'I Am Here Too' at the Orpheum Annex

If you happen to attend a show at The Annex in the next three months, you will see my new show. The date for the open house is still pending but I will update when I have the details. 

Exploring the Glen

I went for a wee walk yesterday. I came across this locked gate and asked a woman how to enter the park. It's impossible to take shortcuts here; there are fences everywhere. Big fences, small fences, brick fences, charred fences, fences with razor wire... you get the idea. 

"How do I get in there? All the gates are locked!"

"Aye, I wouldn't go in there if I were you. Lots of undesirables in the park, if ya know what I mean." 

I didn't know what she meant, but I nodded anyway. She had just said my magic words. 

Don't go in there.  

"It's your choice of course. But I wouldn't go in."

I walked down the street and found the entrance to Colin Glen Forest Park. 

The visitors centre woman gave me a booklet where I read about the booming linen industry that grew here, alongside centuries of rivalry between Catholic and Protestant townspeople. I didn't meet any "undesirables" but could hardly ignore the signs warning against "anti-social behaviour". 

I will probably come back. The ideas are percolating.

  

Linenopolis

It's not everyday that a textile artist lands in 'Linenopolis'. What I didn't know before I came to Belfast is that it supported the largest linen industry in the world in the second half of the 19th century.

This week I explored the city through graphite rubbings on fabric. It seemed like a good starting point. I did a similar project in London because there were so many monuments. In Belfast, monuments and commemorative plaques play a different role. Instead of honouring adventures who left to fight in foreign wars and conquer the rest of the world, these words honour the freedom fighters (or terrorists, depending on which side you're on) in their own country. Men who died as a direct result of the hunger strikes during The Troubles, graves marking the deceased from Catholic and Protestant communities. Brick and steel walls called Peace Walls that separate neighbours from any form of interaction.

The piece below collects words from West Belfast's Milltown Cemetery. I would go on about how imfamous this place is, but it's not necessary. Is there a piece of land in this city that hasn't seen sectarian violence?

Years ago I wanted to work towards a show called 'Rend/Mend'. I dropped the idea at the time, but it's resurfacing.

Festival installations and the end of summer

This month culminated in a four-day festival in the Midlands of England.  My friends at Space to Breathe commissioned me to make an installation for a reflective prayer tent located at the edge of the festival grounds. As you can imagine, camping in the UK for the last weekend of August was not the best for weather, but there's something about running for shelter from torrential downpour with hundreds of others that really brings people together. 

This installation is called "Even the Heavens Will Speak". 

 It's about disorientation, making sense of our surroundings, handiwork, and promise. 

Wing of Hope is here

I have a solo show in October! I Am Here Too will be displayed at The Annex, downtown Vancouver. When I return home from the UK I will have two weeks to prepare the work and then it's installed and out of my hands. Here's a small preview. 

Final Goodbye

The final act of art (rebellion?) before handing in my keys for my studio.

 In my heart of hearts I will always love this place. 

The heavens declare her handiwork...

Thirty-five stars later and I'm finished! What a marathon. 

Now to cross the pond to install these things. 

Awkward Stars

In less than a week I'm flying to the UK to install my artwork at the Greenbelt Festival. My *new* studio looks like a sweatshop right now. Sewing machine, scraps of fabric everywhere, things pinned to the wall. It feels good to be in full production mode. These stars were inspired by collages I made a few years ago. 

Some of the fabric was found on the streets in my neighbourhood (thoroughly washed of course) and others I found at a church bazaar. I love deconstructing familiar folk quilt shapes. 

Install pictures to come soon!

Homeland, Homesick and Homeless

This week is full with documenting performance collaborations. I made the flag last year, hopeful to propose it as a public art piece for the City of Vancouver.  Not surprisingly, my proposal for honouring sites of squatter communities through the decades was rejected.

 Instead I am finding other ways of reclaiming space in my city. 

"End times"

New work for an upcoming show! Details to come soon.