New York 2009 Part 3

Onto Brooklyn and back to the DUMBO area - here is another piece of random art based upon hands cut out of mirrors. And a closeup of that quilt that was hanging on a fence (see October 10th entry).

A view of the Empire State Building as we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

For some reason rats were taking over the Financial District...

And the terminal for the free Staten Island Ferry that takes you past the Statute of Liberty.

The Washington Square Park Arch - a major landmark in Manhattan and surrounded by New York University. Much history can be read about on the link.

We were in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 7 hours and I could show you hundreds of pictures but you'd get bored (and I highly recommend you go there yourself!) Instead, here is the high tea we had for lunch... and grass ceremonial costumes from the South Pacific.

But I can't miss introducing you to El Anatsui. He makes fabric out of recycled metal pieces - I am in awe of his work. My biggest regret was that he was here in Calgary talking at the Glenbow Museum this October and I was out of town. Major works of his opened at the Royal Ontario Museum this summer and he has shown all around the world - more info on him here.

And on our last day we ventured out to Coney Island - exactly what I expected - amusement park on the beach and home of Nathan's, where the hot dog eating contest is held each year.

My favourite shot of my daughter's - the Empire State Building with the fog moving in one night as we walked home.

New York 2009 Part 2

Flying into Newark Airport in New Jersey (hooray for Westjet, our favourite Canadian airline, and their direct flight from Calgary) - this is a shot of the south end of Manhattan.


Tenements on the east side - building after building and their fire escapes.


The turtle pond in Central Park.


Into the Natural History Museum and getting shots of motifs from South Pacific Islands.





Entertainment and Liz at the Bethesda Fountain, Central Park.



The ubiquitous horse drawn carriages outside The Plaza hotel to tour Central Park.


Windows at Bergdorf Goodman shop - the dogs are made out of foam core, layered vertically.


Radio City Music Hall and what is NYC without a shot of Times Square?

Mumford and Sons

A recently formed group from London, England - like their sound and their looks!

Mumford and Sons (click here to watch the video)

Taken from their web site:
"Since they formed in December 2007, the members of Mumford & Sons have shared a common purpose: to make music that matters, without taking themselves too seriously. Four young men from West London in their early twenties, they have fire in their bellies, romance in their hearts, and rapture in their masterful, melancholy voices. They are staunch friends - Marcus Mumford, Country Winston, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane - who bring their music to us with the passion and pride of an old-fashioned, much-cherished, family business. They create a gutsy, old-time sound that marries the magic of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with the might of Kings Of Leon, and their incredible energy draws us in quickly to their circle of songs, to the warmth of their stories, and to their magical community of misty-eyed men."

See what you think...

Calyx Fine Art Sale

Here are the other 2D wall pieces that I had at the Calyx show. They are done in the theme of UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in Canada.

From the rolling hills of L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, these two pieces explore the Celtic connection in Canada and the voyages of the Vikings 1000 years ago:


The parks of the Rocky Mountains (Banff in particular) were the first UNESCO sites in Canada over 100 years ago. The railways were encouraging visitors to view this natural occurring magnificence and build hotels (promoted as 'Castles of the Rockies') along their lines. This series included the Banff Springs, Chateau Lake Louise and Chateau Frontenac in the east. This one is the Prince Of Wales hotel in Waterton National Park in southern Alberta.

Called 'The Tide Remains The Same' the artist statement for this pieces reads:
The power of nature to sustain or destroy humanity is immense. Without action to preserve the earth and the ecosystems that nourish us, we will all fade away, leaving only the evidence of our presence; skeleton, bone and shell. UNESCO World Heritage Sites have been established to ensure the epic human story of civilizations rising and falling teaches us this truth.

CALYX Fine Art Sale

The bigger 2D wall pieces that I had at Calyx were in the fruit theme that showed at Nectar Desserts in the summer of 2008.

Citrus medley


Mixed berries


Strawberries


Lemons

CALYX after party

Had a wonderful day at the Calyx Fine Art Show and Sale on Sunday - lots of fibre enthusiasts came along and wanted to talk. It is lovely to see such an interest in textiles.

Here are photos of some of work - anyone interested in purchases can contact me through this site.

My table of 3D items at the show:
I make a bag using the oldest stitch known to mankind - which has been found in every culture around the world since the beginning of time. Using an Irish waxed linen and a needle and thread, over 2000 stitches go into this Keepsake Pouch necklace. It is then decorated with beads and metal findings, and filled with semi-precious stones and crystals with accompanying listing of spiritual properties.

These pictures show the colours and combinations I have made in the past - the purple one is the only one I currently have on hand. I am always making new ones of these, and never repeat a design. The Viking Rune on the front of the bag stands for 'love'.

I create a new line of brooches every year, and along with the jewellery, some of them are framed, mounted on hand or machine sewn backgrounds. This year's are made with a rare square sequin sewn onto silk.

Again, a sample of the items - the black one in the center is the only one I have left:



And, new this year, Devore Silk and Rayon Scarves in many different colours and patterns.

These have a raised velvet motif:

And on these, the motif is flush with the background:

Calyx Art Exhibition

CALYX Art Exhibition and Sale was started 10 years ago by four Alberta College of Art and Design graduates. It has grown so much in the past 10 years that they now run it twice a year (April and October) and have ~25 different artists each day.

This year it runs:
Saturday October 17 and Sunday October 18, 2009
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Crescent Heights Community Centre
1101 2nd Street NW, Calgary, AB

and I will be participating on Sunday the 18th.

I will have a wide variety of art offerings this year - from wall pieces based upon UNESCO sites in Canada to summer fruits. I also have my Keepsake Pouch necklaces (over 3000 individual stitches in making the pouch, decorated with beads and metal findings, then filled with semi-precious stones listing their spiritual properties.) I have a few brooches and small frames pieces and, new this year, Devore Silk Scarves in many different colours and patterns.

I attended the artist meeting the other night and I got a preview of all the wonderful artists and their work that will be offered in this year's sale.

On Sunday with me will be:
Michelle Wilman and her handmade beads made into jewellery
Heather Brewster with her newest venture into assemblages
Lisa Brawn whose work was on flags on the bridges over the Bow River this summer
raku from Linda Mosher
basketry in metal from Crys Harse
fine woodwork from Kathy Somerville
and the painters;
Eleanor Lowden Pidgeon
Connie Geerts
Angie Rees - funky versions of dreams
Kathy Lycka
plus 15 others!!!

New York 2009 part 1

My 23 year old daughter complained that she had not had a vacation for a couple of years what with summer jobs and completing her university degree. She decided she wanted to visit New York City and was looking for someone to accompany her - I quickly jumped up and down and said "pick me!"

We squeezed the trip in at the end of August in-between her finishing her summer job and taking off for six months to travel southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand (how that doesn't count as not going anywhere, I am not quite sure!)

I was going to collect photos of graffiti but it is getting hard to find it in NYC (they have cleaned the city up so much!) I had found out two special areas in Chelsea and Brooklyn but although we got just blocks away from one of them, we had to rush off to the theatre to catch our 7pm show.

This is one example I did find - right on Houston Street by the delicious Russ and Daughters bagel / deli.

Close up of the right hand side image shows a collage of sorts:

and the Batwoman-like image is made of LEGO blocks:


At the Union Square farmer's market we came across some unusual flowers:
(Okay, here they look like straw flowers but they are not that when you see them in person!)


We then wandered over to the Natural History Museum on the west side of Central Park and in the special exhibit on Margaret Mead and her Samoa adventures I found these sketches of Pacific Indian art.


Then it was over to Brooklyn to walk around the DUMBO area (one of NY's premiere art districts), get the views across the East River of the Manhattan skyline, and then stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge. On the bridge I was looking for artsy shots of the wonderful wire that make up its suspension.
and then taking photos of the Manhattan skyline through the wires:

In DUMBO, the only textile art I found was this quilt flapping in the wind (I think Liz has closeup shots of it on her camera... these photos were all mine, tomorrow I will continue with some of hers.)

Articulation Textile Group blog

Articulation has exciting news with our new blog created to tell the world about our exhibitions, study sessions, group news and anything else that pertains to the group.

Articulation members live across Canada and we are:
ReBecca Paterson - New Brunswick
Ingrid Lincoln and Miriam Birkenthal - Manitoba
Leann Clifford - Saskatchewan
Donna Clement and Vickie Newington - Alberta
Lesley Turner and Gloria S. Daly - British Columbia
and Wendy Klotz - currently in Qatar, Middle East but soon coming back to Alberta.

Our latest exhibit opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Mennonite Centre on September 18th.
Check out the blog for news on that.

http://articulationtextilegroup.blogspot.com/

Summer..

Summer is hanging around here in Alberta. Long lazy days of endless sunshine - love it!

August was full of lazy days with every weekend spent at the cabin - the most amazing time this year with no bugs - the mosquitoes are non-existent! At the end of the month my daughter and I went to New York City for a week - more on that later now that I have the pictures downloaded.

Over the summer I have been working on more pieces for the new exhibit in Winnipeg (opening September 18th) based upon the heritage architecture of the Exchange District of that city. I finished two more pieces (for a total of seven) for my deadline of September 8th. I thought this video was apropos!

Deadline Post-It Stop Motion

An amazing amount of work went into this by Bang-Yao Liu of the Savannah College of Art and Design.

New show hanging at Nectar Desserts

Nancy Dormer and I spent Friday morning hanging our second show together at the funky little dessert bar Nectar in historical Inglewood just east of downtown Calgary. It looks great (of course!) and very colourful.

Called "Seemingly Simple" the description goes as so... "Does everything need to be complicated? Fruit is one of the basics of a healthy life. The design of a kimono appears uncomplicated and pleasing to the eye. Travelling to far off lands can be summed up in one memorable image. A complicated architectural design is compiled of many uncomplicated segments."

Nancy will be displaying her wonderful acrylic and mixed media artwork using techniques she has been experimenting with over the last year (and building on over the last few decades!) Using hand carved stamps, hand painted papers and original drawings her pieces are colourful and appealing. Her titles Caw, Sasha, Be, Soar, Fly, Play, the Mod Ladies, and Brown Crow look forward to your visit.

I have incorporated into my art pieces embroidery on paper, darning with yarns, hand dyed fabrics, embossed metal, and much more. With titles like Castles in the Rockies, The Cedar Remains, Buried Treasure, Standing Stones of Scotland, Stone Age Art of Sweden, and Silver Fern of New Zealand, they cover a large range of subjects and a huge variety of techniques.



Sunfest, Inglewood's annual street festival, will occur on Saturday August 1st, and will feature 3 full blocks of happenings - a good day to explore the area. Nectar is closed Sunday and Monday for the Heritage Day holiday but reopens Monday to Thursday from 3 to 11 pm, Friday and Saturdays from 10 am to midnight, and Sundays 10 am to 5 pm.

Nancy and I will also be hosting an artist reception on Wednesday, August 19th - more about that later.

Art sent to Winnpeg...

I have shipped off 5 pieces to Winnipeg along with art from other Articulation members in preparation of the September show. Lesley and I spent a morning packing and finished with three large boxes filled with 18 pieces of art - and Canada Post was successful in delivering it all within two days - thanks to them for a job well done!

I was especially happy with how my two new pieces turned out. I ended up painting matching canvases to mount them on and came up with a fabric-looking backing to sew them onto. I love the colouring and textures they add to the entire piece. Can't wait to get them out for public viewing!

More folk festival...

While touring the videos posted on YouTube, I found this one with me in it! It shows how close we sit to the stage, like I said before there are over 10,000 people behind us and the stage right in front!

I am sitting in the green chair in the tank top - it was +30c that day! And here is Glen Campbell playing Classical Gas.

Calgary Folk Festival 2009 - 30th anniversary

Another amazing year of music, sun, peace and love - everything you expect from a folk festival. Four days spent on Prince's Island in the middle of the Bow River that flows through Calgary, with the sun shining throughout - by the time Monday morning arrives one is burnt out from all the good times!

Here are some of the musicians I heard (out of the 60 that attended) - click on their names to hear their music.

Vasen from Sweden. I love Scandinavian tunes...
Lee Harvey Osmond, an artist collective with Tom Wilson from Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and oldtime folkie Brent Titcomb.
Michael Bernard Fitzgerald from Calgary. And he is so cute, he gets two links!
Arrested Development, an alternative hip hop group from Atlanta. Gets you up and moving!
Mark Berube & The Patriotic Few, group from Montreal.
Vishten an Acadian group from PEI, so get ready for some Celtic toe-tapping tunes!
Kid Koala, table-turner extraordinaire. The sounds he gets out of a turntable are out of this world!
Amazing, amazing guitarist (among other things) Steve Dawson from Vancouver. He is primarily known as a producer for acts like the next group.
Sojourners, moved to Vancouver from the deep American south and became Canadian citizens last year - bringing with them the tradition of gospel music.

Winnipeg Work - new for Winnipeg

I have been working on a couple of new pieces for the exhibit moving to Winnipeg in September, based upon architectural details I found while touring the city. These photos show the original piece - one is the base of a column, and the other is a detail high on the side of a bank on Main Street.

Starting with two aluminum cans of pop, I cut them open by removing the top and bottom, and flattened the cans. The images were then embossed onto the aluminum with an old ball point pen, and decorative borders added to fill in the space. Then they were painted with black acrylic paint to highlight the raised areas.

I made backgrounds to mount these metal pieces onto using velvet, painted Wonder Under, and two colours of chiffon scarves. Now I am playing with layout and figuring out what else to use for borders and design interest.

Have to wait until Winnipeg to see the final piece!

Winnipeg Work - art shown in Edmonton

Showing at the McMullen Gallery in Edmonton from April through June this year, I contributed three pieces to the Articulation show on "Urban Textures" inspired by our study session back in 2006 to the city in the centre of Canada (horizontally at least!)

One piece, called "Motif de Fleur" as a nod to the French settlers, is based upon the Bas Relief flowers that decorated the outer walls of the stately banks where, in early 1900 Winnipeg, twenty banks once lined Main Street.

This art has been hand and machine stitched upon archival tissue paper; coloured with chalk and oil pastels; then tea dyed to age the finished piece. Golds of different types and colours were then added as a final gilding.



Another piece is inspired by the immigrants who came to Canada at the turn of the century. Called "Gateway To The West" it tells the story of European immigrants who sailed to Canada landing in either Halifax or Montreal, boarded trains for Winnipeg, then spent time there accumulating household goods before heading out in wagons to their new lives on Government issued homesteads on the Canadian Prairies. Winnipeg truly was the gateway to the west for them.

My family was among these in the 1890s. Both my mother's and father's families moved from the same small village on the Austria/Ukraine border to a small town in central Alberta. This piece shows statistics of the different cultures who were coming west. Squares are hand painted and stamped reminiscent of the plowed fields; the saying "Come to Canada, the land of your future" is written out in various languages that would have been used in Europe to promote immigration; and the names of countries who sent the most settlers are scattered throughout.



My third piece shows the different types of lilies that can be cultivated in Winnipeg's prairie climate. The many different gardens in Assiniboine Park shows locals and visitors to the city the vast range of flowers that can be grown in their global temperate zone.

Again this piece is done on tissue paper, machine stitched, hand coloured, with borders of stitched, melted felt.

Vancouver Island

A group of my friends here in Calgary are lucky enough to know two people who have property on Vancouver Island and are wonderful enough to invite us there each year.

In 2007, we went in March and it was typical island rain!





KH journal page




In 2008 we shifted to May, in hopes of getting a little more sun - and it worked!


badminton was the order of the day - we spray painted a court on the lawn!

and of course, the art project = acrylic paint + a credit card!







May again in 2009...
and even more sunshine!

Back to reality...

This spring has been so hectic with travel that since I've returned from my last trip I am just hunkering down and vegging at home - can you tell by the date of the last blog entry!?!

2009
The month of March in Artist Residence in Banff...
April travelling the US Southwest...
May bonding with friends on Vancouver Island (more on that next post)...
My daughter's university graduation...
Finally being able to use the cabin since the floods of 2005 when we had 9 feet of water inside - the past summers have been spent cleaning and rebuilding...

And working on upcoming shows...

This week Lesley and I drove to Edmonton to take down the show at the McMullen Gallery on the main floor of the University of Alberta Hospital. This show, based upon the architecture of downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, is moving to the Mennonite Gallery in Winnipeg in September and will be twice as big as the Edmonton show - so we are all hard at work in our studios producing more masterpieces.

Urban Textures at McMullen Gallery

Articulation's show on Winnipeg's historical Exchange District has been hanging at the University of Alberta Hospital in the McMullen Gallery since April and several of us living in Calgary have made the drive up to Edmonton every other Thursday to teach workshops as part of their art program. I finally got some photos of the exhibit, but encourage you to go to Lesley Turner's blog as she has been featuring each artist with closeups of their work.





This show moves to Winnipeg and the Mennonite Cultural Centre in September and as it is a much larger space to exhibit in, we are all busy producing more work to hang in the fall.

The trip started with blooming cactuses...

And so it should finish...
As we left Las Vegas we headed south and then west on the #78. This route took us through the Algodones Dunes - an area of 8 by 40 miles, a vast pile of pure, golden sand, center of which has absolutely no vegetation and presents a stark, elemental scene of just two components - cloudless blue sky above and unbroken sandy mounds beneath.
and the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (where the above cactus photos came from) as we made our way to the Pacific coast, Encinitas and Santa Luz to spend a couple of days visiting with family.

Back home for a couple of days, then off to Edmonton for the artist reception of URBAN TEXTURES, Articulation's textile exhibit inspired by architectural details from Winnipeg's historical Exchange District.