Designed to Speak

July 20, 2016

Designed to Speak is an outlet of inspiration for designers and design enthusiasts profiling creative people of all disciplines with the objective to help inspire and engage the design community. I did this interview all the way back in April 2014 with Trevor Jansen and Mahyar Saeedi. I was asked to share my thoughts on making by hand and technology.

Designed To Speak – Rachael Ashe from Designed to Speak on Vimeo.

It was filmed on location at Hot Art Wet City during a group show I curated called, Voices From Another Room. In the background you can see work by Sarah Gee Miller, Joseph Wu, Connie Sabo, Alison Woodward, and me.

Watch more Designed to Speak interviews on the website.

Stone Soup and Creative Mornings Vancouver

July 18, 2016

Trevor Jansen is a long time volunteer with Creative Mornings Vancouver, and he has created many wonderful pieces of video content for the organization over the years. At the recent CMvan event at the beginning of July he premiered his latest video project inspired by the story of Stone Soup as told by some of the past speakers. It was an honour to be included in this group of people, and to get to tell a small part of the story. I discovered it is harder than it looks to say a single line and do multiple takes.

Go check out Trevor’s blog post to see the video of behind the scenes and outtakes.

A Few Days in Whistler

July 15, 2016

Boris and I also spent a few days in Whistler on our vacation last week. I haven’t been there in years, and it turned out to be a lovely place to wander the trails.

We went for a walk around Lost Lake one day, and then to check out Train Wreck trail the next. The wreck trail is an unofficial but well known trail that takes visitors to see a train wreck in the woods that has been there since the 1950s. The cars are spread across a kilometre and all of them are covered in layers of graffiti. Read more here about the history of the how the train came to rest in the forest.

Earlier on the same day we walked Train Wreck trail, I also paid my first visit to the lovely new Audain Art Museum that opened earlier this year in Whistler. The building itself is pretty incredible with elements of wood all over the outer surfaces, and surrounded by the remnants of the forest.

These are some of my favourite pieces on display at the museum, and below is a lovely long window in an upper gallery.

I enjoyed our time in Whistler, and I’m so glad the two of us finally had a bit of a vacation. We both really needed it.

Scenes from a July Long Weekend on Bowen Island

July 12, 2016

Boris and I were on a much needed vacation last week. We left town on the previous Thursday night to start the July long weekend on Bowen Island with friends and family. We did the usual things when we are on the island, walking, reading, eating, and napping. It was glorious.

The Elephant Tree

The flooded wetland that used to be a forest, near the beaver dam.

Water plants on Killarney Lake

A small group of friends joined us on Bowen for the day last Sunday for an open house hosted by Boris’ parents. It was lovely to take them on a long walk through the forest and introduce them to the magic that is walking out into Killarney Lake along the Secret Log. It’s really at its best at this time of year.

Wearable Art, Red Blooms

July 11, 2016

This piece was the first of the wearable art work I began in the spring, and it ended up getting finished last because I got caught up in making the other two pieces. For a long time I was stuck on how to create a base or attach the flowers together in a way that would flow around the wearers neck. I made a few different mock ups of potential bases before eventually settling on a curved collar piece.

The base is made from white mixed media paper and then covered in a beautiful lacy Japanese paper I’ve had stashed away for years. It was a material I bought on impulse years ago, and really had no use for in the work I made usually. I attached the flowers using Yamato Sticking Paste, which is another material I bought ages ago on impulse and have never used. It was the perfect adhesive for this project because it dried fast and clear.

The last thing I need to do for this show is a photo shoot with friends or with myself as the model to showcase the wearable pieces on people. They look even better when worn.

Playing Monopoly in Vancouver

July 3, 2016

Last week these small red houses began popping up in vacant lots around the east side of Vancouver. The one pictured here is located at Hastings and Commercial Drive, and I’ve seen one on Main near Prior, and another at Clark and 1st. When I shared the photo on Twitter a friend pointed out that this is a large-scale hotel piece from the game Monopoly. I didn’t realize this because I’ve only played it once or twice, and it was a million years ago.

It’s a brilliant comment on the state of the housing market in Vancouver. I would love to discover who is behind this clever street art project.

Photographing Recent Work

June 27, 20162 Comments

In preparation for Hammer Cut Stitch Repeat in September I’ve been photographing work for the show. I have a deadline at the end of this week where photos are due, and it’s been a good excuse to get a few things documented.

I love this detail photo of me behind a close-up of one of my cut tyvek scroll installation pieces, taken by my friend Ryan Mah. I needed help photographing these large pieces, and he really came through. Now I can add both to my portfolio, which is long overdue as a to do.

I Belong Here… By Pilar Mehlis

June 22, 2016

I made the long trek to UBC last week to see I Belong Here…, a show of recent work by Pilar Mehlis at Regent College’s Lookout Gallery. This was my first visit to the gallery, as I’d never heard of it previous to learning about Pilar’s show. It’s a small bright space with lots of natural light.

The show featured a mix of framed paintings and sculpture all featuring the half-human, half-fish figures.

I am familiar with Pilar’s work through visits to her studio during the Culture Crawl, and I like her style of magic realism. With the current body of work she is “exploring the transformative effect of immigration by juxtaposing elements of human and animal migration. In this instance I chose the Chinook salmon as it has migratory patterns which echo my own trajectories up and down the Pacific Coast and also for its significant place in West Coast culture.” Read more about these pieces in the artist statement on her website.

Wearable Paper Art in Blue

June 20, 2016

Last week felt productive in the studio when I finally finished two of the three wearable art pieces. I cut the remaining blue flower bits and figured out how to bring it all together into a necklace using wire, beads, and a pre-made metal neck-sized ring that I found at DeSerres. I could have done a victory lap around the block because it felt so good to reach the end of some of this work.

The end, except for the nagging thought I just can’t seem to shake, that this needs a few more strands to REALLY make it awesome. I’m holding off on that for now until after I finish the third wearable.

The triangle piece is also finished, and I’m having similar thoughts about it – that it could use a few more strands of hand cut pieces (which probably means an additional forty).

Commissions: Paper Cut J

June 15, 2016

It’s been ages since I last took on a commission, or made a custom paper cut letter. Last week a client reached out through Etsy to inquire about having a letter cut and sent in a short turn around time to the UK. I loved making this J as it was a lovely shape to work with. I love the work in progress photos

I create these by drawing the shape of the letter, and then freeform cutting the design within that shape. I managed to do this piece very quickly and it was on its way to the client within a few days of the request.

You can order a letter of your own right here »

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life