McMullen Gallery Artists' Reception

Donna Clement and my artists' reception at the McMullen Gallery on April 24th was most successful. We received lots of positive comments about our work. I feel so good about having work in this particular gallery. It is a special place run by very positive people. It is a refuge from the stress and activity going on in the rest of the hospital. They have a programme called Art on the Ward where patients can request visual and performing artists to visit them at their bedside. While we were conducting a workshop a student came in with a guitar on his back and asked where he should go. A patient had requested to listen to some guitar music and the student was on his way to play for him. A poet stopped by to organise his papers before going onto a ward to read to a patient. People came to the gallery just to sit and look, including staff in their lunch hour. It is a peaceful place.

Textiles in India

Back to my travels in India. I didn't finish telling you about all of the textiley things I saw on my travels. We spent a morning in Patan with the Salvi family who are master weavers of double ikat. The family has been producing these unique silk saris since the 11th century.

The tying of the warp & weft threads is one of the steps in the process of making the textile. It takes 15 years of training to master all 15 steps.

They use natural vegetable dyes on the silk they import from China.

The patola is woven on a primitive hand operated harness loom made out of rosewood & bamboo strips. The loom lies at a slant.

McMullen Gallery, University of Alberta

Early in the morning Donna Clement and I packed the car then headed north to Edmonton to the University of Alberta Hospital Mc Mullen Gallery to install our work.

The large gallery space was daunting as we laid out our work.

But with help of family members we found a place for everything by early evening.

Donna and I will attend the Artists' Reception on April 24th from 7 to 9 pm.

Banff Centre, Artist-In-Residence, Articulation

The conservationist, interpretive guide, author, Benn Gadd, spoke to us one evening ...

...and took us on a walk up the Tunnel Mountain road the next morning.

He told us the Blackfoot tale about why mice try to hide in Douglas-fir cones.

Banff Centre Artist Residency

While in residence in the Leighton Artist Colony at the Banff Centre with the fibre art group Articulation, I made an installation in the trees near our studio.

I was exploring how we manage a natural environment while I was staying in a National Park/ UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This study is part of my Opus BA(Hons) degree work.

Banff Centre

Professional photographer, Willi Schmidt, spent the morning with us showing his amazing photographs taken in the Rockies and talking about how to take a good shot.

He showed us the type of camera the earlier photographers in the Rockies would have used.

Banff Centre

Dr Jennifer Salahub worked with us for a day during our artist residency at the Banff Centre. She focused on how to do research and how to work with an inspiration to produce a personal response to it.

During a tour of the Whyte Museum, she gave us an assignment make a personal response to this image of Mary Shaffer, an early European explorer of the Banff National Park.

My response was to make some close-up charcoal drawings of parts of the image.

Sorting Threads

I sorted threads by colour before putting them away in their right shoe boxes.

Banff Centre Residency

Here we are, 7 of 10 members of Articulation, in our residency at the Banff Centre.

Our studio in the woods.

A hike up a frozen river with Dr Paul Mackay, a structural geologist, who spent the day with us, explaining how the Rockies were formed. He was most inspiring and I started to develop a piece the next day.