Jen Frisk

Every month Sunshine Coast Art Tours will shine a light on a local artist that we love.

Jen Frisk has a fascination with movement created by colour and light found at the ocean’s edge or in the coastal forests.

She works in acrylic, abstracting and interpreting the nature that surrounds her at her home in Halfmoon Bay.

I first saw her amazing work at my mother-in-laws, It was an unusual piece that literally jumped off the wall. Jen is known for her curved or 3D canvases.

I presented Jen with three not-so-easy questions:

1) What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I love digging in the earth for treasure. My husband calls me ‘Digger’. When we lived in Nelson our property was on Kootenay Lake where the steamships would pull in and dump their garbage. I was obsessed with digging up old bottles and things. I found over 300 bottles and even a few glass opium pipes, from the late 1800’s. I am fascinated to hold these pieces of glass, patinaed with history.

2) How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favourite failure” of yours?

I think a component of living well is experiencing failure. Without failure, successes would be under appreciated. If you are afraid of failure you will not experiment or try new things and probably never achieve your full potential. I have a stack of artwork under a tarp at the back of my studio which have not turned out as I was hoping. I don’t refer to them as failures, I think of them experiments or studies. They are a part of my evolution as an artist.

3) Who is your favourite Sunshine Coast Artist and why?

This is a hard question. I admire so many Sunshine Coast artists. Although, one that comes to mind right away is Charly Mithrush. I think she is incredibly talented and I am always inspired by her and how she explores different techniques and mediums.