Met up with Chris Bentzen from the Hot Art Wet City gallery in Vancouver for a chat about my artwork in my studio. Super nice guy who is doing his part in trying to keep the art scene alive in Vancouver with his gallery. Not an easy feat in this high real-estate town!
art, exhibitions, ideas that help us engage with nature
Archives for category: exhibition
The Little Green Dress Projekt was an outdoor installation in the Earth Art Exhibition at VanDusen Botanical Garden in the summer and fall of 2012. For a full description of the project and to view photos please visit the LGD blog. I was on site for 2 months creating these pieces and installing them one at a time in the perennial garden. They were left to change and decompose over time to emphasize the process of nature. Each dress was made for an individual woman who supplied the leaves and flowers for her dress. Four women worn their dresses for the exhibition opening on August 2nd. In attendance were the curator, John Grande and artists Nils Udo, Urs Twellman, Chris Booth and Michael Dennis. Many thanks to my helpers Nita Bowerman, Martin Borden and Ruth Wolf who made the armatures for each dress. Also special thanks go to garden director, Harry Jongerden who was responsible for the exhibition and his tireless assistant Tracee Jung. The exhibition was well received in the press thanks to publicist Nancy Wong.
composite of 21 dresses
Raymond Chan also created a video of the project
made from Magnolia leaves, Hydrangea flowers and Globe Thistle.
Barbara’s dress after 2 months outdoors, turned a golden brown patina from sun wind and rain.
Nomadik Harvest Dress with Lorraine Matheson Heidi
The Nomadik Harvest Dress was completed during a 2 week art residency at the McMichael Art Gallery in June 2012 in collaboration with the Fashionality Exhibition. This wearable architecture is the second piece in the Urban Foragers {house of eco drifters} series, which began with the Mobile Garden Dress. The design is based on the yurts I experienced while in Mongolia. The skirt is created from a folding bamboo fence and Willow struts sewn into a wool waistband. The traditional felt outer covering is replaced with crazy quilt of woollen sweaters, which have been shrunken and dyed. The covering contains over 40 pockets that are meant to hold the plant materials gathered by the dress wearer. The skirt also acts as a shelter for camping in cooler weather and it also carries a portable Butane stove, pot and utensils for cooking the veggies. The piece was presented during the Canada Day festivities at the McMichael and animated by Lorraine Matheson Heidi, who interacted with visitors about the local edible plants in her dress.The NHD, animated by Nita Bowerman was presented at the Sustenance Festival in Vancouver, where we made a soup with local vegetables and shared it with the public. Special thanks to Fred at the McMichael for teaching me about the local plants.
Nomadik Harvest Soup
FASHIONALITY, dress and identity in Contemporary Canadian Art
Fashionality is a new exhibition curated by Julia Pine at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection Gallery in Kleinburg Ontario. This exhibit features 23 Canadian artists who work with the theme of the garment. The show runs from May 5th to September 03, 2012 and the opening reception is on Sunday May 13. I will be showing photos of my IceShifts and my Weedrobes series, plus a new video on my work. I will also be doing an art residency at the McMichael from June 17th to July 1st. There i will create a new dress/tent called the Nomadik Harvest Dress which will culminate in a performance in the gallery and in the park. The gallery houses the largest collection of paintings by the Group of Seven, the iconic Canadian landscape painters and it is said that some of them are even buried in the park, so it is a great privilege for me to create there.
The artists are: KC Adams, Ingrid Bachmann, Lori Blondeau, Dana Claxton, Cathy Daley, Nicole Dextras, Aganetha Dyck, Jane Eccles, Gathie Falk, Farheen Haq, Barb Hunt, Michele Karch-Ackerman, Meryl McMaster, Kent Monkman, Janet Morton, Jacques Payette, Camal Pirbhai, Barbara Pratt, Ana Rewakowicz, Natalie Purschwitz, Jana Sterbak, Camille Turner, and Mary Sui Yee Wong. “Together, the assorted practical and conceptual approaches of these artists speak the common language of dress and, in the process, help to define just what it is that Canadian fashionality might be.” Julia Pine.
Read more in this Fashionality article
Pharos consisted of six blocks of ice with fabric embedded in them created during the Winterlude Festival in Ottawa Canada in February 2012. The 5 foot high blocks of ice were created outdoors in situ and the garments were meant to represent the early days of winter Carnivals. The piece was installed in Confederation Park, along with 10 other artists who were part of the BlizzArt exhibition. It took a week for the ice to freeze due to the unseasonal warm weather in Ottawa- they even had to close down the Rideau Canal to skaters for a few days. Big thanks goes out to my cousin Michel and his friend Jen who helped with with the installation and photography. The clothing became more exposed as the ice melted in the sun. As 695,000 individuals attended this year’s Winterlude, many photos were taken of my work and it’s a pleasure for me to see how others interpret it.
Night photos of Pharos illuminated.
I chose this tree because of it's expressive branches
Pommes Maison was an installation I created for the Land Art Mont-St-Hilaire festival in Québec from October 12th to the 16th 2011, where I was one of 10 artists invited to create sculptures in a working apple orchard within 4 days. It was a challenge to find and harvest my materials and then construct my piece in such a short time frame, in all weather but it was well worth it. On October 16, the exhibition opened to the public and I witnessed people of all ages interact with the apple/skirt/shelter.
My sculpture was constructed around an apple tree and consisted of a dome shape, which acted as a skirt for the tree and also as a shelter where one can sit, eat apples and contemplate the sky. The structure was made from Willow branches onto which apples with holes through them were skewered, like giant apple kabobs. Once these were staked into the ground in a circle, the tops were bent towards the trunk to form the dome. I then decorated the top with long apple skin peels, which I discovered one day as they were making apple cider in the kitchen.
This event takes place on Mr. Robert’s land and he has a large roadside store called Le Pavillon de la Pomme, which produces fresh apple pies, juice, cider, you name it- warm homemade apple turnovers where the favorite breakfast food of most artists. This very well attended Land Art event is in it’s 5th year and is curated by artist Jérémie Boudreault who runs a small theatre across the road. She was very accommodating and supportive of the artists and took us out to dinner every night for fantastic local meals.
You can view the other artist’s installation on my Facebook page. Not all artists used “organic” materials and some brought pre-made things with them but all works responded to the site and formed a engaging exhibition. All the installations stay up as long as possible as many people frequent the orchard and woods for walks throughout the year. The artists were: André Boisvert, Épurarium, which won the best of show, Olivier Lefebvre, Steve Jobs Portrait, Luce Pelletier, Toison, Stacy Levy, Bluegrass, David Moore, Ulysse, Michael McGillis, Seigneurial Chandelier, Gary Smith, Against the Grid, Yolanta Sprawka, Mémoire d’eau, Linda Swanson, Pommes de la terre and also with Pedro Mendonça, University of Sherbrooke art student.
Leaf fish for Stream installation
I am a founding member of The Art Is Land Network, a Vancouver based group of artists who work within the environmental art genre. The common thread for these 9 artists is their engagement with landscape. From September 8 to the 18th 2011, we will be hosting our first exhibition, art (IS)LAND on Granville Island with 11 outdoor installations. Under the theme: the island as microcosm of the world, the artists will employ natural and repurposed materials to engage the public in the various aspects of this popular urban site, such as history, industry, boating and local flora. The projects will be accessible as a self-guided walking tour and also as guided tours. please visit the website for more information and a map of the site.
My installation Stream, will consist of a river of fish made from leaves hanging from the trees in Railspur Alley Park, echoing the origins of False Creek as a rich fish habitat once shared by local First Nations. The fish shapes will be made from leaves, such as Magnolia, Laurel and others for fins and details. I will be leading 3 free public workshops at the False Creek Community center to make the leaf fish. See times and dates here. I will also be hosting a Eco-Salon talk through the Community Arts Council on August 24th. Click here for more details.
The AILN project is in conjunction with the Vancouver Fringe Festival- look for a full page map and details in their program guide. We are also collaborating with the Second Nature Lab at Emily Carr University where i will be teaching my environmental installation Class on September 10, 17, 24. Register here. Visit us on Facebook
I am very proud to have been selected for The View Project, curated by Joyce Tenneson, a photographer who’s work has inspired me for many years. This is a traveling group exhibition of photographs that reveal something about the photographer’s inner life – images that are personal and powerful, yet perhaps not clearly understood, even to the viewer/photographer. The View Project will be an opportunity for each viewer to ask themselves what views, places, and moments in their own lives have left an indelible mark on them. Tenneson has also assembled a digital slideshow which will accompany the exhibition and will be projected in the galleries.
The View roject kicks off with projections of a selection of photos from the exhibit (including my View photo) as part of FotoWeek D.C. Nov. 5 – 30. The exhibition opens at Naples Museum of Fine Art, Naples, Florida, Dec. 18, 2010 – Mar. 13, 2011.
It is also schedueled to tour to: Gallery 27, Santa Barbara, California from April 7 – 29, 2011 and Palm Beach Photographic Centre, Palm Beach, Florida from August 27 – October 29, 2011
The View Project is sponsored by Canon USA and Blurb, Inc.
