Me & my long-haired, Shiba Inu dog (he is not a fox, though he may look like one ; ), “Fuji”.

Me & my long-haired, Shiba Inu dog (he is not a fox, though he may look like one ; ), “Fuji”.

Bio:

Yasemin came from away, landing in the Vancouver area on the West Coast of Canada with her family as a child. She has been on excursions around and back since, but now, she’s happily home in the Southern Gulf Islands on Galiano, BC.

An array of animals have been a part of her life since almost before she could walk. As a toddler, in Norway, she was caught approaching mink and wanting to pet them. In elementary school, she filled ice cream buckets and margarine containers with frogs, riding her bicycle home with them hanging off the handle bars. She filled inflatable pools with snakes and tried catching field mice to bring home, not knowing that one day, as an adult, she’d be living on Galiano and conversely trying to keep them out of her home. As a child in Turkey, her love of animals by then full-blown, she was given and caught all kinds of animals and reptiles, a feral kitten & dogs, a rabbit, numerous turtles and lizards, to keep as pets. 

Her love of animals and nature inevitably shows up in her art and is a common subject if not directly, through inspiration.

Her primary area of study in both college and university was Fine Arts. She has only recently started to re-incorporate art actively into her life, after well-intended people convinced her to get a “real job” (and she apparently listened) when she was younger. Now, she easily finds inspiration all around, in the natural surroundings of Galiano Island.

Artist’s Statement:

I have been drawing since biology class, when the fruit fly notations became detailed sketches that led to something more.

Now, whether with paints and or pencil crayons, I touch down on patches of canvas, cradled wood panels and archival paper, where I explore the nuances of my environment. Inspired by the country and wild nature set deep into the surrounding water channels and churning sea, to domestic and wild animals known and yet to be. The experiences / beings I portray define a sweet space in my psyche. The characters behind the paintings unfold as I skate around the surface, with the intent that my chosen medium tickles life into blank spaces.


CV

Yasemin Demir

Currently residing and working in the Southern Gulf Islands | born 1965 | Stockholm, Sweden

yasemin.i.demir@gmail.com | http://www.YaseminDemirArt.com | IG:@yasemindemirart | www.facebook.com/YaseminDemirArtist & www.facebook/ArtistYaseminDemir

Education

University of British Columbia, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1991

Vancouver Community College, Langara Campus, Diploma of Fine Arts, 1988

Shows

  • 2024 2Aug-5Aug Buttercup Gang

  • 2024 5Apr-5May Spring Has Sprung, SDAG

  • 2023 29Sept-22Oct Changing Light, South Delta Artist’s Guild.

  • 2023 30June-23July, Summer Showcase, South Delta Artis't’s Guild, Deep in the Forest

  • 2023 June-July, For the Love of Colour, (BcG) Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa

  • 2023 June, The Oil & Water Juried Show, South Delta Artist’s Guild:: My paintings ~ Where the Garden Meets the Sky & Deep in the Forest were 2/85 chosen by a jury from 350-ish submissions.

    2023 May, “Off the Beaten Path”, Solo Abstract Expressionist, Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa

  • 2023/28 Apr-11May, Arts on the Islands, SGI Regional Art Exhibition, Artsea Gallery, Sidney, BC, My painting Let There Be Light, won the People’s Choice Award.

  • 2023 Small, Smaller, Smallest, South Delta Artist’s Guild

  • 2023/03 Sea to Sky, Gallery 1710, South Delta Artist’s Guild

  • 2023/02 Flora & Fauna, Gallery 1710, South Delta Artist’s Guild. My painting, Breaking LIght, was chosen to represent the show and used for the publicity.

  • 2023/01 Boundless, Gallery 1710, South Delta Artist’s Guild

  • 2022/08-12 BC Ferries Art Display, the Queen of Cumberland

  • 2022/09/3-5 The Galiano Club/South End Community Hall. A group show with the Buttercup Gang.

  • 2022/06/02-26 South Delta Artists Guild, Juried Show, 2022 Oil & Water: “Breaking Light” & “Wild Orchid Eclipse” were 2/90 chosen from 400 submitted works.

  • 2022/05/14-26 Artsea Gallery, Tulista Park, Sidney, BC. A Buttercup Gang Group Show.

  • 2021/08/01-31 The Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, The Buttercup Gang, “On the Wild Side” show.

  • 2021/07/01-31 The Galiano Oceanfront Inn & Spa, “Land, Sea & Skyscapes”, Solo Show

  • 2020/12 The Yellowhouse Art Centre, Abstract Group Exhibition

  • 2020/07-09 The Galiano Inn Oceanfront Spa & Resort, The Buttercup Gang Fine Arts Show

  • 2020/05 Cowichan Valley Arts Council, Virtual Fine Arts Show

  • 2020/05 Yellowhouse Art Centre Virtual Art Show

  • 2020/05 Southern Gulf Islands, Arts On The Islands, catalogue & virtual show

  • 2019/111-12 “in a small way xiv”, the Galiano Oceanfront Inn and Spa

  • 2019/111-12 The Galiano Library Show, Solo

  • 2019/08 Lions Club Fiesta Group Show

  • 2019/07-09 Whaler Bay Studio / Gallery, Galiano Island

  • 2019/06-09 Galiano Island Studio Tour

  • 2019/06 BC Ferries Art Display, the Queen of Cumberland

  • 2019/04-06 Solo Show at the Sturdies Bay Bakery & Cafe

  • 2019/03 The Buttercup Gang, Artist’s Cooperative Show

  • 2019/02 The Yellowhouse Art Centre, Print & Photo Show

  • 2019/01 The Log House Lodge Winter Art Show & Sale

  • 2018/12 The Yellowhouse Art Center, “Reclaiming Daydreams”

  • 2018/10 BC Ferries Art Display, the Queen of Cumberland

  • 2018/10 The Yellowhouse Art Center, Drawtober

  • 2018/09 The Yellowhouse Art Center, Green and Blue

  • 2018/08 The Lions Club Art Show

  • 2018/08 BC Ferries Display, Salish Eagle

  • 2018/07 Tour Des Isles, Southern Gulf Islands

  • 2018/07 BC Ferries Display, Queen of Cumberland

  • 2018/05 The Yellowhouse Art Center, Galiano Island

  • 2018/04 Festival Active Pass, Mayne Island

  • 2018/03 Works on Paper, Federation of Canadian Artists, Granville Island

  • 2018/02 The Love Show, Portraits of Your Passion, Semiahmoo Community Centre, W. Rock.

    I won 3rd place for my horse drawing “Copper & Wine”.

  • 2017/08 International Pencil Art Society, Canada, Online Juried Exhibition.

    My art work was 1/60 chosen from an international pool of competitors.

  • 2017/07 Canada 150 Art Show, Kimoto Gallery, Vancouver. “Harnessed Horse” was chosen to participate.

Memberships

The South Delta Artists Guild

Southern Gulf Islands Art Council

Artsea Gallery, Sidney, BC

Cowichan Valley Arts Council'

THRIVE Mastermind Member, Vancouver

Pencil Art Society Canada

UK Pencil Art Society

Pencil Art Society of America

Federation of Canadian Artists

Pursuit of Excellence