Glass work

We started off with little paper weights and experimented using colour and creating effects like the bubbles in these little ones. They were such fun! And then, we moved to blowing, which was exhausting...! And by the time I was blue in the face, all I managed to get was a smartie size bubble on the other end of the pipe. Its hard. I managed to make this glass that I've turned into a tealight. Rachel let us use the sandblaster and I love it love it love it!! PS: for anyone that was wondering and was too afraid to ask... No, you cant suck molten glass through the pipe, even by mistake! hah!

Glass blowing

I did a glass blowing workshop last weekend with Rachel Robichaud. It was great to be back at harbourfront and finally able to do something that I have wanted to for so long.

It was magical to say the least!

I was desperate to touch the hot glass and shape it the way one would do with clay... which is probably why I enjoyed using the paper so much...it got me closest to the hot glass.

Even though it was a whole weekend of standing in front of the glory hole sweating and drinking buckets of water it was a fantastic experience and I would do it again! (and again ...and again...!)

Will post some pictures of the finished work...thanks Rachel!

Happy new year!

Thought I'd add a few detail pictures of a body of work that Im currently focussing on. These concepts deal with migration, change and whats left behind.

Looking forward to a great year!

Happy 2011 everyone!!

Inspirations

Its strange how one finds inspiration in the strangest of places :)

This final piece turned out to be two feet in dimension

Ottawa in the fall

This fall we made a trip to Ottawa, taking the scenic lake route. It was wonderful to be able to enjoy some landscape and empty roads!

During our time in Ottawa, on our way to Byward market, we would pass by a young artist working on this chalk painting. We watched it grow visually and emotionally. Every night he would cover it with a plastic sheet to save it from the elements, seal it with duct tape, and leave a note in the hope that it wouldn't be vandalised.

I found that the plastic sheet added to her melancholy and the boundary using found objects created a preciousness that contradicted her worth.

Oscar and I.

If only I had the chance to watch this magician work his fingers...

This wonderful bronze by Ruth Abernethy is probably the closest I'll ever get to a physical Oscar Peterson. Live on!

Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica. I enjoy old church ceiling constructions. I find them so inspiring and maybe soon I'll use some of those lines in my sculptural work!

Nuit Blanche 2010

Kim H. Adams: Autolamp.
This installation was set on a rotating pedestal and I especially enjoyed how the buildings around the installation were bathed in these little dots of light.

Max Streicher: Endgame. In the alleyway between 67 & 69 Yonge Street. Fantastic!

Nuit Blanche is one night in the year when the city of Toronto is taken over by artists. I was excited to be a part of the exhibition 'Text as Drawing' this year at Dish gallery and studio, in the Distillery District.

Mystic clay pad, an idea conceived by Susan Card, Dallas Card and Derek Chung, was a fascinating way to involve people that came to the Distillery through the night. The evenings digital communications, via text, tweets and other media about Nuit Blanche were captured in clay, archiving the nights events sculpturally.

Toronto Potters 15th biennial

Exuvia.
I had two pieces selected for the Juried exhibition, this won the Fusion Design award...!

After many hours spent sorting through 30 years of archival material, many sleepless nights putting it all together, we were thrilled to have the didactic panel up. All 30 years in 177 inches of wall space. Congratulations to Toronto Potters and all the members past and present that volunteer their time to keep this alive!