Driving and thinking

The art tour is over and so I was able to put my books and drawing supplies in the car and drive to Kingston to visit my father for a few days. It's a long drive but I love the solitude of it as it gives me time to think. I get ideas while driving and jot them into my journal propped on the passanger seat.
Secret Garden was purchased during the tour.

other things that didn't happen

"A lie is when you say something happened which didn't happen. But there is only ever one thing which happened at a particular time and a particular place. And there are an infinite number of things which didn't happen at that time and place. And if I think about something which didn't happen, I start thinking about all the other things that didn't happen." Mark Haddon, from his book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

The Language of Art History

Iconology: the study of visual images

Icon: an image that possess a specific literary meaning.

The Frame: a term used by the Fench Philosopher, Jaques Derrida. What is external?
What is internal? How far are we able to interpret anything?

Discourse: a term used by the French philosopher, Michel Foucault. There are so many competing statements concerning the truth that there is no absolute truth.

Structuralism: the ingredients in the picture are treated as signs for something outside the picture. They present a narrative structure.

The signifier: the image in the canvas.

The signified: the meaning it carries. The mood we might feel when we look at a painting relates to something we know that is not inside the painting, but comes instead from our own life.

History of Art: a students handbook by Marcia Pointon (simplified by moi)

Celebrate Craft: a contemporary craft mosaic

Across Canada, 2007 is the year of craft. Proposed and publicized by the Canadian Craft Federation, the year will be built around ongoing and special activities of the craft councils, associations, and guilds nationwide who join forces in a celebration of craft. The Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador begins their year with a national juried exhibition of fine craft in all mediums that will present a broad and varied view of function, material, technique and aesthetic. Reflections of personal stories and places that build a mosaic of Canada, Canadians, and craft will be presented. The dates and location: January 28 to March 9, 2007 at the gallery of the Craft Council in St John's. I'm very happy that my velvet journal: secret garden embroidery will be part of this show.

secret garden

Each piece I make offers up clues.

Velvet Journal: Secret Garden

There’s the inner self and there’s the self one presents to the world. This piece is made with the English method of folding fabrics over papers and then whip stitching them together.

The cloth side is formal and decorated while the other (inner) side is intimate and a little wild.

Velvet Journal is included in Award Winners 2006, an exhibition that will be at the Ontario Craft Council gallery in Toronto all summer. I am very thankful for my award and plan to apply it towards my OPUS tuition.

A small spot of blood

The mailman delivered Velvet Journal: Secret Garden to me this morning. Included in the package was the catalog of the National Juried quilt show that was part of the recent Quilt Canada conference held last week in Ottawa. I didn't attend and so was pleased to receive the beautiful catalog. There were so many striking pieces. Secret Garden was included in the "small innovative" category. Valerie Hearder chose it for her judge's award.