The Beginning
Melbourne Australia - The Beginning
I was born in a Western suburb of Melbourne Australia called Footscray. One of my earliest memories was the sound of a distant roaring crowd. We lived near the football field where the Footscray Bulldogs played. I had an early interest in art, excelling at it throughout my early school years and after the age of 13 when we moved to Queensland ( A northern state of Australia ) I continued my interest in art by enrolling in the Seven Hill Art College. In those days after graduating, you either ended up in an advertising studio and did actual “cut and paste” for ads as art, or you resigned yourself to the lifestyle of a “starving artist” if you wanted to be a puritan about art. Being a pragmatic person I knew that neither option was for me, so I decided to live a little before I made a decision about my career.
The Formative Years
Leaving home and finding oneself is not the easiest career choice for family and friends to understand. I remember a friend telling me – ”Who are you looking for….you’re already here” Needless to say, those types of answers though profound to them, gave me no satisfaction. I lived out of a backpack, traveling throughout far North Queensland for the next 5 years and looking back now, my best stories and some of my most memorable moments come from those 5 years of travel.
Marriage and Migration
Throughout those years I met a lovely Canadian Girl and we became fast friends. Always a laugh and a joke and nothing has changed. We wrote to each other for years as friends and during that process I realized I wasn’t going to find a friend as good as her. So I flew to Canada and convinced her that she loved me. I flew her back to Australia and even though I proposed to her (many months later) under the Sydney Harbor Bridge, we where married in Elkford BC in Canada where her close nit family lived. We had a good old fashioned wedding, inviting almost everyone they knew. Salt of the earth people everyone of them.
A Re-Discovery
We settled in Vancouver BC and made a life for ourselves. I got involved with the renovation industry and build a business and a life from that. I had occasionally re-visited my artistic side many times through the years but mainly as an outlet and expression and not as a vocation. I would draw portraits of family members and choose different subject matter to work on but it wasn’t till my wife and I where waiting for a flight at an international airport that something changed. We were both admiring a beautiful piece of artwork but in my mind the wheels where turning. It was a paper cast that looked more like a sculpture and I immediately knew how the artist did it and that I could do the same. It was a desire that started burning and I couldn’t explain why. I had never sculpted before that point. I was strictly a graphic artist.
Exploring a Yearning
Elephant Bas Relief in Buffed Graphite from Vancouver Artist Stavros Tosounidis
After that moment I couldn’t forget the thought that I could really do this. I bought some clay and built an easel specific to the project I had in mind.
I picked a subject and went to work. A week or so later I came up with the elephant that has now become a symbol of a new beginning for me. I wasn’t quite sure what subject matter really interested me or what passion would drive me but I kept the flame burning while pursuing a practical life. As a consequence of my new found skill, I worked part time as a sculptor for a time for a decor company that made artsy home decor in cast plaster. I became their best selling artist before I decided that this was not the path for me.
Finding My Niche
While working in the Renovation industry, especially in the commercial field, I noticed there was a real lack of artisans who could create completely unique custom architectural designs from concept to completion. Not simply making what a designer or architect gave them to make. You either had the artist type who was not really a designer or tradesman or the tradesmen who was not really an artist or designer. It seems that our Renaissance Men are in hiding or have been beaten into submission.
Birth of a Passion
Knowing exactly what I wanted to do, I decided to pursue my passion and explore this newly found creative direction. I knew of no one else doing quite what I was doing. Filling a void no one really knew existed was going to present challenges but I had confidence that the work would speak for itself.
I don’t believe in luck or fate, I do however believe in hard work and focus. This has fueled my new direction. I hope you like the show.
Stavros Tosounidis
Vancouver Based - Artist / Designer / Tradesman / Entrepreneur