Local artist Nadia Bias has been exploring art and music for as long as she can remember. She was showcased for the first time in the Natural Expressions exhibition at the Kariton Gallery early in 2020, a promising start to the year — then the pandemic hit.
The pandemic provided many challenges for Bias. As a single parent, she found social restrictions, combined with the challenges of caring for children and running a household during a pandemic, impacted her art practice. But Bias says it has also helped her find new perspectives and made her realize how much she values drawing, painting, and music.
Bias is on a new journey as an artist. She has returned to drawing as an outlet for her emotional expression and has been exploring different forms of inspiration.
“My artistic process is very organic. It usually starts with a sketch. I doodle around and I try to put on paper what my emotions look like. Or how strong they make me feel.”
Early in life, Bias wanted to be a Disney animator because she loved how the movies made her feel. She became a self-taught artist who has been “drawing and colouring since I could walk.” Bias credits her early artistic roots to her family.
“My father has always been artistic and I remember he was always good at drawing. I think I got my interest from him. My mother is a music teacher and musician. She played in the Fraser Valley Symphony for a number of years and I’ve been inspired to follow in both their footsteps.”
Along with being an artist, Bias is also an Abbotsford-based music teacher–teaching the violin and basic piano–and recently joined her mother playing with the Fraser Valley Symphony.
Bias says music is one of her biggest inspirations.
“Music is a huge influence. I’ve been exploring the combination of music and art because they go together very well. Music decorates our spaces with sound and art decorates what we see. I believe we use both music and art to heal.”
Bias explained her love of movie and video game soundtrack music. The power of combining music with visuals has always been one of her foundational pieces when she puts in headphones and gets lost in her creative process. Bias believes she’s created some of her best artwork when she’s accompanied by music.
“I often find an inspirational song and play it on repeat while I create so I can stay in the same energy. There are many different genres of music, and it’s the same with art — they complement each other so well.”
Bias looks to the future with a desire to create impactful art for others to enjoy and the possibility of showing her art again in the future.
“I’m a huge nerd. So I love the mystical, fantasy genre, and will continue to draw and paint what I see around me. I’ve always wanted to exhibit my art, and I’ve done that. As an artist, I can be sensitive and emotional…It was super terrifying to put myself out there, but now that I have [exhibited] I know I just have to keep doing it.”
Image: Nadia Bias
Steve is a third-year BFA creative writing/visual arts student who’s been a contributing writer, staff writer and now an editor at The Cascade. He's always found stories and adventures but now has the joy of capturing and reporting them.
