'Know Your Place - Ideas In Art Form' Exhibition at Tulista Gallery, Sidney, Vancouver Island

Sherley Gordon Edey has invited 7 other artists working in different media to exhibit their work with her photography while exploring the many layers of meaning in the statement

'Know Your Place'

Sherley presents her work in a wide variety of formats, including video and keeps the viewer looking for the story. Often several different stories will emerge from one collection.

The artists who have joined her: Colleen Golumbia, Norma Lofthouse, Dale MacEwan, Terry Murray, Pamela Truscott-White, Lesley Turner, Jean Weller, tell their stories about knowing their place through their own media: clay, wood, baste fibres, fabric.

It all makes for a most stimulating exploration of the theme.

Section/Township/Range

Starting nearly 150 years ago twelve percent of the earth’s land mass was divided up by a straight line grid system, a system now deeply ingrained in western Canadian rural culture. A hierarchy of roads and fence lines mark the boundaries of land ownership. Land parcels have been passed from one generation to the next and continue to be bought and sold. The boundaries of one’s place are still defined by those original Dominion Land Survey lines now deeply etched into the landscape.

This is my contribution to the exhibition. 

Throughout history, many people have been told where their place is, whether a surveyed plot of land, a designated reservation, a placed they fled to or a legally enforced place of incarceration. 

Some have a long family history of living in one place with the passing of each generation reinforcing their feeling of belonging.

Others travel and respond intuitively to their surroundings sometimes arriving and knowing this is where they belong.

As a geographer, I explored one's connection with the land. The other artists explored very different 'Know Your Place' associations. 

I do hope you can make it to the exhibition and see the works for yourself.

CACSP Community Arts Centre at Tulista Park, 9565 Fifth Street, Sidney

April 11 - 17, 2016

Monday - Friday 10 - 4, Saturday and Sunday 12 - 4  

Backyard Project - Recap and Coping With Winter Rains

It has been so long since I posted on progress on the Backyard Project I'm going to do a quick recap of where things were at in the beginning of November.

The raised studio beds were constructed, filled and planted with spring bulbs.

The 3 hugelkultur beds were constructed and planted with a winter green manure mix.

Soil was laid down for the meadow plants in the flat areas in between.

Here am I planting comfry roots around the base of all 3 hugelkultur beds.

I mulched the studio beds with fallen maple leaves making them ready for the winter.

Tom had excavated and placed the rock for the gravel bed garden.

He had also constructed all of the raised rock garden beds and filled them with logs and soil.

Then the rains kept coming turning the gravel bed garden site into a swimming pool. It served to highlight where we needed to place the French drain.

The areas around the hugelkultur beds got super-saturated. We want the water to accumulate around these beds where the buried logs have the capacity to absorb huge amounts of water but the amount of water showed us how much we have to build up the pathways.

Meanwhile, the raised rock beds soaked up the above average rainfall like a sponge. The rotten logs under the soil are doing their job.

And this is how we left the project until the new year.

Penang's Bikes, Bicycles, Motorbikes......

Bicycles made into street art

Bicycle Sculpture

Family/Tourist Cycle

Returning from the market passing motorbike as street art

Bicycle for going to market each morning

Motorbike carries produce bought at the early morning fresh market

Parking a bicycle in front of a shop on the 5 foot way

A 3-wheeler for carrying BIG loads

Motorbike with added carrying baskets

Modern bicycle with the ubiquitous plastic carry bag

Traditional fortune teller and customer beside a new motorbike

Trishaw taxi

Handy for getting out to the market and back without getting stuck in traffic jams

Reproductions of restored old rickshaws

Motorbike as art

Bike art up high

New and old

Different baskets and trays are attached to motorbikes to carry specific products

Moveable shop - fresh coconut milk and meat for sale

George Town, Penang, Street Art, Malaysia

'Marking George Town started off as a competition initiated by the Penang State Government to physically brand George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2009, an international competition was held aimed at exploring innovative ideas in art and design for public spaces in George Town.'

Cannon Hole

A canon shot fired during the 1867 Penang Riots made a large hole in this area, hence the name. Location: Lebuh Cannon.

'Out of the 40 entries within the country and from abroad, sculptured work triumphed with its design concept of 'voices from the people'.

Bullock Cart Wheel

In the days when your money could be as "big as a bullock cart wheel", this was a popular rest stop for limousines of the time. Location: Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

'Subsequently, 52 unique and humorous illustrations in the form of iron rod sculptures were installed against the city's building walls.'

Double Role Fire! Fire!

'Up until 1909, the police doubled as George Town's firefighters. Location: Gat Lebuh Chulia.'

The fire hose attached to the wall has been incorporated into the understanding of the sculpture.

Quiet Please

'To the dismay of parishioners of the Portuguese church there, Church Street also housed the headquarters of the notorious Ghee Hin secret society. Location: Lebuh Gereja.'

In the hot humid equatorial climate the steel sculptures are aging well and can still be seen clearly while the walls age and develop an attractive patina.

Roti Benggali. Kulit asing?

'Roti Benggali came from the word, 'Penggali' (shareholder' in Tamil). Location: Lebuh King.'

The humour and style remind me of the work of the famous Malaysian cartoonist Lat.

Cheating Husband

Location: Love Lane.

Shadows cast by the art on to the walls at different times of the day add a changing dimension to the works.

High Counter

'The counter of the pawnshop is typically higher for security. Location: Lebuh Camarvon.'

Boy on Chair

'In the George Town Festival 2012, Earnest Zacharevic was commissioned to paint a few murals...Since then, a few other artists have also contributed to the current street art popularity in George Town.'

These murals are popular photo opportunities with people participating making it a tableau vivant, a living picture. 

Old Motorcycle

Location: Lebuh Ah Quee.

Like the chair in the previous mural, the actual motorcycle is real. The art work is titled after the motorcycle but it is the boy that has been painted.

We stayed in the Spices Hotel, an award winning renovated building. A guest, a Russian woman, painted this 2 story mural on the wall beside the stairs up to the second floor

She also painted a portrait of this well known 'street' person. She chose to tuck her under the roots of an ancient tree that has become part of the wall.

Bruce Lee

Location: Lebuh Ah Quee

The picturesque decaying walls are so much part of each mural.

Elizabeth stands beside a mural. I couldn't find out anything about this one. It is just one of so many waiting to be discovered down narrow lanes, on pillars and high up on walls.

There was also more graphic art work.

The work on the left could be considered graffiti in style and purpose.

Sebastian waited by this wall art to make sure I didn't miss it as I tried to take photographs and keep up with the family group.

There is so much to see and do and explore in George Town, all within walking distance.

Each day I had to pick a theme or 2 to focus on otherwise I would have been in a constant state of sensory overload. What a wonderful place.