Beginnings....A Year of Drawing

By Tyler Cote. On display in our Pop-Up Gallery, March 1 to April 8, 2021.

Artist Bio: Tyler Cote

I was born in New Westminster, BC and moved around a lot growing up.  My first career was in science.  I studied Biotechnology.  This brought me to Manitoba where I worked for the National Microbiology Laboratory for roughly 13 years.  Here, I researched many different diseases and performed diagnostic reference work for this purpose.  I met my wife here.  She was an aspiring Medical Doctor.  Her career brought us to Portage la Prairie, MB where we were met with open arms.  We have embraced the community and are proud to call it home.  Shortly after moving, our first child was born and I was faced with the decision to transition to a stay at home dad, which I can say has its struggles.  But it was ultimately the best decision for me and our family.  Now with two young kids, a girl and a boy, many of my interests have been put on hold to focus on them.  When COVID-19 came in to the picture, our social outings were limited.  Just like everyone else, I found our daily life was affected quite drastically.  I needed to find something to do to keep me engaged and interested.  I saw a few friends and family post pictures of their art work online and thought to myself, “I think I could do that.”  One night, after having some wine and taking a trip down a YouTube rabbit hole of video tutorials on how to draw and texture hair, I was set.  Or so I thought.  With no formal training or personal instruction, I am proud to display what I have learned over the past year with this exhibit “Beginnings…a year of drawing”. 

Artist Statement:

“Beginnings…a year of drawing”.  This art exhibit is a display of the progress from my first drawing to the most recent. I have always admired Realism in art.  My focus with every piece is to achieve photo realism.  The pursuit of realism and the ability to draw something that is as close to real life as I can make it is the ultimate goal.  With every portrait, I strive to capture a look or an expression in the subject that translates to a direct emotional connection with the person viewing the piece.  I feel that I have achieved this to some degree in every piece.  I believe this collection of drawings clearly shows the process and progress I have made in a year’s time.  The message I would like to get across to everyone is “don’t wait”.  You never know what you are capable of.  Picking up drawing at 40 was not something I ever thought I would do, but here I am.  Knowing how far I have come has made me hungry to see where it will take me from here.