It's been a wild ride...

... these last few weeks, what with so many events and workshops on the go.  My studio looks like the inside of an upturned garbage pail, albeit rather more colourful.

Even the garbage cans get colour

This year, the studio became a combo studio/greenhouse, due to the local college abandonment of their greenhouse program.  I've been reminding myself about the advantages of filling our faces with heritage tomatoes in a few months, though!

Piles and plants - studio or greenhouse?

I enjoyed tearing some Gelli prints to make demo pieces for the TAPS program, and couldn't seem to get stopped.

Wonky flowers

 A second garden,

Wonky flowers, too

 and houses soon joined the fray.

And then the houses got in on the act

And you know that when a person gets on a roll,..I now have a pile of Gelli-printed flowers waiting somewhere in the studio.  Assuming I can actually find them, they'll become part of a canvas or panel for the next show.

There's also an Impossible Clock and five four x four canvasses lurking around, and no end of ideas for more.  Isn't the life of an artist just the best?  

What a great event...

week this past one has been, with two openings for the Call & Response event that started for the organizers over a year ago.

Alison Masters and Gary Deatheridge have done an amazing job, with over 50 participating artists, and dozens of artworks from all disciplines.  For an explanation of the show's concept, do see the end of this post...it's wordy, and comprehensive.

Eileen Gidman, Laura Leeder and I decided to collaborate on a board book since we were so taken by the totality of the initial show that introduced the concept.  We each chose four of the pieces or ideas presented at the initial 'Call', selected some of my Gelli prints or painted papers and tore into it.

These photos are from the play day we had:

Eileen hard at play

Ditto for Laura

Fun and Games

The finished book was surprisingly (to me) cohesive, and definitely a tribute to the 'Call' we heard on February 27th.  Can you tell who did what?

I also did a piece on my own called Community Ties, as I was so struck by the amazing community of artists, in this larger community we call home, all eager to support each other to create.  It's a wonderful thing to see this kind of connection in a town.

'Community Ties'  14" x 11" mixed media  © Win Dinn

If you've made it this far, I'm SO impressed with your perseverance.  Thanks for listening and taking a look at a very small corner of Call & Response.  For further explanation of the event, please read on, and enjoy.  My apologies for not getting photos of the event for you;  somehow my camera had a desire to stay home both evenings.

Call & Response - the Concept.

'In blues, there is a tradition of call and response where one musician creates a riff, known as the call, and another musician comes back with their own complementary, spontaneous musical riff, known as the response.  This process, or play, pushes each musician to carefully feel and attend to what the other is doing, and to respond by further interpreting and innovating the original riff.  They thus mutually create new music, opening up fresh musical combinations and new possibilities for sonic collaboration.  This call and response model has been applied for this event across a number of artistic forms and disciplines, in order to stimulate new artistic works from local artists.

With merely a month to create work based on the initial two-hour 'call', you could expect incomplete works, new directions, failure, fantasy and collaborations - in other words, something truly unique.'

It's now onwards and upwards as I work towards a show in a near-by city which opens in late August.  It's one being done with my students, which should be entitled Students Teach the Teacher, I think! Happy creating to you until next week.

Fibre?....

...You've just got to love it!  There are SO many ways to play, and attending the Kootenay Fibre Arts Festival was like being a kid in a candy store with unlimited funds! For the nominal entry fee, you could try your hand at wet felting, indigo dying, weaving, needle felting, Gelli printing and so on. And the colour!

Everywhere I looked was a feast for the eyes.  For starters, Andrea Revoy's bowls were filled with it.

 Susan Chamberlain of Riverstone Yarns was right next to me, and her wool was gorgeous, of course!

Anne Fetterley did some fabulous indigo dying - more POW! colour.

Susan 's Riverstone Yarns

I must admit that when I got my area set up, I actually felt I was letting down my side in terms of colour, a rare feeling for me.

Had I the energy, brains or foresight to take a photo at the end of the day, it would have been a different thing altogether.  The area behind my tables above was filled with scores of Gelli-plated fabrics, brayer papers, and first prints on paper that rivalled the other areas for pizazz.  Those attendees had a blast with the Gelli plate, and I was beyond impressed with the way they took to it.

A highlight of the day was watching three artists attempt knitting with/on giant knitting needles. It reminded me of a jousting tournament from King Arthur's Court, with women defending their turf.

Carmen (organizer extraordinaire), Andrea and Susan go at it!

All in all, the attendees and shoppers were delighted, the 'try it' areas were a blast, and it was an amazing event that I hope will be the first of many!

The Kootenay Fibre Arts Festival...

...is tomorrow, and I've downright pumped.  I get to play there with my Gelli plates, showing newbies the amazing things that can be done with paint, textile and and these wonderful plates.

I've been making samples like someone possessed, playing with the Gelli plate, ArtFoamies, stamps and stencils till the cows came home (we've got seven cows in the back yard now, vying for room with the two dogs, and I've NO idea who they belong to).

I've printed on coloured broadcloth,

 on linen-coloured UFO (Unidentified Fabric Originating-from-goodness-knows-where) ,

 and on white lining.

 As always, I've way too much fun,

 and apparently I've no idea when stopping might be a good idea!

We were asked to bring an epic fail, and I have to say this was my all-time favourite.  This owl takes wonky to new levels.

The Kootenay Fibre Arts Festival is an event not to be missed.  If you're anywhere in British Columbia, Alberta or the Northwestern US, I suggest you get here tomorrow and play.  There will be indigo dying, felting, silk colouring, drop spindling (??!) and far more to try, to say nothing of wonderful articles to purchase and giant knitting needles to wield.  Come and play.  10 am at the Wynndel Hall.  You'll be so glad you did!