Month: August 2021

A Visit to the Kitoki Inn

I celebrated my birthday in late July with a short getaway  to Bowen Island with my partner, Boris. Thanks to our past selves, who in January brilliantly thought ahead to July, and booked us two nights at the Kitoki Inn. At the time, they were anticipating a summer opening, and we really had no idea what to expect because there were no photos of the accommodations.

The tiny but well-curated shop on the property. It has a selection of snacks, and other lovely Japanese goods.

We visit Bowen often (because Boris’ parent live there) but this is such a special spot. A Japanese Onsen tucked away at the top of a hill, surrounded by a tall forest of trees and ferns. There are three private one-room cabins on the property, each with their own small kitchen and bathroom, and a deck to sit outside. The buildings are purposely designed for maximum privacy, with windows positioned either low or high in the wall to let in light but not give a view of the cabin next door.

 

The bathhouse is available for guests to book twice a day for 90 minutes each, and we took full advantage of that. One day we took the earliest booking at 6:30am to start the day, and then an after dinner bathhouse visit to end it. Relaxing in the bathhouse while staring at the forest and listening to the gentle sound of the water feature was just perfect. It was a good spot to watch birds as well. It’s a traditional bathhouse where you clean yourself before you get into the hot bath, then soak yourself for 10-15 minutes, cool off with a cold shower, and then sit for 10 to 15 minutes before getting in again. You repeat the cycle as many times as you want in the 90 minutes.

The Kitoki Inn managed to feel both quiet and remote, even though we were’t far from a busy road. I actually felt like we were in Japan while on the property, and then we would walk down the hill to find ourselves on Bowen.

I’m very grateful for this special experience on my birthday, and hope we can visit the Inn again someday.

(The Kitoki Inn blew up in a big way on Social Media around the time they opened, and are currently booked well into 2022. Keep that in mind if you’re interested in visiting it yourself.)

 

Does Anyone Read Blogs Anymore + Five Good Things From The Week

So I thought I’d take a stab at writing on my blog more regularly again. I haven’t kept up with it at all since the pandemic started in 2020, even though there is lots I could write about. It’s amazing how I could go from writing eight to ten posts every month so religiously for years, to almost nothing. 

To start things off I decided to implement a new template. When Boris migrated my blog I’d hastily applied a template, but always felt frustrated with it. My lack of interest meant I never made an effort to try and change it to something better. Inertia has really taken over many aspects of my life.

One of the thoughts I keep having is: Do people ever read blogs anymore? I do, but much less than ever before (probably out of inertia). How much does that matter, when I’ve mostly always kept this blog for myself. It’s been a good way to regularly document my work over the years, in parallel to what I post on Instagram. I think that is a good thing, because it allows me to write more about the process and details of each piece.

While I am here, I will include a Five Good Things From The Week List, because it has always been a reflective post I enjoyed writing. Here goes: 

  1. Our weekly swim night at New Brighton Park pool with less than twenty other people because the weather was cool. 
  2. Reading Nishga by Jordan Able. It’s an emotional journey of identity, intergenerational trauma, and belonging in the form of deconstructed academic and historical documents turned  work of art in book form.
  3. Getting a much-needed hair cut!!!!
  4. Stumbling across Kouign, a new French-style bakery in Chinatown, and buying tasty treats for Boris and I to enjoy.
  5. Discovering (thanks to Barb) there are two new Trinidadian restaurants newly opened in East Van! I can’t wait to try them both.

Hand in Hand with Technology

I originally wrote this post for the Craft Council of BC blog to promote my show earlier this year, and wanted to include it here.

My goals as a craftsperson are to demonstrate excellence in fine craft, achieve a high level of skill in my chosen medium of paper, and emphasize the importance of making by hand.

Cutting by hand

Cutting by hand

An issue I confront regularly as an artist is the misperception that machine production is superior to making by hand. People who are not makers seem to have the impression that a human being is incapable of producing an object at the same level of quality and skill as a machine. The excellence of my skills is such that people often at first glance interpret my creations as made by a laser cutter. People react in amazement when they learn what they’re viewing has been cut by hand with a simple Olfa knife blade.

Don’t mistake me for a luddite. My intention here is to ensure handmade and machine made are given equal footing and regard. I have readily employed machine cutters of various kinds to create work in the past as well as my upcoming solo show. My tendency is to use technology as a way to increase efficiency in my process, or to expand the potential of the work in terms of scale or materials.

I view laser cutting or using a digital cutter as methods of production that require a high level of skill to execute properly, and not a magic solution to producing the work I want to create. Working with paper cutting and the effort of doing this work by hand is often viewed as a waste of time. It is the repetitive nature of cutting that is the attraction for me, because it is both mindful and meditative, and gives meaning and fulfillment to the work.

Cloud Swirl – laser cut bamboo + white acrylic

I have produced a small number of laser cut pieces to date. These began as one-of-a-kind designs in paper that I recreated as digital files in order to reproduce the work in a range of materials. It has also allowed me to increase the scale of pieces. I’ve worked with Shrapnel Design, a production studio in Vancouver, because they are experts at laser cutting fabrication, and have a broad knowledge of materials. Working with them is a collaborative process that accommodates iteration, and the end result has been spectacular production pieces made from wood that are distinct from their paper originals.

The Silhouette Cameo II & machine cut drawing templates

 

Drawing templates cut by the Silhouette Cameo II

One of the pieces that will be included in the exhibition is an installation comprised of 8 pieces of 25.5” x 19.5” hand-cut paper, incorporating 40 different patterns. In the planning stages of the work I realized there were issues I could solve through the use of technology. I needed to scale up the size of the patterns, and incorporate more elaborate repeating designs. I wasn’t confident I could do either of these things by hand. My solution was to employ a Silhouette Cameo digital cutter, and draw from a library of digital design files, to produce pattern templates. I utilized these to trace each design onto the paper.

Details of the hand-cut installation. Patterns drawn with machine cut pattern templates.

I will continue to explore my process by hand, as well as experiment and learn different techniques and technologies in the creation and production of my work. Handmade fine art and crafts are a worthwhile output of their own — and should be seen as a way to celebrate expert makers. But technology and new processes, especially in pursuit of excellence and efficiency, are themselves an opportunity to expand artistic creativity and collaboration.

Whatever mediums I use, my artist’s hands and mind are always there.