This Saturday I’ll be working away at a new series of paper cut designs as the featured artist-in-the-window at Bird on a Wire Creations on Main Street. You can find me in the front window of the store from 11am to 4pm. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit this lovely little shop, now’s your chance.
Artist in the Window – Bird on a Wire Creations
Date:Saturday, September 8th, 2012
Time: 11am to 4pm
Location: 2535 Main Street, between Broadway & 10th
Vancouver BC
This week I’m putting the finishing touches on the installation of paper crows I shared at the beginning of June and will be presenting it publicly for the first time at Illuminares this Saturday.
lluminares Lantern Festival is a yearly summer event organized by Public Dreams Society. If you’ve never been before, this is a one night only community event featuring performances, fire spinners, lanterns, and many things to inspire.
This year, Illuminares is a celebration of the light within us – of togetherness and creativity, sustainability and artistic expression, of rebirth and new beginnings. Illuminares is about you and your community. As participants, you are integral in making this beloved community event happen and our hope is that Public Dreams inspires you to create, to imagine and to participate. For 24 years, you’ve been the true architects and creators of Illuminares, and we’re once again creating a platform for you to showcase your creativity and Let Your Bright Light Shine!
This is my first time taking the leap from audience member to a participating artist. I’m very excited about this (and intimidated) because it’s a chance to challenge myself and work larger than I have in a good long while. I hope you’ll join me this Saturday July 21st as Illuminares returns to Trout Lake Park.
Illuminares Lantern Festival
Date: Saturday July 21st, 2012
Time: 6pm to 10:30pm
Location: Trout Lake Park
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 »
And it’s a really nice book, packed with pages and pages of book art in its many forms. I like the selection of images on the front cover because they really challenge the idea of what a book should look like.
You can find my piece, Forgotten Knowledge, in a tiny corner on page 284. I am thrilled to be included, and hope someday I can have a three page spread devoted to my work as Brian Dettmer has in this book.
If you’re in Vancouver, ask for this at Oscar’s Art Books and support an independent book store.
Despite how uncomfortable I feel watching myself in this video, I am thrilled with the results of the shoot I did last week with Ryan and Justin from Opus. Watch the video below.
Thank you to Opus Art Supplies for inviting me to do the interview and feature about my work. The video was shot and edited by Ryan Mund, with sound assistance by Justin Ray.
Opus also has a post up over on their blog.
Coming this Saturday June 2nd I will be demonstrating my altered book making techniques at a FREE in store demo at the Hastings Street location of Opus Art Supplies. If you’ve been meaning to take one of my workshops this is a good opportunity to have a crash course in transforming old books into art »
I will have a limited number of books available for people to work with during the demo. Please feel free to bring your own books if there is something specific you’d like to learn.
Transforming Books into Visual Art with Rachael Ashe
Date: Saturday June 2nd, 2012
Time: 2pm to 4pm
Location: Opus Downtown, 100-207 West Hastings Street
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.
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
In all the busy-ness that I had going on last week I forgot to share news about being featured in Vancouver Is Awesome’s series The Proof.
It’s a great series of interviews where each person shares projects they’re working on, and a glimpse into their lives. I had fun putting mine together – especially when it came to choosing the photos to include with the interview.
You can read the whole thing on Vancouver Is Awesome.
Discover Paper is a wonderful blog I first came across on Twitter, that is dedicated to finding and sharing paper inspiration. I was recently contacted by Donnaville Herrick, who runs the blog, and asked to do an interview by email.
The interview was just published today and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I’m happy with what I’ve written, and Donnaville wrote many lovely comments about my work.