Friday, March 27, 2009

Artist talk and show



Joanna Staniszkis at ACAD, April 2nd
Meet some of you there?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

it fits in your pocket


If anyone needs an excuse to work under a deadline, The New Gallery in Calgary is having an Artist Trading Card session this Saturday at 5 pm. This is a great opportunity to trade work and also add to your personal art collection. Don't worry if this is too short of notice for this month, however consider yourself informed as this is a regular event that happens the last Saturday of the month.

As their website says, "there are no restrictions as to medium (they run the gamut from painting to collage to rubberstamps to found images to the limits of your imagination), subject matter or number; they may be 2D or 3D, original, a series, an edition or a multiple. "

see the website for more info :
http://www.thenewgallery.org/programs


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Well worth the trip

Thanks for this Arlee,
It is now a day since we went to the exhibition and it has sunk into my being even more. The colours and fabric types Boulet used stay in my mind, the contrasts of materials. And the diversity of techniques. I do remember, however, that this work was done under the rigours of a post grad. degree. I wonder what his work is like without that and, perhaps on different subjects.

The pieces certainly made me enquire (and Arlee supplied many a stimulating explanation) and we had the chance to enjoy discussing his techniques and his extremely admirable skills. The pieces moved me with his expressions of humour and representation of pain or happiness... such powerful contrasts.

I whole-heartedly recommend this exhibition to any who want to see patchwork and cross-stitch where the creator is labelled more for his artistry than the method he uses. I find it hard to visit something labelled a patchwork show (I am after all, only an honorary Canadian) and the many such shows I have seen have held extremely skillfully pieced works, but lacked deep meaning. This show turns that on its head for me.

I don't always need deep messages to come from the art I view but, for some reason, I prefer patchworks that are playful, illusional or deep and meaningful...