I just want to take a minute to say thank you to everyone that’s posted comments on the blog or emailed me with kind words about the stuff I’ve been posting this month. It’s been really fun so far to share all this work in progress with you and always so lovely to have feedback.
many thanks
xoxox

Now i’m off to stress about my artist talk this evening…

Here’s tonight’s progress. A piece that is loosely titled Would she ever live up to her mother’s expectations. It aims to question both the expectations we have of our children and their potential; paired with the expectations we place on ourselves to be the children that our parents intended. Dual guilt in this one. I used the Virgin Mary mold on this one to represent an image of motherhood to present a dialogue about societal pressures to be the perfect mother. And I used a portion of a memorial baby plate to reference the ways in which is desperately attempt to mark the landmarks of our children’s lives, documenting every moment for the future, whist ignoring the chance, or being unable, to live in the present.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately staring at walls. Is it like men who stare at goats?…hmmm… no, not likely. I’ve been spending a lot of time glazing over and thinking, which has been luxurious to say the least. No baby monitor crackling in the background. No timeline of when to have dinner ready, places to go or people to see. Residencies are awesome for that bit of a bubble world that they create. You could venture outside to the real world, but really why bother, it so nice in the studio…

I’ve been getting a lot of thinking done about this next body of figurative work which will be exhibited alongside the work of Robin Lambert and Jody Greenman-Barber at the Saskatchewan Craft Council this fall (more on that later). It’s been pretty cool to be right next door to one of the artists in the show watching his evolving thought process and work develop and seeing how the works are going to visually come together in the end exhibition. I’ve been thinking a lot about what i want to engage with in my current work and how it’ll fit into the context of the exhibition and the gallery space itself. As you may have seen from some of the recent photos i’m working with some hobby molds from Hycroft, some molds I brought from home, some found objects and then i’m also working on pieces not cast at all from a mold. I’m trying to engage with ideas of craft/art/diy culture, the recontextualizing of pre-existing material culture, comtemporary and traditional kitsch, industry and the handmade; all the while exploring themes of gender identity and stereotype, childhood nostalgia, the artist as mother and maker, the ethical raising of children, guilt and anthopomorphism in children’s literature. How’s that for mouthful? I’ve got a lot to work out over the next few weeks, sorting things out in my mind and rendering them in physical form. I guess this is why staring at walls and thinking has been so helpful : )

Oh and before I forget, if you’re in the Medicine Hat area or up for a drive to visit, tomorrow night (monday) at 7pm there will be artists talks by Robin Lambert, Brendan Tang and myself here at Medalta AIR. Please stop by if you can!