Pixel Perfect: A Journey Drawing Outside the Line
Riley Cyre is a 14-year-old Whitehorse artist whose work focuses on experimentation with digital art, light and colour.
With a new exhibition titled Pixel Perfect: A Journey Drawing Outside the Lines now on view at the Yukon Arts Centre, Cyre says she’s thrilled to showcase her work to family, friends and art lovers in her community.
“I really didn’t know what to expect,” says Cyre of her exhibition’s opening in late November. “The number of people who showed up to help support me and view my art was so cool and crazy – it made me feel so special.”
Cyre’s creative process starts with a sketch on her digital tablet, which is then overlaid with a black outline, then filled in with another sketch, before the solid lines are drawn on, and finally the piece is coloured and shaded.
After Cyre’s artwork was accepted for showcasing at the YAC, her mother had prints made of her pieces. Seeing her work come to life was a huge moment for the young artist.
“I’ve never seen it so big,” Cyre says. “It just makes it so much better.”
Cyre says in the past she’d been scared to show people her art for fear of what they might think, but took a leap and decided the opportunity to have her pieces featured in her own show was too big an opportunity to shy away from.
“This is a step forward I was willing to take,” she says. “And here I am now.”
Cyre is open about her struggles with anxiety, and while she says lots of people have told her journaling might help, she calls the practice the bane of her existence, saying she prefers to explore her feelings through creating visual art.
“I took up art as my meditation,” she explains. “It helps me calm down. Before sports tournaments I’ll draw, or before tests, or if I’m worried, I’ll draw. It just helps me get my emotions out – I like to put my emotions on the paper, my feelings on the paper.
“Sometimes, I’ll crumple up the paper afterwards and get rid of those emotions. So, I use my art kind of for healing, but also for fun and as a hobby.”
Cyre’s pieces each start with an idea, but she says her ideas change a lot throughout the creation process as she finds new directions she can take any given work.
“I get distracted really easily, and once I leave an art piece, I can’t go back and continue it, or else I’ll find it boring and want to start a new one,” she says.
“Most of my pieces I get done in one or two or three hours when I’m sitting down and doing them. They change throughout that time; sometimes I’m drawing one character and it’ll change into a totally different character with a whole different story.”
For her gallery opening, Cyre’s mother encouraged her to dress up, so after shopping for a special outfit, she rolled up to the YAC bursting with confidence, which only grew as people started to arrive and walk through the exhibition, taking in Cyre’s art.
“People started coming in who I know and know really well, and they know I’m an artist but they hadn’t seen any of my work, so I’d lock them down and I’d talk to them about my pieces of art, and I just loved to see the smiles and awe on their faces,” Cyre says. “It made me feel really proud.”
Cyre finds that when an artist is present at an exhibition, hearing the inspirations and stories behind the pieces on display adds a whole new level of depth and appreciation for the work. She was intent on creating an experience like that for her own patrons.
“You might look at one of my art pieces and think it’s this, but it has a whole story and its own personality behind it.”
Cyre is also an avid Dungeons & Dragons player, and many of her pieces are inspired by her campaign. Members of her dungeon group came to the exhibition’s opening, and she was happy to show her art to some of her closest friends who know the influences behind the pieces.
“Everybody imagines it differently in their heads,” Cyre says. “I thought it was super cool for them to come and see what I thought, and bring that imaginary world to life.”
With a public showing now under her belt, Cyre hopes to promote herself more and begin selling her art pieces as she works towards an eventual career in the field. She has her sights set on pursuing a post-secondary education in visual arts, and is up for the challenges that come with making a living in a creative industry.
“My dream in life is to be an artist as my job,” she says. “With times now how they are, I know it’s going to be a bit difficult, but if I start now and I keep working at it, selling and promoting, I think it’d be super cool and I might have a chance at that future.
“I couldn’t have done this art journey alone.” says Cyre. “There have been a lot of people who have helped and supported me throughout this journey, and of course the people who taught me to draw and helped me grow my love for it. I just want to thank everyone for that. To become an artist, it’s practice and just doing it over and over.”Pixel Perfect: A Journey Drawing Outside the Lines is on display in the ATCO Electric Yukon Youth Gallery until Jan. 17 every Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The free exhibition is also accessible during evening performances at the YAC
