Grand National Invitational Quilt Exhibition

I just received my "A Needle Pulling Thread" magazine. It's a great magazine that promotes Canadian Needle Arts. Inside there is an article on the Grand National Invitation quilt exhibition and I'm thrilled to note that Catharina Breedyk-Law was one of the participants. Your piece "Water" is truly awesome. Congratulations Cathy!

You can download the free catalogue of the exhibition from the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery at:

http://www.kwag.on.ca/section/view/?fnode=107

Finding old work

I've been clearing out the garage for the past couple weeks...preparing to move to Toronto and generally having a good rubbish removal. It's incredibly satisfying to lose the junk....every year a bunch of stuff I couldn't previously get rid of gets delegated to family or Goodwill or the dump.

While I was reorganising, I found this old piece I worked on 4 or 5 years ago. I never knew what to do with it..so it went to the garage. (When something goes to the garage...it's pretty likely to remain there, in obscurity for a number of years) I got my Mom to hold it up for me to try to get a feel for which direction I could take it in...It's alot taller then she is!

Lately I've been playing with hand stitching on my feltwork..(as seen below with a detail of my piece "Flow")...and it just seems to make sense to continue on with this piece. I think I'll do a complementary colour on the animal's bodies just to see how it works as a whole. Way back when, I did a free motion stitch all over the creamy white of the background...I think adding some handstitching to the animals will make them pop. When I started this piece I never considered doing a hand stitch element to it...amazing how things grow and flourish with new experience.
I've been itching to get back in to felting/sewing/anything to do with my hands and I think this project will keep me busy for a while!

Til next time,

Wendo

Fibre Art show at Britannia Gallery

I've just put up a slide show of some of our work from Passages, currently showing at the Britannia Art Gallery in Ottawa. The participants are P. Susan Clow, Catharina Breedyk-Law, Pat Lemaire and myself. Check it out!

FallingWater

I drove down to Southern Pennsylvania this past weekend to see FallingWater; Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece of a house. We clocked 1798 kms on the car but it was way worth it! We started out leaving Prescott at 5pm Saturday evening. My Mom, my sister Jeni and my niece Joanna and I drove like maniacs to get as far as we could that evening. We passed through many lovely small towns and villages..one of which had this very interesting vending machine! I am assured that they are all over the place but I have never seen a live bait vending machine!

We arrived at FallingWater just in time for our 1pm tour on Sunday. I was disappointed to find out that picture taking was not allowed inside the house so I've included a link so everyone can see what I saw first hand.
FLW was a genius with canterlevered architecture. He also created furniture and fixtures using this method of construction. He was a character, though...becoming quite annoyed if one of his clients dared to put any kind of furnishings in to one of his houses that he did not design himself.
The Koffman family who owned the house collected many different artists. I saw 2 Picasso's as well as a number of sculptures by Diego Rivera. There was also a gorgeous madonna and child from the 1600's..they had to create a special niche for her to stand...above the fireplace in the living room.

this is the most photographed view of any of Wright's houses. It was chosen as America's most famous house last year.

The grounds of FallingWater are completely covered in rhododendrons...unfortunately they weren't in bloom...that would be truly awesome...though this little bush was way ahead of the rest!

FallingWater is located in an area called the Laurel Highlands...beautiful flowering shrubs with a touch of scent...lovely.

Here we are, waiting for our group to be called. The PA Conservation Authority has a very well run schedule of tour visits, plus a very nice little gallery, a superb cafe with yummy fair trade coffee and a really well stocked museum shop. They included little touches throughout the house, with gorgeous bunches of rhododendrons in Tiffany vases and an herb garden on one of the terraces. These homey touches added a really personalised aspect of the house..as if the family had just stepped out for the afternoon.

If you ever get the chance to be in that neck of the woods, I heartily recommend stopping in to see this truly amazing national treasure.

Til next time,

Wendo

Art in the Park

I was in Ottawa last weekend participating in the Art in the Park in the Glebe.

Ottawa had the distinct honour of being the hottest city in Canada last weekend. It was WAY too hot for comfort. It was 42 Celcius with the humidex . Last week was fleecy weather..this week it's the dead of summer!


I love this show. My friend Chandler Swain is one of the organisers and they do an amazing job of producing this high end art and craft show. Check out Chandler's wonderful work on her website....

http://www.chandlerswain.ca/

This was my booth...I sat across the pathway in the heavenly shade of the trees bordering the park. My booth was an oven and I even considered baking some bread, but gave it up in the lassitude that heat can create.Wool is definitely not a favourite in hot humid weather...I had planned on working on a dragon I was in the middle of...but I just couldn't imagine touching, let alone working with wool fibre. I just did my Sudoku....when I wasn't drinking water and dowsing my head.

Just a few of my animal trophies...this is Jeffrey

Gerome ( of course)

I've been playing with threadwork on my felting...I love the texture it creates...

Arnold

And directly across from me in that blissful shade were John and Molly Sorensen of
Balleycanoe & Co. They create wonderful whimsical artscapes and figures in what they call

ArchifolkArt. Check them out at:

http://www.balleycanoeco.com/

Bill's tree

I've been working on a project for my friend Bill. He has a favourite tree, actually 2 favourite trees. Tree # 4503 in the TierGarten in Berlin and another here in the Experimental Farm in Ottawa. They are both oak trees...massive and majestic...lording it over their lesser counterparts. My idea is to take a photo of the tree in each season. (Sadly...I'm not able to take pictures of the oak in Berlin! I wish I had thought of it while I was there!) So far I have Winter, Spring and Summer. I was lucky this year as I got to take a picture of summer before I leave for Toronto and my new job. It is truly amazing how quickly the seasons pass. I'm not sure how many seasons this mighty oak has endured...it's a grandaddy of a tree.



Now I have a perfect excuse for getting back to Ottawa in the autumn!