Brian Casey

My first recollections of art exposure was with a Pysanka (decorated Ukrainian Easter egg) we had, and then doing my own Pysanka’s via dye-dipping. Those early memories must have made quite an impact sub-consciously, because it was 40 years later that I began feeling the call to create glimpses of life in British Columbia.

This led right back to the Pysanka and my grandma, and the single wood chest she had when she fled the Ukraine. The symbols on the Pysanka and that solitary chest as a symbol of courage sparked a desire to journey into the past/my past.  

What I found on that journey was an ancient art-form over 1000 years in the making, full of designs, symbols and art, capturing life and thought of the Ukrainian people. The small distant candle became a roaring bonfire when I learned that their legends always make reference to the art-form as a force of
light to repel the dark, a physical storyboard with an underlying spiritual component.

Further oxygenating the flame was the organic nature of the art-form, there is no rigid set of rules and regulations, it changes and flows with the people, their minds, their hearts. The multi-dimensional aspect coupled with this freedom of form is the foundation stone upon which I build/create.

My hope is that my art is the push for people at the top of a hill sitting on their toboggan waiting for a trip; to look into its physical and go deeper into the aether of life and light. There is a glory in the inspiration BC plants and animals provide me that lies just under the surface, a timeless, boundless world, that when traveled profoundly effects our understanding and interactions on this plane.

After the ride has ended and you climb back up the hill a smile forms, the mind is quiet and the heart is lightened, the light has dispersed the dark.

Brian Edward Casey