Canvas to the Imagination

For the month of March my altered books will be hanging on the walls of local starup tech company Bootup Labs, located in the newly renovated Flack Block on the edge of Gastown. I kind of miss having them around our apartment but it’s nice not to have them covering every single surface and hanging on most of the walls. (Yes I want a studio.)

On the evening of Wednesday March 3rd from 6:30pm to 9pm, I’ll be holding an artist reception to showcase the altered books. I invite you to come on by to see the work and say hi. There is a Facebook event page if you’d like to RSVP.

As a side note, half of the books have already been sold, which is very exciting news. Two of the books have been purchased by AdHack and will be awarded as prizes in their Olympic Ad photo competition which ends tomorrow.

Little Stories: Transforming the Book, artist reception
Wednesday March 3rd, 2010 – 6:30 to 9pm
Location: Bootup Labs offices
The Flack Block
Suite 200 – 163 West Hastings Street at Cambie
Vancouver BC

I bought the four little old men made of clay on an impulse back in the fall. I was killing time in one of those everything-and-the-kitchen-sink Asian shops one rainy day, and decided to look for tea cups to use in an altered book. I found the tea cups and decided little clay men would be a good purchase as well. Last week when I began brainstorming ideas for a new altered book I brought them out and decided I needed to make them a cherry tree to sit under.

The little men are slightly set into the book, which is the least noticeable part, but took me a few hours to cut the four niches into the pages. The blossom flowers were made by using a paper punch and then stringing them together with a needle and thread. I used origami paper for both the flowers and the lovely blue background. The tree trunk is a rolled up page within the book with ink rubber stamped to create bark texture.

Materials used: book, origami paper, clay figures, rubber stamp and ink, and lots of glue.

I’ve fallen a bit off track with my portrait series the last few weeks because I’ve been very focused on other things. It’s also been tricky scheduling people during the Olympic craziness. This portrait features Andrea and was taken towards the end of January.

I bought three large pieces of transparent fabrics from Dressew in different colours to use as props for this shoot (and beyond). It was fun to figure out different ways to use them in the portrait, and I especially loved getting Andrea to move the fabric to create swirling bits of colour around herself. It was a hilarious part of the shoot, but the results are beautiful.