‘The intimacy is really motivating’: Saskatoon Bunkhouse looks for new artists
Global News
Aarin Rinas is a painter and currently one of six artists in residence. The city is currently searching for new artists-in-residence.
The city of Saskatoon is looking for new artists to take up residence in the Bunkhouse located in the Forestry Farm Park and Zoo. Aarin Rinas is a painter and currently one of six artists in residence.
The project named Artists in Place: The Bunkhouse Project got started in 2015 when the manager of the Forestry Farm Park and Zoo approached the city with a proposal. He offered up the old Bunkhouse building, which is over 100 years old, to support the art community in Saskatoon. In 2017 after some renovating and cleaning all the piled-up storage, the building was ready to house six artists to unleash their creative energies.
The artists don’t live in the house and they have to leave when the park closes.
Aarin Rinas applied for a spot and the committee approved him. It gave him a place where he can go to focus on his art for nine months.
“I love it here. This is such a nice residency, because it is nice and long. Nine months is pretty long for an artist residency.”
Rinas went to the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 2000’s. However, he did not become a professional artist immediately.
“I basically took a 20-year break from art. I became a carpenter and started a family. It was three or four years ago that I started doing art professionally,” Rinas explains.
Rinas’ figure paintings are filled with character and emotion, resulting in expressive faces.
