New Series and Spring

I began a new series of work in January. My group the ArtFelt Collaborative are having a show at Lake Country Gallery in July and we all decided to get to work. Our collective theme chose natural colour fleeces and off we went. I love natural colour fleeces and I love collecting different breeds of sheep. These piece encompass at least 15 or more different sheep breeds all in their natural colour. I began collecting different breeds a few years back from a shepherdess named Val in Swift Current Saskatchewan. I finally pulled those samples out and began washing them.

They were amazingly beautiful and the colour variations were truly unique. Of course..ha ha..that wasn't enough and I ordered more. The Cotswold grey was the true inspiration for this series. The beauty of the individual locks were incredibly inspiring. 

I am intrigued by the idea that all these sheep breeds are classified, categorized, evaluated and stamped...slotted into compartments of use and need and desire and quality. Some are judged better than others. I am amazed that when I combined them totally disregarding their labels they join together to created a oneness that is totally unique.

That's what this piece is about.

Vessels: having fun making them and adding more

 I am having a great time making vessels...It seems every few days a new one arises. I am experimenting with different elements and colours and seeing what I get...things are getting more predictable.
Wondering what one does with a vessel, I spied my favourtie girl hanging in the corner of my studio.
She seemed to fit in perfectly.

Mid Term Critique

 Well, its almost reading break and my mid term critique is behind me. It was well worth while cleaning up my studio and using it as a practice installation space. Its a great way to try all kinds of different ways of installing my pieces. I had attached my heads to the wall with plastic tubing and wasn't really convinced it was the right way. I had them at different lengths but settled on the  shorter length as that way they didn't hang as much.
As I was waiting for my critique time, I realized that something was missing....the metal. My artist statement is about the combination of wool and metal and I was forgetting the metal. So off I went to the metal shop and welded some pieces together and added them to the installation. somehow, for me it was an ah ha moment where I realized that the metal adds an interesting effect to the space. It wasmuch too flat just having the heads attached to the wall.
Anyway, I hung up my balls....I love my balls, and as you look at the heads through the walls, I feel I am getting the elements I want together. The audio is on, but needs work...its the third

 component. It allows the heads to speak....but the not so fast...they need more space
I now realize that there is work to be done and my installation won't completely gel till I have my walls up in the sculpture studio. So reading break is almost here and you will find me in my studio making heads.

Art on the Line 2012

Art on the Line is a fundraiser for the UBCO Visual Course Union to help pay for the 4th year show for the graduating  visual arts students. With the purchase of a ticket, cost $175, you have the opportunity to go home with 1 piece of contemporary art. Students from UBCO and members of the art community donate works to this juried event. Once you arrive and select your favourtie pieces, you go into the auditorium where the ticket numbers are selected at random and when your number comes up you can pick the piece that is next on your list. My piece "Abstract in White", was picked by the 25th ticket and now is at home in someone's house.  I hope they enjoy it

Felting Workshop with Jorie

I went to a felting workshop with Jorie Johnson in Vancouver this past weekend. It was fun to take an early morning flight out of Kelowna .....you sure know you live in a small place when you meet 2 people you know at the airport at 5:15 a.m.

I learned alot...especially on how to be more careful with my initial setting up. It sometimes is easier to take the time in the beginning than spend time fixing your mistakes. I learned some new techniques and I learned how other people teach felting and how the equipment you use is a sure sign on where you learned to felt. My teacher, Franziska, learned in Sweden...so bubble wrap and all that rolling is knew to me. Though I understand that my felting board is not good for everything I sure wouldn't part with it.

Random acts of kindness

 This is the bench, that the people who own Sunrise Vineyards, put beside the bus stop that is in front of their driveway. I stand at this bus stop numerous times in the week, the only lady in my neighbourhood who does, and was awed by the presence of this bench.  I saw the gentleman on Thursday and thanked him for putting it there and he said that he sees people standing at the stop and thought it would be a good idea..
Yess...its a good idea and thank you for putting it there. Since I live in a neighbourhood where people don't take the bus, the bus stop is...like on the side of the road...and if the bus driver sees you and stops that's great. One day I was wearing a hot

 pink top and an orange skirt and he drove right by me....he did hear my screams and eventually stopped.
Anyway, thank you Mr. Mueller for your random act of kindness.
p.s. Luka wasn't really that grumpy, it was 8 a.m. but the weather was warm and the view was great and in the end...life isn't that bad

Painting was Awesome

It was a great year for painting. When I began the year I was incredibly insecure and unsure of myself. Through the direction of my professor Shawn and my great classmates, I learned so much and progressed and development x fold. It was fun to work in the studio, except, of course, for the terrible mess in there.
Shawn helped me find architecture in my abstract paintings and this procedure helped immensely in my narrative painting. It isn't that easy to spend weeks on a painting only to be told to edit 80% of it out. The first time is a little painful, but you get used to it and the paintings improve. Of the six that I did since January, a few still need to be edited, but, hey, that's what the summers for.