched in black on a stark white background. On closer examination we see an infant’s shirt blended deep into the canvas along with a swatch of the artist’s grandmother’s curtain.

“If unfinished, a piece will call out to me to do something drastic – I’ve poured water on them, threw one in the snow for three days, rubbed chemicals on them with my bare hands – whatever it takes to make them become what they are supposed to become.”

Vodanovic paints on canvas, board and wood using a mixture of watercolors and varnishes layered with cloth, leaves, modeling paste and gesso. The resulting mystical images seem to rise off the canvas and float. The mixture of mediums and juxtaposition of subject matter results in a collage of material, ideas and emotions.

A turning point in her life and work came a few years ago when she witnessed a man spraying pesticide onto his lawn while two children and their pregnant mother played nearby.

“I was angry and I was sad as well. I realized that perhaps these people did not have information about how dangerous these chemicals can be.”

Vodanovic took it upon herself to offer the woman pamphlets about the dangers of pesticide use and then began a more ambitious undertaking called Project Dandelion.

The artist designed and distributed “dandelions allowed” signage for residential lawns in the West Island. Later, she met Clifford Lincoln who encouraged her environmental efforts.

Her synthesis of art and activism also caught the attention of Marlene Jennings, MP of NDG and Lachine who congratulated Vodanovic on her “desire to awaken our conscience and sense of social responsibility with respect to the beauty of the world and our urgent need to safe-guard it.”

“I was hooked!” she exclaimed, “I didn’t want to just sit in my garden and drink a cup of coffee. I didn’t just want to paint! I wanted to be out there doing something to help people and the planet. I had to act. So, I made a conscious decision to make my art active, rather than contemplative.”

She soon became an active member of the Liberal Women’s Commission of Canada (Quebec) where she strove to bring about legislative changes relating to the environment. During this time she was struck with the idea of painting portraits of Canadian individuals who have dedicated their lives to humanitarian and environmental causes.

“These are not formal, stiff portraits. These are people who are warm, real and dedicated to humanity. In a way, I have “fallen in love” them. It is my admiration of them that I try to capture in my work. I am painting love.”

One such portrait is of Dr. June Irwin who led the movement toward banning pesticides in Canada. Her face, surrounded by leaves and a sunflower, engages the viewer with a bemused smile and soft eyes, her signature amber beads dangling from her neck.

“Its message is that politics need not be about greed and power but about nurturance and altruism. I always ask myself that question: What if the nurturers of our society, those women that take care of the home and children, held the highest political power? How different would our world be?”

Maja Vodanovic’s paintings can be seen at Galerie Jean Pierre Valentin in Montreal and Galerie Yvon Desgagnés in Baie St. Paul, Qc. Her website can be found at www.maja.ca.