It might be week 34…I just picked a logical number! Now we are home, lighting the wood stove and making savoury soups in our home in the forest….what a change from last week. Its time to reflect on the residency and … in a different reality (it seems) prepare for my upcoming exhibition!
When I returned from my Iceland residency almost four years ago, it was a happy homecoming in May to spring and new growth, little baby fawns and looking forward to a summer with family!
This time, winter is approaching, the leaves are falling, days are getting shorter and shorter and the temperature change is shocking!
Opposites it would seem, and yet so many parallels – opening the front door and walking into the familiar – hello tables, hello chairs, hello kitchen and….HELLO BED!
Part of me thinks that we can create our home wherever we are – we repeat our familiar habits each day: get up, make the coffee, get dressed – all of those are done no matter where we are, and yet, in the getting up… the floorboards are different, the view out the window is different, the coffee tastes different. Those habits and rituals serve to ground us and give the feeling that we are centered and rooted, right there, even just for that brief time.
But for me, the coming-home rituals give me the more real and true centered-ness that I need in order to feel entirely whole. I will travel and roam again but will always welcome that time of coming through the door and greeting my furniture!
Here is all my art – packing up and ready for the flights…I am convinced, utterly convinced that a smaller palette or collection of art making supplies leads to increased creativity and encourages us to explore our subjects/topics and mediums in different and surprising ways. My residency evolved into an unexpected path partly because of the items in my box and pile of fabrics…
How would you approach your art if all the supplies were squeezed into a plastic box? Do you think your practise would change? If so, how would it change? Can you envision the art that you’d create? What would you put into the box? I was so surprised that the “vessels” pushed themselves into creation in my residency! I will be planning some research and then a new group of work very soon.
A couple people commented on the walls in the house, the plaster and layers of colour are quite intriguing….
Yesterday I spent the entire day back in the studio and how wonderful that felt! I am preparing for the upcoming Industrial Shoreline exhibition … the large textile pieces have been completed for some time but I have the smaller items to work on, including a large scale installation piece for the centre of the gallery. This is all new for me and the logistics of working that way are challenging! More photos to come!
Would you like to see this in person? You are invited to the exhibition of The Industrial Shoreline, the Artist Talk is Nov. 16th 1-3pm and I’d love to see you! If you are coming any other time (the Gallery is closed on Mondays) let me know and I can meet you there – the chocolate shop is next door….
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