Work in Progress: Changing Patterns in Paper Cutting

My sketchbook explorations in January have led to the beginnings of a few new pieces of work. I want to find new shapes and patterns to cut that are variations on what I’ve been doing for years. The piece pictured here is the first of those. It’s still a work in progress because I’m sitting with it for awhile to give me time to work out how it should be finished and displayed.

I want these new pieces to have space to cast shadows and fill three dimensional space rather than flat under a mat. I did an experiment with another finished piece using pins to mount the work within a frame. I also want to break the work out of the remains of the border of uncut paper to further showcase the delicacy of the work, which is what I did with the aforementioned piece.

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The actual size of the piece is 11″ x 11″, cut from a piece of 98lb Canson mi-tientes paper. It looks good in person, and will be even better once I figure out the finishing.

Unfolding Cloth Across Cultures at MOA

Despite the crazy snowfall on the weekend, Boris and I made the long trip across town to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. We went to see Layers of Influence: Unfolding Cloth Across Cultures, which is an exhibition of textiles taken from the museum’s permanent collection. The focus is on textiles from a cross section of cultures to explore “clothing’s inherent evidence of human ingenuity, creativity and skill, drawing from MOA’s textile collection — the largest collection in Western Canada — to display a global range of materials, production techniques and adornments across different cultures and time frames”.

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

It’s a beautiful show full of inspiring pieces of work. I love this idea that people wear clothing as an external expression of their spiritual belief system, social status and political identity in many cultures, but feels less evident in our own. The show motivated me to continue embellishing my own clothes, to personalize them, and make them an expression of who I am. I mostly dress for comfort these days, and not so much for style. I wonder when that changed…

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

Layers of Influence: unfolding cloth across cultures at MOA

Layers of Influence: Unfolding Cloth Across Cultures continues until April 9, 2017. Read more about the exhibition here.

Letting Go of Older Work

The studio sale I hosted in person last weekend went amazingly well – so much better than I had dared to hope. I sold thirteen pieces, and two additional works before and after the day of the sale. Woot! Everyone got themselves an excellent deal on art, and I happily made money on work I was ready to let go of.

I had been thinking about doing this type of sale for years, but it would never have happened if my friend Val hadn’t offered to host me at her studio. Thank goodness for friends who lend a helping hand when it’s needed!

Mixed media collage

Going into the event I had this fear no one would show up, or that nobody would buy anything. Vancouver is not an art buying town and my work never seems to be inexpensive enough no matter how low the price may be. I had a small struggle over the whole idea of doing this sale because I wondered whether it devalued the work. But the goal was to clear out ends of series, things I no longer wanted to show, and the types of work I no longer plan to make. My studio is small and I badly needed room for new work. I was ready to let it all go.

Doing the sale in person was WAY more fun than the few I’ve done online in Etsy shop every so often. It was much more successful as well. Val and I talked about possibly doing it as a yearly event, depending on how much inventory we each have. I’m hoping this year to sell work regularly and at full price.

There are a few leftover pieces listed on Etsy in the sale section.

Etsy Shop Update: Valentine’s Day Paper Cut Work

I make a few heart-shaped paper cut pieces in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s day, and I’ve recently added two of these to my Etsy shop. I made one in deep red paper backed with white, and one in white paper backed in a bright red.

Red paper cut heart on Etsy »

White paper cut heart on Etsy »

If those don’t grab you, there are also heart-shaped gel pen drawings listed as well.

Three Cities at Grunt Gallery

I have visited this exhibition at Grunt Gallery twice since it opened a week and a half ago, because I love it so much. Three Cities: Prayer and Protest is an interactive paper cut installation made by the artist team at Mere Phantoms, which is Maya Ersan & Jaimie Robson. They created pared down miniature sets of Vancouver, Montreal, and Istanbul from white paper. Visitors to the gallery listen to soundscapes while using LED lights to project and play with shadows along the work and walls.

Three Cities: Prayer and Protest

Three Cities: Prayer and Protest

There are so many details to look at, and using the provided lights to project shadows on the walls helps visitors notice more of these.

Three Cities: Prayer and Protest

Three Cities: Prayer and Protest

The Monteal and Istanbul sets have beautiful churches, while the Vancouver set is filled with wild animals. They’ve captured important details about each city, like the Woodward’s W, and the tree that lives atop a building in English Bay.

Three Cities: Prayer and Protest

Three Cities: Prayer and Protest

The show continues on at Grunt Gallery until February 18th. Learn more about it here.

Studio Sale!

Join me on Saturday January 28th, 11:30am to 4pm, for a studio sale of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!!

I’ll have a mix of work created over the past ten years (or so) priced low to sell. The selection will include metal prints, liquid light prints, small collage work, paper cut pieces, and the last of my altered book art.

Four and Twenty Black Birds – Mixed Media Altered Book

 

The Bog Tree – 24″ x 24″ Image Transfer on Aluminum

 

Wind & Water (series)

Wind & Water (series)

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 marked down for sale as well.

It’s about time these pieces of art find their forever homes, and it could be with you!

Studio Sale with Rachael Ashe & Valerie Arntzen
AMP Studio
Date: Saturday January 28, 2017
Time: 11:30am to 4pm
Location: 800 Keefer Street, at Hawks Avenue

Learning How to Darn Socks

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Darning a sock is one of those things I’ve been meaning to learn for a really long time. I even bought myself a darning egg from Dressew a few months ago, with the intention of finally doing it. But it wasn’t until last week that I finally gave myself the time to figure it out.

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The darning egg I bought is made of wood and comes with a long handle. It is fitted inside the sock to provide a rounded surface to stitch against while darning. It’s an object that looks rather weird and puzzling on its own when you don’t know what the heck it is.

I used it to repair tiny holes in five pairs of my socks, and a couple massive holes in a single pair of Boris’ socks. That is six pairs of socks saved from the bin, and given an extension on life.

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Learn how to darn socks yourself by following this tutorial.

From Sketchbook To Finished Work

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I didn’t include the sketch that led to this finished piece in my blog post from the other day, but that is where this started on a smaller scale. I liked the sketch and felt it was time to work with the idea on a full sized piece of paper. The repeating shape is an elongated version of the leaf I’ve used in my work for years, but the shift in length/scale feels dramatically different to cut.

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It’s amazing how the work appears to pulse and vibrate with energy. Even in these quick photographs it plays with the eye and appears to move.

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I’m satisfied with how this turned out, and want to make one on an even larger piece of paper (this is 17″ x 14″). It’s not a dramatic shift from previous work, but it is an interesting iteration.

Revisiting My Paper Cutting Sketchbook

I want to take my paper cutting work in a new direction incorporating different shapes because the usual ones are starting to feel stale. I’ve been working with them for five years now, and it is time to expand my repertoire of shapes. I brought out the sketchbook I use for brainstorming paper cutting ideas and did a bit of testing. Some of the shapes are variations of the lovely crescent I use in much of my work, and I guess it’s because I love cutting a curve over a straight line.

Sketchbook

I haven’t yet settled on an idea yet to go forward with because I have more sketchbook play ahead of me.

Sketchbook

It’s hard to be in this place of not knowing what to do next, but I’ve been here enough times to know I need to give myself time and space to explore. It’ll lead somewhere eventually.