Ginger Sedlarova - Artist

Berlinage 2024: JaJaJa, collage on canvas panel, my play piece during the residency – torn paper, two gents taken from a vintage Canadian oom pah pah record, one of my favourite sculptures from Germany 2015 and the Berlin Bear raising a bier. Am I a Berliner? EiNeiNeiNein, and that’s the definitive answer. Another little surprise: Recognize the gal in the car, circa 1990?

Berlinage 2024: ohne Title/Untitled, collage on canvas panel, part of the ’s Circle Challenge: All of us took part in the challenge where you create a collage using at least one component of material chosen by a fellow collagist along with some of your own materials. The (paper) sky’s the limit! My work includes an old image transfer I made years ago, lips from a torn-down Berlin street poster, GDR stamps from my in-law’s correspondence with family and flora I found on the street near the gallery, plus silver text. Loved being part of such a collaboration! You can see and purchase here: https://www.berlincollagecollective.com/shop/berlinage-special/ohne-titel-made-by-ginger-sedlarova/

Finally! I’ve been wanting to share my fabulous Berlinage residency experience for weeks but life kept getting in the way. So much to post, so here we go:

Einheit, collage on board, Berlinage 2024: I walked around Berlin looking for fonts and neon and typography. I rode the U-Bahn, jumping off at every stop on several lines to shoot every station name — love how they all have wildly different fonts, especially the disco font of Pankstrasse!

P.S. Love sneaking little surprises into my boards. This collage includes a nod to my dear Dad. Love you, Papa...

My posts here have been intermittent for a while, I know. I've been working alongside my wonderful siblings to care for my dear father and fulfill his wish to pass away at home. He did so recently, finally comfortable and without pain, while holding my hand. This page will be quiet for a bit longer as I try to process losing my father, best friend, mentor and so much more. But on the other side of my grief is the knowledge that he's no longer in constant pain and is with my mom. And the memories of how much damn fun we always had! Thanks for understanding... xoxo

Color creates, enhances, reveals. Especially when you're in Berlin.

Happiness often sneaks in through a door.

Squiggles, tabletop, Laksa, Hastings.

Tabletop, Café Sabarsky in NYC's Neue Gallery

While I work, work, work on my next series I'm unable to post much except my collage process here & there. So I'm posting a selection of my favourite photos that I've taken over many years and miles. I hope you enjoy...

Shapes of things to come

🎶 They say it’s my birthday, Happy Birthday to me! 🎶 That little scamp in the foreground always wanted to be an artist when she grew up — run away from suburbia, study at the Liverpool College of Art, create in a tiny chilly London flat with only Paul McCartney to keep her warm. Prague got in the way, and design, and newspapers. It took a few decades and that little girl never really grew up, but finally her dream of being an artist has come true. Add one fabulous husband, two cuddly cats and family and friends she adores. Lucky birthday girl. Now, where’s that Paul McCartney gotten to…

A door symbolizes transition, metamorphosis. It is a boundary between sacred and profane, mysterious and familiar, light and dark, life and death… It is an allegory of beginning, opening, exit that leads from one state of being to the next.
– Nato Giorgadze

Doors have always fascinated me, for the reasons listed above but also for their individual beauty, history, their stories. I spent a decade in Europe pointing my camera at hundreds, perhaps thousands of doors. One door I passed through recently brought me face-to-face with the fantastic work of Sascha Westendorp and her stunning mixed media paintings that showcase the colours and details of the many portals she’s witnessed. I highly recommend viewing her work, on view now at The Gallery George, 140 W. Hastings until October 29.

Shown: ‘Narrow Pathways Can Lead To Amazing Adventures,’ mixed media on canvas, 48”×48"

Pictures From An Exhibition, specifically The Gallery George’s True Colours exhibition reception last Friday evening! The gallery was packed, the wine was flowing and the art was awesome. I met some incredible fellow artists and lost count of the amount of times I overheard someone saying, “This exhibition is great!” The show will go on until October 29 at 140 W. Hastings – definitely visit and enjoy some great work!

High heels? Check. Lipstick? Check. Yes paste & pencils? Check. Various papers and ephemera, including 1916 Canadian census lists? Check. I think I’m ready for tonight’s True Colours artist’s reception at The Gallery George.

Come join us from 6-9 p.m., see some great art and meet some fun people! Free tickets for the reception available at the link in my bio above. You can also see the show until October 29 if you’re superstitious about today’s date…

I love collage. I love Berlin. So I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been accepted into a Berlin collage residency next May! Ten days of working alongside fellow collagists from around the world. Exploring one of my favourite cities. Looking for inspiration for my knife & scissors. Lectures, meeting people, practicing my German on unsuspecting locals, cutting & pasting – all culminating in a gallery exhibition. Feeling like I won the collage lottery! Achtung, Berlin - hier komme ich!

Need a little colour therapy? True Colours, a group exhibition on now at The Gallery George, has a rainbow of painting, collage & more — it opens that box of crayons and uses all of them. Live in colour at 140 W. Hastings, and join us for an artist’s reception Friday, October 13 from 6-9 p.m. Free tickets for the reception available at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/true-colours-october-exhibition-tickets-729484607097?aff=oddtdtcreator

*Image: Cherry On Top, collage on Arches paper ©Ginger Sedlarova

“Colour is all. When colour is right, form is right. Colour is everything.” – Marc Chagall

True Colours, a group exhibition at The Gallery George, 140 W. Hastings, from October 4th-29th. Join me and my fellow artists for a reception October 13 from 6-9 p.m. Free tickets for the reception available at this link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/true-colours-october-exhibition-tickets-729484607097?aff=oddtdtcreator. Hope to see you there!

All wrapped up & ready to show!

These collages are on their way this week to The Gallery George, that is, if my furry security team will allow us to remove them. If they do, you can see them in all their un-bubble wrapped glory from October 4th – 29th at 140 W. Hastings St. alongside other wonderful local artists’ work. Want to see the work but also want to see the artists? Join us for the opening reception on Friday, Oct. 13th from 6-9 p.m. at The Gallery George. Would love to see you there! Unfortunately, my security team will not be working the door that night as the reception takes place during nap time…

Meet my Uncle Harold, namesake of my big brother, the only Malcove born in Canada and the golden boy of the family with six siblings to adore & spoil him. He was athletic, intelligent and incredibly handsome. He became Dr. Malcove after studying dentistry in Winnipeg and Toronto and then headed to New York City to set up practice across the street from Central Park. WWII called, and that’s when his sister’s hearts were broken, never to be repaired…

I never got to meet Uncle Harold. The more that I work on this project, though, the more that I feel closer to him, even closer than to some of the aunts I did meet. There’s something about his smile, his eyes and what seems from photographs like he’s a bundle of athletic energy and full of life. I feel like if we’d met, we’d have adored each other and had so much fun as niece and uncle. I never met him, yet I dearly miss him…