Category: Exhibitions & Art Shows

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire Arrives This Weekend!

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire is just FOUR DAYS AWAY and my personal excitement about this is through the roof. I attended the final Town Hall meeting a few weekends ago, which brought together many of the participating Makers for a walk through of the location at the PNE.

The Forum building is HUGE (!) and it’s going to be filled inside and out with evil robots, crafts, eco-art, farming, steampunk, a fire piano, 3D printer village, hacking, glass blowing, stone carving, not to mention altered books, and…..well you get the idea. (Check out a detailed list of Makers on the web site).

If you’re at Maker Faire please drop by my booth for a visit. I will have a display of my work as well as an activity table available for people to make things from book pages.

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire
Dates: Saturday June 23rd to Sunday June 24th, 2012
Time: 10am to 6pm (both days)
Location: PNE
Tickets: Visit the Maker Faire site to purchase tickets in advance »

A Murder of Paper Crows

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Last week I began working on an installation I’ll be presenting at Illuminares in July. I was pleased when my proposal was accepted because I love the lantern festival, and it’s a big step to move from an observer to a participating artist.

Paper crows

As you can see by my work-in-progress photos, the theme I’m focusing on is the crow. I’ve created a flock of fifty birds so far, each one individually cut from tyvek using four different card stock templates as guides.

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I chose to work with white paper because it will illuminate better than black, but I was also inspired by the rare albino crows. Imagine a whole flock of those and you get the idea.

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I still have a lot more work to do on this project, including making twenty to fifty more crows. I’m really enjoying the process of bringing this idea to life and how it’s evolved from my initial idea.

Save the evening of July 21st in your calendar if you’d like to see this installation in person.

Featured Interview on My Modern Metropolis

My work is featured on My Modern Metropolis today. You can check it out here.

I thought I’d share the full interview questions and answers here, since most of what I wrote wasn’t used in the feature.

MMM: How did you get into altering books?

RA: Creating art from old books was an idea I processed in my head for a few years before I actually got serious about working with them. Up until about four years ago the primary focus of my work was photography, but as I transitioned from shooting film to digital I felt I needed to do more tactile work. I began creating mixed media collage, and this eventually led me to working with
paper and books. The big “AHA!” moment came when I picked up a copy of “New Directions in Altered Books” by Gabe Cyr and I realized the possibilities of creating three-dimensional assemblage work with books.

MMM: What’s the most challenging thing about creating these?

RA: The biggest challenge is to keep coming up with new ideas and ways to work with books. I am driven by the need to experiment, and prefer to come up with a different way of transforming the book with each succeeding work. What draws me to the process is that each one seems to have a new challenge in problem solving in order to bring my vision to reality. This is what keeps working with altered books endless interesting to me.

MMM: Why do you infuse nature into them?

RA: I live in Vancouver, BC, a city surrounded by mountains, forests, and the ocean. Nature is ever-present within the city, but I also don’t have to go far in order to immerse myself fully in natural surroundings. I think incorporating imagery of birds, trees, and even using found objects from nature in my artwork is a natural byproduct of the environment in which I live.

MMM: What meanings do they hold for you?

RA: I find meaning in the process of making the altered books more than what they represent. I’m much more interested in the meaning other people discover in my work for themselves. The audience often sees symbolism or meaning I hadn’t intended but I love that aspect of sharing work.

Thank you very much to Alice Yoo for featuring me.

Meet Your Makers at Museum of Vancouver Maker Faire Showcase

The Vancouver Mini Maker Faire is kicking off this year’s event with an information session and meet and greet at the Museum of Vancouver. It’s happening this Thursday, March 15th between 5pm to 9:30pm. It’ll be a fun evening of sharing ideas, getting inspired, and meeting one on one with an interesting cross section of Makers. The event is open to the public and is a great opportunity to learn more about what Maker Faire is all about.

I will be there with a display of my work, as well as demonstrating some of the techniques I use to create altered books. Bring a book with you and I’d be happy to get you started on making your own altered book project.

Maker Faire @ MOV Poster

The 2012 Mini Maker Faire is happening at the PNE this year on the weekend of June 23rd and 24th. The organizers are now accepting applications for participants, which you can find here.

Vancouver Maker Faire @ MOV
Date: Thursday March 15th, 2012
Time: 5pm to 9:30pm
Location: Museum of Vancouver
1100 Chestnut Street

Transforming The Book at Place des Arts

2012 begins with a show of my altered books at Place des Arts in Coquitlam, called Transforming The Book.

Please join me for the opening reception this Thursday January 5th, from 7 to 9pm. As part of the evening’s events I will be giving a short artist talk about my work in the Atrium at 7:30pm. Public speaking isn’t my favorite thing to do, so your moral support would be greatly appreciated.

Also opening on January 5th at Place des Arts, Expansions by Karin Vengshoel, and When Imagination Meets Clay… by Kwai Sang Wong.

Directions to Place des Arts:
Drivers can use exit 40B on Highway #1 then proceed east on Brunette Avenue.

Transit users can get to Place des Arts by taking bus 153 or 156 from Braid Skytrain Station or bus 157 from Lougheed Town Centre.

Opening Reception: January 5th, 7pm to 9pm
Dates: January 5th to January 28th, 2012
Location: Place des Arts
Address: 1120 Brunette Avenue (Google Maps Link), Coquitlam BC V3K 1G2

A First Time Experience as a Seller at Got Craft

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Taking part in Got Craft this past weekend was the first direct sale craft show I’ve done in Vancouver, which seems strange now since I used to do them all the time when I lived in Toronto.

If you’ve never been to Got Craft it’s a terrific craft sale that happens twice a year in early May and December. The vendors are juried by a small panel of judges, and they do an excellent job of selecting a good variety of artisan designers and artists to keep the sale interesting. For the holiday edition, there were fifty vendors chosen from about two hundred applicants, which gives you an idea of the amount of competition to participate.

I decided to apply because I wanted to do more face-to-face sales, but I was also curious to see if it would be a good fit for my work. I created a bunch of small collages, postcard sets, and paper flowers to sell at the show, with the idea lower priced items would be an easier sell than the altered books. I was right (mostly), but things didn’t go nearly as well as I’d hoped.

I’m glad to say I made a profit on the weekend, but just barely. The most popular item that sold were the paper flowers because they were colourful, eye-catching and cheap. The Imaginary Girl and collage postcard sets barely sold at all, which is weird because people snatched them up at the Eastside Culture Crawl. Two collages have happily gone to new homes, including a recycled wood collage that was my favorite. None of the altered books sold, but that’s not a surprise at all because I was pretty sure they’d be too expensive for this type of event. I think there were many more sales I could’ve made if I’d been able to accept Visa or Interac payments.

The money bits aside, I had good conversations with shoppers and it’s good to know my work really “Wows” people (literally). I made a point of encouraging sign ups for my monthly newsletter and I came away with about twenty-five new contacts to add to my mailing list.

All in all, it was a positive experience to be a seller at Got Craft. I would definitely take part again if the opportunity presents itself, and use some of what I learned from this experience to do better next time.

Culture Crawl 2011 – The Post Mortem

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Two weeks have already passed since it happened, but I’ve been meaning to write something and reflect upon this year’s Eastside Culture Crawl.

It was my second year participating as an exhibiting artist and though I had a good idea of how things could go, I still didn’t quite feel prepared enough. I’m no longer an artist full-time and so preparations for the Crawl happened around my part-time job, which meant the final set up came down to the wire. (Thank goodness I don’t work full-time).

I open my apartment to the public for the Crawl because my studio is inside my home. We’re located on the ground floor of a building just off Commercial Drive so it works rather well for getting people in and out of the building without disturbing the rest of the tenants. Our apartment also transforms rather nicely into a spacious, cosy gallery space with most of the furniture removed. It’s a lot of work to get the place set up, and I’m not sure I want to keep doing it at home year after year.

You would think it could be weird allowing a large group of strangers into your home, but for the past two years it’s been a pleasant experience. Everyone is very appreciative and respectful about being here, and many people hang around for awhile chatting and enjoying the work. I enjoy the conversations with visitors and I’ve received terrific feedback from people about the originality and imaginativeness of my work. Showing in my own private space means I have everyone’s full attention, and that kind of exposure can’t be beat.

Comparing my two experiences as a Culture Crawl artist, there were about seventy-five more people this year than last. I think this was thanks to more artists participating with open studios in my immediate area. But while attendance was up, sales were down from the previous year. I felt very discouraged by this even though it’s not all about sales, and I didn’t have any specific expectations about how much I hoped to sell.

A few days immediately after the Culture Crawl I met with other artists and it was good to hear about everyone else’s experiences. Many people felt discouraged because either attendance was down, sales were down, or both. It made me feel better to hear how the others had done, and realise some years are just better than others when it comes to the Eastside Culture Crawl.

A big thank you to my partner Boris, who is a huge help in playing host to visitors, and has also been very tolerant about the transformation of our home. I don’t think I could continue to do the Culture Crawl without him.

Got Craft? Holiday Edition

I am participating for the first time as a vendor, and will be selling postcard sets, collage made from recycled materials, and altered books. This is a craft sale chock full of vendors with unique products, and the timing is perfect to pick up a few Christmas gifts.

Founded in 2007, Got Craft? is held twice a year featuring 50+ handmade designers, fresh food, DJ, a D.I.Y. table and free swag bags for the first 45 people through the door.

Got Craft postcard

Got Craft?
Date: Sunday Decmeber 4th, 2011
Time: 10am to 5pm
Admission: $3.00 (kids under 10 are free)
Location: Royal Canadian Legion
2205 Commercial Drive (at E 6th Avenue)

First Saturday Open Studio – December 3rd

If you’re one of those people who wishes the Eastside Culture Crawl happened more than once a year, then this is the event for you.

First Saturday Open Studios is a mini studio tour with a rotating roster of Culture Crawl artists that happens on the First Saturday of every month. So if you have the post-Crawl blues and need an art fix, mark Saturday December 3rd in your calendar and visit artists in their studios.

For First Saturday in December I will be having an inventory clearance sale of older artwork, which will include metal prints, and a small selection of altered book work. The time has come to clear out the old and make room for new work, so come take advantage of lower prices.

Bog tree - Image transfer on aluminum

I will also have two other creative friends on site for the day. Come meet Monique Trottier, maker of magical fragrances at Botany of Delight, and Heike Kapp, maker of hand-blown glass pendants and art objects.


Botany of Delight | Natural. Handmade. Perfume


Heike Kapp Glass | Glass Marble

First Saturday Open Studios
Date: Saturday December 3rd. 2011
Time: 11am to 4pm
Address: 1660 East Georgia Street