A Talk September 14th

Now that the dust has settled from the Opening of Boundary|time|Surface, I am happy to say that Dr. John Waldron and I will be presenting a talk on the project, and the ideas behind our collaboration!

This Saturday, September 14, at 2pm – if you’re in the area, please join us at the Art Gallery of St. Albert for our discussion:

“Boundary|Time|Surface:

Art and Geology in Dialogue”

Just a Few More hours …

Well.

Here we are – a few hours from the opening reception to Boundary|Time|Surface.

This still point in the process always feels a little surreal. So much goes into the making of an exhibition. In this case, 5 years from the original project to now; at least a solid year of research and work in the studio; lots of challenges, changes, and rewards along the way.

Am I nervous? Yes, to be honest. I feel far too close to the work to be able to assess its merits at this point … one tends to dwell on the things that only hindsight reveals. But here we are.

It’s all process anyway – every work and every exhibition speaks to what is next, and new ways of doing.

At any rate, if you are around in the area, please join us tonight. It would be lovely to see you.

Countdown begins … Today

It’s officially one week from today that Boundary|Time|Surface opens at the Art Gallery of St. Albert! Not quite sure how the time flew by so fast (well, actually yes, I am – in the studio!) – but regardless – I find there’s always a sense of time speeding up just before a show.

And it’s been busy on a number of fronts: the not-glamourous jobs an artist does to make the stuff all happen the way it should for an exhibition.

Case in point (sorry of the awful sort-of pun):

Packing. Ah yes, making work is one thing – packing it is another entirely! Fortunately, I didn’t have to build crates for the work this time, as we can transport it ourselves – but the work still needs protection. And list -making becomes part of this process too, of course. Making sure that all the bits and bobs of hardware and tools and just-in-case things are sorted and packed and there when we need them for install.

And then there’s the transport part of it too:

Spent a couple of hours playing ‘car tetris’ with the bins and boxes and other stuff … and in a little while, we’ll be getting this all unloaded and dropped off at the Gallery.

HOLY MOLY. Here we go!

Another New Thing …

There’s more to the upcoming exhibition of Boundary|Time|Surface – another labour of love attached to the work that I will be launching into the world on September 5th.

To accompany the exhibition, we will be launching a limited-edition book!

Boundary|Time|Surface – a record of change gathers essays that examine the work on exhibition and the ideas informing its creation from several distinct perspectives. A critical essay from Melinda Pinfold, PhD opens the book, and offers an insightful reading of the project as a whole, and the dialogue between art & science informing the project. John Waldron’s essay explores the history of geology as a science, and how his understanding of time and place is informed by a lifetime of practice within the discipline. And I spend a few pages in both prose and poetry trying my best convey what the original project – and the several years of work coming out of that original ephemeral installation – have taught me.

Boundary|Time|Surface – a record of change also functions as an artwork; we have selected a range of images from the time lapse stills we shot of the creation and dissolution of the installation at Green Point, and presented them in sequence in the style of a flip-book.

This is a limited-edition of 200, signed and numbered. For the duration of the exhibition, the book will be available exclusively through the Art Gallery of St. Albert.

At Odds – The Opening!

The opening of At Odds on Thursday was great fun. Lovely evening, and a really nice turn out, despite the cold. Thanks to everyone who made the trek, and special thanks to everyone at the Art Gallery of St Albert!

I feel I am in really great company in this exhibition – Susan Seright’s book works and Claire Uhlick‘s paintings are lovely. If you are in the Edmonton-St. Albert area, come by the gallery and see for yourself – the exhibition is up until March 1 2014.

It was really good to see the new work that I’d done this autumn in Halifax up in a gallery setting, along with some of the earlier work in the series. Came away with lots of new ideas, and a better sense of refinements that I want to make. Got some really valuable feedback on the work, both at the opening, and in the last couple of days. It’s a brilliant thing to be able to get that kind of input. Sometimes, it’s difficult to get the distance one needs to really see the work, so that’s when knowing there are solid, critical voices one can trust out there  – a real community – becomes incredibly important, and valuable.

A couple of nice articles/interviews about the show too  – The Leader and The Gazette both did preview pieces on the show.

Here’s a few pictures from the Opening – apologies for the poor quality – shot with my phone, on the fly, during the event!

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Upcoming Exhibition: Lost and Found

Have been very busy settling into the new/expanded studio space at Harcourt House, and getting the work for the Residency underway … photos of the space to follow in a post very soon!

Doing lots of drawing right now too – finishing up a fabulous class with Jesse Forchuk at the U of A Extension studios. It’s been an amazing, eye opening experience!

BUT … what I really want to talk about just now is a group exhibition coming up very soon!

I will have a selection of mixed media work in “Lost and Found” at the Art Gallery of St Albert; the show opens December 1 – and runs until January 28 2012. I’m really excited about this show, and the work I have in it. If you get a chance, drop in to see it – and leave me a comment!! Let me know what you think.

The AGSA says the following about the show:

Lost and Found

Dec 1, 2011 – Jan 28, 2012
Featuring: Paul Burwell, Cynthia Fuhrer and Sydney Lancaster
Nature and reality challenge the constructed world and the imagination in the art exhibition Lost and Found.
Paul Burwell gives us a closer look at the smallest elements of winter: snowflakes. Macro photographs transfused with light reveal the hidden facets of these fleeting pieces of natural art. Burwell finds and captures the beauty of these unique structures before they melt and are forever lost.
Cynthia Fuhrer draws the faces of people who do not exist. Through figuration and abstraction, faces emerge from her subconscious mind and are preserved as graphite drawings. Fuhrer transforms these faces into clay sculpture busts, allowing the material to be present and giving life to lost human images.
The interplay between the constructed world and the natural world is explored in Sydney Lancaster’s mixed media assemblages, which incorporate found objects and
beeswax. Lancaster traces the connections between physical objects, the landscapes in which they are found and the influence they have in constructing our personal and collective memories.
These artists reveal what is both lost and found, hidden just below the surface of our perception, in this diverse group exhibition.