Chestermere resident Sasa Boric always knew she would become an artist from a very young age.
“My entire family was artistic. My uncle was an artist and I used to go to his studio when I was young, I would draw and paint,” Boric said.
“He helped me a lot get into art when I was preparing for University in Belgrade Serbia,” she said.
She added, “I’ve never thought of not having art in my life.”
Although Boric enjoys painting, she will regularly use a variety of mediums to create art, including water colours, pottery, and sketch.
“I’m very experimental, I move from one medium to another,” Boric said.
“Art is where I express myself best, it’s what I love, I believe that it brings beauty to the world, a message, empathy, aesthetics, it’s very broad what art brings to people,” she said.
However, to Boric, creating art is not about the message the work brings to people, it’s about the process.
“I really enjoy the process of painting,” Boric said.
When Boric starts a new art project, there is a lot of preparation involved before she can start painting.
Boric begins with creating a rough sketch, going through ideas, and once she likes the sketches she will start painting.
Art makes Boric feel free, she enjoys not having to abide by any constraints, and being in her own world.
“I just lose myself in imagination, there’s nothing else when I do art.
“There are periods when I work for days and nights. I really like working at night, everything is quiet, I prefer to be alone when I’m doing art,” Boric said.
Although Boric has been an artist her entire life, it wasn’t always easy for her as a young artist moving to Canada.
“Being a young artist when we moved to Canada there were a lot of doors that were closed,” Boric said.
“We lived in Vancouver B.C., and I was going from door to door from gallery to gallery and everybody had different suggestions, but they were not interested,” she said.
“Art isn’t fully appreciated, funded, or represented enough. It’s not easy to make a living with art,” Boric said.
She was told that she should finish Canadian schooling to be successful as an artist.
This inspired her to attend the University of Calgary to complete her Master of Fine Arts.
In addition to her struggles to succeed in the art scene, Boric faced many other challenges after she moved to Canada, including adjusting to a different culture while learning how to preserve her own culture.
“Art is universal, you can adjust to wherever, you pick up your brushes, and your canvases and you move on,” Boric said.
After living in Vancouver B.C., Boric moved to Red Deer, where she found a tight art scene.
“That really helped me a lot becoming part of a local art community,” Boric said.
When Boric moved to Chestermere 17 years ago, it was important for her to find other artists, and become a part of the local art community again.
After her move to Chestermere, Boric began teaching art classes to young children.
“Teaching art really fulfills me in a specific way, it’s really rewarding to have young children who enjoy art, work with them, inspire them, and encourage them to pursue their passions,” she said.
