Continuous - Yup, it pretty much has been a continuous exhibition since the first time the bees were hung in Okotoks in 2015. Ottawa School of Art Gallery will be displaying the works from Aug. 29th-Oct. 6th. This will be the 9th time that I have measured, calculated, climbed ladders, leveled, and played with the lights for this series. The message is as pertinent today as it was when I first started to research the concept and the series will continue after Ottawa for exhibitions booked into 2021. Each space provides a new challenge and fills each location beautifully. I always get so excited to share this work and to rise to the opportunity in a new gallery. The artist talk is October 5 at 2pm.
#BeJane - Dr, Jane Goodall is someone I have admired since I was a young girl, marvelling at her courage, intellect, and groundbreaking ideas. She is having an 85th birthday party in Vienna, Austria on Sept. 10th at the Meinlus Rosthalle, and guess who's invited? That little girl who has admired her for a lifetime and has grown up and created a piece of art to be auctioned off at the party to raise funds for Dr. Goodall's foundation. It is based on my series, Context is Everything, with 85 paper sculpture dandelions. As Dr. Goodall has proven, there is beauty in nature, we rely on its diversity, and humans need to become more aware of the effects of creating monocultures, removing what is deemed unwanted simply because it doesn't fit into what we want or consider worthy at that moment.
A group exhibition entitled Common Waters continues until Sept. 14th at the Cambridge Galleries in Cambridge, Ontario and it has one of my printmaking pieces. The piece above was created after the oil spill in the North Saskatchewan River, I was so horrified by the mess it created that I wanted to make a statement about how we have misplaced our values on the wrong resources. The ribbon has fish printed on it. It is an interactive piece, the visitor is asked to enter numbers on the calculator to simulate the value of water, as the running total of all the numbers entered would be beyond the abilities of the calculator. To infinity and beyond! Oops, I should be more careful about copyrights, especially with a new Toy Story movie coming out.
Art as Actvism - Truth, Survivance, and Reslience is a group show in Guelph, Ontario running from Aug. 2 to Dec. 1. This dandelion piece is proudly part of the works that explore the collective journey toward decolonization,
through art works that reflect personal experiences
and challenge the conventions of institutional space. The poem on the color separation print above is by Lorraine Beardsworth. Did you know the word dandelion has been removed from the next edition of the Oxford dictionary? It was removed so we could add words like LOL, newbie and selfie. Those young whippersnappers......
Verdict
on a Dandelion
if
your golden crowns bloomed once in thirty years
we
would indulge you with moist loam
lace-filtered
light
we
would savour the freshness of spring greens
gather
blossoms for dinner wines
delicate
bouquets
we
would glaze long roots with honey
treasure
hope in feathered kernels
for
your crime of blatant abundance
we
sentence you to death
by
plow or poison
I will be part of the second annual Remai Modern Night Market event. On November 14 for Gallery Members, and on the 15th for general public, I will be selling prints of my artwork from 5 pm tp 10 pm. It's alway fun to get dressed up, put on some nice shoes and look at art. The shoes print above was my top seller at last year's event, and I am excited to share some of my new prints, chat with everyone, and spend a fun evening in our world class gallery in Saskatoon.
Art Now is taking place in Regina on Sept. 19-22 at 1831 College Avenue. Two of my pieces from the Context is Everything series about dandelions will be on sale during the event. I am still working on this series as I explore different media and opportunities to exhaust the possibilities for what I want to express about the concept. I have been displaying parts of the collection in preparation for the complete series to be unveiled at the Estevan Art Gallery in April 2020. My hope is that everyone will be Blown Away. Ooops, copyright warning again. Wasn't that a pleasant surprise for a TV show though? There should be a reality TV show for printmakers...., anyone know someone at Netflix???
