Two of my metal prints are in a group show at Grace Vancouver Church. The opening is this evening, Friday February 15th, at 7pm. The multimedia art show is part of the 8th annual Arts in the City, Arts in the Sanctuary festival.
An invite can be dowloaded here.
Arts in the City
Grace Vancouver Church
1696 West 7th Avenue
Vancouver BC
I decided to walk home from work because the weather was so lovely and it felt like spring. I cut along Kitsilano beach to see the water, and to photograph all the crows and seagulls gathered everywhere. There was an older man sitting on a bench close to the water and he had a huge flock of pigeons, gulls and crows gathered around him on the ground and flying overhead because he was feeding them popcorn. He spotted me taking pictures close by and started talking to me. First he told me a bit about himself, and then he segued into telling me all about his son, with an emphasis on how successful, handsome, and wonderful he is.
Apparently his son’s name is Richard, he works at GM Place, and he is about 6’4". He went on and on about his son, so I finally asked him, "are you trying to find a woman for your son?" He said "yes". I had to laugh. He even went so far as to tell me his address, and invited me to drop by sometime for a drink (to be prepared by his lovely wife).
I did not get the older man’s name and he refused to let me take his picture, but it made for a fun afternoon.
I took many photos of graffiti and street art when I was in San Francisco back in October. I’d completely forgotten to upload them to flickr until now. A lot of these were taken in Clarion Alley in the Mission. I have made the rest of the set private but you can view them with this guest pass.
These are scans of my moleskin sketchbook.
For more collage journal goodness, check out the work of Teesha Moore.
As an artist, I’ve found it very difficult to develop the skill of promoting and selling my work. I think this is something many artists struggle with and why so many of us never get anywhere. Sometimes it can be a lack of confidence (“why would anyone be interested in my stuff…?) but often it can be a dislike of self promotion. Somehow, somewhere, someone gave the art of putting yourself out there and promoting your work a bad name, but really its just in how you do it.
I’ve learned by making my work known, by putting it “out there”, I get to do more of it and the more places people can see my work the more it gets seen. And if all goes well when having a public exhibition and I sell my work, it helps me afford to make more of it.
And now here’s the part where I tell you the two places online where my work can be purchased:
rashe.etsy.com
rachaela.imagekind.com
I have just uploaded a fresh batch of small metal prints to etsy, featuring a selection of holga tree photos from my exhibition at Radha Yoga in October. And on Imagekind I have made some of my photoshop image manipulations available as prints. Please do check them out.
My friend Nicole Dextras recently launched her beautifully redesigned website. When I met her in Toronto years ago, shortly before my move to Vancouver, it was in the context of photography. I have since come to know her as an amazingly versitile mixed media artist with work spaning environmental art, paper sculpture, photography, and book arts.
Her most recent project was to create clothing from leaves and flowers for a performance at the Illuminares Lantern Festival in Vancouver (pictured right.) She is also in the process of working on a series of photographs of the ice sculptures and installations she creates in the winter months. For more examples of her work in each medium, please check out her website.
I recently came across the terrific photography site Lens Culture via Caterina.net. It’s a very informative site and seems to showcase a good variety of photographers from around the world. Each article includes a gallery of images as well as an audio interview with the featured photographer speaking about what they do. I highly recommend it if you want to fill your brain with more things photography-related, and expand your knowledge of modern photographers.
Currently the site features Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky and his latest series of the monumental changes taking place in China and its impact on the environment. His photographs are taken with a large format camera, and his subject matter always deals with industrialization and its effect on our ecosystem. To quote his artist statement, “nature transformed through industry is a predominant theme in my work.”
I last saw Burtynsky’s work at his 2004 show, Manufactured Landscapes at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. It was a very powerful show because it captured in minute detail the environmental devastation we humans are wreaking around the globe. The above image is one that has always stuck with me from first viewing, because it contains a terrible beauty. The stunning colours really drew my eye (even more so in the large scale print) while my mind struggled to comprehend the posioning to the land this visual likely indicates.