River Spirit Dress

Currently experimenting with fusing plastic. This is a piece for my contribution to the upcoming show Confluence that features the work of all 3 Artists in Residence for Maple Ridge/ Pitt Meadows. Me, Robi Smith and Kat Wahamama. Plastic is kind of an interesting medium.....aside from being a major pollution issue it has just a plain creepy feel.....yet our lives are full....FULL....of it.....seems the perfect medium to explore.

North By Northwest Interview

My interview on North By Northwest The podcast for my interview is up now......so excited by the response.

Wow, its been a busy week. Yesterday I was interviewed by Sheryl Mackay from CBC Radio One about The Community Yurt Project and my personal art practice and the now defunct Textile Arts Program at Cap U. It was lovely having her and Sheila Peacock in the shop it was like a visit with old pals even though I had never met either of them. Then today I was off the the environmental school in Maple Ridge to meet with the principal about the upcoming Wool Processing segment I will be presenting there. What a wonderful glorious school…..kids reading in groups out in the forest amid the mist, a fire going in one of the tents and a homey yurt that is the base of the encampment. What lucky kids to attend such a hub of learning in such a low tech space, watch, these are the kids that will be successful, these are the thinkers, the savers of the planet. I could feel it standing in their presence. Here is a link to the environmental school http://es.sd42.ca/ and another link to CBC North by Northwest https://www.facebook.com/cbcnxnw

Good Heavens......its been years. But.....I'm back....so much has happened, so much has changed. Fresh Start.

bundles

I have so much cloqueing on the go but I had to stop to preserve some summer on cloth.....I think this is a silk cotton blend that got damp in the shed and mildewed.....perfect for bundles.....mordanted in aluminum sulphate.....ladys mantle leaves and flowers, rose petals, and holy hocks with a sprinkling of dried eucalyptis from an old bouquet....now we wait.

Distillation of Techniques

Distillation of techniques....its been on my mind lately. Last term in the textile arts program I spent on product development and really delving in and exploring 2 techniques....the first was working with kozo and the second cloque......how sad that that opportunity will not be available for any more advanced students....I am really grateful for the time that I had in that wonderful creative environment with instructors that give freely of their knowledge but also challenge you to push further and develop your own creative practice....It occurs to me that I have benefited from the distillation of exploration of many textile artists before me as a result of the program....to get to this skill level on your own would take a lifetime of textile experiments.....and I continue on from there.....I am currently making cloques scarves....pushing the technique and discovering what it will do..I have 2 big shows coming up and I am working on designing some signature pieces as well as a basic line of offerings Here are 2 scarves screened with cleanline resist and embellished with singed poly using freeform embroidery......multi process textiles...this is an experiment with a loose weave cotton with a repeating metallic thread in the warp........we shall wait and see how they turn out after being cloqued.

New Theme For Summer

In keeping with the new eco millinery theme for this summer I have ordered some new cards......

It was Crit Day today and here are my new Compostable Hats....

New Product Development

Jumping the gun a bit here........I have been working on a little product development for my current project at school.....Eco Millinery.....you heard it here first....maybe I should copyright the term...... Compostable Garden Hats. I will wait to post a pic of the hats until I get good ones from AV tomorrow.......but here is the hang-tag. Look to see these in my summer shows.

A Collaboration Project for Surface Design Class

The next project due for Surface Design is the collaboration project. I was dreading it.....but.....this is an interesting group of five and we have chosen to make a book. But, not just any book, a fabric book with illustrated fabric pages and we will write the story. It will be a modern day cautionary tale with Rumplestiltskin as a reference. Each of the group members will write a segment and then take that segment and illustrate it in fabric. We will make 6 books total, one for each of us and one for Mary Lou. The first segment of the story written by Monique goes likes this: There once lived an old lady named Gretcha on the small island of Lasquiti, a place where sheep run wild and wool is plenty. She worked day and night crafting woolen sweaters, socks and blankets but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t keep up with her bills. One spring afternoon the taxman came nocking, he wished to cease all her assets, as she did not pay her taxes. Gretcha pleaded with the man “please sir, I own naught but this spinning wheel and old loom”. She began to cry and he pitied her, “well then old lady, in payment, will you weave me anything I desire?” “Yes” she cried, “anything!” then my segment goes like this: As the old lady pondered what she would make for the taxman a thought started dancing through her mind. "A nice warm, winter coat might be highly acceptable", she thought and then something else started to nudge it's way into her consciousness. "OK, so he wants me to make something for him to pay for my taxes. I think he isn't going to keep this gift at all...he's going to sell it to make even more money." That didn't sit well with her, knowing that the wool she was going to have to use was the lustrous long staple fibre from her beloved Wensleydale sheep, Norris. Happy thoughts danced through her mind as she thought about the last skein of wool that was left; treasured for decades fromthe time when as a young girl she had woven spells into the magic garments she made. What she wanted most of all now, was to have some peace from the taxman and to help her neighbours and friends to get some peace also. So she wove the beautiful wool into a garment of many colours. She smiled a crooked smile as she thought about the dye used for the wool..poisonous oak, belladonna and some secret herbs grown only in the forests of Lasquiti . She would give the tax collector his coat and when he put it on the little thorns she had secreted in the fibres would claw at his skin letting the poisons into his blood-stream. He would fall into a long, long sleep from which he would not waken for many, many years. see what I mean, this has turned into a really fun project.....I will post further installments as they come in....

Back at school and back in the groove

A bit of an experiment with silk fusion....some silk noil roving I have had since I dont know when and some silk hankies fused with varathane varnish and shaped on the bucket hat shaper from HATSHAPERS Its so amazing to be back at Cap again.....definitely feeds the soul and is a wonderful balance for the craziness of the rest of my life.

'good' pics of my latest hats

good morning happy bloggers......I thought I would just quickly share the 'good' pics of my latest hats soon to be listed on etsy.

Sunshine Coast Spinners and Weavers Guild.

Before I left the Textile Arts Program at Capilano University I won the Janet Collins memorial scholarship.....memorial being relative as she is still alive and looking quite lovely I might add. Janet and I have had intersecting lives for ages and strangely enough just after a trip to LA to tape a segment on needlefelting for Uncommon Threads we were both diagnosed with Breast Cancer within the same week. Janet is terminal, I am in remission. So winning her scholarship was an emotional experience for me......part of the commitment of that was that I had to give a talk on my progression as an artist and the impact of the program on my work and myself. I was excited to go and to see Janet again....I had to most hysterical drive to horseshoe bay with an overheating car.....but managed to arrive as a foot passenger on the Langdale side relatively unscathed and towing a ginourmous rolling suitcase courtesy of my son. I was met my Janet in her lovely little PT Cruiser and we toodled through the area stopping for a bowl of soup at a place called 'the gumboot' before heading to the meeting. The powerpoint went off without a hitch which in itself was a bit miraculous and the women seemed genuinely interested and I may have had a few converts for the program....lol. My mini trunk show was also well received and between that and an honorarium I left with considerably more than I usually make in a day so no guilt about taking the day off!. We then went back to her house where she gifted me with some precious little treasures from her stash including the perfect finish for a hat I am working on....we finished the day with a lovely dinner with Penny and her husband Jon before Janet returned me to the ferry terminal. There is always the joy of seeing an old friend and a bittersweet sadness of wondering if it will happen again. Life is short and I am reminded again of what is really important. I made the return trip in the crazy car who made it back to my driveway to finally gasp its last breath. In a panic yesterday I managed to procur a van just before it was listed in the local auction with the help of a friend in Merritt.....few stressful,hours running (literally) to the bank, to the auction, to the insurance and then to work.....but, all in all worth it as I am now the proud owner of a post telus dodge caravan with awesome ugly roof rack perfect to hold the tent and the gridwall.......I am positive again that everything happens for a reason. Today I am setting up my outside studio and just settling into my first day off in a month.....coffee first.

Millinery Intensive

The last two weeks have seen me totally immersed in a Millinery Intensive taught by Mitchell McKay as part of the costuming program and Capilano University. It was a wonderful creative experience and I have discovered much to my amazement that I am a latent milliner.....expect to see many more creations....in the meantime until I have Kats do some 'good' pics of my work I have some snaps from the class.

Blog Updates

So.... I have added a few little updates....a workshop page and a shop page and updated the background, its springtime and I felt like an overhaul. Tommorow starts the millinery intensive and I hope to have lots of pictures to share.....one more sleep.

a little disperse experiment

I did a little printing experiment on some fabric that was acquired from Our Social Fabric....worked quite well, now to design something specific for this fabric.

Felting Nature's Lace Workshop

I am offering a workshop at my home on May 19-20th. The cost is $175

Add a fun new textural dimension to your laminate felting by adding natural lace which you will make from Thai Kozo; the inner bark of the mulberry tree. This creates felt with a lovely organic lacey texture which is a bit stiffer than most laminate felt options. This technique really lends itself to 3D projects such as purses and vessels either by sewing or felting with a resist. No previous felting experience necessary just bring your enthusiasm and creative sense of adventure. The $175 fee includes 2 days of felting fun, kozo and wool included. There will be a list of things to bring. I am asking for a $50 deposit to confirm your space. $50 Deposit

Countdown to the Art For Fashion Show

The Art For Fashion Show is this Sunday at the Seymour Art Gallery from noon til 4......Come and see all the great stuff! And on that note I am tagging inventory like a loon but also because time marches on, I am also dyeing fibre for my Jerusalem The City Of Peace And Gold entry......practicing good time management (actually its more like over whelming ADHD but we wont mention that).

oh and a sneak peak at another top in the making......dont forget.....Sunday at noon, Seymour Art Gallery in Deep Cove, be there or be square.