Stitching?

Last Saturday, while the family went to the market for Mother's Day dinner ingredients, I was dropped off on Queen Street and had a lovely hour walk stopping in at the amazing art galleries all along that trendy street.

David Kaye Gallery was one of my stops.

Coming from a textile background himself (weaving) he selects interesting textile artwork for his space. He does feature other art mediums. I stop in there regularly.

This piece caught my eye.

detail, Icarus No.11
2012
mixed media on aluminum
by Donald Andrus

It reminded me of stitching, of making marks with thread and a needle. I liked the juxtaposition of the hard material imitating a soft technique. The artist used cold aluminum while the activity of stitching into textile is soft and comfortable. That's my opinion. That's what I got out of the artist's work. It is valid. I am the viewer. It is, however, nothing like what the artist wrote about his own work. To read that click here.

Icarus No. 11
 by Donald Andrus
mixed media on aluminum
(not a great photo, sorry!The art work looks better LIVE))

I was told that artist Donald Andrus does not stitch as part of his practice.

Trying and Redoing

Not everything an artist does "works out". Viewers only see what did work out. All the trying and redoing are part of an art piece that is rarely highlighted in an exhibit.

At the Peter Doig exhibit at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Montreal, the curator chose to show the "backstage" stuff! It is an important part of the art, I think.

The subject was first photographed.

Sketches were done of different aspects of the photo.

In his final rendition, Doig decided not to show what was behind the wall-the biggest cemetery in Port of Spain.

Lapeyrouse, 2003-2005

Cemetery Wall, 2003

Study of Lapeyrouse Wall, 2003

Lapeyrouse Umbrella, 2004

"The (above) works reveal the significant
amount of trial and formal investigation that
goes into the composition of his work
and offers and understanding
of the various issues at play in them"
 (quoted from the museum explanation)

It inspired me to go ahead with my work and not get discouraged with a piece. That the "bad" works are still good because they help with the final piece. They help you decide what you want to do, what you want to show and how you will go about expressing that.

Lapeyrouse Wall, 2004

I am at the 3/4 mark in the development of a piece that will be exhibited in Geneva, Switzerland, in June. I think I still have some more undoing to do before it gets done to my liking.

Video Art

Artist Samuel Rowlett has a video art piece at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. It's part of the Artists' Walks exhibit.

If you click here you can see his video, Landscape Painting in the Expanded Field 2013.

The curator, Earl Miller, chose works in different mediums by artists who use walking as part of their practice. It has become popular enough to be called a genre.

I loved the shadows nature painted on Rowlett's canvas as he walked through the woods.

Some of his video was beautiful.

Sometimes it was hilarious, like when he tried walking through the dense forest in winter! He could barely move and you heard a bunch of branches breaking. He was all tangled up. Luckily, I was the only one in the gallery at the time because I was laughing out loud!

I made his work interactive!

That's my shadow as I walk between the projector and the screen…
chasing the canvas.

Textile artist Dorothy Caldwell will be having an exhibit there from March 21 to June 1, 2014.