Banff Mountain Building

I caught this mountain man on his way back from his coffee break. Just look at all of the safety equipment he has to wear. He looks like a mountain climber.

I zoomed right in with my little point 'n' shoot camera (so not a good quality image) to get a closer look at conditions on top of the mountain they are building. The billowing orange tarpaulins indicate how strong the wind is, which would drop the actual temperature the body felt. The low wind chill factor means exposed flesh freezes in seconds. Whatever the conditions, whenever I looked up to the top of this mountain, I saw these men working. Sometimes I couldn't see them very well because it was snowing so hard but they were still working.

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 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 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 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.