Artists' Date (Part II)

When I left you at the end of Part 1, M and I had finished our tour through two exhibits at the Art Gallery of Alberta.  From there, we walked back to the Alberta Craft Council and our car, parked across the street from it.  We bought a bit more time on the meter, and went in.

The exhibit we really wanted to see was in the Feature Gallery -- X3, a collaboration of artists from three "organizations on the cutting edge of fine craft": the Alberta Potters' Association, the Nina Haggerty Centre and Contextural I Fibre Arts Cooperative.  My friend, arlee barr of Calgary, is a member of the latter, and it was her work I particularly wanted to see.

First, though, we popped into the Discovery Gallery, which is a small space in a front corner of the main level, just on the edge of the Gallery Shop.  What we found there was "What Grows in the Ditch", an exhibit of Donna Brunner's rug hooking and pottery based on her "observations of the changing vegetation along the roadside near Battle Lake, AB."  The contrast between the lush, textured hooked surfaces of the hangings and the curved, solid lines of the pottery was enthralling.  As I cannot find contact information for her...I will share only one photo (without permission)...but you can see what I mean...

Lily Still Standing
Donna Brunner

Donna's exhibit is in the Discovery Gallery at the ACC through March 19th.

From there we went downstairs to the "main event".  arlee has given me permission to share what we found -- Contextural's share of the exhibit being our main interest -- so I'll begin with her piece:

The Birth of Silence
arlee barr

Moving around the space...examples of a wide variety of textile/fibre expression:

Saori-style Coat
one of two pieces by Karen King

Dahlia Log Cabin Series: Quilt #2
Terri Illingworth

Cariboo and Cutlines (front view)
Dana Bush

X3 will be in the ACC's Feature Gallery through March 26, so you still have a couple of weeks to enjoy the entire exhibit...  :-)

Moving back upstairs, in the Gallery Shop the felted landscapes of Corinne Cowell held me in thrall...

Along with that of SAQA Colleague, Margie Davidson, and the fine line art quilts of Leah Gravells...just to name a couple...

But we were out of change, and it was time to leave the downtown core before we got completely tied up in rush hour.   Our heads spinning with colour and our creative juices completely replenished -- and then some! -- M and I climbed into the car for the 'drive home de-brief'.   It had been an entirely satisfying day...

And it was time to get back into the sewdio!

What about you, Gentle Readers?  What do you do to fill your creative well?

Practically Perfect Weekend - Part II

After the events of Friday evening, could the weekend get better?

Maybe not, but it certainly kept it's loveliness through to Sunday evening.

Saturday a.m. I accompanied my daughter to her "On the Spot" 'pop-up' sale at Latitude 53, just a block or so away from the Alberta Craft Council galleries and shop, downtown Edmonton.  She's selling her beautiful photography in a variety of formats: printed on canvas, framed under glass, as note cards, bookmarks and now, a stunning gift book.  I helped her set up her booth for the day, and then wandered around.

The gallery space, divided into three rooms, was crammed with displays by makers of art and fine craft.   The vendor right across from Gina's booth was a preserver of dried/pressed flowers and grasses in frames made from recycled old windows.  Next to her was a young woman selling beautiful blown glass jewellry.  We talked for a bit about her work, and I suggested she think about topping both knitting needles and wooden shawl pins with her glass adornments.

Next to her was a painter...and farther down, a young woman almost completely enclosed in a jungle -- she creates unique arrangements of sedum, mosses and 'air plants' in glass balls and other unusual containers.

In the second room (I never got to the third) I found three artists that Gina recommended I visit.  The first two are sisters -- their booths side by side.  The first was Allison Findlay of Nomad Fibreworks -- handspun yarns, batting/roving and spinning supplies.  We talked about my recent adventures in felting, and she told me about her being contracted to provide batting/roving for an up-coming class in Nuno felting in Edmonton.  Next to her sat her sister, Chloe Findlay-Harder of Painterly Art Works,   She is a crocheter, maker of textural scarves and cowls, and also a creator of studio art quilts in fabric and mixed media (wool, felt...),  We too had a great chat, and I told them both about seeing The Yarn Harlot the evening before.  I felt very at home with these two young textile artists who, like me, share a love of all things fibre.


The other person I was meant to visit was across the room from the sisters.  Lynne Fortowsky is a woman closer to my age who is a skilled seamstress and embroiderer, specializing in sashiko.  She combines traditional sashiko stitching with recycled wools and cashmeres to make fingerless gloves, scarves, purses and packets of quiet beauty and high quality.   We had a lovely chat about embroidery, recycled textiles, the properties of cashmere, sashiko...another soul sister in textiles.  :-)  I purchased a gift of fingerless gloves for a friend, and a pair for myself...in a scrumptious periwinkle blue.  Wore them to drive to church this morning...mmmmm.....

Across from Lynne was a booth with two young women selling soaps and bath products from The Red Elephant Project.  The price was right, I love handmade soap, and the cause is a good one, so I selected a bar of lavender soap as a treat.  Can't wait to try it out after my next long jog!

It was time to go...before I got into more "trouble"!  ;-)  I skipped the chocolatier, the jewellers, another knitter/spinner...and, bidding Gina good-bye, headed out for a visit to the Alberta Craft Council galleries and shops.   The current exhibit in the Discovery Gallery on the main floor was a blend of pottery and textiles.  It was the latter - "21 Konstruktions" by Brenda Raynard -- that blew me away.  Cross stitch at such a fine level I was breathless:

These are but three of the series displayed on the walls of the Discovery Gallery.  The blurb in the accompanying issue of Alberta Craft (Fall 2014) describes Ms. Raynard's work thus:

To create these works sepia images of the 'konstruktions' were uploaded to a site that translates photographs into cross-stitch patterns.  From a distance these 4" x 6" artworks look like the photos they're based on but upon closer inspection the pixels are actually 4,050 tiny cross-stitches finely crafted by hand. [emphasis mine]

Though actually under-priced for the work involved (reported at over 125 hours per piece, or over a year for the collection), I couldn't manage to purchase one to have after the artist's tour finishes.  Ah...but one can dream...

After such richness?

I went home, pondering.

Home from Away

And still coming out from under...

This past weekend I was in Edmonton -- for my son's second post-secondary graduation, this time with his Diploma in Digital Media and Information Technology from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).

Hi Mom!

After the ceremonies, and before the evening celebrations, I spent part of the afternoon downtown at the Alberta Craft Council's shop and galleries.  SAQA colleague, Margie Davidson, who is a great inspiration to me, has pieces in three exhibits right now and I was able to take in most of two of them.

The first -- her solo show, "Measuring a Year" -- is on at the McMullen Gallery, which is part of the University of Alberta Hospital complex -- until May 11.  This building was a brisk walk across from the Jubilee Auditorium where we'd been to the graduation ceremonies, so my daughter and I thought we'd take it in.  Alas, the gallery was closed...we were only able to press our noses against the glass.

I'd been able to see this exhibit before -- at the Alberta Craft Council's Feature Gallery (scroll down) -- but it was interesting to note how differently it was laid out in the McMullen's space:

Please note that the quality of the photo is tempered by the glass through which I was taking it!

On to the Alberta Craft Council shop and galleries, where Margie is also part of a group exhibit, entitled "Furnish", in the Feature Gallery:

Exhibit Dates: April 5 - July 5, 2014

This exhibit is a jewel.  The work is exquisitely created and arranged; every piece is a treasure.  The post-card blurb reads in part:

The desire to furnish one's home goes beyond the mere practical.  We seek comfort, beauty, meaning and individuality along with function...

Many craft artists work towards objects that will be used and loved daily.  Designed to encourage customers to buy and collect local hand-crafted furnishings and accessories for their homes, this exhibition features over 50 pieces by 21 [ACC] members.

Included in the exhibit is fine furniture -- chairs, tables, lamps -- and textile accessories, such as these:

Diane Krys - Bowls

Diane Krys - Cat's Paw Cushions

Gail Hunt - Footstool

Gail Hunt - Footstool Top

Linda McBain Cuyler - Thread Painting

Margie Davidson - Hanging - "Ferns with Grid"

Margie Davidson - Printed Cushions

Rachelle LeBlanc - Hooked baskets
(L) "The Gathering"; (R) "The Red Scarf"

If you can't get over to the Alberta Craft Council to see these pieces "up close and personal", I encourage you to view the exhibit online.

The third exhibit of which Margie is a part is one I've already described -- "Western Threads" -- over at the Royal Alberta Museum (also in Edmonton) until August 4.  Another one worth a visit!

As for what I'm up to now...that will have to wait.  The end of this week is taken up with work at The Shop and three days in Calgary.  I'll have my SAQA Western Canada Co-Rep hat on for Friday morning, when I get to drop in to St. Albert the Great Junior High School to document an Artists' Visit by two of our members, to the "Art 7" class,  in connection with The Burgess Shale exhibit, currently on exhibit at the school -- through May 14.  Word has it the art class they're visiting will be working on fabric postcards.  I'm hoping to get some photos of the results for the SAQA WC blog...stay tuned!

Ninety Minutes

in the presence of Barbara J. West, Ilse Anysas-Salkauskas and their work...and I very nearly succumbed (yet again) to The Mean Greenies, about which I recently wrote on the SAQA Yahoo conversation site, thus:

Having read of  recent successes...I decided a blanket -- but heart-felt -- CONGRATULATIONS! needed to be posted.  :-)

Not having time to respond to each one individually, I wanted to express how, nonetheless, I get a little thrill when I read about these events in the lives of my colleagues.

It wasn't always so...and I confess I still have to beat down the Mean Greenies (envy) from time to time! LOL! However, beat them down I do, as I have learned what it takes to enter competitions and calls for entry, and have these thoughts about it.

1.  Not taking rejection personally is difficult. Do it anyway. It's generally not about *you*.
2.  Celebrate with others always. One day they will celebrate with you.
3.  Decide how you want to 'get your work Out There' decision, whether it be entering lots of shows, posting on your blog or website, having an online shop, teaching, going international with your entries or sticking closer to home, submitting to galleries, submitting to quilt shows, being part of a challenge group on line or in your area -- and BE HAPPY with your decision. Don't let the way someone else chooses to 'get his/her work out there' determine what's right for you at any given time. (NOTE: This is the Biggie for me.)
4. Reserve the right to change your mind -- and the way you put your work 'out there'. :-)
5. Learn from the experiences of others, but remember your Art Journey is YOUR Art Journey and can be travelled by no one but you.
6. Enjoy the ride!

See #3 up there?  See it?

I very nearly waffled on that one yesterday afternoon, yessiree.  

"Hanging by a Thread" is powerful, provocative, occasionally poetic.  Barbara's installations are beautifully constructed, mainly hand-knit fabric combined with unusual materials, and they have an edge to them -- a mixture of tongue-in-cheek with "Whoa!", once you figure out what she's saying.  Ilse's wall pieces are equally beautifully made, with deliberate decisions re: colour and design, combined with exquisite quilting; it is in her artist's statements that you find the sub-text behind each piece.  There was a trio expressing the inter-relationships between generations of women in a family that very nearly reduced me to tears.

I had only brief opportunities to speak with Barbara and Ilse, both together and separately, as the gallery began to fill with family, friends, and other viewers for the opening reception.  They told me this work was the result of a three-year collaboration that very nearly didn't come together because, for a variety of reasons, Life got in the way, as it is wont to do.  They talked of getting a grant, doing research and conducting focus groups on their theme, which began as a study of the passing on of learning and tradition between generations.

Grants? Research?  Focus groups?

When I got home I dashed off e-mails about this process to three artists I admire and respect: Lesley Turner, Vickie Newington and my former C&G tutor, Linda Kemshall.  Lesley has a BA (Hons Textiles) from a university in the UK, as well as C&G certificate(s), and Vickie is also a C&G graduate.  I wanted to hear what each had to say about research, based on their experience and education.

Most likely due to the time difference (it's much later in the UK than it is here), Linda's response is already in my in-box.  She said -- and I quote:

"C&G are very hot on research especially when it comes to the higher levels of study. At the highest, Level 3 diploma level there is a complete unit devoted to a research project of the student's personal choice. Research is defined as a systematic study of a subject in order to learn all about it. The findings of the in depth study are recorded in some way that is useful to the user of the discovered information. Of course research can be extremely wordy but where the research is meant to inform choices in a creative pursuit it is probably necessary to make the research as visual as possible. Depending on the choice of subject I guess this is sometimes easier than others."

She added:

"The difficulty with research is the unknown! there is not much point in undertaking research to prove a theory or back up an idea you already have. You should just take a subject that fascinates you and be prepared to spend a lot of time understanding everything about it. There is no magic formula - just thorough investigation. There is also no need for much in the way of expense - your internet connection can provide lots of the information you need and trips to the library, museums or other places of interest will provide the rest depending on your choice of subject."  (emphasis mine)

And then she reminded me:

"You write as though you have never researched a subject but in fact you did that when you made the museum quilt for the course. Think of research as simply a quest for information and you'll realise it's not anything extraordinary. My own work always relies on research - I never work intuitively - it's always based on knowledge gained from prior research although that research may have been undertaken a long while ago." (emphasis mine)

Well, duh.  

And then I read the latest Guest Post over at Abbey of the Arts and was again reminded that as a "Monk in the World" and an artist, I am to follow my own path.  As Gretchen Ruben would say, I am to "BE Margaret".  

And wasn't that what I'd so recently said in my SAQA Yahoo post?

Research?  I've done that! 

Explore a topic deeply?  I've done that!

Have a subject (or two) that fascinates me such that I'm prepared to spend a lot of time understanding it?  I have that!

And grants and focus groups are wonderful things, but using those resources won't make me a better artist.  Only practice will do that.

Finally, my current Art Journey is not calling me to make thought-provoking installations, or to move someone to tears in the way the work of Barbara and Ilse can do.

Lessons learned?

Continue the Artist's Dates.  Visit exhibits that with provoke, prod, pull me outside my comfort zone.  Encourage others to do so too.  Continue to take notes, to learn, to seek advice, to study -- in directions appropriate to my Art Journey -- and get into the studio and make art!

Oh... You want to see photos of the exhibit?  I was permitted to take some, but they are for my own use, inspiration and learning.  I'm not going to share them here.  You'll just have to visit "Hanging by a Thread" for yourself.  It's up through September 28.  That's in the Feature Gallery, Alberta Craft Council, 10186 - 106 Street, Edmonton, Alberta -- Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (6 p.m. on Thursdays).

I'm Off!

To Edmonton, that is, in a couple of hours.  Mission: deliver 3 flimsies, 2 finished quilted throws, several orphan and new blocks, several metres of new cotton fabric and (if they'll have 'em) 8 crocheted throws to the good folks at Sparrow Studioz who are collecting, assembling and delivering Quilts for Calgary (and other needy areas in Southern Alberta) in the aftermath of the flooding there a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks to my friends M and A for contributing fabric and flimsies and a throw, and to my friend and 'boss' Lori of The Crafty Lady, who bundled up the crocheted blankets in the hopes they'll be taken in too.

One of A's flimsies -- wild, warm colour sure to bring a smile!

A's other flimsy and her finished throw -- cool and calming!

My flimsy was made of rectangles, found in this tutorial from Freda's Hive.  I can't rightly remember how I found her, but I used the pattern for a leaders-and-enders project -- and ended up with a stack of colourful rectangles that I had yet to put together.  The flooding called for ACTION so I got busy and assembled them.  I call this top "My Scrap Bag Exploded"; it measures 48" x 60".

My Scrap Bag Exploded!

In addition to the flimsies and throws I mentioned I'd be taking some orphan blocks and some new ones.  I dug through my charm packs and came up with a Benartex collection entitled "Victory Garden", which I deemed appropriate, given the reason quilts were being made and collected.   I knew I wanted to make "Disappearing 4-Patches" with them, but decided it would be more fun if they were a bit off-centre.  Here's the result -- twelve 8 1/2" blocks that I believe are also referred to as "4-patch to 9-patch".

Left: 4-patches.  Right: Off-centre 9-patches.
WARNING! Making these can be habit-forming!

After I drop off the goodies, I'll be making my way to the opening reception for "Hanging by a Thread", the new exhibit at the Alberta Craft Council in the Feature Gallery, featuring SAQA Western Canada colleagues Ilse Anysas-Salkauskas and Barbara J. West.  This exhibit runs through September 28, so if you're in the Edmonton area and in need of an Artist's Date, do go by the Council and spend some time. ( If photos are permitted, I may just have another post about this...we'll see.)

Linking this late to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...See you there, too!

Of Floods, Flimsies and Fibre Art

Still so much stuff on my camera...so much to share...but no time!  Today I'm assembling scrappy blocks into a flimsy (quilt top) to take up to Edmonton next weekend.

My original plan was to go up for the Opening at the Alberta Craft Council of this exhibit in the Feature Gallery, Saturday, July 6:

JULY 6 - SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

HANGING BY A THREAD

Artist Reception: Saturday, July 6 from 2-4 pm with a special performance by Emily Ella Rigaux 

Organized by Ilse Anysas-Salkauskas and Barbara J. West this exhibition uses textiles to explore the relationships among multiple generations of women.  Along with Ilse's fibre art and Barbara's mixed media installations, their children and grandchildren were invited to participate in the exhibition and present their own perspectives.

Barbara and Ilse are SAQA members and colleagues of mine in SAQA Western Canada, and I have long admired their work.

With the flooding in Southern Alberta taking up most of our thoughts and prayers these days, I thought that while I was up in Edmonton, I might as well stop in to Sparrow Studioz with any donations of fabric, backing, binding and quilt tops I can muster. 

So.

If you are in the Lacombe/Bentley/Gull Lake/Red Deer/Stettler/Clive/Mirror/Bashaw/Alix corridor, and want to make a donation, bring your materials to me at The Crafty Lady in Lacombe, where I'll be working on Thursday, July 4. 

For more information, visit the Quilts for Calgary Facebook Page.

Passages and Memories

Friday afternoon I headed out to Edmonton.

My first destination was the Feature Gallery at the Alberta Craft Council, where SAQA colleague Margie Davidson was exhibiting as one of four artists.  In the show, each artist explores the concept of time and place -- Margie (Edmonton) with knitting,  Marcy Horswill (Cumberland, B.C.) with quilting, and the duo of Bridget Fairbank(Nelson, B.C.) and Alana Wilson (Hinton, AB) with ceramics and embroidery respectively.

Fence Study #3 - Marcy Horswill

Ms. Horswill's work was taken from her series "The Other Side of the Fence", about which she blogged recently.  I was particularly taken with her use of felted wool as backgrounds, and her interweaving of wire in some of the pieces, as this is a material I am thinking about for my Burgess Shale Project submission.

Alana Wilson

Bridget Fairbank

Ms. Fairbank and Ms. Wilson, who met at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2009, together created "The Isolation Project", inspired by their shared experience as fire tower observers in Northern Alberta -- a very solitary situation that had them contemplating self, society, the meaning of solitude and isolation, and how we are all affected.  Ms. Fairbank's montage of plates evolved from her travelling across Canada to take up her work in Alberta, "collecting places and contemplating time."  Ms. Wilson's embroidery display was her way to capture her thoughts and reflections about isolation, with materials readily available in a remote area.

Talented as these artists are, I felt that Margie's "Measuring a Year by the Minute" installation best captured the 'Passages' theme.  Of course, perhaps I have a bit of bias as she is an acquaintance of mine, someone whose skills in dyeing and art quilting I admire, and who, like me, is also a knitter, and a participant in a prayer shawl ministry.

Margie's Journey begins here..

Inspired by the song "Seasons of Love" from the musical, Rent, Margie wondered how she might represent time visually.  She began on her birthday, April 23, 2011, cast on 60 stitches and marked off the days every 24 rows, knitting every day for the following year.  

Her colour palette was drawn from the vegetation in her back yard, the city's river valley green spaces, and a trip to India during that same year.  Above is just a piece of this very charming, tactile, touching installation...a prayer shawl writ large.  It runs up and over and through the room, eventually ending in a quiet spiral:

And ends here...

The show, "Passages" is up till December 24th, so if you're in the area between now and then, be sure to have a look!  (And if you can't get to Edmonton, check out the online exhibition HERE.)


Friday evening found me in the company of my children, at the beautiful Winspear Centre on Churchill Square, listening to "The Sounds of Silence" and many other wonderful pieces from the incomparable repertoire penned by Paul Simon and performed in partnership with Art Garfunkel.  Messrs Swearingen and Beedle, accompanied by the ESO under the baton of conductor Michael Krajewski, filled two hours with precise guitar picking, sweet harmonies and even sweeter memories.

A.J. Swearingen & Jonathan Beedle

Having grown up surrounded by this music -- folk and rock from the sixties and very early seventies -- my kids were familiar with many of the melodies, if not all the words. Able to mouth along all of the lyrics, I was transported back to a slow dance with my first real boyfriend ("Sounds of Silence", summer of 1966); to my first summer-long trip away from home ("America", summer of 1968); to passing for 18 to get into "The Graduate ("Mrs. Robinson", autumn, 1969), and so much more.  'Twas a passage back in time, and a lovely memory to carry into the future.

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was

A time of innocence, a time of confidences

Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph

Preserve your memories; they're all that's left you.

- Paul Simon, "Bookends Theme", 1968

An Artist's Afternoon Out

"Dragon Vest" - Mona Ball

I''m posting from Edmonton, where I'm visiting my kids for overnight.  Saw two exhibits this afternoon -- the wonderful weaving, spinning, knitting, felting and hand-dyes from the HWSDA (Hand-Weavers, Spinners & Dyers of Alberta) at the Visual Arts gallery at Harcourt House, and a few blocks over, work in the 2 galleries and shop of the Alberta Craft Council.  Man-o-man, how I wanna have a show there someday!!

(L) Lavoie; (R) Nowak-Petrucci

Work in the Feature Gallery at the ACC was tapestry/weaving by several artists, show-casing Jane Kidd, plus the graduates of the jewelry and metal program at ACAD (Alberta College of Art and Design) in Calgary.  Upstairs in the Discovery Gallery were works by two glass artists, James Lavoie and Leah Nowak-Petrucci. 

Then there was the ever-lovely and inspiring work of my SAQA colleague, Margie Davidson, in the ACC Gallery shop...

The HWSDA show closes August 11; the ACC Feature Gallery exhibits run through September 29 (tapestries and jewelry) and the Discovery Gallery exhibit runs through September 8.  If you're in the Edmonton area in time, do go to see them -- they're a great Artist's Date!

Some Time Ago

Casket Cover #11 - 2009
Mary Sullivan Holdgrafer

I mentioned that a Selection from the Cheongiu Exhibit was coming to Lacombe for a brief display at the Lacombe Memorial Centre (aka the LMC).  It came, it displayed, and it left.  Its whereabouts was so little mentioned that when I wanted to view it, at first I couldn't find it.  Fortunately, a couple of days before it was to be taken down, I did.

The original exhibit was created in 2009 for the Cheongiu International Craft Biennial in South Korea, held between September 23 and November 1 of that year, when Canada was the guest artist.  Of the 200 Canadian craft artists in that show, a selection of the work of Alberta artists was made for the tour through the province that made a stop in Lacombe.  Each piece was exquisite; I took photos of my favourites.

The first is a quilted piece by Mary Sullivan Holdgrafer, textile artist and, with her husband Gary, creativity coach.  The quilting on it is very dense -- a tiny 'meshwork' of squares that perfectly complements the construction and design.  Ms. Sullivan began her quilting journey while recovering from breast cancer.  Her current focus -- she wrote in her Artist's Statement -- is the exploration of  "...how joy and grief intermingle at the end of life."

The Messenger - 2007
Crystal Harse

The second -- a copper bowl with a touch of 14K gold -- is my very favourite piece, reminding me as it does of  my tutor, Linda Kemshall, with her fondness for ravens, rooks and crows, and of Jude Hill, with her fondness for feathers.  I can't find much about the artist, Ms. Harse, on the Internet, save that she resides in Southern Alberta.  In her Artist's Statement, she said she derives inspiration from her locale -- very near the Canadian Rockies -- and "...the ravens [which] inhabit the skies" in the foothills.

Pear Expression - 2009
James Lavoie

Next up -- a collection of wonderful glass pears created by James Lavoie of Edmonton.  I wanted to take them all home with me!  Each pear has been given Latin nomenclature -- the artist's intention being "...to poke fun at the academics of nature and the nature of academics" -- as you can see in the example of Pyrus equuszebra (right).  The collection also reminded me of my dear friend, Jeannette Douglas, who, aside from being an internationally-known designer and teacher of embroidery, is a collector of pears in all shapes and sizes.

The Goat and the Sheep - 2009
Linda Chow 

The last I'll share here is another tongue-in-cheek design from Linda Chow, a jeweller and sculptor who works not only with metal but also with horn and bone, and who, she writes, likes to "...take the viewer aside for a moment to see the lighter side of things, yet containing a serious message."  Currently, she adds, she is exploring Alberta history and, in particular, the little churches and mosques that dot the prairie landscape.  She writes that she sees them as "... centripetal forces pulling together people of diverse races, sexual orientation and nationalities." -- and this is reflected in the piece pictured at the left.  Can you catch her message?  :-)

One Down

...Two to show.  Somewhere... but not in the Alberta Craft Council's up-coming exhibit, "In the Red: Creation from Deficit".  To quote the representative of the jury:

"Thirty-nine craft artists submitted almost 80 finished or proposed pieces. Obviously the Craft Council is excited by this response.

The committee examined all the submissions for the quality and originality of the work, and how the submissions reflected the themes outlined in the exhibition call. Due to the number of proposals received, and the exhibition committee’s desire to balance the variety of responses to the subject matter, your proposal was not selected. While the committee appreciated your work, it concluded that your submission did not have a strong enough tie to the premise of this exhibition.

The committee thanks you for your effort, and encourages you to participate in future Alberta Craft Council exhibitions." (emphasis mine.)

Say what?  Pieces using the centuries-old art of quilting -- including using up, recycling, making do to create useful and decorative fabric -- don't fit the theme of 'creation from deficit (i.e. nothing, or less-than-nothing)?  Go figure.  Ah well....I will be curious to visit the Gallery after the show goes up to see what did fit the bill.  


Meanwhile, "Make Do" and "Mend" will now be available for immediate purchase, and/or for display elsewhere.

I Support the Arts.  Do You?


This exhibit is showing in the Feature Gallery at the Alberta Craft Council through March 25th: a response to the Alberta governments cut of $5 million in 2009.

Since 2005, the ACC has organized:

• 79 exhibitions in Edmonton and Calgary;
• 5 touriing exhibitions seen in more than 100 rural communities;
• 9 exhibitions elsewhere in Canada;
• 4 exhibitions in the United States and South Korea.

I am a new member of the ACC, and a budding artist.  Currently I'm working on a piece for submission to an upcoming juried ACC show.  I am funding my work from a small pension and the cash I gleaned from the sale of my Calgary home, along with a supply of materials I amassed while working for over 30 years in the financial sector in Calgary.  My membership in the ACC will bring my work to light, for the enjoyment of all who value textiles as an art medium.

My son is a talented actor.

My daughter is a talented photographer.

We all support the arts.  Do you?

To urge our Provincial Government to restore funding to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (which, in turn, funds our Craft Council and other artistic activities in the Province), contact:

• Premier Ed Stelmach
• Lindsay Blackett, Minister of Culture and Community Spirit
• and/or your Local MLA

I Recommend

A visit to the Alberta Craft Council gallery in Edmonton to see both current exhibits. On the lower level until September 25 is "For the Love of Craft", mounted as a celebration of the ACC's 30th anniversary this year. Fibre artists are included -- and there are a couple of particularly good pieces; my favourite is "Off the Wall" -- a quilt that -- well, I'll let you see it for yourself!

In the Discovery Gallery on the main level, the featured artist is Linda McBain Cuyler, with an exhibit entitled "Aerial Landscapes" -- and this all textile art by an extraordinarily talented machine thread painter. I can't find a website for her, but she has a spot on Facebook, so if you are able to pop in there, you can see all the photos of the exhibit. It's on only through September 4, so if you can't get there, be sure to visit the Facebook site!