Summer Exhibitions - Will Blow You Away

 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???

February 2019 exhibitions and news

Connections, Continous, Nidificate, Context is Everything.


I am very proud to have worked with Korean printmakers to bring their work to Saskatchewan.  Currently on now at the Saskatchewan Craft Council in Saskatoon is an exhibition called Connections, which has featured prints from Korea and printmakers from Saskatchewan together in one show.
https://saskcraftcouncil.org/scc-gallery-exhibitions/current-exhibition/
It is on now until March 2nd.

Continous continues to travel, and the bees are now buzzing at the Last Mountain Lake Cultural Center in Regina Beach in one gallery, while in the other gallery are works from my nest series called Nidificate.  One of the members of the Cultural Center board wanted to call the exhibition All About the Birds and the Bees, but that could have given the wrong idea about what the exhibition was about.
https://lmlcc.ca/

Continuous  http://moniqueart.com/continuous/Continuous.html
It is on display until March 24th.

Coming up, I will be traveling to the Leighton Arts Center outside of Calgary and installing Context is Everything.  This is the first public show of this entire exhibition, some of the dandelions are in the Connections show at the Craft Council but that is just a small sample of the entire body of work.
http://www.leightoncentre.org/exhibitions/exhibit/context-is-everything-449
Show dates Mar. 2 - April 13
Context is Everything  http://moniqueart.com/Context%20is%20Everything%20/Context%20is%20Everything.html

What coming up after that?  Some of my prints are flying to the UK,  the bees will be getting ready to go to Ottawa this fall, and I am working on my next series, which is a secret I am even keeping from my husband.  He calls me a spy anyways because when we travel together I get "randomly" selected each time I go through security.  He passes through easily and stops and waits to tease me as I get searched for contraband artwork or whatever they are looking for.  I think they wonder about this artist who travels all the time, she must be up to something. 

The Printmaking Post

Its been a very long time since I have posted an update on my blog.  So here goes.

On Tuesday, November 27th, 2018, from 5 pm to 9 pm,  at the Eye Gallery - 1132 College Drive, Saskatoon, I will selling all my coffee cup prints that travelled with the Dimensions group show in Saskatchewan for the past 2 years.  The cost of the framed prints will be $50 each, with ALL the money going to charity.  I will be purchasing pounds of coffee to donate to the Friendship Inn and the Food Bank, and the purchaser will receive a coupon for a free coffee redeemable at Calories Restaurant on Broadway Avenue.  My students from Georges Vanier Fine Arts School will also be selling prints of mugs they created for $10 each, with all the profits going to buy tins of hot chocolate for the Ronald McDonald House.  If you can't come by but will still like to participate and purchase, call the Eye Gallery at (306) 373-8825 between the hours of 5-9 pm on Nov. 27th.  You can view the mugs online at http://www.moniqueart.com/365daysofcoffee/365daysofcoffee.html to select a specific print. 

BIG NEWS! The Remai Arts and Design Store at the Remai Art Gallery in Saskatoon is selling some of my work.  They have pieces from my nest series, the 3-dimensional sculptural printmaking nests that have tiny little eggs inside mounted in Saskatchewan maps.  They are delicate, intricate, and each one is unique and one of a kind.

Currently, I have a show in Calgary at Art Point, 1139 11 St SE.  It's my beehive installation, Continuous, and it's creating quite a buzz.  The show will be coming down on Dec. 3rd, so if you are in Cowtown between now and then, and want to visit my girls, stop in and check them out.  Here is a link to my youtube channel which has a video of an interview I did when the show was up at the Saskatchewan Craft Council in 2016.  https://youtu.be/H0UeBuq1V38

I installed a group show of Saskatchewan and South Korean printmakers at the Outlook Art Gallery, in Outlook, SK and it will be up until the end of December. Then, it will be moving to the Saskatchewan Craft Council on Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon from Jan. 9th to Mar. 3rd, 2019.  It is my hope that everyone who sees it will be inspired by the artistic vision and skill that is presented in this show.  It will travel to South Korea for a show later in 2019.

Next up, the Leighton Arts Center just outside of Calgary,  at 282027 144 St W, Millarville, AB will be exhibiting my newest series, Weeds.   It will be showing from Mar. 2nd to April 13th, 2019.  The seed of the idea at the beginning of this work was the question, "Who decides what is a weed, and what is not a weed?".  In the current climate of today's world of snap decisions, this work asks the viewer to take time to think about the tendency in modern society to make judgements with very little information, risking a better understanding of relationships with others and with our environment.

Crosswalk Painting - Broadway Ave - Saskatoon

 

Watch your step!  I actually got to paint the town red!  And yellow.  And blue.  And a little black.  Well, not the whole town, it was 2 crosswalks on Broadway and 11th.  I worked with Broadway BID  and designed two patterns using the Broadway colors.  Thanks Edyta, Dee Ann, Madeline, Noah, and Madeline's friend Zara for coming out and helping.  Many hands!

A commercial line painting machine was called into action!

Out comes pattern 1!

Typical male.  Letting the ladies do the heavy lifting.

Putting down the pattern.  Thankfully, it was not a windy day, which has been rare this summer!

Pattern 2 ready for first color.

Thanks Noah, for lending a hand.  He worked hard, sitting down was not typical of him.  Madeline and Zara taking a much needed dinner break in the background, they did not sit long either.  Great work, people!

Watch your step!  Wet paint!  Adding a little ground glass for reflectivity.

The Master Line Painter putting down the last color.

Skills.  Look at that straight line!

One color left!

Ta Da!  Same typical male, just standing there still. 

Touching up some spots with a brush.

A few more touch ups.  It's getting dark out.  Great timing. 

Waiting for it to dry now.  Lights are coming on, so its getting late!

The artist and her canvas.

It's dry!  It was 5:30 a.m. and looking great!

We did a drive by.  Well, actually  a drive over!  First!

The Bird Wall at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo

I created an interactive mural at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo. Here are images of the process and the completed work.

The project was sponsored by

                    

The finished product!  A Canada Goose for a big person, one for a little person, and a Peacock for everyone!

So, step 1 was boring, it was basic underpainting, so I had the unskilled labor do that.   I got the fun part, airbrushing!

This part was fun!  Got to show off my airbrushing skills!  Very tricky with the trees adding some special effects at the time. 

The last corner, still playing with the shadows, man, this is tricky. 

Done!  Oh sure, now the shadows of the tree are gone.  Typical. 

The artist and her latest canvas. 

The sky is ready, waiting for the birds!

It used to be a wall of windows to watch the monkeys before they built the new space.  Now, it's a wall of sky on the side of the temporary Komodo Dragon exhibit.  Last photo before the wings go on!

The zoo at night.  Putting up the pattern, thanks to some old but reliable technology.  We were pure entertainment for the wolves.  They were definitely not sure what we were doing, and kept an eye on us the whole time. 

Olivia Carlson and Jasmin Thomas starting to work on the tail feathers of the peacock, and yes this is finger painting.

Caution.  Wet paint.  Actually, not for long.  It was HOT out that day!

The Canada Goose, ready for lift off!

Underpainting the peacock.  Small Canada Goose in progress on the right!

Still underpainting.  So many feathers!

First try!  Ready for takeoff.

 Jude Farthing working on the entrance sign to the Komodo Dragons.

Olivia putting on some finer details.

Final touches.  Master at work.  Small Canada Goose was finished without any photo evidence of who painted it.  I did both  large and small Geese wings while the peacock underpainting was going on, so no one was available to take the photo.

The peacock is done!

Jasmin trying out the large Canada Goose.

And now the small one.  Sorry, Jasmin, doesn't fit you anymore.

Now that fits perfectly. 

The Bird Wall

Jude signing his name to his work. 

He finally got to paint a Komodo Dragon's head!  Jude worked on the cut out Komodo Dragons that are at the zoo, and he was disappointed when we painted those, because he didn't get to do the head part.  Now he did!

The large Goose wings fit a teenager. 

Varnishing the finished product.

 

Another Ta Da moment. 

Perfect fit.  Thanks, random stranger, for lending us your child in the middle for the photo for a moment.