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Roslyn Levin – Sum-é artist and more

April 15, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

“I just got back from mailing some stuff that’s going to Scotland: a misty piece – a landscape called ‘Tree Tops Through the Mist.’ It was sold through the Federation of Canadian Artists,” said Roslyn Levin, Orangeville’s premiere Sum-é artist, explaining, “Last year, I did a competition with them and the painting was on their site. Someone in Scotland saw it and wanted to purchase it. That was pretty good.”

The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) was founded in 1941. It is a registered charity and was established by professional Canadian working artists. These included members of the Group of Sevenluminaries Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, and A.Y. Jackson.

Not a techie at all herself, Ms. Levin commented, “I haven’t used anything online. In all my years selling my art, I’ve maybe sold something twice [online]. I don’t think it’s a good vehicle for selling art.”

Normally a teacher of Sum-é painting as well, like so much else in the last year or so, this has been curtailed but she defined the art form to us: “It is the black line painting of the Japanese Sum-é, for which the challenge is to create the figure as simply and with as few lines as possible. The most perfect example is to create a painting with just one line.

Her own introduction to the art happened at the Ottawa School of Art, when she was heading for a class in watercolour painting. Right across from her own classroom, another lesson was taking place – that of Sum-é.

She loves to tell the story: “I just wandered in – I thought it would help with my watercolour and it would have if I had continued with it but, as soon as I started the Sum-é, I felt I had come home.”

Tomoko Kodami was the teacher that day and, for 40 years following that life changing first exposure to Sum-é, Roslyn Levin has pursued her passion for the art.

Besides teaching, other events have been cancelled again this year. The Gala for the Art Show and Sale as well as the annual fundraiser for the McMichael Gallery of Canadian Art, has been deferred to a virtual version.

“I was one of the 10 best-selling artists,” Ms. Levin told the Citizen of her association with the annual event. “This year, they weren’t sure what to do but decided to do an online market place.”

Of how Dragonfly is currently being run while the rules of being open or closed fluctuate, “We [the artists] have divided the time at Dragonfly to be there but people were coming into the store from out of Orangeville, from areas that are on lockdown, bringing their children just to get away but it wasn’t fair to us when we were fairly free of Covid.”

In spite of it all, Ms. Levin has still remained productive, busy right now at home.

She said, “I’ve finished all the commissions, which was nice because it gave me direction. Then, I started painted what I like, foxes, wolves. I am also working on my calligraphy for the competition.”

Japanese calligraphy is a big part of Ms. Levin’s portfolio and a fine art in itself. Her success in calligraphy is made all the more remarkable by the fact that she has no Japanese background or family. Her success in this field is, in particular, an accolade to her immersion into this world.

The calligraphy pieces are sent to Japan to be juried by five Calligraphy Masters. The winning ones are sent back, mounted on silk scrolls. Every year, Roslyn gets her silk.

“I’m going to be featured [in] a window in Dragonfly soon and I’m going to do Canadian animals for it. I have some direction. Still, it’s challenging when your career is on hold – when your life is on hold.”

One of her commissions was a picture of young wolves in a variety of moods.

“It was a big piece …of six wolves in different emotional states. Some were playing but ferociously. Others were relaxing. It was a challenging piece for me because I don’t paint fierce – I paint love. So, it was interesting. I had to stretch myself and that was good.

“I’m going to paint a couple of large pieces, a landscape and a picture with horses.”

Simplistic is the goal and, even when the black lines are many, they define the basic tenant of simple; her paintings always carry the feeling of the Sum-é.

She continues to keep growing as an artist and enjoys commissions for their challenge.

Trying to explain the truly elevated: “It’s about motion and emotion. I paint what I feel in my life and my life is full of a lot of love. So, to show love in motion is difficult. Birds courting… When I started working as an artist, I wanted my work to become well known without me being part of that. But you can’t separate yourself from your work. If your art is well known, so are you. I’ve got my paintings worldwide and I’ve won lots of awards.”

She said, “I want people who love my work to be able to take it home and continue to love it. I would love to have enough money.”

On that last note, she stepped up on her figurative soap box and gave us a message to pass on: “I had a really good year in 2019 and the government reduced our overall social security, our benefits [pensions, etc.] based on that one year’s income. All artists, including writers, musicians, actors – should be allowed income averaging. Our lives and incomes can be very inconsistent.”

Roslyn Levin can be contacted at Roslyn@artbyroslyn.on.ca

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