There is Still Life is a witty play-on-words that describes Darcy Leopold Polny’s latest Visual Arts Studio Associations’ current exhibition. 

Polny, a former St. Albert visual artist who resided here for 26 years before moving to Camrose, has developed a personal style that blends reality and imagination to tell a compelling story. 

He connects images of antique ornamental porcelain and glassware with the beauty of nature’s birds and flowers. A gold and purple tablecloth is reflected in a swan shaped glass flower vase. A glass carafe holds a blue flower. A heron stands in a pool of water as three glass swans float by. A glass perfume bottle filled with an amber liquid and a frog teapot are reflected in a pool of water as a blue heron swims by.  

Each of these ornamental watercolour paintings allow for countless interpretations, yet each is a dream-like image that evokes a sense of fantasy. Polny uses strong, vibrant colours that usually denote high energy. Yet his technique and skill at choosing a robust palette creates a visually soothing effect. 

“My idea has always been to take antiques discarded by other people and return them to nature and give them new life,” Polny said. 

An avid antique collector, Polny travels with his wife Lea to Victoria in search of discarded collectibles he introduces into paintings. 

“If you look at old things through new eyes, you see them differently. If you look at man-made objects in a different setting, you might see something you haven’t seen before. I create man-made objects people have discarded, and I blend them in nature and they tell a story,” said Polny. 

He was born in the Athabasca region from Polish-Ukrainian parents and lived his early years on a farm near Prosperity. 

“It sure wasn’t for us, but the land was free,” Polny said adding that it was a wilderness area with elk and bears crossing through at their leisure. 

His mother grew chickens, and his father tended the land. At one point his resourceful father found airplane parts (motor, transmission, instrument panel, steering wheel) and built a tractor. 

“It was more powerful than regular tractors and I would sit on the tractor and pretend I was flying around.” 

At about 10, he moved to Edmonton and lived near Victoria Composite High School.  

“It was a rough area. There were a lot of gangs and switchblades. My brother and I were lucky. Three out of four of my friends were either murdered or went to jail.” 

Currently Victoria School is a prestigious arts school. Back in the 70s it focused on industrial arts – welding, drafting, lathe work, metal work. 

“I wasn’t a very studious person. I dropped out of school three times and played pool. But I went back and finished my program.” 

One of Polny’s biggest influences was his uncle, Edd Uluschak, a national award-winning political satirist and the Edmonton Journal’s editorial cartoonist. 

“He influenced me as a young kid. I saw him doing cartoons and I started sketching. I love creating things. I love seeing a white page turn into something unique. I’ve always been interested in creating something unique no one has ever done before.” 

By 1976, Polny graduated from Calgary’s Alberta College of Art and Design where he met his wife Lea. While in college, he was hired to draw architectural renderings. However, shortly after college, Polny and Lea move back to Edmonton to be nearer family. 

After he spent years as an art director in advertising agencies, the Polnys opened Groundwater Communications, a successful graphic design company that operated for 25 years. 

Currently, Polny focuses strictly on painting fine art in watecolour and pastels. By incorporating techniques of traditional art and graphic design, he promotes a vision that reflects the modern age of art while cherishing the past. 

There is Still Life runs at VASA until Aug. 31.