Please join me for the opening reception this Thursday January 5th, from 7 to 9pm. As part of the evening’s events I will be giving a short artist talk about my work in the Atrium at 7:30pm. Public speaking isn’t my favorite thing to do, so your moral support would be greatly appreciated.

Also opening on January 5th at Place des Arts, Expansions by Karin Vengshoel, and When Imagination Meets Clay… by Kwai Sang Wong.

Directions to Place des Arts:
Drivers can use exit 40B on Highway #1 then proceed east on Brunette Avenue.

Transit users can get to Place des Arts by taking bus 153 or 156 from Braid Skytrain Station or bus 157 from Lougheed Town Centre.

Opening Reception: January 5th, 7pm to 9pm
Dates: January 5th to January 28th, 2012
Location: Place des Arts
Address: 1120 Brunette Avenue (Google Maps Link), Coquitlam BC V3K 1G2

It’s a great series of interviews where each person shares projects they’re working on, and a glimpse into their lives. I had fun putting mine together – especially when it came to choosing the photos to include with the interview.

You can read the whole thing on Vancouver Is Awesome.

The interview was just published today and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I’m happy with what I’ve written, and Donnaville wrote many lovely comments about my work.

Go check out the interview on Discover Paper.

This Saturday I’ll be folding the pages of books into new configurations as the featured artist-in-the-window at Bird on a Wire Creations on Main Street. I’ll be in there working away from 11am to 4pm, so if you haven’t yet had the chance to visit this lovely little shop, now’s your chance.

As with last time, chocolate is always appreciated.

Artist Window
11am to 4pm, September 24th, 2011
Bird on a Wire Creations
2535 Main Street, between Broadway & 10th
Vancouver BC

Making It! explores the professional experiences of various artists through interview and panel discussions. The book examines business practices that have significantly contributed to the development of visual artists’ careers. Chris will deliver a short presentation and be on hand to sign copies of his book and answer questions.

I am one of the artists he interviewed for the book, and I feel honoured to have been included. I met with Chris twice last year, once as part of a panel of artists, and then again for a one-on-one interview. It’s great to see all of his hard work come together in print form. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

Date: Thursday, July 28, 2011
Time: 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Location: Opus Granville Island
1360 Johnston Street, Vancouver BC

As you may know I was working full time as an artist for more than a year and in March I decided it was time to look for a part time job to support myself. I wrote a blog post about what I was looking for, put it out into the world through social media channels, and back came an opportunity to work with Foodtree.

Foodtree is an internet startup based out of Gastown in Vancouver. The basic concept of what we do is connect people with where their food comes from through web and mobile applications. Our goal is complete transparency in the food system, and our company motto is, “Know More. Eat Better.” The company was founded by Anthony Nicalo and Derek Shanahan, two awesome people who want to make a difference in the world and it all starts with food.

I’ve been working with Foodtree on a part-time basis since mid-April with the title of “Community Techknowledgartist” and responsibilities of supporting Derek as Community Manager. After the initial thrill and excitement about the job wore off I began struggling with what I was doing there and felt unsure about what I had to offer the company.

You see, Anthony is the kind of team leader/employer who gives you a role but leaves it up to you to define it, and that’s not an easy thing to do. There is no time for hand holding in a startup because it’s a fast paced environment, and it’s the responsibility of every person there to move the mission forward. You’re no longer an “employee” but a member of a team. I’ve never ever worked in an environment where I felt so empowered to perform the function I was hired to do. Or at least now I do after our retreat on Saltspring Island.

The retreat came just at the right time after a crazy couple of months of rebranding the company, refining the company’s mission, launching an iphone app, and new people joining Foodtree. I think we all left for Saltspring feeling uncertain about what we were in for, and came back from a very memorable experience that helped bring us closer together.

We spent the three days at Foxglove Farm with a group of facilitators who helped guide us through the process of clarifying the mission and developing our team. It was the first opportunity I’ve had to really get to know everyone and I couldn’t be more impressed by the intelligent, articulate, and amazing group of people I get to work with at Foodtree. The experience taught me that I belong there and that I do have many strengths/skills/ideas to offer our organization. This makes me happy.

The retreat was a huge investment of time, energy, and money by Anthony and Derek in the group of people they’ve brought together.

I’ve never experienced that level of investment from an employer. It demonstrates how much our team leaders value and regard the individual members of our group, and the importance of the role each plays in moving forward with our mission at Foodtree.

I’m very grateful to both Anthony and Derek for including me in the further development of Foodtree. It definitely feels like being a part of something special.

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire is a two-day celebration of making and creating. It’s an all-ages family festival promoting the ethos of DIY on a large scale. I will be on site for the full weekend demonstrating and sharing how to make altered books, and paper cut work.

Due to limitations of space and time at the Faire, I will not be teaching a full workshop but if you bring an old book with you I’d be happy to work one-on-one to demonstrate the techniques I use in creating altered books.

From the Maker Faire web site:
Maker culture grew out of the DIY movement and is based on the principle that ordinary people, given access to knowledge, skills and technology, can and will create extraordinary things. A maker can be any person or group who invents, designs, and/or builds objects or information systems with the goal of learning, teaching, inspiring or improving the state of the world.

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire will take you through an inspiring, energetic and captivating range of exhibits, including workshops, performances, displays, and a speaker series. Some of the features include pyrotechnics, kinetic sculptures, interactive musical installations, and 3d printers that can print themselves. Interaction booths stationed throughout will centre around education: teaching people how to complete a circuit, spin wool, or smoke bacon!

Vancouver Maker Faire
Dates: Saturday June 25th & Sunday June 26th
Hours: 10 am to 5 pm both days
Location: 555 Great Northern Way
Vancouver BC V5T 1E2
Google Map

Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance through eventbrite »

I was at Seymour Art Gallery this morning to drop off my work and meet with the other artists. It’s really wonderful to see everyone’s work together after months of working away on our own.

I took a few photos after everyone unwrapped their work. This is one of those rare occasions where I don’t have to hang the show myself and can leave it in the hands of the gallery.

I’m excited to see everything hanging together on the gallery walls tomorrow.

I am one of the four participating artists in the exhibition, and I will be premiering the fairy tale altered books I’ve been working on for the last few months. The show is only one week long, but there are two opportunities to visit the gallery and meet the artists during that time.

Artists:
Cynthia Nugent, paintings & automata, Robi Smith, drawings & paintings, Kirsti Wakelin, illustration, and Rachael Ashe, altered books & collage.

Opening Reception:
Date: Tuesday June 7, 7 – 9 pm
Meet the artists, enjoy a ‘remixed’ fairytale reading, and eat your way through a magical fairytale-inspired food display.

Afternoon Celebration:
Date: Sunday June 12, 1–4 pm
We invite you to come dressed as a fairytale character to meet the artists and hear them speak about their work. Nika Vaughan, an artist specializing in face painting, will be on hand to help transform you into your favourite fairytale character or animal. Puppeteers Sandy Buck and Chad Hershler will also be at the gallery to perform their version of Oscar Wilde’s “The Birthday of the Infanta”.

Fairy Tales ReMixed
Date: June 7th to 12th, 2011
Seymour Art Gallery
4360 Gallant Avenue
North Vancouver BC
In the heart of Deep Cove.

There is an event page on Facebook if you would like to RSVP »

Friends dropped by at different intervals to visit, and the chocolate I’d jokingly requested in my newsletter arrived in various forms (bacon chocolate chip cookies from Lauren!) It was a good window for Main Street people watching, and all the sunshine was glorious.

My table top setup at the store with work-in-progress book.

I’ll be back in the window at Bird on a Wire Creations at some point in the summer. In the meantime go visit the shop for all the lovely handmade items they carry. It was all I could do not to shop while I was there because there is so much tempting stuff I’d love to have.

For part of the day tomorrow I’ll be demoing my altered book work as the featured artist-in-the-window at Bird on a Wire Creations on Main Street. It’s a cozy little shop filled with lovely handmade and local items, so come on by for a visit and plan to stay awhile. I’ll be in the window working away on my latest altered book from 11am to 4pm. I’m hoping to bring some of the recent Fairy Tale altered books I haven’t yet shared publicly.

Please come see me and be sure to bring chocolate.

Artist Window
11am to 4pm, April 16th, 2011
Bird on a Wire Creations
2535 Main Street, between Broadway & 10th
Vancouver BC

Awhile ago I read an excellent blog post about artists as employees, written by Chris Ashworth. The title of his post was, “My competitive advantage: I hire artists“, and in it he explains his hiring of an artist and the huge difference this made to his company. For the full story you should really go read it, but there are a few points I’ll highlight here because it got me thinking about what I’d like to see from a future employer.

Chris makes the statement, “Artists, as a species, are amazing people… Show me a good artist and I will show you a highly educated, highly creative, highly passionate, highly driven human being.” There’s more to the statement but the point of it is this: isn’t the kind of person described above exactly the kind you’d want to have as an employee? And as Chris says, all an employer needs to do is not destroy the whole reason you want to hire an artist. You do this by creating a job custom built to support their passion. Artists need flexible schedules and a base amount of money to keep doing what they do, and neither of these things are easy to find. All this segue’s nicely into talking about the next steps in my own art career.

I am just over a year into working full time as an artist, and while I have seen many tangible successes from this total commitment to my art, the most important thing I lack is a source of steady income. I dove into this phase of my life knowing I was taking a huge risk stepping away from a regular paycheck, but I really wanted to work on developing my career as an artist full time. The last many months have been very educational in building this artistic career, and I’ve figured out many of the pieces to make it work for me. I’ve always envisioned part-time employment as part of the plan and have taken my time to carefully consider exactly what I want from my next job. Most importantly I need an employer willing to embrace the fact that I’m an artist and view this as an asset to their company.

What exactly am I looking for in a job? Let me lay it out for you:

• Working closely with a small team of people, or in general interacting with people (potential customers, current clients, contractors, etc.)
• A flexible schedule in days/work hours, aiming for a slightly more than half time position
• The option to work from home – I’d love to connect with people locally in Vancouver, but am setup to work remotely
• I thrive on variety in the tasks I tackle, and am good at context switching to focus on what needs doing
• Earning a living to cover both basic expenses and support my art practice

What I have to offer:

• Skilled user of social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, & Blogs
• Experienced with multiple CMS platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, ExpressionEngine, and Drupal
• Producer of a monthly newsletter using Mailchimp, and able to steadily increase readership
• In general, very comfortable with web apps & tools, from Harvest for time tracking & invoicing to Basecamp for project management and client communications
• Creator of compelling content in both written and visual form
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong computer skills, working with both Mac and Windows platforms, using a variety of tools from Photoshop to Word
• Self motivated and able to work independently to achieve deadlines
• A team player interested in maintaining an enjoyable & supportive work environment

I’ve worked for a number of technology- and web-related businesses in the past, handling a number of tasks around project management, marketing, basic accounting, and office management.

Ideally, I’m looking for a position with what I can best describe as a creative technology company. Or perhaps a company that wants to use technology creatively.

The non-profit space interests me as well (especially if arts related), but I’d be looking for a fit with an organization that wants to evolve its use of the web and technology on both the marketing and internal process fronts. Translation: rather than an office paper shuffler, I’d want to help your organization better adopt the use of technology to accomplish your mission.

Please view my profile on LinkedIn for the full description of my employment experience. Contact me by email rkashe (at) gmail (dot) com, or by phone at (604).787.9237.

So do you want to hire an artist or know of an organization where I’d be a good fit? I would appreciate you spreading the word about this post. You can easily re-share or “like” this on Facebook as well.

Last month my friend Val Arntzen kicked off a series of open studio days happening on the first Saturday of the next few months until June. March 5th is the next date, and myself and a few other artists will be joining in by opening our own studios (or home in my case) for a mini studio tour through East Van.

Please drop in and join me. I’ll be serving tea, and perhaps something yummy for you to try. I’ll also be showing people how to make paper flowers. The 2011 yellow pages recently arrived and it’s crying out to be made into something else.

First Saturday Open Studios
Date: SATURDAY, MARCH 5th, 2011
Time: 12pm to 5pm
My Address: 1660 East Georgia Street
Studio Tour Map (for March 5th Only)

Participating studios:
Valerie Artnzen at AMP: 800 Keefer St. (at Hawks)
Assemblage & Photography

Robi Smith at Blue Lantern Studio: 1218 East Pender St. (near Clark)
Painting & Collage

Hungry Thumbs Studio: 223 Main Street (near Powell)
Glass, Sculpture, & Assemblage

Our apartment transformed beautifully into a cozy little gallery space. The living and dining rooms were open to the public and filled with artwork while the back hallway, bedrooms, and bathroom were not accessible. I set up a table in the hallway to block the way and created an installation of paper snowflakes as a point of interest that also acted as barrier to places I didn’t want people going into. The snowflakes are made of individual dictionary pages cut into shape and glued together. It was a last minute crazy-person project I decided to do the day before the Crawl.

I cleared out most of our furniture and clutter to create an open space for people to walk through easily. The living room walls were hung with altered books, with the wooden animal series along one wall, and an eclectic mix of altered books on the opposite wall. I also had a small table full of lower priced items, such as cradle frame collages, small metal prints, and postcard sets.

In the dining room I set up my installation work. The Tree of [Un]common Knowledge was against the back wall with an improvised light made from a bare lightbulb housed carefully in an arrangement of books. I set this up so the lighting cast interesting shadows on the wall above the tree.

The Forgotten Knowledge series of books was set up on a table arranged in a circle with the paper flowers on top. People found both of these projects fascinating, and it was great when someone recognized these works either from Container Art or the CreativeMix Conference where they’d separately each been previously shown.

The remaining walls were hung with large metal prints and the few altered books I couldn’t fit in the living room. It was a wide variety of work for people to see and gave us much to talk about explaining the ideas or process behind each one. Every item (except the installation work) was clearly marked with a price, and I had business cards placed around the room for people to grab. I also posted by the front door a printed copy of articles featuring my work in both the Georgia Straight and The Province.

I had a really good experience for my first ever time as a participating artist on the Culture Crawl. I was told not to expect too much but I surpassed even the lowest expectations I did have. Almost three hundred people came through my apartment over the course of the weekend, which is really good for someone unknown and slightly off the beaten path of the rest of the Crawl. I sold two altered books, two collages, three metal prints, countless postcard sets, and had many new people sign up for my mailing list. I also had wonderful feedback from people and many a good conversation about art and books. I feel very lucky things went so well, and I hope to do it again next year. (I’m pretty sure Boris and I will recover by then).

I started this blog post with a thank you and must end it the same way, because I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the people who support me.

Thank you to Horst and Anne for bringing food throughout the weekend and helping out. Thank you to James and Monique for whisking us away at the end of Saturday for a delicious home cooked meal and a relaxing evening after a crazy day. Thank you to Jess and Stewart for helping me keep count and letting people into the building on Saturday. Thank you to Kai for keeping count on Sunday, and to Ariane for bringing me a bag full of snacks on Saturday.

Thank you to so many of our other friends for taking time on a very busy weekend to drop in to see the show. It was wonderful to have everyone here, and I’m very grateful for the kindness and support.

For the Crawl, artists tidy their studios, sweep away the sawdust, scrape away the clay and present their work in a finished state, with usually just a few clues as to how the pieces unfolded. But the work you see is the result of untold hours of focused work and countless moments of problem solving: hitting a wall and persevering, and often of large financial investment. Of course, finished work is what we are striving for but for many artists, the process is where the “art” actually lies. Everyone else gets just part of the story in the form of the final piece.

For this show, as a preview presentation for this year’s 14th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl, curator Alex Henderson has decided to take the idea of the ‘preview’ in a more literal sense by showcasing the process behind some the works you will see in the studios. This is a rare opportunity to see the prototypes, the sketches books and the works in progress that reveal a little more of the story of art and artists in our community.

Process & Intent: The Making of Art
Featuring the work of 15 artists working in a range of media
The Cultch
1895 Venables Street, Vancouver. BC
Dates: November 10th to the 28th, 2010
Hours: Mon to Fri, 12-6pm. Saturday, 12-4pm, and always open 1 hour prior to scheduled performances.
Opening night is November 21st at 7pm.

The exhibition features handmade and altered books with movable parts and pop-ups. If you can’t make it in person, then check out the online catalogue. There’s lots of amazing work in the show.

Pop-Up Now!
23 Sandy Gallery
623 NE 23rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97232
Hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Noon to 6:00 p.m

I’m really happy with the selection of images that have been included in the showcase. Featured here are photos taken with a holga, Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim, polaroid, and a P-Sharan pinhole camera.

There is an exhibition catalogue available for purchase online, and you can view photos of the selected work on flickr.

(e)motive
August 28th to September 24th, 2010
Artworks-mk
Great Linford Arts Workshop, Parklands,
Great Linford, Milton Keynes,
MK14 5DZ, UK

On the very same day the cheque arrived I had another piece of good news I’d been waiting for. I received an email from the organizers of the Container Art show letting me know I’d been chosen as one of the twelve participating artists. What is the Container Art show you might ask? It’s a bit of a traveling art show which uses empty shipping containers as the venue for artists to create site specific work in a variety of mediums. There have been Container Art shows in Rome, New York, Jerusalem, Milano, etc., and this is the second year this will be done on site at the PNE grounds.

The project I am putting together for this show is book based. As mentioned in my monthly newsletter, and a previous blog post, I’ll be working with twenty-five volumes of a set of encyclopedias and combining these with found objects. At the moment I only have five of the twenty-five completed and about a month left until the date of installation, but I am so excited to be in this show. It’s an incredible opportunity for me and it’s been just the right motivation I needed to try something on a larger scale than my previous work.

Stay tuned as I work my way through to the end of this project, and please do come and see it at the PNE in August.

Chytomo: Can you tell us something about your first experience of altered book creation? Why did you begin to transform already published books?

RA: I started thinking about using books to create artwork in 2007, when I saw the work of Timothy Karpinski in Portland. He had painted his illustration onto the pages of old books, and I loved the idea. I was inspired and decided to apply the idea using photos, as my work at the time was primarily photography. This led to experimentation using inkjet image transfer paper to print my photographs within the pages of books. But the image transfer process didn’t mix well with the aged and brittle paper of book pages, so I left this idea on hold until I felt I had the right tools to create work in the way I envisioned.

In late 2007 I began to work in mixed media collage and spent the next two years developing a feel for techniques. My primary medium has always been film photography but as I worked more with a digital format I craved the satisfaction of creating work “hands-on”. In September 2009 I came across a wonderful book called, “New Directions in Altered Books” and suddenly my long neglected desire to work with books was reignited. It opened up a whole new world of artistic possibilities for me, and creating collage in three dimensions.

Chytomo: I haven’t noticed you to use the term “artbook”. I am right? Іs it because of another meaning of your artworks? what means “altered book”? (maybe, I have difficulties with translation? is it your own definition?)

RA: I use the term “altered book” because I take existing books and alter them to create my artwork, rather than making the book itself. It’s not my own definition.

Chytomo: The material for your artworks are the old books. And what the source of inspiration?

RA: There are two different ways I approach creating an altered book. Sometimes I want to experiment with a particular way of altering the book, for example a way of folding the pages or cutting into the book. Another source of inspiration are the objects or materials I have on hand. In the case of the few books I’ve created using wooden toy animals i was very much inspired to create an appropriate home for them.

Chytomo: And why such kind of material? Do you think the traditional kinds of materials have a limited abilities of expression? It seemed to have more social sense?

RA: I tend to use whatever I can find, either in stores or coming across items while wandering around outside. I am self-taught in these techniques so I don’t have any pre-conceived ideas of how I should be doing this or what materials I should be using. I think with collage pretty much anything can be used as a material.

Chytomo: What are the prefered techniques in this artwork?

RA: Because I’ve only been making altered books for about ten months I don’t yet have a preferred technique for how to approach making them. I try to experiment as much as possible because there are so many different things I can do to books.

Chytomo: How much does it take to create such kind of book and how many books had been already created?

RA: It takes me somewhere between 8 to 10 hours to create an altered book. The time varies depending upon what I’m trying to make. I have made nineteen altered books to date.

Chytomo: Is there any connection between the book content and further artwork?

RA: The content of the books I’ve chosen so far have nothing to do with the compositions I create within their pages. I try not to pay too much attention to what the book is about.

Chytomo: Do you have some favourite authors to work with?

RA: Not for making the altered books, but I do for reading.

Chytomo: Do you use only old books? Is it because the modern literature can’t inspire?

RA: Most of the books are old but this is more because older books were made with a stitched binding. Modern books are more often put together with a glued binding and this limits what I can do with the book because it’s more fragile.

Chytomo: Do you like to read? What are your favourite books?

RA: I do love to read. Some of my favorite books that I’ve read recently are, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle”, and “The Gargoyle”.

Chytomo: Is it your main job? Or it is just something like hobby?

RA: At the moment I am concentrating full-time on working as an artist. I was working for a web design company here in Vancouver, but decided to take a break from working for someone else to concentrate on my art.

Chytomo: What the average price of your altered book? Is it possible to order it from Ukraine? In what way?

RA: Some of the altered books are available online in my etsy shop. The average price is $500 USD.

Chytomo: Can you name anybody, who creates such kind of books and has a big “artbook name”?

RA: There are quite a few artists I’ve come across since I’ve started doing this who also work with books:
Brian Dettmer’s book autopsies, Georgia Russell slashes and cuts books, and Su Blackwell creates lovely dioramas in books.

Chytomo: Can you say something about Ukrainian books or artbooks?

RA: I’m not familiar with any Ukranian books or artbooks, but I’ve always admired Ukranian pattern design.

Many thanks to Ira and Oksana for interviewing me. I would love to do more interviews like this by email or in person, because it’s good practice for talking about my work. (This is a hint to let me know if you think of any such opportunities.)

I had a crisis later in the evening wondering what the hell I am doing, why I’m doing it, and should I even keep bothering. The answer to the last question is YES YES YES because this is something I love to do and I’m doing it because it makes me happy. Maybe I’ll just avoid group shows in future because too often I don’t get enough out of them other than something to put on my resume, and I already have enough of those.

Below is part of the submission I put together for Eco Madness. I had proposed four of the Imaginary Girl nature themed portraits and two were accepted into the show. At the very least it was an interesting exercise in writing down thoughts I’ve had around some of these portraits. The image below is a mock up of how I wanted to hang the grouping of four images.

Artist Statement:
My nature themed photos are a small grouping of images within a larger portrait series of women titled, “Imaginary Girl”. My intent when using natural settings is to convey a strong connection between the human subject and the environment. It is as if they are woodland creatures peering between the leaves that frame them. The women are fully integrated into the natural setting rather than merely using it as a backdrop. The idea is that nature is a place of nurture for human beings as it is for every other living creature. It is a place to slow down and clear one’s head, to recharge and become centered, and to take shelter.

I know I am made from this earth,
as my mother’s hands were made from this earth,
as her dream came from this earth and all that I know, I know in this earth…
and I long to tell you,
you who are earth too,
and listen as we speak to each other of what we know:
the light is in us.

~ Susan Griffin

Since the altered books have returned home from the show at Art Space Vancouver, I’d been going back and forth about whether or not to list this work on Etsy. I was questioning if there is an audience for them there, whether a craft-focused site was the right fit for this type of work, and had my doubts about people purchasing work from Etsy that is of a higher price point. But it makes sense to have them there because I need to let people know they are for sale and it’s the simplest tool in which to do this. I’ve sold six of these books but I need to reach a wider audience of buyers.

I decided to rephotograph each book for listing on Etsy, to show different angles and how they look framed. I used studio lights instead of the on-camera flash I typically use when I document work for posting to Flickr and my blog. I realized as I did all this how amazingly simple the whole process of documenting artwork has become thanks to digital photography. I had the first few books on Etsy in a matter of hours, which is pretty damn awesome.

I’ve been extremely well organized about documenting the altered book work as I go along, and as I was creating the listings on Etsy I realized how valuable this is to treating my art as a business. I photograph and blog about them as soon as one is finished, and I also track them in an inventory spreadsheet in Google docs. Having so much information already on hand and online made it incredibly easy to put together the listing description and (voilà!) have new work listed for sale in an efficient fashion. It really pays off to be an organized artist, which is something that has taken me a really long time to learn.

As a side note, I’ve just started sending out a monthly newsletter with updates about upcoming exhibitions (my own and others) and new work. You can subscribe here, and I promise to keep things fun.

In an unexpected turn of events I now have two art shows up at the same time, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

A few weeks ago I had an email from the Granville Island Cultural Society wanting to confirm the load in date of my show at Waterfront Theatre. I was taken aback because when last I’d been in touch with them regarding this particular show it was supposed to be rescheduled for another time because nothing was booked in the theatre space. To give a bit of backstory, I’d applied and been accepted in early 2009 to show my work at Waterfront Theatre in 2010 from the beginning of March to mid-April. When I’d followed up in September of last year to start preparing for the show I was told the theatre wasn’t yet booked for the time period of my show which meant no one would be in the space to see my work. I was disappointed but I decided to reschedule for another time rather than having a show in a space no one would be visiting.

Fast forward to two weeks ago and colour me surprised (and pleased!) because the show is still on afterall. The timing couldn’t be better because I am now a full time artist and getting more work out into the world is a good thing.

Luckily I’ve had a very productive period of art work creation over the last few years and I had a show on hand that was ready to go in the very short amount of time I had to prepare. In my application for Waterfront Theatre I had proposed to show the metal prints because at the time it was the most consistent body of work I had. Even though I had originally intended to create new work for this show I’m not disappointed. I’ve always wanted to show the large scale metal prints again and not just have them gathering dust in storage.

I’ll be having an artist reception towards the end of March, and will post details here once the date is confirmed. Boris has a few photos up of the work hanging in Waterfront Theatre.

Trees I have Dreamed
March 1st to April 11th, 2010
Waterfront Theatre, Granville Island
1412 Cartwright Street
Vancouver BC

Since I’m on a mission to try new things with my art, I thought I’d put out a public call for feedback on the artist statement I’ve been working on for my altered books. Normally when I do this sort of thing I send it to friends for review and editing, but since this is for a wider audience anyway I’m happy to have everyone/anyone read it.

Please read it over and leave me a comment (if you’re reading this on Facebook, please come to my blog). I’d love to hear from you. The full set of the altered books can be found on Flickr.

About the Artist:
I am a Vancouver-based artist working in photography, mixed media collage, and altered book arts. My work is motivated by a need to experiment with different techniques and styles, as well as to explore the spontaneous ideas that come from the visual inspiration of nature, found objects, and connecting with the work of other artists. I love to play with my artwork and I use a strong sense of colour and striking compositions to create imagery that is personal and expresses my love of nature and imagination. I am inspired by the natural world, bright colours, and by finding magic in every day life. My work has been shown in Toronto, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco as well as published in numerous books and magazines.

About the Altered Books:
In 2007 I attended an art event in Portland called Mississippi May featuring the work of local emerging artists. My favorite works in the show were the magical illustrations of Timothy Karpinski, which he’d painted onto the pages of old books. I loved this idea because I’d never seen books used as a canvas before, and the illustrations created their own story against the backdrop of the page. I was inspired and decided to apply the idea using photos, as my work at the time was primarily photography. This led to experimentation using inkjet image transfer paper to print my photographs within the pages of books. I was never quite happy with the results because the image transfer process didn’t mix well with the aged and brittle paper of book pages. My book arts ideas went on the backburner because I felt I didn’t yet have the right tools to create work in the way I envisioned.

In late 2007 I began to work in mixed media collage and spent the next two years developing a feel for techniques. My primary medium has always been film photography but as I worked more with a digital format I craved the satisfaction of creating work “hands-on”. In September 2009 I came across a wonderful book called, “New Directions in Altered Books” and suddenly my long neglected desire to work with books was reignited. It opened up a whole new world of artistic possibilities for me, and creating collage in three dimensions.

Creating altered book art is as much about the process as it is about experimenting with the materials I’ve used to create each work. I often start with a rough idea of something I wish to explore which can be inspired by the objects or materials I have on hand, or by ways in which I want to alter the pages of the book itself through cutting, folding, etc. The composition and material choices for each book evolves as I work on them, often over several days. Every altered book I complete is a handmade original creation, and I’m addicted to making them.

(Thank you for reading and leaving a comment if you choose).

(Edit: As was bound to happen, I’ve already started editing since posting this earlier today…)

Remember back in November when I wrote about attending the Hot One Inch Action show? I’d submit work to it but wasn’t accepted. Well good news! The organizers of the event, Chris Bentzen and Jim Hoehnle, have decided to do a medalist round selecting work from designs that didn’t make it into previous shows, and mine was chosen. Dude, I am so excited!!!!

From their website:

Ever wonder what doesn’t make it into the show? We have a difficult time choosing buttons to be in Hot One Inch Action and with 100-150 submissions each year, there’s a lot of great art that doesn’t make the cut. So, to kick off 2010, we’ve chosen 50 buttons not in the 2004-2009 shows to be MEDALISTS. Bags of 5 random buttons will be available for $5. Get a button you don’t want? Trade with the people around you!

The exhibit is one night only and will take place on Saturday February 6, 2010, with doors open at 8pm. Boris and I will be there, and I’ll have a bag of buttons featuring my design to give away and trade. I can’t wait.

Hot One Inch Action Medalists
W2 Culture + Media House – 112 W Hastings Vancouver
Saturday February 6, 2010
doors open at 8pm