Welcome and Thank You for visiting Vance Heslin Artistry. My Gallery primarily contains Native Artwork commonly composed in a Black and White style. Always having a nack for beautiful, geometric designs; I decided it was the perfect way to bring my imagined scenes together. Please take the time to enjoy my collection, and learn a little bit about myself.
Biography
Hi, my name is Vance Heslin. I am an Ojibway Native affiliated with Garden River First Nations Reserve located East of Sault Saint Marie, Ontario. I was born in East York, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario. I was raised in southern Ontario with my Mother and three sisters. I met my loving wife, Cyndy, in 1994, and married her the following year. At the same time I welcomed my first son Justin to the family. Shortly after I had two more children named Tyler (1996) and Jared (1999). I moved my growing family out west to a rural village in Alberta in 2003. In 2006, my family then moved to Ryley Alberta, where I live now, with my wife of more than 25 years.
Life Story
I have always loved arts and craft much to my mother's dismay. Especially when I would draw or color where I was not supposed to, like the floor, wall, or dresser. My teachers grew frustrated because of my constant doodles and drawings on my unfinished school work. This progressed into beautifully drawn love letters and scathing renditions of unpopular teachers. During a 7th grade art class I was given an assignment for an abstract piece. After much thought, I remembered seeing some native works by Norman Knott and thought that style would suit the assignment so I attempted and to my astonishment I enjoyed the process and method. While my early attempts did not meet my standards, the art teacher was impressed and motivated me to continue and the final result was encouraging. From that point forward I was drawing whenever I had a chance, doodles during class to using their drafting tables at lunch. During one such lunch while drawing there was a grade 12 drafting class going on (I was only in ninth grade at the time). One of the students was having a problem with his task and surprisingly asked me for advice. I did not know how to answer so I tried to draw the assignment with rulers. He handed it in with his name on it and received a 98%. Going forward I created many more pieces in this style and gave them as gifts to family and friends. But unfortunately early into my adult years, life took its toll on my free time to draw. Only coming back to it just before I met my Wife. I love to take my time with my artwork, a true labour of love with many painstaking hours to create my finished pieces. Now with retirement just around the corner, I have not only the free time but the inspiration that only comes with maturity and wisdom.
My art, as described earlier, is primarily Black and White in a Traditional Native Style. My technique, I think, is very thorough and farsighted. Laying out the drawing to scale in pencil, I get more and more detailed as the drawing progresses. After all the lines are drawn and the details are filled, I use a variety of impliments of different densities and thicknesses to finish my artwork.
The question all artists are asked (and is probably one of the hardest to answer) is; "Why do you draw? Why do you love it so much?". For Me, it's an easy answer... "Because I like to!". In all seriousness, I love creating art as a way of self-expression. To produce art I am passionate about. To give each creation a piece of myself, my happiness, my wonder, my sadness and my love. These are all things that make me who I am.