Author: Rachael Ashe

Altered Book: Heralding The Dawn Of A New Day

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The bag of animals made of wood has been a wonderful thing to work with so far. I’m enjoying pulling out each animal and choosing a different one each time to create a home for in an altered book. I’ve always adored this rooster for his proud posture and decided to run with the cliche of having him crow at sunrise.

Altered Book - Heralding The Dawn Of A New Day-5

As I began work on this I took a detour into studio cleaning as I went through my storage boxes of paper looking for things to use. All of the boxes were a complete mess and sorting through them allowed me to discover paper I’d forgotten all about. I used two of these to create the very colourful sunrise in the book. The triangle with bricks printed upon it is from collection of wooden toy blocks I picked up at RubyDog’s Art House, and it serves nicely as a rooftop for the rooster to stand on.

Altered Book - Heralding The Dawn Of A New Day

This altered book came together quickly and easily, which surprised me. It always feels a bit wrong when an artwork seems too easy, but I’m not really sure why. I’m really happy with it though, and love how colourful this is.

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Altered Book - Heralding The Dawn Of A New Day-2

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Materials used: book, sewing pattern paper, origami paper, wooden rooster, wood triangle, glue, and gel medium.

Pop-Up Now! An International Exhibition of Movable Artist Books

I have one of my altered books in this show at 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland. It opens this week, with the artist reception on October 1st (I won’t be in attendance).

The exhibition features handmade and altered books with movable parts and pop-ups. If you can’t make it in person, then check out the online catalogue. There’s lots of amazing work in the show.

Pop-Up Now!
23 Sandy Gallery
623 NE 23rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97232
Hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Noon to 6:00 p.m

Altered Book: Of Animal Folklore and Fables

Altered Book: Of Animal Folklore and Fables

For the next little while, I have decided to focus on creating two series of altered books, one based around a collection of toy animals made from wood and the other around the blank books Siobhan gave me. It’s been awhile since I’ve made new work so this week I dove into the bag of animals looking for inspiration and came away with the idea to use four of them at once.

Altered Book: Of Animal Folklore and Fables - detail

I started thinking about fables and folklore using animals to teach lessons and explain things about the world. I couldn’t find a suitable tale on which to base my composition but I kept thinking about Chicken Little and the Town Musicians of Bremen. The calf, goat, piglet and chick are in a tale all their own. It involves piling one on top the other to try and reach the sky, but also the wearing of special party hats. I leave the details of the story up to you.

Altered Book: Of Animal Folklore and Fables - detail

Altered Book: Of Animal Folklore and Fables - detail

I’m starting to make new work in preparation for the Culture Crawl in late November. This piece will be framed and available for sale at my studio, along with much of the work currently listed in my etsy shop.

Altered Book: Of Animal Folklore and Fables - detail

Materials used: book, wooden animals, tissue paper, Japanese paper, cardboard, acrylic paint, wooden blocks, and poppy seed pods.

A Peek Into The Studio

Boris and I moved into our new apartment at the beginning of June and only now am I getting around to hanging more art on the walls and finding a proper place for things. It takes a good long while to settle into a new home. My studio has also been seeing some attention this week as I needed to tidy up and find places for the return of Forgotten Knowledge.

In the studio

In the studio

I hate white walls, especially in the dreary winter months, so I’ve done my best to place colourful things around the room. I put up two strings along one wall and hung photos, cards, artwork, and other little things using tiny clothes pegs. I have lots of my own work around the room but tried to include prints and things I have from other artists.

In the studio

In the studio

The bulletin boards above my desk are filled with inspiring things. My laptop is on the table in this shot, but when I’m making art it sits elsewhere while I make a huge mess. Most of the books I plan to alter sit in a stack by the door with Oliver the octopus sitting on top keeping an eye on things. He’s the land octopus (inside joke) Boris and I always wanted, and we won him at the PNE this summer.

In the studio

In the studio

It’s a really nice little studio space, and I feel very lucky to have it.

Ebb and Flow of the Calm Blue Ocean

The Imaginary Girl series rises from the creative depths once again, this time with a lovely unposed portrait of Leah. When planning a photo shoot around the ocean I should’ve kept in mind how unpredictable water can be depending on the weather. Leah and I arrived at Jericho Beach to find the waves crashing against the shore and I immediately had to throw my original ideas out the window.

Ebb and Flow

What I came away with from the shoot is so much better than what I’d had in mind. Leah led the way on this one, and most of the shots I love the most are the ones that aren’t posed. She waded around in the water with very little direction from me, and I captured what I could with the camera.

Ebb and Flow

Calm Blue Ocean

This is the twenty-fourth portrait in the series, and I’m considering moving onto something else after the twenty-fifth. I want to continue working on portraiture in some way, either as a weekly goal or maybe a series featuring men instead of women. I’ve been working on the Imaginary Girl series for a full year now and it’s time to switch things up.

Drafting a Tree Made of Knowledge

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I decided to take part of last week off because even though there was a tonne of work I needed to do I was feeling far too depleted and brain dead to accomplish anything. I needed to brainstorm new ideas for an upcoming project but since nothing was coming I realized I needed a break. The PNE show took up a lot of my time in a way I hadn’t expected and it was a drain on creative energy after awhile. Towards the end of last week I could tell I made the right decision about taking a step back because the creativity and ideas started to flow again. Phew.

I need to create new work in time for the Culture Crawl in November, but first I need to put something together and write a proposal to submit at the end of next week. I won’t say much about what this one is all about because it’s in early stages. It’s an open-ended opportunity and I’m using it as an excuse to work collaboratively with friends and to create a large installation piece. The paper tree pictured here is a prototype for part of what I’m hoping to do on a much larger scale.

Drafting a Tree Made of Knowledge

I’ve had the idea rolling around in my head for awhile about making a tree, and there are many different ways I could do it (and still can). I wanted to tie it into the altered book work I create and even contemplated making a tree out of books. Making the prototype helped to formalize my ideas and now I have a clear idea how to proceed with the larger version.

Tree of Knowledge - details-2

Tree of Knowledge - details

It’s a bit rough around the edges but I didn’t want to be too precious with it because it’s meant to be a first draft. My biggest frustration while working on this were my limited drawing skills, but they’re good enough to make the outline of a tree.

I’m hoping the final version will be magical enough to fill the view with wonder and awe. That’s not a lot to ask of my work, is it…?

Public Art in Vancouver

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There’s a lot of wonderful public art available for your viewing pleasure in and around Vancouver. These photos were taken a few weekends ago on a lovely walk in the West end of the city.

From Shangri-La to Shangri-La by Ken Lum
From Shangri-La to Shangri-La, by Ken Lum.
Location: Vancouver Art Gallery offisite space at the Shangri-La
Details on the VAG web site.

Scenes from the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale
Meeting, by Wang Shugang.
This is one of eight such sculptures placed in a circle, facing inwards.
Location: Cardero Park, Coal Harbour
Details on the Vancouver Biennale web site.

Scenes from the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale
We, by Jaume Plensa.
This is a small scale version of the sculpture in the Biennale.
Location: Sunset Beach Park
Details on the Vancouver Biennale web site.

Scenes from the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale
Ceramic Forms, by Yee Soo-Kyung.
Location: Cardero Park, Coal Harbour
Details on the Vancouver Biennale web site

Relinquish Control Of Your Offerings

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Container Art- Forgotten Knowledge-2

Having my work on display at the PNE for the last few weeks has been an interesting experience with having art in a public space. There was so much destruction to my show after opening weekend of the PNE that I was ready to pack things in and take it down. Thousands of people went through the container and a large number of those were handling my work carelessly and breaking things. I had to remove three of the books after that first weekend because the objects were gone, and I had to do repairs to many others with partial damage. I was flabbergasted that people would be so disrespectful and careless.

It’s disheartening to watch so much of my hard work of the last few months get wiped out in a shorter time than it took me to make it all. At this point I’ve resigned myself to only being able to salvage some of this work for future use. It’s become a “sacrificial” art work for the sake of sharing my work with a larger audience of people.

On that note, Free Will Astrology had a very appropriate horoscope for me today:

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The Clash was a leftwing punk band that launched its career in 1976. With its dissident lyrics and experimental music, it aspired to make an impact on political attitudes. But then one of its songs, “Rock the Casbah,” got so popular that college fraternity parties were playing it as feel-good dance music. That peeved the Clash’s lead singer Joe Strummer, born under the sign of Leo. He didn’t want his revolutionary anthems to be used as vulgar entertainment by bourgeois kids. I sympathize with his purity, but I don’t advocate that approach for you. For now, relinquish control of your offerings. Let people use them the way they want to.

Light Leaks Magazine Showcase Gallery

Back in April I was approached by the editors of Light Leaks Magazine to do a showcase of my toy camera and polaroid photos. I was thrilled because it’s a toy camera magazine I’ve been reading for the past couple of years, and there’s always interesting work to be seen in it’s pages. The latest issue just went live and you can buy your own copy online.

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I’m really happy with the selection of images that have been included in the showcase. Featured here are photos taken with a holga, Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim, polaroid, and a P-Sharan pinhole camera.