$100 Or Less Art Show at August Studios

I’m taking part in a group exhibition opening next week, the $100 Or Less show at August Studios. Yes, that’s correct! All of the art will be priced at $100 or less, which is a steal.

Join me and 20+ other incredible artists, working in a wide variety of mediums, for an exciting exhibition of art.

Look at that amazing roster of Vancouver artists. I am super excited, and I hope you will be too. Check out the August Studios IG account for a preview of some of the work that will be available.

100 or less

$100 Or Less Art Show
Opening: August 25th, 5pm to 10pm
Location: August Studios, 1320 E Pender Street
Dates: Aug 27-28, and Sept 2-4. Open 10am-5pm. Otherwise by appointment

 

Quilt collage: Pieces of Joy & Sorrow

 On a recent trip to Amsterdam earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting the fabulous paper store, Vlieger Papier. I browsed the shop for close to an hour before coming away with a (regrettably) small selection of patterned paper. These gorgeous materials have made their way into a new series of collage, inspired by quilts and quilt-making. 

I’ve been thinking about this idea for a long time, and have previously explored quilts as paper-cut pieces. With this one I was thinking about American “Crazy” Quilts, which are formed from very irregular scraps of fabrics, rather than following a specific pattern. I went with chunky, roughly geometric shapes for my composition, and then made the selection of pattern papers as I went along.

I love the process of creating these, because I construct, deconstruct, and then reconstruct. I construct the composition as a drawing, then deconstruct it by cutting the sections into individual pieces, then I select and glue patterned paper to each, before reconstructing all of the pieces back together again. It’s like making a puzzle.

The finished work is attached to spacers I make by hand from paper, and then float mounted it onto a 11 x 14 inch heavy archival paper as a background. I think these work best as a floating collage.

 

Closing Reception for How to Mix Patterns

A small collection of my pattern mixing collages have been on display at Coup Salon for the past few months. This week we’re having a closing reception for the show on Thursday May 19th, 7 to 9pm.

Come through, say hello, and take the opportunity to view these works in person. We’ll also be celebrating Coup Salon’s 13 years in business!

Find us at 524 Shanghai Alley in Chinatown, just off of Pender Street.

How to Mix Patterns
Location: Coup Salon
Address: 524 Shanghai Alley, Vancouver BC
Date: Thursday May 19th, 2022
Time: 7pm to 9pm

 

Minting Work as NFTs: Phosphate Font in Paper

I’m thrilled to announce I have a new body of work available as NFTs. Please visit my project page on Foundation to view and purchase a piece.

NFTs are a thing. No really, they are. My original position on NFTs up until the end of last year was, “Why would anyone want to do that?” I’ve had a few months to come around to the idea of creating and selling my artwork as NFTs, and I am super excited by the possibilities.

My partner, Boris Mann, is a technologist and entrepreneur, and he is always on the leading edge of where things are heading in the long-term trends and growth of the internet. He’s experimented lots with crypto, and has been a collector of NFTs for some time. Despite my initial reluctance, I now find myself fully invested in learning more and growing my art practice in the web3 and NFT space because of his advice and guidance.

Last week I took the leap into minting my first collection on Foundation, called Phosphate Font in Paper. The pieces are the 26 letters of the latin alphabet, utilizing the phosphate typeface, and created from multiple layers of cut paper.

Here’s what I wrote in my portfolio description for the original work, which are the letter portion of the series I created for 36 Days of Type in March and April 2022.

I worked with the Phosphate Solid font to create my letter and number forms. I chose a palette of four main colours for the letter layers, and a larger range of colours for the pattern layers. The elements are a mix of hand-cut, and machine cut patterns made with Canson Mi-Tientes papers. Each letter was composed and assembled from four layers of paper with foam core spacers in between each, photographed, and then disassembled for further use in the series.

While each letter was assembled from real physical paper elements as I described, these are ephemeral pieces: the “originals” only existed until they were photographed. The digital artifact represents the final version of the work.  They seemed like the perfect body of work to turn into an NFT art series.

What am I hoping to accomplish with this exploration of NFT art? Make money (of course), expand my audience, and connect with new collectors outside of the very limited space of selling physical pieces of art in the small market of Vancouver. There is a lot of ridiculously overhyped and overpriced art in the NFT space, and I don’t want that for myself. I’m just hoping to create a new income stream that is sustainable, and engage with collectors who have a long-term interest in supporting my work. 

I also want to start collecting NFTs myself. Because I am so new to the space, I haven’t yet started to do that. I’ve been buying art a few times a year for many years, and these pieces fill the home I share with Boris. What will it mean to collect NFTs?  I want to continue to support other artists with my dollars, as well as help mentor more artists entering the web3 and NFT space. 

If you’re NFT savvy already, you can follow me on Foundation @rachaelashe. I’ll be sharing more about my explorations and learnings in the space. If you’re a curious artist, you can check out some of the resources from a recent NFT artist workshop that I helped organize in Vancouver.

 

Daily Projects: 36 Days of Type, Numbers Part 1

The letters portion of the series wrapped up at the end of March, and then I began rolling on (on IG) the numbers part of the series. I decided I wanted a new element to use for the numbers, and hand cut a motif of leafy clusters in three colours. I had to create tiny foam core spacers at the back, which was challenging.

 

Daily Projects: 36 Days of Type, Part 2

36 Days of Type continues with the letters E through H. The composition of the H is my favourite in this batch of four. I’ve actually been composing, photographing, and processing these in batches of seven at a time. It takes a couple hours of work to do this but it’s more efficient to work this way than one at a time.

I cut a few new patterns to use starting with the H, and also began incorporating a series of hand-cut half-circles in shades of blue that have been languishing in a drawer for years.