1/19/2019 0 Comments Make it HappenI have an amazing friend who goes through life expecting that what she wants to happen will happen. For the most part it does. School, family, career, you name it; things fall into place to fit the way she wants them too. But it's not wave your wand say a magic word in quasi latin and poof there it is* magic. It takes hustle and planning and work. Sometimes it takes re-adjusting what she wants to fit in with things beyond her control because life often throws us a curve ball here and there to keep us on our toes. She makes it happen. She's magic and I'm forever grateful to have her in my life. Last year when there were a lot of "what ifs" and scary changes being juggled up in the air, I decided that I was going to take a page from her book. I looked, really really looked at what was going on with my career, my art and my family and decided what was important to me, what I wanted to make happen. Then I took up the Mantra; "It's going to all fall into place". Then I started to work for it. I updated my resume**. I researched the options of whereI could do what I love, looked up who to contact at these places and went to work. Things started to fall into place, mostly because of quantum.*** I hustled, I planned and I got to work, with a little help from my friends and family, because noone is an island. With all of that in place, oppurtunities started to present themselves. I took on a temporary teaching gig at Place Des Arts in Coquitlam. I began talks with the Pacific Autism Family Network about a teaching opportunity in a new program (JET) for adults with special needs and I started to hear back from some of the places I'd applied. It's not been super smooth sailing. there have been long periods of waiting, and adjustments and re-adjusting because of those life thrown curve balls. I've kept my mantra going. The thoughts we put out have energy, even if that energy only affects our own point of view. So I'm teaching one day a week so far with the JET program at PAFN with the option to add more days as the program grows. I'm doing an artist in residence two day workshop at a school in West Vancouver, I'm joining the Shadbold Centre in Burnaby to teach in my community for after school programs. I'm offering mini term sessions at Muckabout Gift Gallery and I'm booked for Spring Break camps and Summer Programing at Place Des Arts in Coquitlam. All these activities will be updated in Classes and workshops on this site as registration becomes available. And with all that I'm still hustling because you have to put the work in to make it happen. *Sometimes there's a little bit of that, because who doesn't enjoy a little magic in their life right? ** note to self, keep that sucker updated as you go from now on. trying to remember where and when I taught specific workshops and classes, showed art and volunteered after x number of years teaching, volunteering, and showing art is exhausting. *** I'm a full on believer in quantum.
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1/3/2019 0 Comments Transition Time2018 is now officially in the past and we're looking forward to the future. Here at Peanut Butter Pie Art, the future as my cousin so hilariously pointed out on facebook is hazy and at the moment and a little uncertain. It's transition time; and change, while ultimately a good thing is a scary and sometimes pain filled activity. Transition time has actually been in the works for a while now; so I'm not standing at the edge dipping my toes in the water unsure of how deep it's going to be or were that big drop is under the surface. I was given a little notice about what was looming, and I've been getting ready so when the shallows drop into the deep I'll be ready to float and swim with the currents. It has been officially announced at Artspace that the center will be closing it's doors this spring. I've had to hold onto that information for awhile. I knew it was coming but it doesn't make the announcement any easier to hear. Artspace gave me a platform to do what I truly love to do; teach and make art with children. I've had the privilge of working with some amazing people there. From my fellow instructors to the administration staff. And the families! As a raging introvert feeling like a part of the community is a huge hurdle. It's not in my nature to cold start a conversation let alone build so many connections on my own. Artspace allowed me a strong foundation to build a framework within my community and i am so glad to know so many people through a connction with Artspace. Getting to know the children and thier grown-ups; seeing familiar faces in a camp lesson or at the begining of a new term, at other events and out in the neighbourhood is so wonderful. As I say goodbye to Artspace this year I know that these relationships are going to continue. I will always be thankful to have been a part of such a fantastic and needed facility. As one door was beginning to close I made it a goal to keep up the get out of the comfort zone that Artspace afforded me and teach in other venues. I've been reaching out to centres, residencies and programs with my curriculum vitae and portfolio. While plans are not completely cemented at the moment and still in flux, some things are falling into place. I've been considering what I really want to do over the last year and I'm putting my full energy into what that is. While there are changes afoot there are some things that are being kept the same. I'm still at Muckabout working two days a week and offering some classes there. I'll be updating the lesson page today. I am still doing my open studio time for advanced independant students. I also have a mini term program; Beyond Basics on Saturday mornings. it's a painting and drawing style program that uses contemporaty and art historical art as inspiration for each weekly project. Each lesson incorporates the elements and principles of art and design and encourages critical thinking and creativity. As with any of the classes available at Muckabout you have the option to choose a date or time that better fits your schedule, simply email Muckabout with a selection of dates and times and we'll work something out. I will be at Place Des Arts in Coquitlam for their spring break camp, having just completed teaching the fall term Drawing and Painting class. I was subbing for one of the regular teachers there and loved the experience. I am also starting a new program with the Pacific Autism Family Network called the JET program. At the moment it's in it's infancy but growing. I will be sharing this work on the gallery page with other student work. I hope your holidays, whatever tradition you follow or not was restful, full of fun and that your new year is full of possibility. 10/8/2018 0 Comments it happened again
8/8/2018 0 Comments Yikes! or what's going onJuly flew by like 5 whole minutes and now it's August and the stirrings of some new beginnings are making themselves felt. It's been a scorcher of a summer here but we're keeping cool with lots to drink and visiting the pool. I've been busy busy this summer with FAT Paint, Mixed media canvas and Mixed media house workshops. On top of that I've taught a week long book making summer camp and am headed into another week long art exploration camp with one day workshops and some birthday celebrations thrown in with one of my favourite regular students: Happy Birthday miss M. Lesson plans are in full swing as well at this time of year. I'm excited for another year of art teaching at Artspace and looking forwards to new opportunities! 7/10/2018 0 Comments not so lazy or hazy daysSummer is here and that old song does not suit at all. I spent the last two and a half weeks attending family weddings and visiting family in between out of province. Both my brother and my nephew tied the knot and I was lucky enough to be able to attend both celebrations. As per usual, we came back with twice as much stuff as we left with and another closet purge is in the cards.
Up next is planning for ArtSpace Summer camps whic are just around the corner a catching up with Muckabout activities. Oh and making art! Our little vacation has me itching to draw and paint. 6/9/2018 0 Comments It's that time of year againTime gets away from me and before I know it I've missed a whole month of updating. I'm taking some second hand advice and skipping the feeling guilty about the laps and getting back on track with new energy. It's been a slam packed month or so, here's what I've been up to. It's been a haze of loaded to do lists and filled appointment book pages. I"m loving the momentum (in between stopping briefy here and there to catch my breath) and want to keep it going once the school schdule slows down a little. The last three years at Artspace we have put together a large scale Musical Theatre Production. I've put in time for these performances creating sets and costuming and this year is an exciting production. It's an original piece created by the Instructor and the Musical Theatre students. I've included some of the play's set and prop list in my classes this term and last term so that the production features not only the performing arts students but also the visual arts and preschool arts students as well. I'm in the last stages of creating the projected pieces that will be onscreen during the performance next weekend. This year I built a newscamera and laptop, neckties, one eyed alien king, lackey and dog headpieces and robot masks with a campfire costume and the screen projections mentioned above. It's a lot of work and I love to do it. On top of the Musical Theatre tasks I volunteered myself to help out with my two small one's school yearbook. I spent a goodd ten hours working on three class layouts. I've also had school workshops on the schedule with more upcoming in the next two weeks. Add to that extra time at Muckabout during the Bee season (it's new Nuc time and many dozens of new bee colonies arrived at Muckabout's partner business BC Bee Supplies last month. The Bees are out and foraging, new hives and queens have been installed and going in and making sure all is well with my hive has been added to my biweekly schedule. I included some furniture painting in there with an ombre finish sideboard and a nautical themed side table. I began cutting my own stencils for FAT Paint projects and made a handful of new signs with those and have sourced more wood slices for my snarky magnets as they are finding new homes quickly. My class schedules are woefully out of date in the calendar. The lessons have been listed are still in effect and you can contact Muckabout to schedule the specialty classes like Stamp carving and Bookbinding to suit your schedule adding a comment ontheir contact page with the class you are interested in. I am looking at some restructuring and class building in my schedule for the summer and autumn months and will update them here as soon as they are finalized with Artspace and Muckabout. I have two weeks blocked off for summer camps at Artspace and drop in programming at Muckabout and hiping to get in soe much needed time in the studio soon. I'm currently working on a shoe dotting class with the DIY Mandela Tools and have some other stand alone workshops in the planning stages . While I'm in the headspace of class building please let me know in the comments what type of programming you'd like to see me do. 4/29/2018 0 Comments Signs
4/22/2018 0 Comments A little (maybe a lot) of sassI'm not sure if it's the looooooong winter weather we've been experienceing but I found myself swearing under my breath a lot over the last month or so.
A lot. My cure for that kind of outburst is laughter or more accuratley a muffled snort gleaned from a snarky or sassy comment. I posted a couple of images in my last post of some magnets I've created with some of the sass I've been enjoying lately. All the magnets are in Muckabout and available to new homes. I've added a few extra and they have made a little bit of a splash in the neighbourhood! A prominant Mommy Blogger found her magnet soon after they were added in the shop and was kind enough to photograph her hashtag waffle magnet on her facebook page. I'm waitng on an order of new wood disks to make more and in the meantime I'm going bigger and making home decor signs with a dash of snarky humour to help the transition from "why is it still so $%$^&*%$ cold" to "Why did I put on so many $%#&(*% layers; I'm melting" Also available are some baby themed signs; because it's not all about the intelligent donky-isms (my word for smart ass). 4/7/2018 0 Comments nothing Like Spring BreakMy small ones look forward to Spring Break every year. It's time for them to rechaerge and rest and time for me to spend a little extra time with them. We managed a handful of us days during our two week break and as always my regualr schedule became welcomely derailed. That means my weekly mini zine project was left at the station and my studio days were a little off the schedule. I'm still in catch up mode as things get back to normal. in the meantime here are some photographs of some of our arty doings I could write a big explanation about our Mend Piece experience but I instead here are some pieces we put together at the Rennie Museum and a few I just liked that were on the shelf. Not pictured here are the trips to the Burnaby Village Museum and the New Media Gallery in the Anvil Centre at New West Minster. We spent a lot of time art making either at Artspace or in the Muckabout Studios. The break while busy was also productive for me. I'm workingon art pieces for the Bee themed Stab Bound book I started in January and I'm working on a soft cover travel journal style book. I created a collection of small shadowbox assemblage pieces that will be great Mother's day, teacher gifts and started a few FAT Paint projects that have been creating buzz online. Here's to getting back on track again. I've got plans and I'm excited about them.
3/10/2018 0 Comments MEnd PieceAs an art student -- years ago one of my favourite art movements of study was the Fluxus movement; an offshoot if the more recognized Dada movement. I loved the absurdity and the poetics of the performances and artworks.
One of the most famous artists from this movement is Yoko Ono; a Japanese feminist, conceptual artist, musician, and peace activist. Her collection of work is eclectic and spans performance, paintings, sculptures, films, and sound works have been shown at renowned isntitutions around the world. Her earlier work consisted of spoken or written instructions; some of these were published in Grapefruit: Cloud Piece: Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in. 1963 Spring The pieces in this publication always struck a chord with me. I'm an avid reader and the word pictures created in these pieces; like Cloud Piece above, a mixture of emotion and satisfaction that have stayed with me for years. Ono has become synonymous with social activism and moving towards peace. Each of her artworks evokes a transformation within the world, the space around the viewer and within the viewer themselves. She asks us to take a moment and switch the filter that we see or think about the world with. Currently at the Rennie Collection here in Vancouver Yoko Ono's Mend Piece is one of these. First conceptualized in 1966 and since revisited many times: the work immerses the visitor in a dream-like state. Viewers enter into an all-white space and are welcomed to take a seat at the table to reassemble fragments of ceramic coffee cups and saucers using the provided twine, tape, and glue. Akin to the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect, Mend Piece encourages the participant to transform broken fragments into an object that prevails its own violent rupture. The mended pieces are then displayed on shelves installed around the room. The contemplative act of mending is intended to promote reparation starting within one’s self and community, and bridge the gap created by violence, hatred, and war. In the words of Yoko Ono herself, “Mend with wisdom, mend with love. It will mend the earth at the same time.” Her works is very much akin to positive visualization and Feminist Magick; working towards a specified outcome with symbolic measures and intention; you do the work within the piece and take it outside within yourself to bring the outcome to fruition. I'm very pleased to be taking an educational tour to this exhibition this week. Our group is a mx of children aged 7-12 and adults. I'm interested to see and hear the thoughts and experiences of each of my guests during and after we experience and take part in the piece. ** the information in this blog entry was found on Wikipedia, The Rennie Collection press release and from Google Images. the rest are my personal observations. |
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