Fabrications - 2015 Juried Fibre Exhibition

My final exhibition of 2015 (and first of 2016) opens tonight at Quest Art School & Gallery in Midland Ontario.  There are many wonderful artists included in this Fibre show so please check it out if you are in cottage country over the holidays (show closes January 6).

Five Pillars is hanging alongside the stunning piece above and many more.  2015 has been a great year for gallery shows for me and Fabrications is my first exhibit in Ontario.  It is very exciting to be showing across Canada.

*please click the title of the post to comment and for archives of past blog posts

JJ

Black Crow - Behind the Art

                         

I thought I'd share some of the inspiration behind Black Crow which is currently on display at the Gibson's Public Art Gallery.  I have been listening to Joni Mitchell's music avidly for almost 20 years now.  Her music is full of imagery that holds enough ideas to create for decades.

Her song Black Crow from the Hejira album has resonated with me since I first listened to it in art school.  I attempted a series of paintings based on the song for an assignment.  Some of them worked but for the most part I was not satisfied with the outcome.

Years later while listening to the song this quilt came to me.  As I interpret the song, the parts that resonate with me are the weariness of travel and the projection of her spirit onto a crow.  I would encourage anyone who is not familiar with the song to listen to the whole album but below I've written out some of the lyrics that brought these images to the quilt.

"There's a crow flying

Black and ragged 

Tree to tree

He's black as the highway that's leading me

Now he's diving down 

to pick up on something shiny

I feel like that black crow 

Flying 

in a blue sky

I took a ferry to the highway

Then I drove to a pontoon plane

I took a plane to a taxi

And a taxi to a train

I've been travelling so long

How'm I ever going to know my home

When I see it again

I'm like a black crow flying

in a blue blue sky

...I looked out the window

And I saw that ragged soul take flight

I saw a black crow flying

In a blue sky

Oh, I'm like a black crow flying

In a blue sky"

Both Sides Now

A Tribute to Joni Mitchell in Art, Music & Poetry

Nov 12 - Dec 6 2015

Gibsons Public Art Gallery, Gibsons BC

Opening Reception Saturday Nov 14 4pm - 7pm

Music & Poetry

Friday Nov 20 7pm - 9pm

Friday Nov 27 7pm - 9pm

Joni- Narrating Our Lives

Facilitated by Sandy Wrightman

Saturday Nov 21 2pm

If you have a personal story about Joni Mitchell please bring it.

Closing Performances

Saturday Dec 5 7pm-9pm

Please check out the show if you can.  Click here for a: Facebook post with images from the show.

Please click through on the title of this post to comment.

JJ

In Conversation

For those of you who were not able to see In Conversation at the Coast Collective Gallery in person below you will find the pairing of my piece Autumn in the World Tree with Poet Laureate of Nanaimo Naomi Beth Wakan's poem From Our Small Orchard.  Naomi's poem is available for purchase in her book: Sex After 70 and Other Poems. 

From Our Small Orchard

by Naomi Beth Wakan

The fruits of summer –

the cherry, strawberry

and first raspberry,

sweeten the palate

after a barren winter.

Later, plums overburden

the kitchen table,

and early pears fill

woven baskets.

Still, there’s nothing

quite like an apple

picked after the first frost

and crisp as…

well as only an apple

plucked from a branch

after the first frost

can be – juicy, full of

the flavour of harvest

and, when bitten into,

sounding like footsteps

crunching in the snow.

*Poem printed with permission from the author.

I think the pairing was very serendipitous.  I am honoured to have been included in this show.

                                                                                                                                                                 JJ

In Conversation Exhibition at Coast Collective

It was my good fortune to be asked to include my piece Autumn in the World Tree in Coast Collective Gallery's "In Conversation" exhibition which is on view until September 20th in Victoria, BC.  My piece was paired with Poet Laureate of Nanaimo Naomi Beth Wakan's poem entitled: From our Small Orchard.  JJ

Autumnal Colours Art Show & Opening

 

My first juried group show in the Victoria, BC area opens August 26th at Coast Collective Gallery.  I will be in attendance at the opening.  I hope to have the piece Autumn in the World Tree up on my portfolio page very soon.

JJ

My Top 5 Art Documentaries

You will notice a theme in my art posts.  It definitely requires an explanation or clarification at some point but to keep it shorter and to the point today I'll just say that the films on this list are not the typical ones that the art world would herald.  For me these films speak to three important themes:

• Women Artists
• Women artists becoming mothers or balancing motherhood & art practice
• Social, political & feminist ways that the top two influence their work and life

While I say my top 5 documentaries I do not have a specific order in terms of quality.  It just seemed like the easiest way to share.

1.  Who Does She Think She Is? (2008) Pamela T. Boll directed this compelling look at 5 artists who chose to mother and make art and how that worked and was challenging for them.  The interviews is compelling and the work is of great quality. 

2.  !Women Art Revolution (2010) Director Lynn Hershman Leeson covers the Feminist Art Movement of the 1970's and how it connects to other political movements of the time, along with interviews with artists who pioneered activism towards major art institutions and their lack of representation of women making art.

3. The Punk Singer (2013) This is the story of Kathleen Hanna lead singer of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and a strong voice for the riot grrrl movement.  The punk scene was dominated by male singers and fans and she was a reluctant but penetrating voice for a different perspective in the scene.  Amy Oden directed this film and it is currently available to view on Netflix.

4.  Lost in Living (2013) Mary Trunk documents the lives of several artists both at the beginning of motherhood mixing with art and on the other side with two artists looking back at the mothering stage of their lives.  I wrote out my thoughts on the film here.

5.  Come Worry With Us (2013) This film follows the band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra as they tour with a toddler in tow.  The conversations are honest, the pressure to maintain music making and be a parent is real and the contrast between being a mother and father in this situation is clear to see.  Helene Klodawsky directed and the perspective is from band members and life partners Jessica Moss and Efrim Menuck.

I do have a few other films that I would like to watch or that I think add more to this theme and are worth reviewing here but I'll save them for another post.  Until then enjoy these films, and I'll just point out that each of these is directed by a woman as well.  I think it's a topic that "we" as a culture of parents (not just as mothers) want to discuss and get out into mainstream culture. 

*please click through to make a comment*

JJ

Filling the Well

I brought several different creative outlets on our 3 week trip.  A small sketch book, my current sewing piece and my camera.  I made a few stitches on the plane but once we arrived I mostly took photos.  Over 300 if I count the ones on my phone (the one day that I forgot my DSLR).

During the trip I had many moments that I could have sketched or sewed by I chose not to.  I read, and captured what I could of moments in photos.
There were countless inspiring places and objects that we saw.  London has inspired many an artist over the years and I was no exception.  But what this trip taught me was that sometimes you have to just observe, take it all in.  Let an object speak to you and really absorb its message.
The British Museum, A WWII warship, a curated collection of fashion designer Alexander McQueen's work at the Victoria & Albert Museum.  Just a stunning array of variety and ideas that filled up a well inside.

The funny part is that I didn't know it was empty and I think oddly that it wasn't barren but I had never witnessed those particular things, in that way, in that place.  And so I was taking it all in, reveling in the experience.  And certainly six days in London was just not enough to see everything that I hoped to see.  But I was so lucky to see what I did and can only hope to visit again to see more.
Travel is a great privilege.  I am blessed.

JJ

Bring your work

 Tomorrow we leave for our summer holiday.  And this piece is coming with me for the plane, the beach and whenever I have a minute or two to stitch.  If you'd like to follow along with our travels I'm aiming to post once a day to Instagram and Facebook.  I'll also have my sketch book with me so if the inspiration hits I'll share the result here in a month.  Until then happy summer to you all.

JJ

Work I Admire: Drawing

When the occasion calls for it I will feature work by artists I like here.  I think there is always room for more promotion, for sharing of ideas but mostly for supporting each other. 

Both of these artists don't need my help, as they are on another level in their careers than I am. 
But what I admire about their work is that their works are meticulous and surrealistic drawings, large in scale and beautifully rendered. 

First off is Ruby Onyinyetchi Amanze a Nigerian born artist working currently in Brooklyn New York.
I learned about her in this article and I found her work stood out within the 30 artists featured.  Her subject matter speaks to me: identity, culture, and breaking boundaries of artistic boxes.

 And next is Kymia Nawabi who I watched win season 2 of  Work of Art: The Next Great Artist reality show.  This drawing was auctioned off as part of her prize and I just loved it.  I now follow her work on Facebook and am always impressed by her dreamlike figures and the amazing detail in each piece.

 So please follow these artists, and if you are able purchase some of their brilliant work. 

JJ

Delaying the Muse

I'm sure that there are many texts that wax poetic about the artist's muse.  Is the awen flowing,  do you feel connected to that inner part of you that channels the ideas and inspiration?  Or do you have writer's block, is your well dry so to speak? 
I have been on both sides of this coin at different times in my creative journey.  Mostly though I fall somewhere in between.  The steady stream trickles ideas in, some percolating for what some would consider ridiculously long periods of time.  Some are recorded quickly in sketch books while in the middle of another project.  Some are so insistent that they are attended to ahead of others.  Some will be returned to when the time is right (and how I determine that I don't know) and others will remain a sketch and never come to realization.
There are many factors that affect when or why a piece is begun or stays on the back burner.  Certainly the time factor being the most precious and cumbersome reason.  "If I just had more time..."  But I try not to let that excuse tie me down.  The reality of my life as a mom, wife, friend, neighbour etc is that those precious moments of making art time are few but must be productive.  I've learned to grab that 15 minutes and do what I can.  It just has to be enough.  Period.
The other factor that I now consider to be a blessing in disguise is that the ideas can have their due.  By not rushing in they are often given space to grow, to evolve into a better concept, to teach me how to best approach their creation. 
As the potential pieces fill up pages of sketch books I create a backlog that seems inexhaustible.  I probably have enough today to keep me steadily working for the next 20 years.

And the amazing thing about the muse is that as you are creating one thing gifts of new possible pieces seem to drop into your lap like a falling leaf in autumn.
What a blessing it is to live this creative life.

JJ

A new beginning...

This is a new adventure in my life as an artist, a blog devoted to just my artistic musings.  This will also be a place to find my latest show info, work in progress and words about the journey of being an artist in this fast paced world.

My personal blog will remain open for postings referring to family, my spiritual life and day to day.

More soon.

JJ