Banff March 31

This is Wendy Klotz's work in Articulation's Loose Threads: Works in Progress exhibition on the Other Gallery here in Banff. 2 of the themes Wendy is exploring are Edith Cavall's story and the pine beetle problem. Wendy's specialty these past couple of years has been working with sheers. This month she has made a lot of felt then machined into it - to make a forest.

This is Donna Clement's wall. Donna spent 2 weeks of the month dying & screen printing backgrounds & motifs for her Burgess Shale & pine beetle studies.

Gloria Daly spent the month putting french knots on her glacier. She said glaciers take a long time to do their work so her glacier will take a long time to make. She had indigo dyed all of the cottons & silks she used in this work.
Today is our last day in Banff after a month long residency. We have talked about the tremendous growth each of us has experienced in our practices and we have noticed major movement in the development of the group and a shift in focus. It has been such a valuable experience we are already into the planning for a fall 2011 residency when we will complete phase 4 of our Women Rock project.

Banff March 30

Here is the work I put up for our Loose Threads: Works in Progress exhibition in the Other Gallery, Glyde Hall, The Banff Centre.

A deconstructed silk screen, whole cloth. I was thinking about harmony & balance while working on this.

This is Woman Mountain, part of my 'Re-gendering the Mountains' series.

A deconstructed screen, heavy cotton cloth that I will cut into to make a series for my Women Rock body of work.

Banff March 29

More images of our Loose Threads: Works in Progress.

This is Ingrid Lincoln's work. She is Queen of the Deconstructed Screen. She generously shared her knowledge of this silk screen technique with all of us. Deconstructed screen printed cloth features prominently in the exhibition because we all found the technique very expressive.

Ingrid is also exploring the cultural implications of TLBD (the little black dress).

Above and below in Linda MacKay's work. She silk screened her photographic images & drawings onto dyed cotton.

Banff Art Centre - March 28

Loose Threads: Works In ProgressSome of the work we did during our month-long stay in The Banff Centre, as self-directed, Leighton Colony artists-in-residence.
The Hanging -Ingrid, Donna


ReBecca

Linda MacKay, who arrived the day before.

ReBecca's wall -silk fabric & threads dyed using a variety of dyes & techniques. The grey & the draped pieces are hand stitched.

Banff March 27

Last night was finally the night we got to hear the compositions by the 5 composers who have been living in The Centre for the past few weeks. And here we are patiently waiting an hour before the performance for the chance to get in. There was room for only 20 of the general public. And we made it.

Each composer wrote on the theme of Evolution to celebrate Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. This image is of Vincent Ho's score. He won viewer's choice.

Andrew Staniland won the major prize and also the commission from an orchestra.
We all had a wonderful time. It was a most memorable experience. CBC will have the performance on their website for the next year so we will be able to relive the experience.

Today we hung some of the work we have produced this month while in Banff. We had our Open House in the afternoon and lots of people dropped by. Left- me, Gloria S Daly, Linda Mackay, Ingrid Lincoln, Donna Clement, Wendy Klotz, ReBecca Paterson.

Banff Art Centre - March 26

We spent time yesterday putting up this poster to advertise our next exhibition, which begins tomorrow. We will hang in the morning and attend the opening in the afternoon. Family & friends are coming from Calgary for the event.

We have been handing out small invitations, with this image on it, to everyone we know around the campus.

Must go. I am spending the day in the dye studio.

Banff March 25

I have put in a few more hours on Woman Mountain. The red triangles are feminine, the blue/green triangles are masculine.

We attended Sandra Hawkins' (aqua shirt) artist reception. She has been on a self-directed residency in Glyde Hall this month. She has been working with her journals & photographs from her time working in the Arctic.

We also attended Flossie's talk about her 'All Things Temporary' installation, a collection of materials she found on campus that people had thrown out. She arranged the items into a number of compositions in her studio. Today she added sound, which added another dimension to her work.

Banff March 24

Yesterday, when I got back to my room after working in the studio all day, I found this beautiful vase of flowers on my desk. I have a secret admirer.

Being in Banff for the month, Donna and I would have missed our monthly neighbourhood book club meeting, if they hadn't come up to the mountains today and had the meeting here with us! Left - Ann Cockerton, Cindy Johnson, Roberta Davis, Donna Clement, Sharon Gainor, Jan Brummit

We took them on a tour of The Centre. While down in the paper making studio they thought they could help Wendy with her felt making.

Banff March 23

This was the walk to the studio yesterday. There was not as much snow on the ground because the trees had caught so much of it. But when we walked back to the dinning room at lunch it was warmer so big blobs of snow fell on top of us & we were quite wet when we arrived.
The campus is a buzz this week. Many of the artists in residence are finishing at the end of the month. They are pulling all-nighters, planning their open houses/exhibitions/presentations, and getting their publicity out around the campus.

There is much excitement in the music & sound area of the campus. I have seen people looking at large sheets of music over breakfast, people carrying hard black cases running between buildings, a filming crew following people and now the music huts near us have little pink signs on them. On Thursday we will hear the results of all of this activity. It is eagerly anticipated event.

Banff March 22

We woke this morning to see fresh snow. This is the view of the dining room from the Lloyd Hall 6th floor balcony. With glass on 3 sides it feels like an eagle eerie when eating in there.

Yesterday I worked in my room in the morning then after lunch in our studio in the woods. (I'll need my snow boots to get there this morning.)
I am strip piecing furnishing fabrics to make whole cloth.

These cloths will then be cut up to make my 'Women Mountain' work. I plan to work on it most of today again.

Banff March 21

I spent yesterday morning in the Whyte Museum, in Banff township. I was looking for artifacts in the museum's collection to work with. I am focusing on the equilateral triangle as a symbol and I found lots of examples in the current exhibition.
Beading on moccasins

A beaded choker. (nice Art Nouveau one in front of it)

Beaded repeating motif on hide leggings.

Great example of 2 ancient motifs used by many different cultures.
I am setting up a time for next week to go down to the basement of the Museum to study closely specific items I have asked the curators to pull for me.

Banff March 20

Yesterday morning, when we were in the dining room, we saw performance art. A person was standing with a bag over her head & a sign on her front, that read 'Failed Artist'. Even though the room was a buzz with conversation about her there was no interaction with her and she was ignored.

This morning she was there again with a different sign, 'Great Artist'. This time people shook her hand, danced with her & gave her a big hug. Most of the interaction was with non-artists, mainly people who work for a bank.
The artist, Flossie Peitsch, said she felt personally the different effects the 2 signs had on the way she felt.

We have just finished 4 intensive days with Martha Cole, which proved to be invaluable because of all we learnt about ourselves, our group and life as an artist.

Martha works on her own work for a change, on the last night when we watched a movie in our studio in the woods. We had popcorn to celebrate. This morning, after breakfast, Martha and Vickie left for Calgary and the airport so Martha can return to Saskatchewan.