Exhibition 4

Back to contemplating Canadian art and artists.... Screen 2010, Exhibition 4. The theme, If these walls could talk: Room for reflection is an interesting one in which" architectural spaces are metaphors for social realities". You will find a range of work from painting to sculpture to photography. All of the artists appear to be responding to the physical and connected social and psychological changes that occur as the urban landscape changes in various ways. Have a look at the eleven works here,

Many of these artists are new to me although one of them is a Newfoundlander whose work I've seen often and I've visited his studio. Christopher Pratt's Institution (# 6) is very representative of his subject matter and style. He is probably Newfoundland and Labrador's best known artist nationally and is one of the pioneers in the arts community here. His work is hard edged and sparse with the lack of details creating an almost fantasy land of precise lines and perfection. Check out his images on CyberMuse.


A new artist to me is Dina Gonzales Mascaro who lives in Vancouver by way of Argentina where she studied sculpture. I enjoyed both New Wall: Hospital + Parking Lot (#10) and Nice (#11) because they connect with subject matter I am interested in. Although the materials are recycled from different places/demolitions, there is a purity about the way she puts them together. The colour and textures are exquisite. I think it is difficult to create work that is both substantial and delicate at the same time but this artist has achieved that.

D. Bradley Muir's exploration of the tentacles of urban sprawl in his Dreams for Sale series is interesting. Velvet Room (#5) and Midnight Haze (#6) both struck a cord with me because this small city I live in seems to be expanding in leaps and bounds everywhere I look. Isn't it ironic that the real dream is being constantly bulldozed to make room for the other dreams.

I'd love to hear your impression of all or any of these works.

Exhibition 2

The theme of Exhibition 2 of Screen 2010, created to celebrate the visual art of Canada is The Art of Knowledge- When Seeing is a Way of Knowing, curated by Donna Wawzonek. The exhibition centers around the work of Alex Janvier featured in the first slide. Other artists whose work embodies the qualities of Janvier's paintings were chosen to complete the exhibition . From my perspective it is an an odd assortment of work. Given the title I had preconceived notions about the type of work and the artists who might be included (given my limited knowledge). The work goes off in many different directions.

I found Pam Hall's On the Physiology of Female Reciprocity interesting for its title and concept . It explores the many ways a female body receives and gives. This diptych is part of a larger work titled Fragments from a ReConstructed Gynaeopedia which examines the female body as a site of knowledge. See other works from this series here.

It doesn't hurt that I know the range of Pam's work and where this particular piece fits in her long career. She is active in the arts community in St. John's, but much of her work has been show outside the province. To get a sense of the interesting work she has created check out her website.

I am particularly attracted to her Small Gestures, a daily practice she began in 2009
" to remind herself to be attentive , awake, and mindful as she begins each day. Simple, humble and ephemeral- these performed gestures are photographed and shared daily with friends on Facebook. They have evolved into a series of gentle interventions which serve as small "presents" of "presence". "

Did you have a favourite in Exhibition 2?

Linking

Artists manage to find uses for all kinds of materials and are quite good at seeing possibilities in the ordinary. Don Michael's recent post When Experiments Work is a good illustration of this point. Rather than smearing the paint off his palette knife on a paper towel as he usually does, he decided to do so on a canvas. Check out what happened as a result here.

Don's experiment reminded me of the work of another artist I know personally. We are both the products of the same educational institutions and lived in neighboring communities growing up. Bill Rose created a series of exquisite work in oils and displayed his mixing and brush "rubbings" as part of the composition. Double Lucetta is one of my favourites. You will see why when you check it out here. Double Rembrandt uses the same technique.

Over the years Bill has taken on most of the big themes in art and is equally comfortable commenting on a range of subjects from pop culture to religion and politics. You tend not to forget his images once you've seen them. All of his work is based on the grid. It is obvious in some and subtle in others. If you're interest is piqued, check out additional works at Christina Parker Gallery and the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art. Bill has other talents as you will see when you check out his My Space site.

Have you had any" ah ha" moments lately that were the result of one thing leading to another?

Why encaustic?

Many artists are challenged when they have to speak or write about their work. I am certainly one of them. I need time and research before I feel I am in any way ready to record my ideas in print especially. That is why this blog is an excellent vehicle for my development as an artist. I've always believed in confronting things I find difficult.

Since the last week in August I've been exploring the various facets of encaustic. I am attracted to this medium and using it feels like the next step in my mixed media work.
When a friend asked me why I like encaustic I babbled a somewhat incoherent answer that satisfied her, but left me feeling less of an artist because I was so inarticulate. Since then I've been scribbling furiously in an effort to redeem myself in my own eyes. I'm feeling more grounded and informed as a result of this exercise.

Encaustic is truly a multi-sensory medium, appealing to the the visual, tactile and olfactory senses. It is one of the few mediums you actually love to smell.

Its transparency allows you to create many layers of information that show the history of the process. The seductive surface draw and hold the viewer and prompts an emotional response. It is a perfect medium to evoke many things at once: layers of history, t transparency of water, emotions, elusive memory and the passage of time.

Nothing is more sensuous than the feel of wax and the movement of your hands as you fashion the surface to match your intent. It is reminiscent of soft skin.

When compared to the static nature of oil or acrylics, encaustic is a very malleable medium that exists in a continuum from liquid to solid. This allows you to manipulate it in many ways to suit your needs.

Pouring to:

• create smooth, deep and fairly transparent surfaces
• create wax castings of real objects (more about this later)
• fill a large inscribed area with a different colour.

Heating/Fusing to:

• merge previous layers and a new layer together
• integrate an image transfer with a previous layer of wax medium
• attach a collage element to a new layer of wax medium
  

Brushing to

• create smooth surfaces that can be buffed to a high shine
• create very textured surfaces depending on the temperature of the wax medium and the roughness of the bristles.

Dipping to:

• coat paper or small objects with wax medium and adhere them to the surface of your work
• create raised lines or whole areas on the surface of your work

I guess I'm now worthy of continuing to work in this exciting medium.

Check out the work of one of my favourite encaustic artists and the person who first introduced me to encsustic, Angela Antle. I am also the lucky owner of one of her works.

In workshop mode

I was one of a small group of artists from St. John's and surrounding area who climbed the long flight of stairs to St. Michael's Printshop this morning to find our welcoming instructor, Anita Singh, waiting for us. This was Day 2 of a 4 day workshop titled From Printmaking to Encaustic offered in conjunction with R & F Paints. Day 1 passed quickly as we investigated the trace monotype process. With a number of images under my belt from yesterday's work, I was eager to add to my stash of materials that would be used on Day 3 and 4 in encaustic explorations.

Jim Maunder and Bonnie Leyton share advice.
The plexiglass work tables no longer look quite so pristine.

Angela Antle and Carol Bajen-Gahm hard at it.
Angela learned to use a light touch while Carol already had acquired one.

Two happy artists.

And another one... Things must be going well.
Evelyn Peyton Murphy ties one one in red while the rest of us use boring Burnt Umber.


And the one who escaped my camera.... Tara Bryan.

It was a great day and the learning was exponential to the power of eight. Anita is still smiling but Louise Sutton looks a little fatigued.

Next post - Everything you ever wanted to know about Gum Arabic Transfers.

Introducing Anita Singh

Please check out the exciting work of my friend, Anita Singh ,who will be one of the instructiors in a printmaking and encaustic workshop I will attend at the end of August. I've always been attracted to Anita's work especially her monotypes. With their high colour, cell like structures and split imagery, they invite you to come closer and take a good look. I love the way she weaves close-up views with landscape. Anita is also one of the artists at The Leyton Gallery of Fine Art where I show my work.

Back on track

I arrived home at noon today after a wonderful holiday. I saw many sites in eight different counties and documented them through writing and photography. Tomorrow I plan to get my photos downloaded and organized and then I'll begin to share some of my inspirations. I came away from my holiday with new ideas for work and my interest in creating has been rekindled. Before I left I had lost interest in painting and was doing less and less work every week.

I am currently in two group shows which both opened while I was away. The first show is at The Leyton Gallery and the other, titled Time and Place is at Sir Wilfred Grenfell Gallery.

I'm including the work I have in Time and Place because not all the works in the show are on the website.

Heralding spring

Nature/nurture (2008) 20 x 24 mixed media on canvas

Yes, I know it's been spring forever in other places but I can say with certainty that we are finally having spring in Newfoundland. In 2008 I created this piece for a juried exhibition called Spring at the Craft Council of Newfoundland. I saw beautiful yellow tulips yesterday and was reminded of it.

The background is photo transfers of various pages from gardening books that were then torn and collaged . The thought that we have to have instructions to help nature along is somewhat pathetic. I used the split canvas to represent the nature nurture debate.

This is a very busy weekend for me because CARFAC, a national arts advocacy board, I am a member of is holding its Annual General Meeting in St. John's. There will be much excitement in addition to the meetings.

It's that time again

The ice is skirting the shores of bays and harbours around Newfoundland. I'm waiting for the first drive of the season to Duntara to open our summer house. The last hour of this drive takes us on a winding course along the side of the ocean and yields lots of iceberg sightings.

The ocean outside St. John's harbour was coated white with ice last week. Here's a picture my husband took from Signal Hill looking toward the Atlantic.

This is what you see from the opposite side of the hill. It's the downtown portion of St. John's that wraps around the port.

An friend of mine, Tara Bryan, painter and book artist, has created many beautiful paintings of icebergs. Originally from Texas, she now lives in a very different landscape and views the sea every day.

Tara's artist statement states: "I am drawn to light and subtle shifts of colour. The air in Newfoundland is tangible, softening and dispersing the light and making the landscape delicious and mysterious. Through distilling the coastline to its essential forms and colours, I strive to represent the strength of its raw power and beauty. Since I first visited Newfoundland in 1989 I have been painting the coastline in oils, watercolour, acrylics and making books about this intriguing place." 2006

Iceberg Study# 2 , 2008, oil on canvas, 8 x 8 in.

Iceberg Study# 3 , 2008, oil on canvas, 8 x 8 in.

Iceberg Study# 4 , 2008, oil on canvas, 8 x 8 in.

Music to paint by

Some days I like to paint in total silence, while other days I crave music. The choice has nothing to do with the kind of work I'm creating; it's just that some days are music days. One of my favourite female vocalists is Amelia Curran who currently lives in Nova Scotia. A friend gave me her last CD War Brides and I was smitten from the first note. Reviewers had a similar response.

"Amelia Curran’s latest CD, War Brides, is one of those intimate gems of an album that you have to discover for yourself. There isn’t a big publicity machine forcing it down your throat, and it’s an album you have to seek to find. One thing that is very clear upon listening to it is that you realize that Curran, a St. John’s native now based in Nova Scotia, creates music that is instantly satisfying, and in a world full of folk singers, Curran’s music is a cut above.”
~Kevin Kelly. The Newfoundland Herald. (St. John’s, NL) August 2006

What's on my wall?

One of my favourite things about visiting is checking out what people have on their walls. Other artists must have this same curiosity because several people have asked me in the last month what kind of art I have in my home. This is the first sneak peek at the walls of my home.



For my first installment I'm highlighting a piece of art I have a personal connection to because it was created during a painting holiday I took in France in 2001. France II by Elena Popova, a Newfoundland artist, is a monotype on paper (25 x 50inches) composed of six separate panels, each is a response to some aspect of a two weeks stay in the French countryside . Elena creates lush, colourful work that is full of energy and excitement. It was creating monotypes with Elena in France that convinced me I wanted to be an artist. Not only does this piece remind me of the great time we had in France, it is also a constant reminder of the right choice I made for my second career.

photo by: Brenda Stevenson

Elena at work outside Ilse Hughes house in L'lirondelle, France . Elena uses oil paint on plexiglas and often uses her hands or other inplements to etch into a painted ground. Once the plate is completed it is put through a printing press to create a one of a kind print - a monotype.

photo by: Brenda Stevenson

These are the two works Elena created during her two week stay. The first piece above is called France I and someone else is lucky enough to own it.

Here is where France II lives. I depend on the art on my walls to add colour to my otherwise bland colour schemes.



This is another piece I have by Elena. It is 9 x 14 and hangs in my downstairs hallway. I bought it at an auction to raise money for the Red Cross. The colours are even more vibrant than those depicted here. It is under glass and difficult to photograph. It is the perfect picture for spring.

Elena currently has a solo exhibition at Red Ochre Gallery in St. John's. Check out the work.

What's your inspiration?

I love the landscape of Newfoundland. It changes constantly with the weather and seasons. It can be harsh, silent, raging, colourful, drab and a hundred other adjectives. Even thought I have this close connection to place, I rarely paint landscape. I think it goes back to having an intense relationship to it, and never feeling that what is produced actually lives up to the ideal in your head.

For me, when I am away from a place I love, I think about it often. I am most at home in the landscape at my summer place in a small outport (fishing village) three hours from St. John's. Our house is on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, so the sea and all its elements feature prominently in this landscape. I can sit on my patio and just observe the world moving in front of me. Sometimes these thoughts are recorded in words which later may translate into artwork.

Reflection

sun sparkles,
pin pricks of light agitate,
calmness escapes
through broken patterns,
surface celebrations,
marked by ebb and flow
of life rhythms.

It is the sensual appeal of landscape that I most respond to- the sounds, smells and visual aspects. When I try to paint landscape realistically, I produce very boring work. This is the scene across from our patio as pictured above. I have seen it in hundreds of guises, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot do it justice. This piece was created from memory for my husband. (Yes I do have a mauve wall in my summer home! I love purple in all its guises.) Almost all the rock in the area is "pink"slate. I can't get away from the colour.



This is a recent collage (10 x 30) of the same scene created again from memory and completed in three hours. I had fun doing it, I didn't feel I was creating a great work of art, and I think it does capture all elements of the landscape. Go figure! It now sits in my newly renovated bathroom, whose colour scheme is inspired by the same landscape. The moral of the tale... lighten up and have fun creating.

Exciting encaustic workshop

Our excitement knows no bounds. Our ducks are in a row, we made it happen! Fellow artist, Carol Bajen-Gahm - # 1 lead- and I are coordinating a printmaking and encaustic workshop in St. John's, Newfoundland. From August 28 to 31, 2009, Anita Singh, a local printmaker, and Laura Moriarty, encaustic artist and instructor with R & F Paints, will lead artists in a series of activities that begin with the production of prints using gun arabic transfers and trace monotypes and end with the use of these prints to develop various works in encaustic.

The printmaking activities will take place at St. Michael's Printshop, downtown St. John's, and we then move to Carol's studio in lovely Torbay, on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, to do the encaustic portion. Additional details about this workshop can be found on the R & F Paints site. If you are interested in encaustic and want a great holiday destination, this is the workshop for you. Interest is high and half the seats are already taken.

Pivotal point

A painting by Susan Abbott on A Painter's Year this morning brought me back to the beginning of my art career, that difficult time when I wondered if I wanted to take a leap at middle age and really shake things up. Questions were running rampant in my mind the summer of 2001 while I was on a "painting" holiday in France. Interestingly enough, because I had done very little painting up to that point, it was really an "exploration of painting" holiday. Two friends and I stayed at a farmhouse owned by Newfoundland artist, Ilse Hughes, who provided room and board and instruction for a two week block.



Two other Newfoundland artists, sculptor, Luben Boykov and painter, Elena Popova were also on site and provided instruction. Elena works in monotype and I loved the vibrancy and spontanity of this printmaking process which allowed me to create art that was quite different from any I had created before. On my fourth monotype, standing in a sunflower field near the farmhouse, painting oil on plexiglass, I decided to be an artist. Why don't I look happier?

Master of surface complexity

Artists who layer materials to create intricate surfaces that read like poems are at the top of my what's hot in art list. No one does this better than Will Gill. The highlight of my day yesterday was seeing his new work at Christina Parker Gallery. I've provided a link under websites for those who want to check out his work.

Will is a sculptor who also creates wall works, which I think of a 2D sculptures. His use of plywood as a support allows him to use tools (e.g., router) to create relief spaces and fill them with new materials, creating a strongly patterned graphic quality. Duality is evident in his work in both his process and content. His use of mechanical interventions with a pastel colour palette and collaged papers is a constant; he explores themes of beauty and destruction, pits industrial against organic and at times can be downright whimsical. There is both order and chaos. No matter what the content, you will always want to revisit and perhaps cop a quick touch when no one is looking.