April 23, 2013, another simply gorgeous day. The air has just the right amount of chill and the azure sky is soothing on my morning eyes. Today we will visit Terry Phillips at her home and studio, Hopespring Studio, on Quadra Island, B.C. Terry is our 81st interview since we began in August of 2011. I sometimes wonder if traveling and interviewing artists will become routine and just another day but it never does. It holds as much intrigue and excitement today as it did right from the start.

Terry Phillips at Hopespring Studio on Quadra Island, B.C.

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Terry Phillips is a textile artist and watercolour painter. She started out making traditional block patterned quilts and painting on watercolour paper. A creative mind knows no boundaries though, and so one day Terry found herself combining textiles with paint. Her quilts began to transform from functional bedspreads to free flowing artistic textile art that would add a bounty of life to the loneliest of walls, and her paintings became an integral part of that process. When Gary and I were invited into her studio we were greeted with eye stopping pieces of art. Each piece stood out on it’s own; some for the colours, others for the texture, still others for the three dimensionality, and most with all three.

Terry’s work is representative of all things intriguing to her. She admits that she would like to try to focus on developing her strengths in one or two areas rather than many. Her ideas come from everywhere. Her mind is open to whatever wants to come on in. I love her enthusiasm for her art. She has a child-like sense of awe and excitement combined with years of hard work and loving attention that is evident in her work.

Textile art has opened up a whole new world of creative possibilities for Terry and she says she has only scratched the surface. There are so many different paints, fibres, techniques and materials that she incorporates into her pieces in layers upon layers. Everyday she gets to explore and stretch her imagination. What a wonderful way to live life!

Join us as Terry shares her enthusiasm and passion for textile art.

Warning: After watching this video you may want to start creating your own textile art!

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The magnificent sandy beaches and warm waters of Tribune Bay on Hornby Island are quite familiar to me. I was born into a “beach bum” culture, and the summers spent camping, swimming and laying around in the sun in this area seems like eons ago, yet is still fresh in my memory. Elspeth’s paintings capture the charm of this island, and like the fond memories etched into my thoughts her paintings also leave a lasting impression; a recognition of places once visited and of those now wanting to discover! Admirers of Elspeth’s art have been known to remark how they feel like they are walking into the painting and feeling a part of it.

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Elspeth has only been on Hornby Island for six years but has been painting and drawing for most of her life. The varied landscapes she has painted give evidence to the other locales she has called home throughout Canada; topography as gentle and flowing as a prairie grass plain, or as rugged and unrelenting as the wild west coast! Elspeth notes that it is a very humbling experience when people will part with their hard-earned money to purchase a painting, and so her greatest satisfaction in her work is when someone sees a piece that stirs them, finds a connection or emotion within it, and will mention to her that, “I look at it everyday.” It can’t get more gratifying than that!

See our interview with Elspeth below as Corinne gets to know this prolific painter!
(Don’t forget, social media is your friend!)

From the “Abstracts” series

Paul spent 4 1/2 years at my old school and then ventured out into the world of photo journalism over the next twenty years. From there he went back to teaching; designing, establishing and then heading the career program in professional photography at North Island College, as well as teaching photography in the college’s Fine Arts Department; positions that he still holds today. Paul notes that he thoroughly enjoyed his two decades working for the magazines and book publishers, but says when it comes to creating your own agenda, both from a time and creativity perspective, he is now free to follow his own path of photographic expression.

From the “Venice” series

Paul’s thirty plus years in photography has taken him from the days of film cameras to the present day of digital media. Paul admits that when digital photography first came out he was intimidated by it, but eventually he embraced it and now incorporates both the traditional film experience and the digital realm within his personal projects and his teachings at North Island College. Paul has traveled down various avenues of creativity within his medium and points out that he is quite excited about the world of abstractionism. He enjoys the feeling of freedom from not being bound by representational expectations; every viewer is an equal participant and afforded their own interpretation of what they are looking at.

From the “Shapeshifting” series

A look through Paul’s website at Paul Bailey Photography will take you on a journey through cultural, historical and political imagery, abstract macrophotography, life and scenes abroad, as well as expression of cultural dances through his Shapeshifting series. My first glimpse at one of Paul’s Shapeshifting subjects in his studio gave me pause; my mind eventually sifting through the twirling and swirling motion to discern what it was, or rather who it was, that I was looking at. One of those moments of intrigue…then AHA!

Enjoy our interview below with Paul Bailey and please feel free to leave a comment! (And don’t forget the social media buttons!)

From the “Cuba” series

From the “Corfu” series

Frances is a painter working mainly in oils and cold wax. She refers to herself as a visual artist but there is much more to what meets the eye. Calgary is in the top five most sun drenched places in Canada and this affords an artist such as Frances plenty of clear days for exploring her surrounding prairie and mountain landscapes and storing away ideas for her next painting. She is always tuned in to her surroundings and although she may not recognize her experience as the catalyst for a painting at that moment, it lies dormant and when the time is right it bubbles to the surface. My first “visual” impression of her work was a stimulating experience as the brightly coloured shapes on the canvas left me wondering where she could have been and what she might have seen. Her work leaves me wanting more. More questions, more answers, more sensory stimulation.

Early Bartlett

Four Seckels

I must admit my preference for visual art had a propensity to lean toward the more realistic representations of the world, but like all things we don’t understand art in the abstract is sometimes hard to appreciate. Humans are highly visual creatures and I, like many, stay in my comfort zone when it comes to some things, like art for instance. Gladly and as I had hoped, Frances opened my eyes to see beyond the obvious. Her paintings stood before me and gave me a taste and a feel for how abstract visual art encompasses solid creativity. It was joyful to be able to grasp that even in a small way. Now that I understand the abstract world of art a little bit more it has been like opening my eyes for the very first time. It is new, bright, big and exciting!

Please join us in our conversation with Frances Vettergreen. Comments are always appreciated!

Demonstration Forest

Darren Petersen of Sparrow Glassworks has been working with glass for 23 years and independently making a living doing it for the past 15 years along with his wife Deborah who is also an artisan. While most Red Deer residents may be filling their garages with quads, snowmobiles and snow blowers, Darren and Deborah have filled theirs with a home based glass making studio replete with all the tools of the trade including two gas furnaces, one containing the initial crucible of molten glass, and the other for reheating to maintain malleability while working with the glass.

Darren gave us a demonstration of the glass blowing technique while I tried not to sweat on the camera in the penetrating heat of the furnaces. It was a marvel to watch him work with what is such a delicate and fragile substance in it’s hardened form, but while molten he could manipulate and shape it to his will. He made it look so easy; no doubt a result of his many years of practice, trial and error.

Feel the heat with Darren’s glassblowing demo below!

Darren notes that along with the conventional techniques learned for glassblowing that he has also figured out some of his own tricks to create desired effects. I’m sure thousands of years ago this practice would have appeared mystical, and my lack of understanding of the process from beginning to end certainly left me bewildered, especially once we entered the gallery. The contrast walking from his shop of steel, heat and sweat into the bright, quiet gallery with the finished, handblown creations of coloured and clear glass staring back at us was palpable! All around us were glass objects in the form of drinking vessels, vases, pitchers and ornamental pieces that left my mind struggling to comprehend how they ‘came to be.’

Darren says that there are virtually no limitations to what can be done with glass, and he actively seeks out new and interesting ideas to shape into glass. Not willing to be bound by the safe and well traveled routes through his glass creations, he says that his ‘multiple glassblowing personalities’ allows him to try various undertakings without the constraints of convention. Armed with the knowledge that glass has absolute properties in it’s heated and cooled states, it is quickly evident to him whether a particular experiment will work or not, and so he is not averse to improvising on the fly and an object of one intention may become another as the process unfolds. Regardless of what Darren’s next creation may be, he is always inspired by nature’s beauty as well as a purpose or interconnection of the piece for the appreciator.

From the furnace blast now to the finished glass!

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We hope you enjoyed our interview with Darren as much as we did and please feel free to leave a comment below!

I know what you are thinking. “Alpacas on ArtsQuest? I didn’t even know that they could do arts and crafts!” Our interview with Karen Pashovitz at Prairie Fire Alpacas illustrates another avenue that ArtsQuest is looking to promote: Canadian produced supplies for the arts and craft industries which will include textiles and fibres from various animal origins such as the fleece you can see on this fine fluffy flock. There are many artisan creations that can be produced from alpaca fleece such as mitts, socks, toques, shawls, blankets, sweaters and scarves; and if you have never pampered your fingers and footsies in these soft and warm wardrobe accessories, you will involuntarily be bound to say “ooh…aah” when you do!

Karen and her friends

Karen and her husband Dennis farm 4000 acres near Arelee, SK but realized that it was a long way to commute from their original home in Saskatoon, so they decided to move closer to their operation. Karen wanted to find some other way to supplement their income and so they looked into raising alpacas for their fibre, and have been at it now for ten years. In conjunction with the economic benefits, striving for alpaca perfection can also lead to champion show animals in the ring, an arena that the Pashovitz’s have entered and won.

On a side note, in addition to the 40 resident alpacas that we were introduced to, Karen and Dennis also accommodate about twenty cats that were ambling around the yard, one of which took an interest to Marli in the van as can be seen below.

Marli’s new admirer

Alpacas are a domesticated species and native to South America; more specifically the high plateaus of the Andes mountain range in Peru, Bolivia and Chile. They have been bred specially for their luxuriously soft fibre that gets shorn once per year and then prepared for it’s uses within the textile industry. Alpaca fleece is warmer than wool, hypoallergenic due to the absence of lanolin, has great moisture wicking properties and is flame resistant (no need to test this last point!). There is more general information about these unique animals on Alpaca Canada’s website.

Rovings

Toasty tootsies time!

Join us with Karen as she takes us on an alpaca tour:

Karen Singleton in her backyard on Batchawana Bay, Lake Superior, Ontario

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At a very early age it was quite apparent that Karen had an innate ability to draw and paint. Evidently, this was what she set out to do but because of different circumstances with the art school she attended her enthusiasm dwindled and she found herself on a different creative path. Still, she always found time to paint but rocks weren’t part of the equation at the time. Then one day an accident left Karen temporarily without the use of her arms and unable to continue with her career in fashion design. It turns out that painting was an excellent form of physical therapy for Karen, and so this is when she began to paint on rocks. Not only was collecting them a great way to strengthen her arm, they were also easier to paint because she could hold the stone in the palm of one hand while resting her painting hand on the table. At this point she had no idea painting portraits on rocks would turn out to be a life long career but then fate paid Karen a little visit. A friend fell in love with her rock paintings and asked if she could decorate her restaurant with a few. Unbenownst to Karen, her friend sold them and then was back asking for more. The rest is history and she has been at it ever since.

Karen’s portraits are truly special. The rocks are hand selected from where she lives and each one is chosen for its unique colouration and pattern. She told us that intuitively she knows which rocks will make the best canvas but it is always a nice little surprise to slice one open and discover it wasn’t at all what she expected. Each rock is carefully prepared before the first brush stroke ever finds its mark. Karen never rushes an idea for a new painting. She says if someone requests a rabbit portrait from her on a particular day she may or may not have one. I take that to mean that she doesn’t force herself upon creativity or the rocks. They, along with her daily experiences, tell her what animal will be painted on its face. It is the creative process that guides her to an idea and she in turn is the force that delivers it to it’s physical form.

Although Karen has been using Lake Superior stone as her canvas for many years, painting on rocks does have its limitations. For instance, the rock she chooses can only be of a certain size or less due to the obvious weight issue. Recently Karen has found her way back to canvas and is enjoying the freedom to spread her creative wings a little further.

Ellen at her Lake Superior backyard

Ellen moved to Coppermine Point because she loves the lake. Once there she developed a compulsion to paint. The areas along the water have a powerful allure because of the natural, historical, mythical and native traditions and stories characteristic of the area, and so she set out to illustrate her perspective of the interrelationships that exist there. Her abstract representations of the water and shore in her paintings pay homage to these elements. Her day-to-day life and artwork are not two separate entities; they mingle as a collaboration of her senses which take in her natural surroundings and are expressed outward onto her canvas. From her physical interaction with the world around her to the visual stimuli captured through the lenses of her eyes and camera, Ellen’s paintings depict the connectivity she has to the world around her and the recognition of the different moods captured within the trees, rocks, water and weather. This awareness of her senses is a passion that she loves to explore and share with others, and so she has opened up a retreat center, Arts and Adventure, where those also searching for that awareness can nurture their senses and learn from Ellen’s insights.

Global Warming Dragon+

One example of Ellen bringing a legend to life is through the mythological Misshepezhieu. Otherwise known as “the spirit of the water,” it is a mythical sea creature (or is it?) that in essence signifies the mightiness and mystery of nature, for some an entity of physical shape such as the native pictograph drawings, and for others it is the lake and water itself. It sometimes plays protector and gives life, while other times it plays the punisher and takes it away. It is therefore a force to be respected for it to remain benevolent, but disregard it’s power and you will summon it’s fury. From this legend Ellen has created a storyboard called “Mitch the Dragon”, each one with a picture and rhyme chronicling Mitch’s adventures as he meets different animals and reacts in varying ways to them. There are also family discussion questions to be discussed with your own children or in a classroom setting that are meant to examine our relationships to animals and each other. Ellen notes that “the past is alive in the present,” referring to the fact that the lessons, legends and symbols of history and mythology can also be applied to the present, not just something to be studied as the past. Mitch the Dragon is a perfect example of that; children learning of the local historical legends while deriving present world insight and introspection. What a wonderful idea!

View a sampling below of Ellen’s storyboard with “Mitch the Dragon” Click to enlarge.

Sand River – Mouth

Enjoy our interview with Ellen and feel free to leave a comment below!

Back in 2004 Noreen Kruzich was a journalist working on an unrelated story when synchronicity crossed her path and she found herself face to face with a story that was never told but needed to be, and Noreen was the voice to tell it. In summary, when Europeans first came to North America to colonize the land they were greeted by the people that already called this continent their home. These people had a relationship with the land that transcended beyond the word “resources”. They understood that the earth was the giver of life and must be cherished and respected. They were a nomadic people that moved with the animals, hunting and gathering for their families. When the Europeans showed up their vision of the land was drastically different. They saw wealth and riches and a land to be conquered.

Noreen Kruzich holding a Native drum with totemic signatures of Algonkin and Nipissing chiefs.

Noreen spent seven years researching a particular time in history for the Algonkin and Nipissing people of Ontario. The protagonists were two chiefs, one a father and one a son. These men spent their entire lives, over 100 years combined, trying to secure a range of land for their people so that they could continue to feed their families. Even back in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds you could hang yourself on the bureaucratic red tape it was so long, and in fact a forgotten nation of people did just that despite the perserverance of Chief Pinesi and his son Chief Kigonz. In one instance it took thirty four years for a reply from the government to their request for rightful land ownership. The answer was NO.

When Gary and I met with Noreen, I could see that her book was more than words written on a page for her. The impression I got was that her research actually put her there, standing along side both these great men and wanting desparately to change history. I have great admiration for Noreen for taking on such a research behemouth; lost information, no information, and decendants that so long ago had forgotten who they were. So many people would have left sleeping dogs lie and said things like “that’s too bad” or “I’m sorry to hear that” and carried on with their day to day. In fact, Noreen expressed she would gladly spend another seven years setting things right. Almost four hundred years later Chief Pinesi and Chief Kigonz are speaking again on behalf of their people through Noreen and their decendants. The ancestors truly are arranging things. Here’s hoping that the rest of us pay attention this time.

Noreen spends her days in a rural setting just outside of Ottawa in a place called Clayton with her four cats. When we met her she was tilling her land for a garden and literally pouring her life energy into it. She is currently learning the Algonquin language, practises Native spirituality in her daily life and has integrated herself in the First Nations culture in Ontario. Please join us as Noreen speaks passionately about her seven year journey on the Algonkin trail.

Enjoy our interview with Noreen and comments are always appreciated.

Wakefield is a picturesque town that exudes charm and an atmosphere of relaxation in its natural setting along the Gatineau River. The forested shoreline futilely leans and reaches for the opposite side; the river only giving up it’s span to the brilliantly red, covered foot bridge which emerges as a focal point of the town. Within the beauty of it’s surroundings, it is also an intensely community-minded place, where residents can feel connected not only to nature, but to one another. With inspiration at your doorstep and at every turn, it is no wonder that this area is home to many artists, artisans and crafts people. These are the reasons that Robert chose to make Wakefield his home, and as he conveys images of paddling his canoe to the store to pick up groceries, or swimming in the river on a hot day, I can feel the tug of my own heart strings to this halcyon homestead.

Rob has been working with glass for thirty two years, but in the last seven his focus has shifted from working with stained glass to clear glass infused with colour from various metals, alloys and minerals such as copper, brass and mica. He has also incorporated plants such as ferns and horsetail. The effect is stunning, with the copper changing colour from brilliant blues to ruby reds depending on the number of firings in his kiln. The plants add the organic appeal with nature’s detail captured within the textured glass. Rob notes that he likes to explore his own backyard as well as traveling Westfalia style to other parts of North America to discover fresh ideas. This in part sparked the evolution from more traditional stained glass with its visual appeal to creating textures within the glass itself. Either way, nature is the inspiration behind Rob’s glorious glass work.

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Rob’s foray into macro-photography as an art form evolved from his lifelong interest in observing the world of small things and examining their textures. His shift from selling traditional photographs to his current montage style was a format inspired by an artist at an Ottawa art show. She was combining her paintings, mosaics and all her mixed media work within a montage design of same size squares. This was an “aha!” moment for Rob and the aperture on his lens has been wide open ever since! He combines various square photos of the same size and category into a larger rectangle or square. Ironically, Rob’s intent is for the viewer to be caught off guard by taking in the larger piece first from a distance, and then allow each person’s inquisitiveness to draw them in closer to find a surprise in each individual square. Rob’s goal for a viewers first impression is that the eyes are not drawn to any one picture, but that the individual photos create the overall effect. Once again nature is the prime target for Rob’s lens. The macro images not only allow him to capture nature at its smallest but also allows us to feel its texture with our eyes. What I enjoy about Rob’s work is that he is unfettered about delving into new arenas of creativity. He admits that he can get bored doing repetitive work and so he is always looking for new ways to direct his artistic channels. This can only bode well for his admirers and we certainly look forward to seeing more of Rob’s work!