Making & Printing for Build It Day

May 7, 2018

Last week I collaborated with my co-worker Rachel Teo (yes, we have the same first name) on a printing project for Build It Day at Steamclock Software. It’s an internal event we’ve started to have every six months to give everyone the opportunity to work on a personal project. Rach and I usually collaborate on something because we are the only ones who are not software developers.

We decided to tackle making a lino cut print as a commemorative piece of swag for everyone in the team. We chose the quote, “Whatever good things we build end up building us”, by Jim Rohn as the basis of our design to relate to Build It Day. Rach chose the typeface and composed it digitally for us to transfer onto lino for carving by hand.

I spent most of the day carving this 5″ by 5″ piece of lino with the text. We had a few setbacks in the process, which I won’t get into, and had to start over again around mid-day, but I somehow managed to get it finished and print-ready before end of day. It was difficult work because I am not an experienced carver and some of the font details were small.

While I was doing that Rach worked on our colour scheme with the selection of ink and composition of the overall design using additional rubber stamps (already carved, thank goodness!) She did all of the printing and added in the carved text once I had it completed.

The finished print looks amazing, with two different colourways to choose from. It’s not obvious from the photos but the inks used in the border design are metallic. Each print is 8″x 8″ cotton watercolour paper.

By the end of Build It Day we were exhausted but totally thrilled to have pulled off this project in one day. I’m excited to get mine into a frame and up on my wall.

Shredding the Past, Page By Page

May 2, 2018

As Boris and I settle back into our apartment we’ve continued to purge all sorts of things I hadn’t given much thought to before the disruption. I think everyone has way too much stuff, and we are no different, but nothing was getting done about it until we were forced to.

There are a few thing I REALLY hated having to pack and move, and the one I’m going to write about here is my collection of fourteen years of journals. The bulk of them have been stored under our bed for years, totally ignored and forgotten about. I’ve been keeping a journal since shortly after high school, and it’s something I continue to do to this day. I disposed of some of these the last time I visited Toronto because the first batch was stored and forgotten about at my mom’s place. There was just no way I was going to ship them back to Vancouver and continue to store them here, so I went through an elaborate plan to trash them at the end of our visit five years ago. It’s a funny story, and you should ask me about it sometime.

This time around I am shredding each book one by one using a paper shredder. It is a very satisfying thing to do, and I’m already down to the group pictured above. I’m doing this because I don’t want to keep them, and I don’t ever want anyone else to read them. I’m not interested in reading them myself and don’t even look through them much before I shred them. It’s too much like dwelling on the past, and I don’t want or need to do that.

Maybe the strangest part of all is that I will continue keeping a journal for years to come. I write two pages in a notebook three or four times a week, just as I have for years because it is part of my creative habits. I love writing by hand and it is one of the few opportunities for me to do it.

Do you keep a journal? I’m curious to hear about other people’s long-term plans for their private writings.

Spring 2018 Studio Sale

April 23, 2018

Join me on Saturday April 28th, 11am to 2pm, for a studio sale of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!!

I’ll have a mix of work created over the past five years priced low to sell. The selection will include small collage pieces, paper cut designs, gel pen drawings, paper embroidery, and the last of my altered book art.

Dapple, 20″ x 20″

Gel pen drawing, 12″ x 12″

Vortex, 16″ x 20″

Propellor, 16″ x 20″

The studio sale is generously hosted by fellow artist, Valerie Arntzen, at her studio in Strathcona. She will have a selection of mixed media assemblage work and photography marked down for sale as well.

I hope to see you there!

Studio Sale with Rachael Ashe & Valerie Arntzen
AMP Studio
Date: Saturday April 28th, 2018
Time: 11:00am to 2pm
Location: 800 Keefer Street, at Hawks Avenue

More Signs of Spring

April 20, 2018

This spring hasn’t felt as inspiring and magical as it usually does for me, but it may be because I haven’t been able to get outside and enjoy it as much. I’ve been down with a cold for the past week and a half, and it’s really affected my energy.

Most of these photos were taken a few weeks ago, and we’re now on to a new crop of flowering trees. I don’t want to miss them.

Mend Piece at Rennie Gallery

April 11, 2018

I took Boris on a visit to Rennie Gallery last Sunday to participate in Yoko Ono’s interactive exhibition in residence, Mend Piece. The main level gallery is set up with a long table and chairs, and the surface is covered in white cups and saucers broken into pieces. Participants are given little instruction, just welcomed to sit and mend these pieces of broken pottery using minimal materials, such as tape, glue, and string.

From the Rennie Museum press release:

First conceptualized in 1966, the work immerses the visitor in a dream-like state. Viewers enter into an all-white space and are welcomed to take a seat at the table to reassemble fragments of ceramic coffee cups and saucers using the provided twine, tape, and glue. Akin to the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect, Mend Piece encourages the participant to transform broken fragments into an object that prevails its own violent rupture. The mended pieces are then displayed on shelves installed around the room. The contemplative act of mending is intended to promote reparation starting within one’s self and community, and bridge the gap created by violence, hatred, and war. In the words of Yoko Ono herself, “Mend with wisdom, mend with love. It will mend the earth at the same time.”

The previous two photos above are of the “mending” I worked on in the half hour of time we were allotted to do the activity. I stopped myself from overthinking things and immediately chose a few pieces of pottery to work with, then focused on wrapping white string around them.

I’ve included photos here of mended pieces that caught my eye on the shelves that were assembled by previous participants. I love the butterfly made with string and broken saucers, and the bowl filled with loops of twine.

Art Supply Giveaway 2018

April 6, 2018

It’s spring cleaning time in the studio, and on Saturday April 14th I will be part of the annual art supply giveaway with a group of artists in Strathcona. Drop by 800 Keefer Street at Hawks to browse a selection of unwanted (but still viable) supplies. This is the sixth year my friends and I have held this event.

Everything is free because we just want someone to make use of the materials. At this time I have no idea what supplies will be available from each artist so come see for yourself. There’s always something for everyone, including things like textiles, papers, found objects, books, and more.

31 Days of Scribbles Part 3

April 4, 2018

I wrapped up my daily project, 31 Days of Scribbles, a few days early in March because we were preparing to move back into our apartment this past weekend. I knew I would not have time or space to work on the last few, so I made the effort to create two each day while I still had time. I mostly used handmade paper with metallic screen printed patterns, which was lovely and spectacular to work with as a material.

I tried to explore different configurations of overlapping lines and overall shapes of the scribbles while not making them too complicated to cut in a short amount of time. It was a good learning experience to work with irregular shapes, as well as paper that is much more fibrous than materials I typically use in my work.

I have a few more sheets of handmade paper similar to those I used in the scribble series. I would really like to use them to create large work making use of the entire piece of paper for a single design. I am excited to get to work on that once I am settled back in my studio.

Signs of Spring

March 28, 2018

While the weather has continued to be mostly cold and rainy, there have been a few beautiful sunny days in between to enjoy. When this happens I go wandering the seawall looking for flowering trees in bloom. Surprisingly I have found more magnolias than cherry trees so far.

Boris and I are moving back to our apartment at the end of this week and I’m trying to make the most of walking on the seawall before we leave. I will miss living so conveniently close to it. It is my favourite thing about this temporary neighbourhood where we’ve been staying the last two months.

31 Days of Scribbles Part 2

March 19, 2018

The photo below was taken on Friday and shows all of the scribbles piled together that were created to date by that afternoon. It’s the most satisfying part of working on a daily project – seeing the accumulation of finished pieces in a short amount of time.

I managed to use up one of the handmade pieces of paper I bought last month in Seattle, which was my favourite screen printed with multicoloured polka dots. I must track down more of this paper at some point!

I’ve been trying to explore different line shapes and forms as I go. I want the pieces to seem similar but not the same. Sometimes I sketch out an idea first and other times I start directly on the paper I intend to cut. Swirly looping lines seem to be easier to make work as a paper cut than jagged lines.

This week I want to lay out what I’ve created so far for this series, and think more seriously about their potential as an installation. I’m just over the halfway point now so I feel there is enough work to get a sense of the larger series.

31 Days of Scribbles

March 9, 2018

I decided to continue working on a daily project after the conclusion of 28 Days of Hearts in February. This time the theme is scribbles, and it’s called 31 Days of Scribbles. I was intending to also explore squiggles and knots for variety but I am sticking with scribbles because they are fascinating and work well as paper cut pieces.

These are the first eight of the series. I’m using the project as an opportunity to try different papers than I normally use in my work. The white pieces are Strathmore parchment paper, and the polka dot ones are cut from a screen printed handmade Himalayan paper. The grey paper with red and blue is one of the pieces of Canson Mi-teints I used for a layering of block printed patterns earlier this year.

My process for these has been to quickly sketch out a scribble making sure to overlap the lines so it holds together as a cut piece. I try to keep them spontaneous with an eye to structure. They’re steadily becoming more complex and intricate as the days go by. My intention is to eventually turn a grouping of these into an installation.