Now Available At The Dart Gallery, July 16, 2016 - Murder at the Dart and more

The firings went well for "Murder At The Dart" (hooray!).  Super huge thank you to Jane, The Dart Gallery's owner, and artist Lee Cripps, for including my ceramic pieces in Lee's show of amazing new crow/raven works.

Here's an installation shot from The Dart Gallery's Facebook page:

Here are pics of my pieces, starting with the big stoneware wall hanging  titled "These Crows Are Happily Married":

It was decorated with a combination of homemade slips, commercial underglazes, and homemade glazes.  I was pleasantly surprised that this didn't crack anywhere, seeing as it had to be carefully flipped over while green to work on a few times.

Next is this round lidded vessel:

 

 I love coming up with ideas for functional sculptural pieces.  This vessel combines relief carving and sculpture and I imagine it as a good hiding place for something precious.  Like the wall hanging above, this was decorated with a mix of slips, underglazes and glazes although for this one I did use a commercial ultra clear glaze as well.

Next up is the largest crow sculpture I've made. This bird is maybe a bit fat-bellied, so I imagine him/her as having gotten into too much trash.  To the right is another new product: a baby crow in a nest that is intended to be used as an ashtray.  Alternatively this piece could sit on a desk and hold a pen in the crow's mouth, and maybe some thumbtacks or paperclips.

Next are two large crow bowls, the bigger being the biggest one I've ever made.  Here again it was such a relief to open the kiln and see that these pieces survived the bisque firing unscathed, where they are quite thick in parts.   These are most definitely food safe, and theoretically dishwasher safe, however handwashing is recommended.

While I have made a few other crow bowls before, on these the interiors received a swirl of a white glaze, inspired by pics of Jupiter's aurora. 

 

The second crow bowl, smaller than the one above.

The next bunch of pics are new wall hanging crows and figurines, which were made with a black stoneware clay from Pottery Supply House, resulting in a darker finish than the above pieces.

This pic includes sitting wall hanging crows on branches, something I hadn't tried before but which has led to more ideas for 'bird on branches' wall hanging pieces.

Next are figurines.  There are 7 'larger' ones, including one on a branch. 

And here are some smaller crow figurines grouped with a goose figurine.

Next are some flying crows from previous firings.  These ones were all made from the white stoneware clay body that I normally work in.  

Also in this firing for The Dart Gallery, though not part of the show, were some new figurines.  

Here are some mushrooms that I thought would make for 'figurine habitat' while providing a chance to test some new glazes.   Hanging out among these mushrooms is a frog and dragon. 

 Pair of owls:

Raccoon:

Pug:

 

And finally another view of that goose in a blue neckerchief, which was inspired by this much loved motif found on many antique and vintage collectibles.  

 

"Murder At The Dart"  is up until July 28th.  If you're thirsty or peckish, Picnic at Dart - the gallery's newly expanded resto/bar -  has created a delicious crow-themed menu - copy/pasted below -  to go with the show.   Note that some of the show has flown over onto one of the restaurant walls.    "The 4 & 20 Pot Pie" item title made me smile, and if anyone else couldn't remember the whole "sing a song of sixpence... 4 & 20 blackbirds..." rhyme, here it is on wiki. 

Finally, as an aside, the feeling of being really inspired while working on the new pieces for this show reminded me of how I felt while painting this crow painting in late 2011 - which was posted on this blog before.  It was painted with the caption in mind as I worked on this to calm down about our impending move to the country.  Oddly, the scene ended up being much like out our back door on moon lit nights, with the branches looking like winter branches on the giant oak tree closest to our house.  The next full moon is Tues July 19th, 7:59pm Halifax time!

"Reassuring Crows"

More Works In Progress

The crow sculptures I've been working on to go with Lee Cripps' awesome crow/raven works for "Murder At The Dart" are all now finished and drying.  Here a few pics of pieces in progress:

Two big crow bowls, lidded relief carved vessel, and some crow figurines

Some new wall hanging crows in a luscious black stoneware clay

"These crows are happily married" a wall hanging experiment and a bit of 'peace and love' to go with the 'murder'

Hopefully all of these pieces and the others survive the firing unscathed, my kiln still works, and everything turns out!  The 'big reveal' will be at The Dart Gallery on Thursday July 14th with an opening reception 7-9 pm which should be a jolly good party thanks to the scrumptious newly opened Picnic at Dart.  Here's the link to the Facebook event.


Last night I started underglazing some other pieces I'm hoping will fit in this firing: a few new sculptures for Jenny Jib in Lunenburg and Catfish Moon Folk Art and Craft in Annapolis Royal.  There are also a few new non-crow figurines for The Dart.  Pics of those to come if they make it in to the kiln!

Murder At The Dart ! Works in progress

I've been working away on some new stoneware crow pieces to go with a show of Lee Cripps' fabulous crow and raven work.  It opens Thursday July 14th at The Dart Gallery, 7 - 9pm.  

Hopefully this firing goes well, as I'll be putting all my crows in one kiln load!  The joy and challenge of working in clay is not being sure how things will turn out until one unloads the kiln.  The last big crow bowl I made blew up so here's hoping this one will have dried completely.   Here's  a first progress pic, I'll be adding some others soon:

As well as new figurines and wall hanging crows, I'm excited to be trying a few new things in this batch of work.    If you haven't checked out The Dart lately they now have a tantalizing cafe/bar with creative delicious concoctions by Picnic at Dart, under the direction of chef Allan McPherson.  Check out the gallery's twitter feed or facebook page to see what's cooking.

This (Past Four) Week's Favourite Things! Monday May 30th - Sunday June 26, 2016

Calgary has it going on!

1.  Grow Calgary - "Canada's largest urban agricultural farm".   this is a non profit 11 acre farm in urban Calgary (accessible by transit) where volunteers grow food for local food banks.  What a great idea!

2.  The Calgary Homeless Foundation and Calgary's RESOLVE Campaign.  Resolve is a partnership of Calgary non profits and developers who have decided to end homelessness in Calgary.  Kudos to the developers that are giving back to their community, by donating cash and expertise towards constructing various buildings to provide housing for people who are in greatest need.  For example, here's a very touching youtube video about the early planning stages of Stepping Stone Manor - where the houses to be redeveloped became a site for community art for a period of time.  And here is an article about the completed Stepping Stone Manor, the first RESOLVE campaign building.  Calgary also has nonprofits dedicated to providing housing for low-income seniors, such as Silvera for Seniors and Bishop O'Byrne Housing.   This is something Halifax could use, what with all the seniors waiting for affordable housing.   

3.  "Housing First"  I hadn't heard of "housing first" before speaking with someone from the Calgary Homeless Foundation to learn more about their buildings.   But it makes sense: the idea being instead of rewarding addicts for being clean with housing, provide them with housing first so that they can feel secure enough to want to get off of drugs.  Medicine Hat has had great success with this program, here's a CBC 'as it happens' article/radio interview describing how Medicine Hat became the first city in Canada to eliminate homelessness.  

4.   Chris Martenson interviews that I found on youtube! Never heard of this guy before but I like his thoughts on the economy and what to do about it, we seem to be on the same page - he's a biologist turned business guy.

Peak Prosperity The Crash Course

and

 Here he is with Robert Kiyosaki discussing today's economy and the coming crash.

5.  This Infinite Waters youtube video:  Why Artists Get Depressed.  I've been loving watching how many subscribers this guy has been getting over the months, good for him! 

6.  This Amerika Now interview by Barb Adams with Stefan Verstappen:  Invasion of the mind snatchers.

7.  The Northern Lights Lantern Festival.  I had no idea Halifax's North end has a lantern fest, it looks really nice!  This year's is Saturday August 13th 2016 with a rain date of  Thursday August 18th. 

8.  This Abraham Hicks video

9.  This amazing written interview "The Trick of the Psychopath's Trade:  Make Us Believe That Evil Comes From Others".  It is a about a book which describes how psychopathy is rampant in political systems:  "Political Ponerology, A science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes".   I found this interview at the end of this annotated version of a favourite article:  Empathic people are natural targets for sociopaths, protect yourself.  Another interesting article recommended by this article is "The Way of the Psyschopath".

10.  This blog post:  Are you an insight junkie? A history of Tai Lopez.   I've been seeing a lot of ads for Tai Lopez stuff on various 'personal development' youtube channels I like to watch, so I checked out a longer video about him.  Something about him really rubbed me the wrong way, so I googled his name with the word 'psychopath' and found the above post which I liked a lot, kudos to the author for calling out people on psychopathic behaviour.  

Earlier on my blog I decided I'd quit posting psychopath articles, for fear of people thinking I am one.  But as other bloggers on this topic have posted, who cares what people think, it's so important that the masses be educated on the existence of conscienceless,  predatory people in our society.  They are ruining lives and entire political systems, and their behaviours are contagious.  Maybe by shedding more light on it they can start feigning more empathy and improve the world for the other 95 -  99% of people who do have a conscience.    Further to point #5 in this list, I think my keeping quiet has led to me being depressed and less productive.  So from now on, ya, if I see something I like on this topic for sure I'll share it, if spreading awareness has a chance of helping others, why not.  Time to make some crows!





 

Bat Mobile

Here are a couple pics of my entry for The Dart Gallery's Batman-themed show, "Biff! Pow! Art!", on til June 12th.  The show theme was inspired by the 50th anniversary of the classic Batman tv series and features many excellent pieces by local artists.

In order to bend the theme into my own art practice, here is "Bat Mobile", comprised of 4 papier mache bats (made from Chronicle Herald newspapers), a couple lichen-covered branches and 3 pine cones from the woods around our place, and some string...

There's something very satisfying about mixing my sculptures with actual bits of nature, and trying to sell sticks and pine cones in an urban gallery.  Here's another pic taken before the strings were shortened, the bats are posed a bit better in this one.  Both pics were taken in a living room window at our home. 
 

Now that the weather is warm, I've slowly been working on ceramic pieces for my first firing of 2016, sometime in June, which will include some new items for Jenny Jib down in Lunenburg as well as crow sculptures "Murder of Crows" -  a show coming up in July at Dart Gallery that will feature the crow art of Lee Cripps.

This (Past Four) Week's Favourite Things! Monday May 2nd - Sunday May 29th, 2016

1.  Our garden, especially lemon balm and asparagus that are now nice and established; as well as haskap berry bushes and lots more.  Next time I'll post some pics.
 
2.  This "Paradise Stolen" youtube series, by Stefan Verstappen who also made "How To Survive Corruption" which has been on this list before.  I like that this guy keeps making the connection between psychopathy and all sorts of things in society that don't otherwise make sense.

Paradise Stolen - Episode 1 (don't show your children!)  Paradise Stolen - Episode 2 - The Myth of Efficiency  Paradise Stolen - Episode 3 - The Myth of Overpopulation Paradise Stolen - Episode 4 - The Myth of Terrorism Paradise Stolen - Episode 5 - Why We Are Poor
 
also: 

Historical Cycles: Are We Doomed To Repeat The Past?

3.  This Vimeo video, a short cartoon by Taylor Erikson called "The Greatest Economics Lesson"

4.  This American company: Youthbuild - where youths are taught the skills necessary to construct affordable housing, in a number of countries, thus fixing 2 problems with one solution: underemployment among youths, and a lack of affordable housing.  This company receives funding from the Skoll foundation, which was founded by Canadian -born billionaire Jeffery Skoll.  I ended up researching this guy after reading Canadian Business's article: Canada's Richest People 2016: The top 25 Richest Canadians. 

5.    Speaking of creative uses of resources to solve problems: this article about Portland Oregon commercial real estate investors "Menashe Properties" who offered up one of their office properties to shelter homeless "As Multnomah Village Shelter Closes, Menashes Offer Up Downtown Relo Spot"

Given the high vacancy rate reported for office property in downtown Halifax, perhaps there is opportunity here too. 

6.  Animal Sculptures by Ellen Jewett 

7.   This post "Ceramic Animal Art", especially like the pieces at the end by Brendan Hesmondhalgh

8. We Create - Why we need handbuilt homes.  Great documentary on youtube about cob building with a focus on how this building method is both affordable and fosters community

9.  Companies in other provinces that develop affordable housing available to purchase "rent to own", for locals who may just want to own a relatively simple place and not one of the luxury units that seem to be used increasingly as investment vehicles for foreign investors.  Sounds good in this Global news article: "1000 dollar down payment among Canada's affordable home ownership options."   Eg, Options for Homes in Ontario,  and its affiliate in Montreal, "Acces Condos" which works in collaboration with SHDM. Would similar rent to own developments make sense for Halifax?  Councilor Gloria McCluskey has mentioned this preference in the media both recently and in the past. 

This (Past Four) Week's Favourite Things! Monday April 4th - Sunday May 1st, 2016

1.  The new facade at The Dart Gallery.  The scaffolding is down and the space has a glorious new exterior.  I don't have a pic, so go see!  Because of the on going renos, the upcoming group show Biff! Pow! Art! inspired by the 50th anniversary of the classic Batman TV series has been postponed to May 27th, 7 - 10 pm.  The expansion of the gallery into the space next door will be complete by then.  For artists, the deadline for submissions for show has been extended to 11:59pm May 15th.  

2.  Homemade vegan treats that started off as an attempt to make halva but kept evolving into a delicious vehicle for superfoods.  So easy, melt coconut oil on stove, add honey to taste.  Add any combo of lots of raw cocoa powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, cardamom, cloves, ashwagandha powder, whatever, a dash of salt... in coffee grinder finely grind any combo of lots of sesame seeds, dried coconut, almonds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flaxseeds, whatever, have way more seeds than oil, fold into the oil mixture, add in puffed quinoa if desired. Mix it all up and spoon in to silicon molds, put in freezer to set and voila, super delicious, nutritious snacks that are way more satisfying than any candy bar. 

3.  This youtube documentary about Suze Orman, How Suze Orman Scammed the World (2016)

4.  The FitnessBlender youtube channel  This is really smart, a husband wife team providing great home workouts via youtube

5.  The FitLifeTV channel This is cool too, as the videos are a mix of health tips and mind training tips, eg 1 Simple Trick to Manifest Your Desires

6.  This blog post:  Mixed Generational Housing: Seniors and Families with Kids Within The City

7.  This youtube video: How Do I Prune Raspberries?  

8.  This Dark Souls website by someone who has gone through experiences with Narcissists and/or Psychopaths and has clearly transformed those experiences by creating useful information, eg, this article: How To Play Pingpong With a Narcissist 

9.   Parasites and Demons. A youtube video.  This is a pretty trippy theory, and one of the few videos I've seen that proposes a link between these members of 3d reality and other dimensions.  Interesting!

10.  Self/Less pretty good movie on Canadian Netflix, a very unique story idea

11.  A couple more Infinite Waters videos:  How to recognize your third eye  and  How to manifest 33 magic

12.  This quote by Nikola Tesla:  “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

13.  Nikola Tesla Vs Thomas Edison.  Epic Rap Battles of History (short youtube video)

14.  The History of Nikola Tesla - a Short Story.  Short youtube cartoon that describes the "War of Currents" between Tesla and Edison