Coming in up 2017

I am preparing a new sculpture for the 2017 Winnipeg Folk Festival. Above is a preview photo showing my assistants working on the piece. You can find more information about the project and other artists involved in the Prairie Outdoor Exhibition this year at this site http://winnipegfolkfestival.ca/folk-fest/festival-info/prairie-outdoor-exhibition/

I also have two pieces currently on display at the Cre8ery in the Winnipeg Exchange District at 125 Adelaide.  Link is here http://www.cre8ery.com/

Best wishes to all for a fabulous summer!

The link below leads to National Geographic and an article about the Human Condition and our impact upon the plant.  One fact listed on the page that leaps out for me is the factoid listed about Puento Hills Landfill, Whittier California which is listed as the largest landfill in the US. At this landfill gas is collected from decomposing garbage generating roughly 40 watts of energy each day which is sold to a local power company.  Closed in 2014 this landfill no longer accepts garbage but what forward thinking to put garbage to use.  I wonder how many years this landfill will continue to produce methane?

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/human-impact.html

This link is for the landfill:
http://www.lacsd.org/solidwaste/swpp/energyrecovery/landfillgastoenergy/puentehillsgastoenergy.asp

Lacey Mew

Here is a preview of progress on my latest project.  Of course it includes a little bit of needle lace.  I am continuing to explore traditional needle lace techniques while researching other materials in relation to it.

Tentatively titled "Lacey Mew."   While lacey is obvious, the word mew has many meanings among them is an old English meaning that relates to a cage for hawks, as well as a place of concealment.

Myung Urso

Myung Urso is a South Korean artist with several degrees including an MFA in fibre arts.  Her style of combining unusual materials to make jewelry is fascinating.  Wood, fabric, yarn, paper, gesso, and wire are just some of the materials that Myung uses making works more sculptural than jewelry.  I admire this artists daring in combining materials together with a jewelers skill while employing the rawness of fibres.

http://www.myungurso.com/work.html

Sources of Inspiration

Photo by Karen Wardle 2011

Ernesto Neto

The artwork of Ernesto Neto is tactile and curious.

http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/neto.

Upcoming exhibits

A touring exhibition titled Hats from a Life Lived includes one of my fibre pieces titled Creative Hands.  This exhibit features many wonderful women artists from Winnipeg and is curated by artist Colette Balcaen. The show is scheduled to be in Neepawa and Portage La Prairie for August and September 2014

Hats from a Life Lived

In Neepawa at the Viscount Art Gallery. An opening event is scheduled for August 13, 2014 from 1-4 pm. The exhibit will remain in Neepawa until the end of of August. 
You can see more about the show and the centre here: neepawavcc.ca

The entire exhibit then moves to Portage La Prairie to the Portage and District Arts Centre.  It will remain on display from September 2 - 27, 2014. 
 For more information about the arts centre see:
 www.portageartscentre.ca

This project was fun as the curator Winnipeg artist Colette Balcaen invited artists to participate in a project of altering vintage hats to represent subjects and people who were of influence in our lives.  My hat was influenced by three women in my life who inspire me to make things.  My mother, my grandmother and my mother-in-law.  Each image illustrates their favourite creative pastime.

I chose needle lace as the method of creating the images and then went about the process of learning how to make needle lace as I had never tried it before.  Needle lace is a form of lace making that allows you to create a fairly detailed image using just thread and a needle.

I started by drawing an image on a piece of paper and then couching a thicker piece of crochet thread onto the paper to act as an outline.  Once this is done then smaller thread is used to basically create a decorative grid of thread lines and stitches to fill in the image. I even took some liberties in creating my own stitches from the more traditional. Then the entire thread image is lifted off of the paper by cutting the couching threads and gently clipping them away from the finished project.  Each image was then tacked onto the hat.  I am very pleased with the overall look.