Banff - Day 26

Dyeing silk - ahhhh, love it!

It is so nice to be back getting instantaneous results in the dye studio. I was dyeing silk and viscose devore scarves today and the colour by the end of the day hanging on the lines!!!

But first we had to light the pilot and engage the safety value on the bank of three industrial propane burners - this is not an easy job. It involves a huge wooden mallet, a lighter, your knee and two thumbs. Almost impossible for one person to do alone so we got everyone involved. Here is Wendy manning the mallet to hold the pilot light on...


Lesley and I started the day by using the dyes in their pure colours to test dye samples she had stitched with various cotton and silk fabrics and threads. Here we are mixing the chemicals...


Then the fabrics are heated to a simmer...

And after we finished the samples, I started combining colours and adding my devore scarves to the pots...

I did almost twenty scarves today and will finish the rest tomorrow. These photos do not do justice to the shine that silk has - the lustre is amazing!

But we had to quit for the night early to head out to the CBC Radio 2 concert to hear the compositions (see the March 24th post for details on the composition competition). The five pieces were all amazing and one of the most interesting parts of the evening was how each of the five composers used the ensemble instruments in such different ways - it was the first time I had ever heard a bowl of water being played (amazing); or the inside of the piano (I have heard a couple of strings being plunked but this was even more); and the percussionist was my favourite player (he had half the stage filled with all his instruments, including an old fashioned typewriter). The composer I picked for viewer choice was the one who took home the big pot of money - Andrew Staniland with his piece "Devolution" in three parts. Congratulations to all five of the young men.

Tomorrow we hang our work-in-progress from the last month for our exhibit "Loose Threads" in the Other Gallery in Gylde Hall. Come and join us for our artist reception from 4 to 6 pm Friday evening. The show is up until Sunday night. If you can't make the opening but are in town on the weekend, feel free to get in touch for a personal tour.

Banff - Day 24

Started the day with Lesley and my neighborhood book club coming to Banff from Calgary (~one hour down the road) for a discussion of the book, tour of our facilities, and lunch. Here is the one photo I got of the group in the dye studio - check Lesley's blog for the front shot!


In the afternoon I was back in the dye studio. Here are the shibori pieces I tied yesterday, along with the white devore silk scarves I will be dyeing over the next couple of days (they are white, it is just the bright yellow table they are laying on!)


I also prepared a screen for another round of playing with the deconstructed screen printing method. Here it is, painted with thickened yellow dye with stencils and stamps embedded into it. It needs to dry overnight, then I can start applying layers of colours to gradually remove this outer coating.


One thing I haven't mentioned yet is the musical event of the month that is generating great excitement here at the Banff Centre.

CBC Radio 2 is sponsoring a young composer competition called Evolution. Five Canadian composers under 35 years of age won the first round and were selected to come to Banff to spend less than one month coming up with a 10 - 15 minute composition to be played by the Montreal group Ensemble contemporain de Montréal+ (ECM+). The date of the concert where we get to hear the 5 new compositions is Thursday, March 26 at 6pm MST - this concert will be broadcast live on CBC Radio 2.

Over the past month we have seen the tension rise in all of the composers as they hang out with residency musicians here at the Centre, been followed around by CBC videographers, write their blogs, and this weekend the ensemble arrived from Montreal to start playing their new pieces and the pace has accelerated. We are all looking forward to the concert on Thursday.