The Big Gigantic

My solo exhibition, "The Big Gigantic", opens in Regina today, at Slate Fine Art Gallery.  I really wish that I was able to travel to the opening, and spend a bit of time in the Queen city, but it's just too busy in the studio before the holidays.

This show features several bodies of work, including my Canadian men Series, The Provincial Floral Silhouette Series, my icon silhouette series and shadowboxed works.

"My current body of work explores the icons, symbols and clichés of Canada.  While these symbols are often nostalgic and romantic, they are symbols that I reluctantly embrace and identify as being Canadian.  Within this body of work are several series that represent both obscure and iconic provincial destinations, people and symbols. 

These works explore an "idea” of Canada, and allude to the souvenir. The desire to take a “piece” of a place home with us and to somehow authenticate a journey is a shared one.  This common need allows us, as Canadians, to relate to one another despite our distance across such a vast nation."

The theme and exploration of this work has been in development for the past 11 years, starting with the Canadian Men Series, that reference the style of Victorian mourning jewellery, or monarchy medallions and illustrate the archetypes of Canadian men that are disappearing, lost and forgotten but persistent.

As well as showcasing some of the older work, I continued working on my Provincial Floral silhouette series, and Slate Fine Art Gallery will host the newest additions to the collection: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Each Canadian province and territory is assigned a flower, generally a prolific or symbolic flower for each province. These statement neckpieces reference the floral symbols of each province beginning at the East coast, and moving westward, in a sort of visual road trip.

Finally, I really wanted to revisit my ongoing series which I describe as my silhouette drawings.  These acrylic drawings or silhouettes are forms and symbols of heroes and villains, inspired by Canadian history high school textbooks, maps, pop culture, tourism brochures and postcards.  This series is presented as a hinged shadow box that functions both as a vertical jewellery box, and wall mounted art piece.  Each framed piece has a component that is removable, and can be worn as a jewellery piece.

I also added several new pieces to this ongoing work:  "Sudbury Saturday Night", (with a removable stomping board and microphone brooch, inspired by Canadian musician and Icon, Stompin Tom Conners) and if you're not familiar, you should listen to this version, by Hannah Epperson, "On Second Thought", (with removable maple sap bucket brooch), "Just Married, 10 Year Anniversary", (with removable tin can brooch that celebrates the upcoming 10 year anniversary of same sex marriage in Canada), and "Game On", (with removable word bubble brooch).

And the title of the exhibition?  Well, because this work is showing for the first time in western Canada, I titled it after a misheard lyric that dominated the radio when I was a teenager from the song, "Hundredth Meridian", which goes, "Left alone to get gigantic, hard huge and haunted"...I thought the misunderstood song lyrics would be a good title as the song references the longitude line that separates Western Canada from the Central and Atlantic regions.  

Western Canada will always be the big gigantic in my mind. xo.

I graciously acknowledge the support and encouragement of the Ontario Arts Council. Thank you.

Dance party for one...

Inspired by the magical and the melancholic, Russian born artist and illustrator, Yelena Bryksenkova is someone you need to know about.


Her illustrations of forest maidens, dance parties for one, and magical characters are whimsical and enchanting, without being overtly saccharine. Her exploration of the hidden, the quiet and the melancholic draws you into her imagined worlds.


Richly textured and layered in pattern and content, they often feature lanky, bohemian girls and document their beautiful daily adventures.  I often feel like I've been in the apartments and homes of these women, they resonate with me and feel like safe spaces where I'd share a secret or two over some mulled wine with a girlfriend.


Her multiple inspirations are described on her website:

 

"The art and literature of Russia's silver age has been a tremendous influence on me; the world of art movement, Diaghilev's ballets Russes. Indian miniature painting, Pre-Raphaelite photography, folk art. for inspiration I often look to the work of Serov, Sargent, Renoir, Vuillard, Matisse; I will never get tired of paintings of quiet repose, everyday moments. women brushing their hair, reading, arranging flowers, drinking tea, lost in their private thoughts and surrounded by cherished objects. stylistically, the way I draw people was most likely shaped by studying the work of J.W. Waterhouse and Edward Gorey, as well as fashion illustrations from the 1920s. reading Haruki Murakami and Alain de Botton has shaped the way I perceive the world and informed my work. so many things...I'm always living under the spell of something or other."

Perhaps it's the grey snowy weather over the last couple of days, but I've been looking at my pinned prints that I'm wanting to collect for my place, and really thinking about gathering a few things, my Icelandic wool blanket, a pot of green tea, a book I've been putting off too long, and some new art to hang over the long winter to come.  Her work can be purchased on Etsy, and you can learn more about her work on her blog.

A Fall Escape in pictures....and a wonderful surprise.

The past few weeks have been very busy in the studio, longer hours, leading up to the holidays, and too much blending of home and work, but as the light is slowly fading faster day by day, it tends to zap my energy levels, and leaves me needing an escape.

A weekend escape was planned following the long holiday weekend (Thanksgiving here is in October), to take a bit of quiet time for my partner and I to catch our breath, as Cameron also works as an artist/maker and his days are long in the tooth this time of year as well.

We chose a stunning location at the bottom of a valley, along the Niagara escarpment in an off the grid cabin, lit by propane lights and surrounded by a rushing brook, right outside the door.

It was a stunning fall weekend, dramatic grey skies, vibrant leaves carpeting the ground, and just enough of a chill in the air to light the fireplace in the evening, and sit in a cozy circle.

And, something very exciting happened when the air began to chill....I was left wondering why Cameron wasn't putting more wood on the fire, and went to check on it...inside the wood bin, sitting amongst the off cuts and scrap wood that he brought to the cabin to burn, a rough, handmade box that looked just like a piece of firewood, but inside! Oh inside!  A stunning, white gold art deco ring with lacework, snug within a hand embroidered miniature pillow that my friend Bebhinn made for the box.  I didn't throw that log in the fire kittens, but I did say yes!

The illuminated world of Michelle Morin

Artist Michelle Morin creates stunning watercolour works that are observational, delicate and richly textured in creatures and content.

I love that her paintings tell the story of the complicated relationships between the destructive but beautiful jewel toned insects that inhabit her gardens, and the flowers that she grows and observes.

While most of her subject matter is rooted in nature, the way that she develops pattern in her work is what I find so intriguing and interesting.

Much of her work focuses on landscapes, seascapes and the observation of the creatures that inhabit these spaces.

I've purchased her "Dancing Egrets" print, which is really moody and dramatic, but I'd like one of the lighter prints, like the stunning "Spring", or one of her floral prints.  Maybe I'll have to put that one on my Christmas wish list! 

I'd like one of the lighter prints which make me smile and instantly feel better when my eyes wash over these colours!  A perfect antidote to these grey fall days.

Check out her work here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/unitedthread

A day in the studio.

It was a stunning day in the studio...light streaming through the windows after a long week of grey, overcast weather.

Busy working on a few things at once, which always seems to be a necessity....I'm getting work together for my solo exhibition in Regina, Saskatchewan, and working on production pieces for the upcoming holiday season.  

I've also included some shots of the original, traction freight, turn of the century elevator in the studio, perfect for lugging heavy tanks, or awkward deliveries up instead of hauling things up the stairs.  It has the same original wooden gate that it had at the turn of the century, and it works on a system of unsophisticated weights and tension, and is easy to operate. 

The gate only opens when you align the hardwood floor of the elevator with the floor you want to come out on.  You also need to hold two buttons down (like a crane I used to operate as a summer student in a factory), to move the elevator up or down.