My Home and Native Land

I collected this piece and other Memory & Narrative works from Place des Arts today as the month-long show is now over - it's the first day in several months that I have every piece of my artwork home again and egads! I don't know where I'm going to store it all. Here's a photo of the cover of My Home and Native Land and the table top papier mached using the paper cut from the pages of the book.

Taking a break from painting

This is the time of year when I take a break from from my regular art practice and focus on making beaded jewellery - I find working with these beautiful globules of colour, arranging and rearranging them into pleasing patterns is a form of meditation for me. This year I've enjoyed collecting beads on my European travels and my daughter in Thailand has sent some lovely beads my way as well. After a couple of months of beading I feel refreshed and ready to start painting again with renewed vigour, and the beads lie dormant for the next 10 months or so, with their lovely colours sparkling and winking at me from a corner in my studio.

Open Studio on Friday

I've cleaned up my studio and it is now presentable for visitors. I'm featuring works from three series: Community; With Sturdy Shoes; and Vessel. I've hung paintings on every available surface, positioned a few sculptures here and there, and have a table laid out with beaded jewellery works. Hope to see you Friday!

Memory & Narrative

This is a detail from "My Home and Native Land", the altered book component of my contribution to this exhibition with Leap Visual Artist Collective. I carved through 2500 pages of Canada's history and Canadian definitions in The Canadian Encyclopedia to create and define my "home" as truly Canadian.

The show has been hung and is ready to be viewed during the month of October in the Atrium Gallery at Place des Arts, 1120 Brunette Avenue, Coquitlam, BC. The opening reception is Thursday, October 5th, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

I have been involved with this collective of talented thought provoking artists for 7 years or so and am very excited to be once again participating in one of our yearly theme-related shows.