Three multidisciplinary immigrant artists are spending six weeks in residency at a northeast Calgary art gallery, hosting workshops and exhibiting their art. Diana Olarte, Doro Buch and Claudia Chagoya will be in residency at Sparrow Artspace until May 17, with a free opening gala on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. They are known as the Shared Flight Collective because their art has a recurring motif of birds. “All three of us at some point integrated birds in the art, so this was the perfect thing,” Buch said. “I’m painting birds, they are symbolic for – in my case, my own story – as well connected to the bigger story of all of us, of humanity.” Chagoya and Buch both immigrated to Calgary, while Olarte was born in Colombia but now lives in Monterrey, Mexico. This is their first time creating together under one roof. “This is special to be here for the first time, the three of us in person,” Buch said. “I had the chance last year to be at Diana’s gallery and exhibit there, so I know Diana a little bit already. For Claudia, it was the first time to meet her in person. Before there was lots of calls, and now, we can finally work together here.” The three artists have a shared experience of migration, and they use that in their art by expressing their personal histories, identity and transformation through art. They work in a variety of mediums from watercolors to projection mapping. “I’m born in Poland, then I went to Germany and then I came to Canada, so all these environments were changing me to who I am transforming into,” Buch said. “[I paint with oil but] I would sometimes use projection mapping to bring my figures to life, to tell a wider story; it’s like a little bit of magic.” Diana Olarte is the founder and director of Olarte Galería y Taller in Monterrey, which provides space to artists, art proposals and cultural meetings. Her work has been featured in 17 solo exhibitions and more than 300 group exhibitions in galleries, museums and cultural spaces across Mexico, Colombia, Milan, Italy and France. “My work is the [watercolor] process, and I make mixed technique. I love to create in watercolor or paint,” she said. “I’m so happy to be in in Calgary.” The three share their passion for art but face communication barriers because Buch doesn’t speak Spanish. “We will figure out how we can work together, what works best, and we are looking for a common language since I do not speak Spanish very well,” she said. “Diana’s English is [limited, but] we are learning from each other.” Together, the three aim to create works that are not only visually compelling but also serve as vessels for connection between cultures, home and identity. One way they celebrate their identity is to create a painting together; one artist starts it but doesn’t finish it and sends it to the next artist who adds to it, and it’s sent a third time to the finishing artist. “Sometimes it’s really exciting,” Buch said. “You already know how you would develop a painting, but this where I like to see how someone else will act – how they transform it.”
