[My Weekender]: Stéfanie Vallée

Stéfanie Vallée is a Shanghai based artist and practitioner of 'indirect painting' – colour porured directly onto the canvas with no need for a brush. Her first solo show in China opens at Kun Gallery this weekend


For me, there are two important things in life: follow your passion and enjoy your weekends with the people you love to nourish yourself and your passion! This weekend is going to be a very special one: I’ll call it the weekend of ‘The Day After’. Sounds like a movie doesn't it? A movie perhaps telling the story of a woman who came to China with a dream: to exhibit her paintings in Shanghai.

A lot of people told me ‘It’s going to be so hard you know - almost impossible’. Really, I wondered? They were partly right: I had no idea what to expect from the culture shock of arriving here, nor how it would impact on my creativity. I went through an eight month creative block when I arrived back in 2008, partly through frustration at not being able to express myself in Mandarin. I had to drastically improve my English speaking skills (I am a French Canadian and proud of it!), and I had to ‘sell’ an event for which there was no venue, no date and no paintings! My spouse has always believed in my talents, and I remember saying to him, ‘Honey, I swear when this art show happens, there will be so many people at the door that they'll have to wait in line to see my paintings – they'll be the best I've ever done. Trust me this will happen just like anything I have committed myself to in the past.’ Actually, to be honest, I was freaking out. I did not know how, nor with the help of whom that my dream could come true. Only my determination was equal to the top of the mountain I was facing.

Tonight, Friday March 4th 2011, my dream is coming true. It is the grand opening at Kun Art Gallery and we have over 100 guests confirmed. The gallery owners can’t believe it and neither can I – I guess it was one step at a time, all in the right direction. Focus on the summit. Don’t get me wrong, there were times when I saw the ravine up close, I had altitude sickness. My greatest lessons from this journey is that people from all around the world can gather for one individual’s dream by reaching out and creating a human chain to the top. Ice and Fire is my first solo art show in Asia and everybody is welcome to come and see over 25 paintings from the bottom of my heart. They're all for sale too, needless to say! Some were created in memory of the freezing nature of Canada; some with the intensity of the warm energy of Shanghai. Expect both landscapes and contemporary abstract pieces.

Come Saturday, the earth will still be revolving. I will wake up early, like always, and will walk my lovely chow chow, Song Song in the old French Concession. I'll stop by my favourite place to buy tofu tang on JiaShan lu, then chill out with my spouse and take a look at the pictures and footage from the opening the night before. We will choose some to post on my Facebook page and share the event with my family, friends and clients abroad. In the afternoon, I will meet my assistant and graphic designer for a book project on my indirect painting technique. Dinner will be a relaxed affair at home, with a good bottle of wine,some jazz music, and just spending quality time with my spouse, dog and cat!

Sunday, after my morning routine, I will go to Origin restaurant, on Taikang Lu, to see my friend and the restaurant owner, Fabrice Wattez and his friendly team. I have a ‘Painting Without a Brush Workshop’ there this Wednesday and we need to get planning. I have been teaching there for over a year now and just love the environment and helping people unleash their creative selves. Then, I will pop in at the gallery to see how things are going (hopefully there'll have been some sales) and I will walk my dog over at Suzhou Creek a bit before heading back home.

Sunday night, after a good spaghetti dinner (somehow I will find time to cook a sauce this weekend), I'll tell myself that I've done it – I'll finally see what’s on the other side of that peak I reached on Friday. I am definitely aiming for Everest, taking it one peak at a time.