Snow and Cloth

During a break in a snow storm I ventured outside to check on how my art projects were fairing.
The cloths wrapped around the 4 trees were quite wet. If they are still damp during the next warm spell some interesting marks may emerge.

I am amazed at how well the men's suit jacket is surviving. It has been outside for 13 months now. It is made from newspaper bonded to a light cotton.

The cedar wrapped in cloth is in the forest where it is dark. There is lots of evidence of animals running over it and rearranging the loose ends.

Textile Arts Library

Here are more books for the Textile Arts section of the Victoria College of Art library.
These classics were donated by Marny and Barbara and are a great addition.
Thank you both.

Donations To Victoria College of Art

Students in the Mark Making with Thread course have been most generous in donating different things to the class sessions and the Textile Arts section of the college library.
Barbara donated this delightful collection of threads in an old Velveeta box. They look as though they have been treasured for many decades and now the students will put the threads to good use.

Barbara also donated this classic counted thread book, which still has much to offer the present day student.

Jo Ann donated another valuable classic - a Canadian edition of the Anchor Thread publication. Its clear drawings and well thought out collection of stitches make it a useful portable reference to carry in a stitching bag.

Jo Ann also donated 2 laminated, quick reference stitch charts that will handle being referred to by many students over the coming years.
Thank you both for your thoughtfulness and generosity.
I'll post about more donations later.

Exploring Negative Space

More explorations of opening up the textile with stitch from Victoria College of Art students.

VCA Mark Making With Thread

The students in the Victoria College of Art Mark Making With Thread, Textile Arts course are producing some exciting samples.
A selection of their colour studies in various stages of progress.

Exploring ways to open up the ground cloth to create negative spaces.

Colour Studies

In the Mark Making With Thread course at Victoria College of Art last week we spent time doing colour studies.

Students at Victoria College of Art

Here are the early twentieth century students in the Bank Street school . . .

Here are the twenty first century students in the school on Bank Street, 100 years later.

The 3 windows you can see . . .

. . . are the 3 lowest ones on the side of the school, in front of the girls' steps.

Studio is Ready

Sunday evening Ron and I cleaned all of the furniture, windows, mirrors and hand basins.

Here i am practicing sitting in my tutorial chair.

This is the ironing station and the cutting station.
The 3 big print tables will get wheels so they can be rolled out into the centre of the room when needed.
The room needs another row of floor tiles because even though the freshly painted blue floor looks nice, i think it will get very cold underfoot come winter.

Finally, the studio is ready enough for students who will arrive in 12 hours.

Final Studio Preparations

On Saturday Ryan was hired to do some of the remaining jobs to get the studio ready before the course started on Monday.
He sanded and scraped 3 large tables that were covered in cement blobs, plaster splatter and an assortment of other lumpy stuff. He then painted the tables and converted them to work tables where we can do dying, painting, collaging .....
He stayed late to paint the vestibule area.

On Sunday Ryan was there again to move the furniture into the studio. I think he went home.

He brought his friend Joel in to help. Between them they had all of the furniture in place, cork board bolted in place and shelving moved in no time. Then they moved up stairs to work on the Animation studio which is also under renovation.

Meanwhile, Ron and I continued cleaning furniture, polishing glass table tops and putting equipment in place.

Setting up Textile Studio

Yesterday morning i shopped for supplies for the new textile arts studio at Victoria College of Art.
In the afternoon I finished off painting the edge of the floor.
Ron and Barb McCaffrey turned up and took charge of laying down the floor tiles.
This is Barb looking mischievous. She has a plan.

When Barb arrived and saw the damaged grey side of the tiles laid out she was disappointed the room didn't look as new as it should. So she and Ron pulled them all up again and stacked them according to colour. Barb eliminated the pink tiles and with Ron worked out a pattern to use the remaining 3 colours.

When i returned from a meeting, i found this. It looks great. Just the effect i wanted - stimulating and not like any one's living room. Thank you Barb and Ron.

While we have been cleaning and painting, George, the Victoria College of Art illustration/animation instructor, has been upstairs above us painting a mural on his computer studio wall.
Here it is complete, another inspirational studio in the college.

Painting Painting

I put in another 9 hours of painting in the studio yesterday.

Thankfully Ron arrived, with hot tea and cookies, then painted with me for 4 hours. We were able to finish the main room. Yippee!

This is our paint station out in the vestibule area. The vestibule still needs painting.
While waiting for the floor to dry, i am having the day at home working on my dissertation rewrites.