Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools - 100th Anniversary Gala

Quite a while ago I was asked to create a very special commission piece for the 100th anniversary of the Catholic School division. I created a linocut for each person that will attend the gala dinner tomorrow night. At the gala I will be explaining the printing process and destroying the printing plates that the prints were created from. I will also have my printing press on display as well as the tools used to create the block. A personal goal of mine with the process is to create an understanding of the difference between a print and a reproduction. A print being concieved of as a print from the beginning and a reproduction often beginning in another medium.

I also did the graphics for the event in partnership with my son and created 10 panels that outline the history of the Saskatoon Catholic Schools. Below you will find the print and the panels.

 

 

CSEA Teaching Award - Fredericton

I recently found out that I won a teaching award from the Canadian Society for Education Through Art (CSEA).  I decided today to not attend the awards in Fredericton for a few reasons. One, it is really far from here, two, connections are bad because I am booking so late, three my friend Wanda Underhill has a big event at her new gallery and four I have been away from home too much lately. And of course money is always a factor. Plus, I want to make some art.  Here is one of the images that they will show on the powerpoint when my award is announced.

 

Bird - by Liam Grade 2

Hanging by a Thread

This is a new piece of mine. I used my print of a nest and my sewing machine to create a very interesting textured piece. It is part of my series that comments on the current economic crisis. The piece will be included in an exhibition at Open Studio in Toronto in December. I love the paper that I printed on. I bought it in Budapest and just love the texture. A similar piece will be included in an exhibition at Cube Gallery, Ottawa in December.

Christmas Smalls Show VII

New upcoming exhibition. Today I got word that I will be in an exhibition in Ottawa in December. I will be including several nests and a few tulips.

Details below

Christmas Smalls Show VII
Nov 29-Dec 31, 2011
Group Exhibition
Cube Gallery
1285 Wellington St. W. Ottawa, Canada

Curated by Don Monet

 

New Nest

I painted this nest on raw wood. Loved making it. Painting on raw wood is a little like investing in the stock market, one wrong move and the thing is ruined.  I however was successful, no major mistakes.

Tear Collecting

Here are a few of the tear jars I am going to be exhibiting in my show next March in Saskatoon.

March/April 2012
Museum of Antiquities - University of Saskatchewan Campus
Room 116 College Building
107 Administration Place
Saskatoon, Canada

Curated by Tracene Harvey and Anneka Drinkwater

For more information on the exhibition, collecting tears and or participating go to TearRoom Project.

Book Installation

If you were to drive by my house you would think that I am moving somewhere.  The carport is covered with boxes. Inside the boxes are books. Hundreds of books. I am doing an installation of books next summer for an art exhibition.  I am using books pointing backwards (spines in) to make an comment on the current change towards books without pages. The concept of turning a page is changing as the digital book becomes more popular. I am going to take the books and make them into manageable cubes so that they can be installed easily along an entire wall in the gallery, with no spaces between the books. I am getting the books from the library discards.  They are the really super old, nobody wants them books, or the damaged ones (spines broken, covers missing, water damaged). It doesn't matter to me if they are damaged for the concept that I have. Some of the books have that really old smell that is so unique to used bookstores and libraries.  I am not even close to the number of books I need yet and I also need to McGuyver some way to hold them together in small groups. It should be an interesting challenge for the winter as will be the storage issue. I have faith that both will work out.

Bulb - Altered Book

This is an altered book so those of you that really love books might cringe when you see what I have done. I got this book at the World Tulip Summit in Mount Vernon, Washington State in 2010. The book is abut the history of bulb growing in that area.  I was intrigued with the number of times the same word "bulb" appeared. So I used it in the following piece of artwork. I cut strips from the pages that had that word and placed a print of a bulb behind the cut outs. Orginally there were so many strips with the word bulb that you couldn't see the print so I removed enough so that you can tell it is a bulb but it is not fully visible. This piece will be part of my exhibition (Evince) next summer.

Nest - Protection

This is a new piece. The image does not give you all the subtle details of grey and white. Nor the super small lines that are within the nest. The title is protection and one side of the canvas is purposely darker to symbolize the things that our "nest" protects us from.

Love Locks Sculpture - Canada - A Time Line

I put together some documentation about my Love Locks sculpture for a proposal and put it into a sort of timeline. So I have uploaded it. The sculpture has been such fun to create because of the public participation element and because it is about loving each other.