Student Exhibition

My students are having an exhibition opening on January 3rd. Below on the invitation are details and below that what will be in the exhibition.

The tree pieces in this exhibition were inspired by the painting Jack Pine by Tom Thompson. The background in this piece has a very geometrical look to it.  The students interpreted this geometric background by using woven strips of paper. 

 

The artwork with birds was inspired by the piece Music Behind by Harold Town.  Harold Town utilizes a collage technique to create his pieces in this particular one he used the back of a TV. We used old music manuscripts as the basis for our creations.

Erased Nests

The series of four graphite on paper nests using the eraser as my main rendering tool are done.

The pieces are about the financial market and how recently many people have lost their savings in a blink of an eye. Like they were erased with no marks left behind.

Flow - Estevan Art Gallery

Worked out the details for my Estevan Art Gallery exhibition of my series "Flow".

The artwork is up from Sept 1 - Oct 13. The opening reception is Sept 6, 2012.

Empty Nest

Empty

43 x 143cm

ink on paper

Play Money

This is an interactive piece that I am hoping to include in my nest exhibition. I found an desk magnet with dollar sign metallic pieces at the second hand store. I have create a small interactive piece of art with it. The concept is that people that visit the exhibition get to play with a piece of art.  I know lots of people are tactile and love to touch things and this will be their chance. Due to the magnetic nature of the piece the dollar signs can be put into an infinite number of shapes.

Clay Nests out of the kiln

I have fired 6 clay nests. As these are a total experiment I afraid of the results. I am using scrap clay that I didn't want to rework one more time in my classroom. So they are made from crumbling dry bits of clay. They are also super fragile.


The pieces of paper under the nests are an idea I am thinking about. The paper have images of hyperinflation in Germany when it was cheaper to burn money than buy wood to burn, when people took their pay home in large baskets, when children make kites from money because it was cheaper than buying a kite or when children played with blocks of money rather than toys because it was cheaper. 

I am also still working on the colour of the nests. I am not sure if the off white colour is good or not as most gallery displays are quite white. They look good on a wood surface but not as good on a white surface.

Nest vary in size from 5cm to 15cm.

Nest - Coming Together, Moving Apart

This print is unique as I created it using scraps from my other printing blocks. I shaped them like twigs and printed them individually bad hand. The print is about the way in our nests (the many forms it takes on, financial, family, career, etc) are constantly coming together at the same time as they are moving apart.

Coming Together, Moving Apart

43 x 143cm

ink on paper

Eraser Bird Nests

Made a new nest. This is graphite on paper and that is it. I covered the entire paper in layers of graphite (it is darker than it appears). I then used an eraser to make the nest disappear. It was inspired by a piece I saw while in Vancouver. As a printmaker I often think backwards and this seems to be more of the backwards thinking. I am making four of them. on the next one half of the nest will show, the nest a quarter of the nest and the final one nothing of the nest will show. 

Out of the Darkness Comes Light

30 x 40 cm

Colorful Nests in Trees

Here is a sample of what I will be doing at the Potash Corp Children's Festival as Artist in Residence. Prior to the festival I will be creating 300 or so wire nests in beautiful colors to install in trees in the park. I am creating the nest with my students.  The caretaker at my school is helping with the organizing of the wire, which is great. It is a huge job just to prepare the materials.

I am also hoping to install nests in trees along Broadway Ave as a compliment to my exhibition at the Affinity Gallery.  I like to have my students participate in my exhibitions.

The children's festival will be having a tent where people visiting the park can make their own nest.

Black Friday - Bird Nests

Before I go any further in this post I have to tell you I am not much of a shopper and rarely read the sales flyers that fill my mailbox. Black Friday and the behavior of people on that day astonished me so I am creating a series of 100 wire bird nests. 100 being the base of our currency.  People on Black Friday went to the store hours early to find things to put into their nests (homes) to make that home more of what they wanted to it to be. Some of them did this without knowing the consequences of that day. I won't go into detail but we all know the reports on the news.

The black nests will contrast the white clay ones I am making. (See previous post) 

So, the Black Friday moment in time inspired me to make 100 black bird nests from wire. My husband is quite enjoying this as I am actually sitting in front of the television to do this and he gets to see me for a little more each night that he normally would. He is helping me separate the black wire from the other colours and I create two nests per night in front of the TV.  I rarely watch TV so this is a huge thing that I am sitting in front of it. Opra came and left TV and I never saw an episode. I usually make art when I am not doing the necessary things to make life run or working, so TV is just not something that I do. So, two nests a night will be 50 nights in front of the TV.

Clay Nests

As part of my nest series I am creating clay nests. The plan is to make 100. I have created 4 which are drying and I hope that they dry well so that I can fire them soon. I am so excited to work with clay, I love it. The act of rolling the twig like shapes is almost hypnotic. I am have looked carefully at real bird nests so am finding the creation of clay ones easy. I plan on glazing them white as a contrast to my series of 100 black nests made from wire. (See next post)  Nothing is finances is black and white it is more of a grey, so I am creating 100 black and 100 white nests, between the two is the grey area. I have not planned to create 100 grey nests but you never know. 100 being the the base of our currency is why 100.

A friend of mine is moving to a new house this weekend with her children and I thought of her while creating this. Birds move in twigs to create their nest, feathers, grass etc to make it soft and comfortable, we move couches, chairs, pictures and the various objects that we surround ourselves with. A line from the movie "Eat, Love and Pray" where she talks about being an active participant in every part of the life she created, making choices about everything that she brought into her life, as she touches the things in her home, kept coming to mind as I placed each twig. 

Nest-Nest Egg- Empty Nest - Affinity Gallery

The series Nest - Nest Egg -Empty Nest will be exhibited at the Affinity Gallery, Saskatchewan Craft Council from April 20-May 27, 2012.  I am thrilled to be able to share this series with the people of Saskatoon.