Ask Ruth Sorokin about her art and she\u2019ll pose a series of questions that unlock every imaginative and emotional artistic door you didn\u2019t even know you possessed. “Do I stir feelings?” she\u2019ll ask. “Do I elicit anger? Embrace you? Annoy you? Induce happiness? Make you sad? Stimulate laughter? Evoke tears? Capture wonder? Kindle joy? Don\u2019t like me? I love you!”
\n“No need to talk about me,” she\u2019ll say. “You can see me in my art.” The La Jolla resident will be among 350 artists featured at Mission Federal\u2019s ArtWalk on Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30. ArtWalk\u2019s 2017 Vivid Expression will traverse through 17 blocks of Little Italy and downtown San Diego, treating artists and visitors to art, gourmet food, drinks and entertainment. The largest fine arts festival in Southern California celebrating a 33-year history will showcase local, national and international painting, sculpture, glass work, photography, woodworking, metal work, and fine jewelry. Live music and dance performances, interactive art activities and “kids walk” family-friendly craft projects will also be included. “Mission Federal ArtWalk is for everyone\u2014from serious collectors to first-time art buyers,” said Sandi Cottrell, director of Mission Federal ArtWalk. “We include interactive art activities and kid-friendly projects to ensure that all attendees feel like they can be a part of the art. We encourage attendees to express themselves to find their inner artist, which exists in all of us.”
\nTouting an impressive collection of colorful abstracts, sketches, drawings, paintings and doodles, Sorokin described her foray into life as an artist as a “default that began in 1990 by virtue of a piece of remake clothing.” Sorokin repaired a pair of Levi jeans “full of cuts and tears” by decorating them with swatches of colors and fabrics. A designer friend noticed the vogue apparel and suggested that she replicate samples as one-of-a-kind items to sell at a local LA outdoor market. The remakes became an instant success. Within two weeks Sorokin received a call from New York\u2019s Bergdorf Goodman soliciting to sell her jeans. “I had never heard of Bergdorf Goodman,” said the South African native. “I was in America for barely two years and now they wanted to sell my clothing. So, my life as an artist began by remaking jeans.” As chic remake jean sales soared, Sorokin decided that she needed better drawing skills to sketch designs for pattern makers. “I wasn\u2019t happy with what I was putting on paper,” she said, “so I went to an art teacher to become more proficient at sketching clothing designs. While sketching, she also encouraged me to start painting oil pastels. I started with doodles because I had never painted anything before.”
\nSorokin\u2019s doodles became the cornerstone of her art. She continued to study with “amazing” teachers who elevated her artistry while stroking her new-found passion. Inspired by “so many things – nature, people, travels, stories, even gardening,” Sorokin painted daily, testing a variety of artistic mediums without duplicating a single image.
\n“To this day, I\u2019ve never used image to replicate a painting,” she said. “I don\u2019t believe anything should be replicated. I look at things to paint but I never paint what I see. I simply paint or draw whatever comes to mind; the way I see it.”
\nThe self-described dreamer is never without a reason to remain artistic. “I\u2019m a dreamer who doesn\u2019t like to do the same thing twice,” she continued. “I like to diversify. I like to be un-identifiable. I draw, sketch or paint whatever I\u2019m drawn to at that moment. I turn my daydreams into art.”
\nSorokin attributes her warm and loving spirit \u2013 exemplified in all of her work \u2013 to her pastoral South African childhood. “I grew up on a remote farm in the deepest, darkest part of South Africa,” she said. “We \u2013 my two older sisters and younger brother \u2013 had to use our imaginations because we never had TV. We used coal stoves \u2013 electricity came later \u2013 and dealt with the cruelty of what happens in such a rustic countryside. Real life happens in ways that one wouldn\u2019t normally experience in this country. Although I don\u2019t miss the lifestyle, I have wonderful memories and visit often.”
\nThe artist spoke lovingly about her mother, “a unique woman who believed in love and kindness,” who also serves as an artistic influence. “Who I am is attributed to what she passed on to me,” she explained. “And everything that goes on canvas is an extension of all of it.”
\nSorokin described ArtWalk as a huge fine art show with “lots of exhibits that\u2019s a great way to see if people like or don\u2019t like my work.” Chosen as a first-time participant, she welcomes feedback. “I love to go out to the world and test my art,” she said. “Although I was chosen because of my art, art is subjective. Every artist has insecurities and quite honestly mine are just the same as every other artist.” Sorokin\u2019s future aspirations include painting stories on canvas. Distressed that society isn\u2019t learning from historical mistakes, she\u2019s collecting pictures of Native Americans and victims of slavery, the Holocaust and Aleppo, to paint a series of current and past events. Art shows knock on her door \u2013 much to her surprise.
\n“I don\u2019t care about showing my work as much as I care about doing it,” she concluded. “Shows come to me more than I go to them. Success is being able to tell my story by painting pieces of what\u2019s inside of me.”
\nMission Federal ArtWalk attracts more than 100,000 art collectors and visitors from all over the country to peruse and purchase art from established and emerging artists. Located between Ash and Grape streets, Mission Federal ArtWalk will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both days. “We work closely with our sponsors, vendors, featured artists, entertainment, community and local non-profit organizations to bring an extraordinary art experience to San Diego,” concluded Cottrell. “Ruth\u2019s vibrant use of color in abstract styles is wonderful. We welcome her to her first ArtWalk event.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ask Ruth Sorokin about her art and she\u2019ll pose a series of questions that unlock every imaginative and emotional artistic door you didn\u2019t even know you possessed. “Do I stir feelings?” she\u2019ll ask. “Do I elicit anger? Embrace you? Annoy you? Induce happiness? Make you sad? Stimulate laughter? Evoke tears? Capture wonder? Kindle joy? Don\u2019t […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":277613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"South African-born La Jolla artist, Ruth Sorokin, stirs emotions at Mission Art Walk","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}