Encountering a Wonderous Installation of Paper

January 11, 20163 Comments

I had a wonderful busy weekend hanging out with artists, visiting galleries and studios, seeing art, and talking with artists over good food. It all started with a visit to the Museum of Anthropology to see (In)visible: The Spiritual World of Taiwan Through Contemporary Art.

As soon as we walked in my friends and I were all completely smitten with the Water Fairies Reproduction Project, which is the gorgeous installation pictured here created by Chiu Yu-Wen. It envelops the main hallway of the exhibition space beginning at the entrance of the show. It is made of a gauzy draped fabric and thousands of pieces of cut paper

We spent a long time looking at this piece from many angles, and enjoying the calm and peaceful atmosphere you experience while walking through it.

I am inspired by this piece because I aspire to make paper based installations on this scale. It also feels like a rare opportunity to come across work like this in Vancouver, because most exhibitions spaces don’t have the space or mandate to display installations on this scale or type.

(In)visible: The Spiritual World of Taiwan Through Contemporary Art continues at the Museum of Anthropology until April 3, 2016.

Expanding the Paper Repertoire

January 8, 2016

Over the Christmas break I was determined to spend time in the studio exploring ideas for a new series of work in the new year. I did not manage to get in there at all because Boris and I ended up being out of town most of the time. I did take materials with me, again with this determination to work, but I never quite got around to it. I actually find it incredibly difficult to work outside of my studio because most other places are not ideal for laborious paper cutting.

When the first Monday of January rolled around I finally got to work, and the pieces pictured here are some of the “sketches” I put together. I’m trying to stay away from focusing on finished work because what I really need to do is play, explore, and work through ideas. It feels like I am evolving how I work with paper.

The pieces I have in my head are three dimensional and made from multiple pieces of paper. I’ll share more as they come together and evolve further. I like what I see in these early stages.

Frost On Things

January 6, 2016

It was super cold (for the West Coast) between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and the amazing thick frost returned. I am fascinated with it because the frost does interesting things depending on the shape and surface of the objects it’s forming upon.

Braided Rug Number Three

January 4, 2016

Why yes, I did make another braided rug before the end of last year. My sister Kathy loves my previously made braided rugs and hinted about how it would make a great handmade gift, and so I decided to make one as a Christmas present for her.

I think I started this in early November and finished on the 1st of December, with plenty of time to get it into the mail. I used a few of the leftover balls of t-shirt yarn from previous projects, but had to make a bunch of new ones out of shirts sourced at Value Village.

When I started making braided rugs in the summer I never thought I’d make three of them, and still be jonesing to make more.

2015: A Year End Review in Twelve Photos

December 30, 2015

It’s the nearing the end of the year so of course it’s time to dig through my photo archive and share twelve images taken within the past year. I’m glad I did this because it reminded me how many things I made in 2015, and it was a lot. For some strange reason I’ve been feeling as if I hadn’t been up to much this year, and the photographic evidence is assuring me that I am wrong.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

I hope to make 2016 an even more productive and creative year. Huzzah!

Work in Progress: Playing with Paper Pieces

December 21, 2015

I’ve been feeling stuck lately so last week in the studio I gave myself time and permission to play. I’ve been wanting to make compositions of three dimensional paper cut elements, and this is the idea I chose to explore. I pulled out a bunch of coloured paper left over from other projects and used these as my materials.

I’m exploring different shapes and started with the white piece above. I want the elements to feel organic and fit together somehow. These are all very small at the moment, only a few inches long and wide, but eventually I want to work larger.

I like where these experiments are going, and I will do more work with them after the Christmas holidays. I’m excited to create new and interesting work in the new year.

Scenes from Things In My Head by Gathie Falk

December 18, 2015

I caught Things In My Head, a show of work by Gathie Falk, on its second to last day at Equinox Gallery last week, and was so glad I did. It’s a show of everyday objects reproduced by Falk in various materials such as ceramic and papier mache.

I mostly took photos in the room full of piles of ceramic fruits, because I loved the colours, shapes, and repetition. Another room had things like shoes, dresses, and shirts.

It’s too late to see the show in person, but check out the exhibition photos on the Equinox gallery website. I am most excited about shows such as this that elevate craft to fine art.

New Work and a Christmas Party at Katami Designs

December 16, 2015

If you’re in Vancouver, join me this Thursday December 17th, 5pm to 9pm, for the 2nd Annual Christmas Party at Katami Designs Studio and Gallery. Come finish off your Christmas shopping by supporting a local small business filled with beautiful handmade jewelry and art.

Katami carries my work and I re-stocked them a few weeks ago with a variety of recent work, including small pieces combining drawing and cut paper (pictured below).

Wear red to the party and enjoy a 10% discount off your entire purchase that evening. Tempting, isn’t it?

2nd Annual Christmas Party
Where: Katami Designs Studio & Gallery
Location: 138 East Broadway (near Main Street)
Date: Thursday December 17, 2015
Time: 5pm to 9pm

A Quick Drawing Fix

December 14, 2015

In a desperate need to make new work, last week I set aside a bit of time to draw. I didn’t really care about the results, as I just desperately needed the process. I drew a square outline in pencil to guide me, and then drew line after line in white gel pen. It was so satisfying to do this!

The finished drawing is 5″ x 5″ on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of black card stock.

Scenes From A Letterpress Printing Workshop at Porchlight Press

December 9, 2015

I took a letterpress workshop this past weekend at Porchlight Press to make holiday cards. I loved looking at all of the interesting equipment around the printshop, and it made me wish I could reproduce some of my own work as letterpress prints and cards.

These are photos I took of some of the things around the shop.

Examples of lead type