Etsy Shop - Ravenmade Works

I have an Etsy shop, Ravenmade Works

Here is how I describe my shop.

Refreshed Artworks for the Home

The items in my shop are for people who want their home to be a living expression of themselves and a place where they are surrounded by things they love. 

Used domestic linens, discarded embroideries, worn garments and vintage fabric hold a past history. I recycle, rework and refresh these textiles adding another story or layer of meaning, while honouring the original makers whose handwork is often still evident. 

Customers who listen to their hearts when choosing home decor items create uniquely personal living spaces. As an artist producing small home decor items, I feel it is a privilege to play such an important role in my customers' lives.

I make collections of pillow covers, often using vintage ethnic and traditional textiles.

I collect wool embroideries, cut them apart then applique a variety of them together.

I take 2 different embroideries and weave them together.

These small works are framed and intended for the wall.

I add to my shop some of my smaller works that have been in exhibitions and have returned home.

This is the Micmac one from the 'Postcards From Fundy' series.

Please visit my Etsy Shop to see more works and to find out their background stories.

Etsy Shop Ravenmade Works

'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters' in Saskatchewan

The 4th showing of Articulation and Material Girls' response to the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames, respectively, will be shown in its 7th exhibition - 3 in the UK & 4 in Canada.

This time it is in The Gallery on 3rd, Watrous, Saskatchewan. 

It is the last time before the individual works will be boxed up and returned to owners in the UK and across Canada.

This international collaboration has been an exciting and rewarding project for both groups.

Feb 19 - March 10, 2014

Opening Reception Feb 20, 1 - 4 pm

Gallery open Thursday to Saturday 1 - 4 pm

Articulation member, Donna Clement has designed all 4 posters for the Canadian exhibitions. This last one features one of her works, 'Erosion as Joggins Fossil Cliffs -"Ammonite".'

Articulation & Material Girls in Saint John Arts Centre

'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters' is open in the Frazee Gallery in the Saint John Arts Centre, Saint John, New Brunswick. This is one of 5 galleries in the building and what a beautiful building.

ReBecca Paterson, who lives in New Brunswick, was responsible for getting the exhibit into this beautiful space and she has done all of the work needed to mount the work. She will be giving artist talks in the gallery over the next 2 months.
Congratulations, ReBecca, on a job well done.

In this 3rd Canadian showing of work about the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames the viewer has to work a bit harder to place each work in its geographical location - if that is important to them - because both bodies of work have been combined. In the previous 2 exhibitions they were hung separately. It is interesting to see the differences.

ReBecca made a large 3D installation. Viewers are encouraged to touch the tactile, felted barnacles - an unusual feature of an art exhibition, already being enjoyed by viewers on opening night. 

 

 

 

The exhibition is on until January 10th, 2014.
If you are travelling through New Brunswick sometime over the next 2 months do drop in to see the work.
And please let your maritime family and friends know the exhibition is on.

Articulation in Saint John, New Brunswick

Articulation's recent study of the Bay of Fundy coastline has produced a body of work being exhibited  across Canada. It is combined with a study of the River Thames by the fiber arts group, Material Girls, based in London, England. ARTICULATED MATERIALS: BRIDGING WATERS had a successful three-exhibition tour of London, UK, in 2012 then returned to Canada for its cross country tour. 

The work is currently on the shores of the Bay of Fundy being exhibited in the Saint John Arts Centre, Saint John.

Artist Talks: Nov 14th @ 1pm, Nov 27th @12pm, and Dec 11th @ 12pm.
Exhibition Schedule: Frazee Gallery, Saint John Art Centre, Saint John NB, November 8, 2013 - January 10, 2014

Articulation, Bridging Waters Exhibition

Here is my Postcards From Fundy series where I looked at the history of human settlement in the Bay of Fundy through the textiles the people made, wore and used.

When people entered the gallery Wendy Klotz's "Lost at Sea" work greeted them. It was so moving to talk to a man who had worked as a fisherman in Nova Scotia in his youth.
Wendy's work is about the statistic that as a Nova Scotian fisherman you are 19 times more likely to die on the job than any other occupation. She knitted 19 fish.

Miriam Birkenthal's 'Fundy Algae' caused most people to put their faces very close to the work to more clearly see the details in her bead work.

Wendy thread painted a series as a memorial to the now closed Bay of Fundy lighthouses.
Barbara McCaffrey made a series of small 3-dimensional studies of bivalve shells, found as ancient fossils in the Bay of Fundy and still found on beaches today.

Articulation's Upcoming Exhibition

After a successful 2012 tour of London, the Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters exhibition is touring across Canada in 2013-4.

Bay of Fundy Architecture
The first stop was earlier this year, in Winnipeg's Cre8ery Gallery http://www.cre8ery.com/, during the Embroiderers' Association of Canada's national seminar http://www.eac.ca/.

The Tide Is Out
The second stop will be in the Tulista Community Art Gallery, Sidney, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
From the gallery windows one can see across Haro Strait to the USA, which makes it a most suitable place to exhibit work about 2 other bodies of water: the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames.

Saint Martins, Bay of Fundy
The exhibition will be open daily from September 1st to 14th, 10 am to 4 pm.

Hopewell Rocks, Bay of  Fundy
Material Girls, a fibre arts group based in London, UK, has joined with the Canadian-based fibre group, Articulation, to exhibit bodies of work responding to studies of their respective country's iconic waterways.

Bridging Waters: Joggins Coal Trees

I sewed 3 different trees' leaf scar patterns on heavy cotton velvet.

Embellished with coconut shell and dried seeds.

Embellished with porcelain painted beads I bought while in India.

The sewn pattern on the velvet ends of each form suggest the trees' water carrying xylem cells.

'Joggins Coal Trees'

Luxurious bolsters referencing the wealth of the Industrial Age being dependant on the vast coal reserves these trees formed during the Carboniferous period.

Bridging Waters Body of Work

For the 'Fossil Tree' work I made and covered 3 forms. 

Then played around with various arrangements of them...

...to see if the sizes and shapes worked.

To see if they were going to give me the look I wanted.

Next step was to make covers for the forms.
I chose a thick cotton velvet. It proved a bit of a challenge to manoeuvre large amounts of such heavy fabric.

Life Happenings

A new lot of work is boxed up and on its way out to the world.
I spent most of a day wrapping the work, making boxes to fit, printing address labels and sealing them up before taking them down to the Greyhound depot.
They are on their way to Winnipeg for the first Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters showing in Canada. The exhibition will be in Cre8ery Gallery during the Embroideres Association of Canada annual conference in Winnipeg.
The exhibition will include work by Material Girls from the UK.

After the marathon to finish and package up the work was over it was time to go outside to see what had been happening in my abscence.
I discovered we have an area of camas lily - a valuable find because it is not as common as it used to be when the bulbs were a carbohydrate food source for the First Nations peoples.

Then I noticed a new flower in amongst the grass.

But it turned out fallen flowers from the Arbutus tree growing overhead had been stabbed and caught by the spears of grass.
I describe the grass with battle terms because I am experimenting with different ways of getting rid of the allelopathic grass so natives can grow in their place.

Post Cards from Fundy #5

The 5th post card covers the mid to late 19th century when Gothic Revival architecture was all the rage, particularly in the UK. Here is the 'stamp' for the post card, a simple wooden version of the style as built around the Bay of Fundy.

Here is a magnificent example of the Gothic Revival style translated in wood, found in the sea port of Yarmouth.

Two identical houses were built (1877-78) side by side by a father for his son and daughter.

This one survives after the other unfortunately burnt down in 1992.

Loving attention was given to the gable and window detailing.