Aug 8, 2011

My patron saint of obsessive process

Whenever someone tells me my work is obsessive I think of Fred Tomaselli. Now that’s obsessive. In a really, really good way. Last December I finally got to cross off an important pilgrimage when I…

Jun 29, 2011

Playing with ideas

I don’t know what to think about this gravitational pull into psychedelic art and my obsession with the humble, throwaway doily. But it’s better that way. Better to learn through the making….

May 26, 2011

’70s crafts inspire public artwork

I had a Moment yesterday when I saw the front page of the Richmond Review newspaper, announcing that my design has been chosen for a proposed crosswalk in the heritage fishing village of…

May 9, 2011

Things that make me go ahhhhhh….

I was walking out of a Seattle Value Village, defeated (damn you Capitol Hill hipsters) on just another steel-grey Wet Coast day when I was hit by shards of colour on concrete. Instead of simply…

Apr 21, 2011

Of mice and mentalities

I fail to see much of a distinction between art and design. There is a lot of design in a painting, while a design item like a chair or a hooked rug can be a nonfunctional piece of art.  The…

Apr 12, 2011

Soundsuits required in my Heaven

I’m fairly new at this. Not the writing part; I’ve been doing that for quite a while. It’s this big scary exploration also known as Developing an Art Practice. Your hands might be busy but you spend…

Apr 11, 2011

It’s about art, but it’s a stretch

Caesar Milan saved me from throttling my cairn terrier. Fred Tomaselli saved me from feeling like the art world had no interest in psychedelic patterns. Now Robin McKenzie has saved my back. I have…

Apr 6, 2011

Desperately seeking the crack in the beauty

Almost a year after my final sculpture class with the venerable Liz Magor I’m still wrestling with her challenge to me to find the crack in the beauty. At least once a day I’m confronted with this…

Mar 25, 2011

Unravelling the mystery of an unravelling rug (It’s a lo-o-ong story)

Design has the most to say about the origin of what is commonly known as an Oriental carpet. But the patterns woven into a mysterious tattered, dun-coloured wool rug that has been in my family for as…