Poster for WASM show, April 4 - 8

click on image to enlarge

Thrilled to have my work chosen by Ogilvy's as the poster for the Women's Art Society of Montreal annual show. It will be used to promote the WASM show inside the store.

The exhibit opens at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 4, closes at 4 p.m. Monday, April 8, and may be viewed during regular store hours. The vernissage is Thursday, 6 - 8 p.m. and features a silent auction.

I have committed to "sitting" at the show on Friday afternoon, 1 - 5 p.m., and would be delighted to see you there!

Special events at the show:
April 4, 5 p.m. Sara Barnoff demos watercolours
April 5, 5:30 p.m. Dr. Derek Yaple-Schobert, pianist
April 6, 2 p.m. Monique Polak, author readings
April 7, 2 p.m. Suzy Charto on "Becoming a Better Artist" 
and Meta MacLean on "Techniques Cirque de Soleil"
April 8, 2 p.m. Annette Wolfstein-Joseph on "The Art of Printmaking"

Here is a video clip from Global News previewing the show:

http://globalnews.ca/video/446491/womens-art-society-of-montreal

More fishing shacks

By mid-March, the ice was softening and the fishing shacks were moved to "dry dock". They don't look quite so lonely, nestled together in an open field against a raw wind.

Fibreworks Kingston

The one regret I have about teaching at Fibreworks Kingston this weekend is that I didn't take enough photos. What a great experience it was to meet these enthusiastic and talented fibre artists, and to share new ideas.

On the left is the first piece made by Janet Reader Day, seen here at her sewing machine. She was one of several participants who used dense stitching to create shadowed areas. She used an unattributed image found on the internet.






















And here is Mary Wahl, who travelled from the Toronto area to attend the workshop. She began with this charming study of a bicycle, and later moved on to a colourful composition featuring picnic tables. Mary intends to add some hand embroidery to her pieces.

Peta Gillyatt Bailey introduced stitching to indicate some of the textures of the stone building. Her second piece used a beautiful blue hand-dye for the doors and shutters on the facade of another heritage building.

Janine Gates

Some participants chose to begin with a boldly hand-painted or hand-dyed cloth, and to superimpose their stitched line drawing on the vibrant background. Others used a heavily textured linen as a starting point. Jaunty maritime buildings were depicted with fanciful choices of prints and bold colours. One stitcher experimented with multiple outlines to produce a sense of motion, and another was inspired by a sketch of her three children to produce a lovely figurative study.

It was very rewarding for me to see some of the participants take on new challenges, whether it was free-motion stitching, fusible web, or using their own photographs for inspiration. Several were not ready to re-cap at the end of the second day, wanting to continue to work on their projects.

I am grateful for the opportunity this workshop gave me to get to know some delightful people, and to share in their love of the fibre arts. I learned so much from you all. Thank you!

Art Souterrain

Sara Graham, British Columbia

Have you heard of Montreal's underground city? Until March 17, it was transformed into a subterranean art gallery as part of our annual winter festival, Nuit Blanche.  This is the fifth annual edition of the free event.

I have to admit there are some corners of this labyrinth that I had never explored, so this event was a great excuse.

Seven kilometers long, it featured 120 projects and 30 activities, with information about each work of art available as a download to your phone.

Most of the art was in the video or installation format, in keeping with the group's objective of introducing the "latest artistic practices" to the public.

For more information, have a look at their website. Next year's theme: Roots.

"Golden Glow", Keith Lemley, Pennsylvania

"Memory in Process", Yu-Hang Huang, Taiwan & Canada

FIFA - 31st edition

Portrait of Wally, Egon Schiele

It's enough to make you want to move downtown. The International Festival of Films on Art runs for eleven days this month: Two hundred and forty-eight films from 28 countries in 9 venues. Topics include music, literature, architecture, film and fashion.

For fans of visual art, there are films on Degas, Dali, David, Miro and the Musée d'Orsay. I caught a fascinating film titled "Portrait of Wally", about the restitution of an Egon Schiele painting that was stolen by a Nazi collector. As with so many of the films shown, one of the key people involved in its making spoke passionately about the project after the screening. 

This subject has a special resonance for Montrealers, because of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project. Over the last ten years, ten paintings have been returned to the rightful heirs of Max Stern's estate: Concordia, McGill and the Hebrew University. The stories behind these struggles have all the elements of  international intrigue: evil-doers, forged documents, courtroom drama and beautiful paintings.

Because I had seen retrospective shows of Edward Hopper and George Bellows this year, it was a special treat to view films showcasing them and their work. I'm already looking forward to next year's FIFA.

Women's Art Society of Montreal

53rd Street West

A juried show of the Women's Art Society of Montreal will be held in Tudor Hall, Ogilvy's, in Montreal. I am pleased to have two of my Cityscapes included.

The exhibit opens at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 4, closes at 4 p.m. Monday, April 8, and may be viewed during regular store hours. The vernissage is Thursday, 6 - 8 p.m. and features a silent auction.

I have committed to "sitting" at the show on Friday afternoon, 1 - 5 p.m., and would be delighted to see you there!

Montmartre #1

Special events at the show:
April 4, 5 p.m. Sara Barnoff demos watercolours
April 5, 5:30 p.m. Dr. Derek Yaple-Schobert, pianist
April 6, 2 p.m. Monique Polak, author readings
April 7, 2 p.m. Suzy Charto on "Becoming a Better Artist" 
and Meta MacLean on "Techniques Cirque de Soleil"
April 8, 2 p.m. Annette Wolfstein-Joseph on "The Art of Printmaking"

Memento Mori

Michele and I made a good decision last November: we traveled to Toronto and Oakville to see the World of Threads show and were blown away by its scope, its variety and its excellence.

Of the many shows under the umbrella organization, my favourite was Memento mori curated by Gareth Bate, a Common Thread International Exhibition, held at the Sheridan Institute in Oakville.

"A memento mori is a reminder of the inevitability of death, historically a popular genre in art. The Memento mori exhibition dealt with themes of death, mortality, grief and the quest for immortality, creating an underworld environment. The show developed out of a call for submissions called "Fibre Inspired" which was based on a trend Festival Curator Gareth Bate had observed in contemporary art, towards creating work using the techniques and aesthetic of fibre, but using non-fibre materials."

An on-line album of images  of the show is now available. 

Happy birthday to my blog!

It's been a year since I started this blog, and today I am delighted to celebrate its first anniversary.

One hundred and eight posts in a year? Who'd have thought I could meet my objective of posting twice a week? And during that time I've had almost 15,000 hits, more traffic than I could have imagined.

Writing this blog has kept me focused on my work. It also requires me to be accurate when I'm spotlighting someone else's work, or reviewing a show I've seen or a book I've read.

As well, it serves as a journal for me, documenting my path and my experiences. It allows me to look back and see trends or dropped stitches.

But mostly it's a fun way to connect with friends. Thank you for following along on this journey with me!

Boathouses #5 and #6

Boathouses #5

Boathouses #6

I need to have lots of work ready for the Hudson Artists spring show, so I have made a couple more in my Boathouses series.

The show runs April 19 - 21, at the Hudson Community Centre.













And because I am on the AHA executive, I will also have a couple of pieces on display in the lobby of the community centre for the month of April.

St.-Lazare Library, art show

Quebec City: Old Town

Have you ever visited the library in St.-Lazare? Located at 1275 rue du Bois, it is a bright and modern facility. 

This month a selection of work by local artists is on display throughout the library. My monochromatic study of a Quebec City street scene has been hung over the fireplace.

Hours are Tuesday - Friday 11 - 9, Saturday and Sunday 10 - 3. The show ends March 21.

Silkscreening with dye paste

silkscreened with dye paste and newsprint resist

I haven't yet posted about the two final lessons in the on-line class I took with Elizabeth Barton, titled "Dyeing to Design", through quiltuniversity.com. Both these segments involved using dye paste and silkscreens.

I have used silkscreens to print on fabric before, but usually with textile paint, not dye paste. The difference is that dye paste penetrates the fibres, and textile paint sits on top of the cloth. Dye concentrate alone doesn't have the "body" needed for silkscreening, so it is combined with alginate, which thickens it up to a useful, pasty consistency.

Because I have several commitments coming up in the next month or two, I didn't spend more than a couple of days trying out Elizabeth's suggested techniques. One of my efforts is shown at left.

Tenerife

I think this technique of silkscreening, using paper shapes as a resist, has some possibilities for my Cityscapes.

I would love to work with the imagery of the Mediterranean hillside town, and possibly I could achieve this level of detail by silkscreening large and small shapes onto cloth.

I highly recommend Elizabeth Barton as a teacher. I have taken three of her on-line classes, and she is offering more this spring. Taking an on-line class connects you to other artists all over the world. Elizabeth provides excellent notes, and incisive feedback to the photos of work posted in the class gallery. Her new book, "Inspired to Design", will be available on Amazon in May 2013.

Boathouses #3 and #4

Boathouses #4

Because I have several shows coming up, I'm focused on producing new work.

Here are two more in the Boathouse series. I've used the arashi cloth I hand-dyed in Elizabeth Barton's class for the water, and low-immersion dyes for the sky.

The imagery comes from original photos taken in the Eastern Townships this past summer.

Both measure 12" x 12" and are mounted on black-painted gallery canvases.

Boathouses #3

Boathouses postcard

Boathouses postcard

In April I will attend a conference in Santa Fe. One of the events is a silent auction of 6" x 8" "quilts", to raise funds for the host organization.

It's always more fun to participate in these events than not. "What price can my postcard bring?" "Who bought it?" To say nothing of viewing all the other entries.

So here's my postcard. It will be matted so that the image is reduced to 4.5" x 6.5", and that had to be taken into account in the composition.

West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson

Spring Ice, 1916

A documentary film festival was held this past weekend in our little town. One of the highlights was the film "West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson". We were honoured to have producer/director Peter Raymont and producer/researcher Nancy Lang here to tell us about the making of the film.

In Algonquin Park, 1914

Thomson is considered to be the greatest colourist among Canadian painters. He grew up on a hilltop farm overlooking Owen Sound, and the landscape that he saw every day as he grew up, that body of water lined by a distant shore, is a subject he was drawn to over and over again as an artist.

Sometimes sickly as a child, he was allowed to take a year off school, to roam the forests and streams near his home. He became an accomplished swimmer, hunter and fisher, and developed a special connection with the woodland habitat.

In the Northland, 1916

A special website has been launched that gives us access to over 200 of Thomson's drawings and paintings, as well as details about the film. Have a look, and see why Thomson is widely considered to be foremost among all Canadian painters, someone who has defined for all of us the beauty of the Canadian wilderness.

Boathouses #2

Boathouses #2

Here's the second in the Boathouse series, based on photos taken last summer, and measuring 12" x 12".

Low-immersion dye for the sky, arashi-dyed cotton for the water, and hand-dyes with some mottling for the walls and roofs of the boathouses and for the walkways.

This piece is on its way to New Mexico. It is a donation to this summer's annual SAQA on-line auction.