Ilya Viryachev (Vancouver – CANADA) was in Residence in May 2016
In May of 2016 I was selected to be part of a residency in The Cultural Park of the Podere Conte Racani, Italy. It was an incredible experience to enter a different world and be surrounded by nature for ten days, and to simply create. My inspiration for this mural came from the first impressions of seeing the photos of Umbria and where the Cultural Reservation was located. It seemed like an ideal getaway for an artist to be inspired and create artwork. It is no surprise that my initial reaction turned out to be the exact goal and purpose of the Podere Conte Racani Residency program.
Being driven by such inspiration, I spent a good amount of time researching the flora and fauna of Umbria, as it was really important for me to be accurate to the region. The oak tress from the residency have such a beautiful twisting to them, that I knew they had to be in the design. I wanted to use the poet reading his recent poem as a representation of every artist out there finding their perfect environment to create in. I settled on birds as the keen audience in the image, as their shapes and colors are really fun to play with and you can get a lot out of their body poses. I chose hoopoes and kingfishers to be in the image, as both species can be found close to the river Tiber.Ilya Viryachev www.ilyav.ca
For a Ilya video interview go HERE