Evince - Book Installation

Today was a super long day as the "Evince" exhibition was installed today. I had the help of my husband and my friends fiance, Ben, to load 1000's of books into the truck, out of the truck, into the gallery and organize the books for me so that I could install them.  The rest of the exhibition was a breeze to put up compared to the installation of the books.

Images of the day of installation

Here are some images of the completed installation.

Love Locks Sculpture in Ottawa - August 3 to 6

My Love Locks sculpture will be in Ottawa at the Rideau Canal Festival from August 3 - 6.  Check it out on the website. http://rideaucanalfestival.ca/site_bytown.html   All the activities at the festival can be found on the following page http://rideaucanalfestival.ca/

Books in Wax - Dictionairies

I have created two new pieces that will appear in my exhibition next week. Both are a translation dictionary encased in wax. Why would I do this??? I was struck by the change in tourist behaviour the last time I was in Europe. Tourists used to consult their dictionary to find out what a word meant but now they use their phones. There was a distinct change in how people travel. So I took an Italian to French Translation dictionary and put it in wax. Then I took it a step further and put a map and compass as these are becoming less needed as well when traveling as again people use their phones. The final one I created uses a French/English Dictionary and an old Ipod. It is called "There's an App for that". 

 

Lost in Translation #2

 

Lost in Translation #1

 

Rainbow of Words

 

There's an App for That 

Printmaking at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan

August 5 at the matinee performance you can come to the festival site and create a print with me. The prints will be of the flowers in Hamlet. The prints will be created on my small printing press and printed on pages from the play.

Evince - Creating the Annoucement for my next exhibition

I am creating the annoucement for my next exhibition.

 

e·vince  

tr.v. e·vinced, e·vinc·ing, e·vinc·es

To show or demonstrate clearly; manifest: to make evident; show (something, such as an emotion) clearly

Part of the exhibition includes “If you Love, Believe in Juliet” very small sculptures, printmaking and collage. The series of 19 pieces uses the play Romeo and Juliet in each piece. Actual text from the play is incorporated into each piece.   Taking text from Shakespeare’s play and creating new labels for the various jars, transformed the found objects. Some of the jars are suspended on marbled paper. 

The second part is “Imperious Intimacy” a printmaking series using text is 9 pieces of art that use the essays of Michel de Montaigne (1575).  Small portions of the text from his essays are used in the various layers of the pieces. Each piece is created on mulberry paper, which has a transparent nature to it. The text and birds are printed on separate sheets and then layered. 

The third part of the exhibition is comprised of concertina sketchbooks that I have created. Each sketchbook uses text and printmaking in their creation.  The books are opened like an accordion and can be exhibited in many different ways. I have 11 concertina sketchbooks for exhibit.

The final part is an installation using 20,000 books. A space on a gallery wall will be stacked in books with the spines pointing inward towards the wall. It is in the pages of the books that we become enthralled in a book. The pages of the books create an incredible pattern when viewed in the non-traditional manner. The installation is a commentary on the new ways that we view the book, (Is the library an obsolete thing???), is the question that I raise with the installation.

Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan

As part of the "In Conversation" portion of the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival http://www.shakespeareonthesaskatchewan.com/  I will be speaking with Artistic Director Mark von Eschen on July 18th before the beginning of Hamlet. http://www.shakespeareonthesaskatchewan.com/node/132  

I hope you can make it out to the festival, Shakespeare has a way with words that fascinates me.  The play is linked to my upcoming exhibition, Evince, that is about the changing world of books . Some of the artwork is inspired by Shakespeare and uses text and pages from his plays, others are inspired by Michel de Montaigne. Even though he wrote in the 16th century his writing still has an impact on my thoughts. 

photo credit: Trint Thomas

Cherry Red Bird Nest

Inspiration for me comes in many forms: people, events, music and colour. I began to think about my latest piece "Cherry Red" after hearing the song  "Midnight Blue" by Lou Gramm while driving on the flat prairie highway. I then thought about those one hit wonders that create a song and it is super popular but don't make another.

It was another series of events that caused the final decision to make the piece. I was in Toronto having dinner with friends. One of the people there is a former race car driver. He had images of himself in his race gear on his phone and he was showing me them and of course he was dressed in red (one of those race car driver suits), it brought up images of an art exhibition that I saw in Venice last spring work by Enrico Ghinato he paints incredible pictures of race cars, often cherry red.  And thus the painting began. People, events and music all part of the making of the piece.  I use one colour and a combination of gloss and matt finish.

Rouge Gallery had put out a call or their "Touch of Rouge" exhibition and I had orginaally thought to include something I had already created but after the series of events detailed above I decided to make a "Cherry Red" nest.  The exhibition opens July 5 at 7pm and runs until August 31.

I am thinking of creating a whole series of one hit wonders all a different colour all the same size. This piece is 60 x 24".

Rouge Gallery and Children's Festival Opening Sunday

Sunday June 3 is a big day. 

It is family day at the Children's Festival where 45 of my sculptural nests are on display.
The nests will be on display at the festival until June 6.

As well there is an opening reception at Rouge Gallery for my Nest-Nest Egg- Empty Nest series. The first 100 people to come to Rouge Gallery between 1:00 and 3:00 and show off a nest creation that they have made will recieve a small piece of my nest art. The artwork in this exhibition is different than the last two exhibitions of this series.

"Knowledge Nest" and "The Hang Out Nest"

I created two nests with students.  One uses all World Book Encylopeadia and the other clothes hangars. I worked with the Extended Learning Opportunities students on the "Knowledge Nest" and the START program students on "The Hang Out" nest.  Congrats to all the students you created amazing works of art.

Knowledge Nest 

 

The Hang Out Nest

No Nest Egg - Get Crackin'

I was given this amazing document from the  Marketing and Strategic Services Manager at the Affinity Credit Union and I had to share it with those that follow my blog. I absolutely love it!!!!! My exhibition "Nest- Nest Egg - Empty Nest"and my student exhibition currently on at the Affinity Gallery all link to this concept. I began the series because the phrase "nest egg" kept appearing in my life, and here it appears again.  

My exhibition closes at the Affinity Gallery on May 27th and other work in the series begins at Rouge Gallery on May 25th.

The student exhibition in the trees on Broadway will continue throughout the summer. It is fun to see the nests become camoflauged in the leaves of the trees.   I will post images of the evolving nests as the summer progresses.