IN/FROM/OF - THE FOREST

Mixed media work by Karin Millson will be on show in ArtSpring’s lobby for the month of May.  Karin invited Bernadette Mertens-McAllister to show alongside her.

In Karin’s FIBRE CYCLE: A SERIES we are invited to walk through stands of assorted trees, take in views to the sea, intimately observe deeply-grooved and sculptured bark.  The pieces demonstrate the fibre cycle, from strong, tall tree growth, through logged and split lumber, to the recycling of paper and back to the growth of healthy woodland.

There are oblique references: a telegraph pole with coloured wire and staples, holding remnants of shows long past; and finally, you are invited to add your chewing gum deposit before entering the theatre.

 “HEART GROVE SERIES” by Bernadette Mertens-McAllister uses mixed media and an unconventional use of paint and photography.  The artist expresses her feelings caused by human greed, negligence and disrespectful practices of forestry. By using art material in an insulting and abusive way Bernadette expresses her grief, confusion and fear    

Such is the demand for exhibition space at ArtSpring on Saltspring Island that I have had this space booked for more than two years.

I cannot believe that that is how long we have lived on this fabulous, art-enriched place.  I am thankful for whatever cause it was that brought us here be it fate, planning, luck, or the west wind.  One thing is certain, in this environment I am supported and strengthened and my art has the opportunity of developing.

This latest exhibition explores..... well, here is my artist statement, and that of my accompanying artist collaborator... Bernadette Martens Mcallister.

Artist: Karin Millson

 FIBRE CYCLE: A SERIES

This body of work demonstrates a mental struggle that I have.  I want to be an environmentally responsible person living respectfully on this planet yet I know that I cannot but have a devastating effect on my immediate surroundings simply by being.

In this series of works, I attempt to depict what I see, feel and think when I take a forest walk, as I acknowledge that forests exist alongside humankind as part of a cycle of fibre – from wood comes lumber, from lumber comes paper, from paper comes compost, in compost grow saplings and so on.

The artworks are made of predominantly up-cycled materials.  The methods are as eco-friendly as I could make them, yet this collection forms part of the cycle and the conflict itself.

Artist: Bernadette Mertens-McAllister

 “HEART GROVE SERIES”

This body of work is dedicated to a small cluster of magnificent cedar and fir trees that are being clear-cut for lumber.  It is a special place nested in a 45 acres lot on Beddis Rd, Salt Spring Island.  Beneath the towering trees, I found a large heart on the ground made of boughs covered with moss.  I call this place Heart Grove.  When standing there, one is connected with Nature, the trees and the forest.

This series is about grieving for the Heart Grove and all our forests doomed to be greedily clear-cut. Like any clear-cutting practice, my art displayed here seems to be done with negligence, disrespect and lack of beauty. It expresses my confusion and fear every time I hear the harassing noise of the chain-saw a breath away from my doorstep.

Forgiveness and a realisation that all is impermanent will carry me through these months of devastation.  I hope and wish that this secret and sacred place, I call Heart Grove, will remain intact for all of us.

Getting Knotted

It is with pleasure that I continue to tie knots whilst reflecting on the day.  Very quickly my headspace moves to one of serene contemplation.  Based on the Rosary Knot those shown contain only a double twist.  Why the computer keyboard background?  So that you would ask "Why the computer keyboard background?"..... This piece of work holds a question for me: what do the thoughts of a day look like and how can artificial intelligence come close to, or surpass, that complexity of thought processing and storage?

Taking Down The Show Tonight

Below are some images from my show with Ilse Leader

Driftwood of the Mind

The Salt Spring Gallery was excited to show Memory Hive again and it stimulated many an interesting conversation, not just about memory but many ageing related topics, general biology, art and science matters.

Some of the pieces that I showed were older but there were an equal number of new creatures (30 pieces in total, like the little snail and the spiky bangle-shaped creature mid shot above.

This delightful young woman was a breath of fresh air - I hope to work with her on another project shortly.

Ilse's daughter donated this piece of driftwood on which my miniatures were displayed.

This one named for Joan Radven - Vesparum Perterget radvenii, from the Latin meaning Raven's wasp with brushes (or eyelashes.... reminds me of you Joan)...
I think the show was successful Ilse and I both sold works.  And tonight I hope to get a photo of Ilse and me at the show and find out how many footfalls we attracted.
Thanks to everyone who supported us in this venture, especially Ilse for inviting me to join her in the space.

Gemstar

In another parallel universe I am working on a theatre production.
Here is my latest - a mock up for a 2' x 5' vinyl banner for a scientific research group call Gemstar.
I learnt to use Photoshop with my son years ago  - and I'm still learning.

Probably this item needs to be supplied as an Illustrator file... so the learning curve continues.
Anyway here it is for perusal and comment only.

Vectors by Vecteezy!

Such a Relief

It has been months since I could access the photos neither those on my darling Olympus OMII (- you know the one.. it look like it uses film. And should be on a film set circa 1950..... Oh dear, its sensor got zapped and when I was trying to photograph the Transporter Bridge in Squamish I got lines over the image....
nor those stored on Aperture we have been locked out of that software for weeks....

Oh happy day - today we found that the fabulous John has solved the issue after many reloads.  And an attempt to switch to Lightroom... which we will have to do.

I mention this here because without access to my images I wouldn't have been able to build this didactic for the show.  I hope it explains for all and sundry what I get up to in order to create my creatures.... (maybe  you will have to click on it to enlarge and maybe it will be legible then??)  I think this will make a good blog entry for Evolution of Moral Progress, so I had better put it up there too......

Invitation to Meet Curious Creatures

I am so fortunate to have been invited to show alongside Salt Spring Gallery Member Ilse Leader.

The gallery (and artists' collective) does fabulous work for the community including fund-raising for those in need.

In my case I am an invited artist showing my shibori-based textile art along with Ilse's fabulous weave/felt/fabrics, clothing and three dimensional constructions.

My work will include some 30 nudibranchs or creatures based on marine slugs!!!!!!!  I just love them. Also a showing of Memory Hive.

Both Ilse and I feel very connected to the sea, both of us having lived most of our lives by the seas of the world and now we are connected by our fibre art too.

I hope you can make it to the gallery on Friday 13th  (yikes!) July, the show is on for 3 weeks.

And if you can' make the opening maybe consider coming over to the Artists' Island of Saltspring for the Fibre Fair.

Go here to learn about when that is on and what is happening.

I'm a proponent of cultural appropriation in art - How politically incorrect is that?

I'm thinking of using knotting in a piece of work, researching Quipu and thinking about the political correctness of avoiding cultural appropriation in art. Cultural appropriation is a thorny issue, one I have been made keenly aware of in Canada. I hold in my heart regret for those whose culture has been appropriated whilst under colonial rule, or subjected to an imbalance of power.  This is not what I am involved in here.

Quipu are best known from the now lost civilization of S. America, but also from China and Hawaii... and thought to be a method of recording data, stories and double-entry accountancy.  Who would have thought that when researching for a mixed media/fibre art work I would need to read from The Accounting Historians' Journal?

Is cultural appropriation a bad thing?
Though the word appropriation has negative connotations, I argue that cultural appropriation can be a work for good.
Where would we be, I wonder, if no-one had picked up the idea of making marks on a cave wall and run with it?... Hmmm? (The latter remark to be said with a James Keziah Delaney intonation), to lighten the mood a little).
This, below, from Wikipedia (of course) says the same thing, a view expressing when cultural appropriation might be seen as a positive activity...

"A different view of cultural appropriation characterizes critics of the practice as "engaged in a deeply conservative project: one which first seeks to preserve in formaldehyde the content of an established culture and second tries to prevent others from interacting with that culture"   Proponents of cultural appropriation view it as often benign or mutually beneficial, citing mutation, product diversity, technological diffusion and cultural empathy as among its benefits."

I would add the word  progress to this list.
I can imagine a world where Quipu continues to be created in its original form as a tribute to the now, lost civilizations that practiced it in South America and others eg., China and Hawaii.  Alongside this I would advocate its progress and development in the same way I work with Trapunto (Italian), Shibori (Japanese) and Shisha (India) and other techniques that are traditionally associated with a specific culture (see names in parentheses), where I have studies the traditional form, and then moved it to a new and innovative use.

Please do comment as this is an area I would like to continue thinking about.