I'll admit to a slightly... OK... I'll admit to a really twisted sense of humour sometimes... OK... most of the time. I admit to surfing the web for chuckles now and again... OK... a lot. Just stumbled across the Friends of Irony site.
There are only 3 pages of images so far, but I hurt from laughing. It'll be on my daily laugh rounds now. I need the giggles in order to recover from reading the news. The irony is that I could avoid wasting time on sites like that if only I didn't spend my time reading the news...hmmmmm.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
White Christmas
Hope that it has been a very Merry one for you.
The weather has blessed us with a completely white Christmas as can be evidenced by the following pictures.
This is a view from the front of the house where the gardens are now well insulated awaiting spring.
One of my favorite subjects: Sumak blossoms.
Looking into the woods from the drive.
And another favorite subject: the Witch Hazel, the blooms still look good despite being coated in ice and snow.
--
The weather has blessed us with a completely white Christmas as can be evidenced by the following pictures.
This is a view from the front of the house where the gardens are now well insulated awaiting spring.
One of my favorite subjects: Sumak blossoms.
Looking into the woods from the drive.
And another favorite subject: the Witch Hazel, the blooms still look good despite being coated in ice and snow.
--
Friday, December 4, 2009
Ottawa Bound
That's right. Leaving today to head for calm town, Ontario. Spend a couple of days with a friend and then hie of to Ottawa on the 8th for set-up in the 9th and be ready for the start of the Originals show on the 10th at Lansdowne Park.
Show runs from December 10 - 20 with Monday the 14th as a day off.
Looking forward to the adventure again.
Show runs from December 10 - 20 with Monday the 14th as a day off.
Looking forward to the adventure again.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Going Political 3
Adam Lambert at the American Music Awards
I am all for equality, you may have already figured that out if you've been reading regularly.
For years, women have been breaking barriers in the music industry through their choices of costuming and dance and through their overt portrayal of female sexuality. Way to go ladies, we have succeed in becoming hot objects of lust. Now we have a man attempting to do exactly what the women have been doing ever since Madonna donned her Gaultier corset and it is completely unacceptable, bad TV, too sexy, too raunchy, and just too much for North American media to wrap its brains around.
If we can, as a culture, accept and objectify women as sexual creatures via music, movies, TV, readily accessible soft-porn as movies, books, magazines, why is it so terrible that a man would want to be objectified in the same manner as his female musical predecessors?
You tell me... because I don't understand.
--
I am all for equality, you may have already figured that out if you've been reading regularly.
For years, women have been breaking barriers in the music industry through their choices of costuming and dance and through their overt portrayal of female sexuality. Way to go ladies, we have succeed in becoming hot objects of lust. Now we have a man attempting to do exactly what the women have been doing ever since Madonna donned her Gaultier corset and it is completely unacceptable, bad TV, too sexy, too raunchy, and just too much for North American media to wrap its brains around.
If we can, as a culture, accept and objectify women as sexual creatures via music, movies, TV, readily accessible soft-porn as movies, books, magazines, why is it so terrible that a man would want to be objectified in the same manner as his female musical predecessors?
You tell me... because I don't understand.
--
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Something For Me
In an unusual turn of events, I made a piece of jewellery just for me. The only pendants of my own that I wear are because the stone is chipped and happened in the setting process and I am uncomfortable selling it that way.
A friend blessed me with this lovely piece of Baltic Amber that was acquired in Istanbul and given to the friend and mentor of my friend. From the moment he passed it to me, I knew that I wanted to set it and wear it for me. I also wanted to include the chakra colours in the setting.
It is comfortable and joyful to wear this piece.
--
A friend blessed me with this lovely piece of Baltic Amber that was acquired in Istanbul and given to the friend and mentor of my friend. From the moment he passed it to me, I knew that I wanted to set it and wear it for me. I also wanted to include the chakra colours in the setting.
It is comfortable and joyful to wear this piece.
--
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Going Political 2
From CBC News
Vandals damage Fredericton cenotaph
Members of Fredericton's Royal Canadian Legion are asking vandals who destroyed part of the city's cenotaph to turn themselves in as the organization prepares for Remembrance Day.
Jean-Guy Perrault, the president of Branch 4 of the Royal Canadian Legion, arrived at the cenotaph on Monday morning to decide where to place the crosses for Wednesday's Remembrance Day ceremony. That's when he noticed that the cenotaph had been heavily damaged in places.
"I almost fell on my knees. It hurt. Like I said … how can people sleep at night who did that — for the poor soldiers who fought for our country, for what we have that is so beautiful," Perrault said.
The cenotaph is the site of the main Remembrance Day event in the provincial capital. A three-metre-high granite cross atop the monument was toppled to the ground and smashed into pieces.
David Smith, who worked with the Royal Canadian Legion on the cenotaph project, said it will be difficult to explain to veterans when they arrive on Nov. 11 why this vandalism took place.
"I think its devastating to take into consideration the number of fallen people that we've had and this is a heck of a way to remember them and at this time of the year," Smith said.
"And to devastate this particular monument is terrible."
Perrault said while he thinks the cenotaph can be fixed, he wants the vandals to step forward.
"Please come forward, excuse yourself, the damage is done … come forward, why did you do that," Perrault said.
"Please I'm begging, come to the legion, come talk to me, please. My heart is broken, really broken."
Fredericton police are investigating.
---
My personal feelings on the war have varied over the years and I am finding that I disagree more and more with the Canada's policies on the war effort as there are things that could have been done differently far sooner to have made more significant and stronger impacts on the war and in Afghanistan. My issue is with the politicians who make the decisions, not with the troops who serve.
The troops who serve, are men and women who enlisted in the CF for a job. They didn't know what the job could be.
20 years ago it was all peace-keeping, either UN or NATO led. Peace-keeping presented its own issues to our troops who were situated in the Balkans and Kosovo in the early 90's. It was a violent situation, rife with human abuses and because it was peace-keeping, there was no way to engage the 'enemy' to make them stop raping and torturing. Perhaps being able to stop the abuse with the shoot-first policy of war is better?
Since 2002 it has been a NATO led war. Some of our CF members that are serving and have served in Afghanistan signed up well before 9/11 was ever thought possible, some signed on after because 9/11 was reality.
I will continue to support our troops because they are doing a job, just like you & me. I am sure that they are not always thrilled with their job everyday, like us, but everyday they go and they do what they are asked by the "Boss". In their situation, the Boss happens to be the Canadian Government, the Canadian Government was elected by the people of Canada, ergo, they work for us so we damn well better realize that until we choose a government that will treat our employees better, that we should stand behind them and show them our support.
Bluntly, we put the politicians in the Parliament that put the troops in Afghanistan so regardless of how we voted last time and feel about the war effort, as citizens of a free and democratic nation; thank you to all World War Vets for that, and to all since who have fought, died, been wounded, kept the peace, seen the worst and best of humanity for making Canada the nation that she is; we have a right to bitch about it but we don't have a right to destroy and degrade.
I miss my friend that is currently serving oversees. Stay safe, stay well and regardless, you are remembered.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
What a difference....
... a year can make.
I shot some nature photos this time last year and posted them here. I went back to a couple of the same places and re-shot the same formations. The most intriguing is the fungus formation on the stump, the amount of decay over a year is significant but more interesting still is the new life that is growing with it.
This is the entire top part of the stump. The hole in it is greatly enlarged.
This is the new fungal growth. It wasn't there in the photo from this spring.
This is the old growth which itself has started to decay. Instead of the rich browns and greys that it held last year, a portion of it is blackening and there are distinct bands of green forming in the growth. It is also sprouting its own fungal growth that is new on feeding on its decay.
On the 5th I took shots of the witch hazel, which is exactly one year ago from the previous images of it in bloom. The blossoms were well formed and fresh.
Today I snapped the blooms again and the frost from last night is starting to shrivel them a bit more. The flowers are such fringed little things, not much more than 2-3cm in size when fully extended.
It was cold enough last night to produce one more thing that fascinates in the late fall: hoar frost.
Small fragile crystal flowers of ice and soil.
Cascading upwards over small pebbles, bearing the weight of the disturbed earth on the tips.
Moss growths on maple bark.
Bright holly berries and the ruddy leaves of impending winter.
A completely accidental shot. The bright sunlight behind the aging sumac blossom imparts an ethereal quality to an otherwise ordinary entity.
--
Suffice it to say that the natural world is not the only place where a year or even a few days has made evident changes. One of these days when I am not so fascinated with the visual I may write about it.
--
I shot some nature photos this time last year and posted them here. I went back to a couple of the same places and re-shot the same formations. The most intriguing is the fungus formation on the stump, the amount of decay over a year is significant but more interesting still is the new life that is growing with it.
This is the entire top part of the stump. The hole in it is greatly enlarged.
This is the new fungal growth. It wasn't there in the photo from this spring.
This is the old growth which itself has started to decay. Instead of the rich browns and greys that it held last year, a portion of it is blackening and there are distinct bands of green forming in the growth. It is also sprouting its own fungal growth that is new on feeding on its decay.
On the 5th I took shots of the witch hazel, which is exactly one year ago from the previous images of it in bloom. The blossoms were well formed and fresh.
Today I snapped the blooms again and the frost from last night is starting to shrivel them a bit more. The flowers are such fringed little things, not much more than 2-3cm in size when fully extended.
It was cold enough last night to produce one more thing that fascinates in the late fall: hoar frost.
Small fragile crystal flowers of ice and soil.
Cascading upwards over small pebbles, bearing the weight of the disturbed earth on the tips.
Moss growths on maple bark.
Bright holly berries and the ruddy leaves of impending winter.
A completely accidental shot. The bright sunlight behind the aging sumac blossom imparts an ethereal quality to an otherwise ordinary entity.
--
Suffice it to say that the natural world is not the only place where a year or even a few days has made evident changes. One of these days when I am not so fascinated with the visual I may write about it.
--
Monday, November 2, 2009
Show Season
It's that crazy part of the year with only 52 days left till Christmas.
There are three big shows coming up in the next short while. Prince Edward Island Crafts Council show in Charlottetown 13-15 November, and the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council Show 20-22 November. Back to back weekends away.
There is the potential of a fashion show on the 28th and there are classes to teach in the midst of all this.
December brings the Ottawa Originals Show for 10 glorious days of Christmas shopping from the 10th -20th. Just remember that show is closed on the 14th.
I am looking forward to seeing friends and regular clients at the shows and hopefully having a bit of time to catch up with a few of the denizens we count as dear friends in each of the cities.
--
There are three big shows coming up in the next short while. Prince Edward Island Crafts Council show in Charlottetown 13-15 November, and the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council Show 20-22 November. Back to back weekends away.
There is the potential of a fashion show on the 28th and there are classes to teach in the midst of all this.
December brings the Ottawa Originals Show for 10 glorious days of Christmas shopping from the 10th -20th. Just remember that show is closed on the 14th.
I am looking forward to seeing friends and regular clients at the shows and hopefully having a bit of time to catch up with a few of the denizens we count as dear friends in each of the cities.
--
Thursday, October 29, 2009
"Digital Strangelove"
When I came across this, I thought it was an interesting perspective on the message and medium concept of Marshall McLuhan.
There is no question that in the past 15 years that the net has affected our social norms and our business structures. It has affected how we gather media and in turn treat it as a social object to be shared with our ever expanding circle of friends on networking sites.
Change is afoot. We are living in interesting times.
Digital Strangelove (or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Internet)
There is no question that in the past 15 years that the net has affected our social norms and our business structures. It has affected how we gather media and in turn treat it as a social object to be shared with our ever expanding circle of friends on networking sites.
Change is afoot. We are living in interesting times.
Digital Strangelove (or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Internet)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Note From a Friend
"Hey, by the way, I am a fan of you! I was looking at your website and I like what I see. The way you describe your work and what it means to you is really well put together. Most of all, what gets to me at my core is the way you talk about beauty, hidden beauty. There is something I get on a deep level. It is there in your jewelry pieces and it is there in your aura, as well."
I just got this note from friend who is a very spiritual person, and I like him a lot. He's a powerful person, but quiet and I appreciate the level of introspection that he has given to his life. His note has let me know that the artist's statement of why I do what I do has some meaning. It may not make sense to everyone, but at least makes sense to someone.
The statement came out of a lot of self-examination. I could have gone on about pretty rock and loving colour, which I did for awhile, but for myself to truly know why I do this, I had to look at myself.
The past ten years have contained some of the best and worst of what has happened in my life, severe depression cycles, wonderful up times, end of a marriage and meeting and marrying one person who loves to loves me as I am. Getting instant family, giving up a business, and starting another. Mourning losses and finding myself. Gaining weight, then loosing it, keeping it off. Getting older, getting wiser. Being shy and learning to act so that no one needs to know. Closing up, closing myself off, isolating, and deciding that that is not the right path. Opening up, making the decision to connect. Reconnecting with old friends and making new friends, meeting people, jumping out of my comfort zone. Trying new foods, going places, getting dressed up, getting out. Finding out that I am beautiful, not in the fashion magazine sense of the word, but in my own very unique, individual way. Beautiful, when I let myself love and share and talk and show my inner nature.
So in response to my friend: ... thank you. I am truly honoured that you are a fan.
The whole thing of beauty, and inner beauty especially, stems from 'ugly duckling' issues. I suspect that even the most physically beautiful people have them too. On the technical side, gems are graded for their beauty and the realization is that none are perfect. There are invisible to the naked eye flaws, discolourations, problems with size or cut. A physically beautiful gem stone may have been chemically treated in some way to give it the appearance of perfection, but inside, under a microscope, it is a mass of fractures. An ordinary rock that on the outside looks worn, cracked, uneven, ugly, can have the most beautiful natural crystals or colours or patterns. This is humanity and unfortunately we rarely allow ourselves to get close enough to others to find their inner beauty and more importantly, we rarely spend the time on ourselves to realize that we are beautiful. Discovering that we are is a remarkable thing.
I am very happy you that you are reaching new levels in your meditations. You are a beautiful person and it only adds to your quiet power.
Talk soon, stay well.
Cheers,
Cynthia
--
It is through art, and through art only, that we can realize our perfection.. - Oscar Wilde
I just got this note from friend who is a very spiritual person, and I like him a lot. He's a powerful person, but quiet and I appreciate the level of introspection that he has given to his life. His note has let me know that the artist's statement of why I do what I do has some meaning. It may not make sense to everyone, but at least makes sense to someone.
The statement came out of a lot of self-examination. I could have gone on about pretty rock and loving colour, which I did for awhile, but for myself to truly know why I do this, I had to look at myself.
The past ten years have contained some of the best and worst of what has happened in my life, severe depression cycles, wonderful up times, end of a marriage and meeting and marrying one person who loves to loves me as I am. Getting instant family, giving up a business, and starting another. Mourning losses and finding myself. Gaining weight, then loosing it, keeping it off. Getting older, getting wiser. Being shy and learning to act so that no one needs to know. Closing up, closing myself off, isolating, and deciding that that is not the right path. Opening up, making the decision to connect. Reconnecting with old friends and making new friends, meeting people, jumping out of my comfort zone. Trying new foods, going places, getting dressed up, getting out. Finding out that I am beautiful, not in the fashion magazine sense of the word, but in my own very unique, individual way. Beautiful, when I let myself love and share and talk and show my inner nature.
So in response to my friend: ... thank you. I am truly honoured that you are a fan.
The whole thing of beauty, and inner beauty especially, stems from 'ugly duckling' issues. I suspect that even the most physically beautiful people have them too. On the technical side, gems are graded for their beauty and the realization is that none are perfect. There are invisible to the naked eye flaws, discolourations, problems with size or cut. A physically beautiful gem stone may have been chemically treated in some way to give it the appearance of perfection, but inside, under a microscope, it is a mass of fractures. An ordinary rock that on the outside looks worn, cracked, uneven, ugly, can have the most beautiful natural crystals or colours or patterns. This is humanity and unfortunately we rarely allow ourselves to get close enough to others to find their inner beauty and more importantly, we rarely spend the time on ourselves to realize that we are beautiful. Discovering that we are is a remarkable thing.
I am very happy you that you are reaching new levels in your meditations. You are a beautiful person and it only adds to your quiet power.
Talk soon, stay well.
Cheers,
Cynthia
--
It is through art, and through art only, that we can realize our perfection.. - Oscar Wilde
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Art Trek Gala Opening
“HIGH ON THE ARTS”
7-11pm Friday, October 16
Charlotte Street Arts Centre, Fredericton
An evening of music & dance, food & drink, including an auction of fine art.
The evening celebrates Fredericton and its artists and is the launch of ART TREK, a weekend when local artists open their studios to visitors from far and wide, showing us just how art is made!
Organized by the Fredericton Arts Alliance, ART TREK provides a map and addresses of all the studios. The launch includes singers, dancers and instrumentalists. Proceeds of the auction will help sponsor the Art Trek and its promotion.
Take part in a lively auction of works by Fredericton artists including: Judy Blake, Karen Burk, Marjory Donaldson, Lorna Drew, Katie FitzRandolph, Kim Vose Jones, Paula Keppie, Stephen May, Deanna Musgrave, Cynthia Ryder, George Strunz, and others, including a piece by our fabulous guest auctioneer Brigitte Clavette.
Enjoy live music and dance with pianist\Geraldine Mitchell, soprano Cathy LeBlanc, Artemis Dance, tenor Derrick Miller and pianist Diane Roxborough-Brown, poet Andrew Titus, Highland dancers, and more. Conclude your evening by dancing to some wonderful tunes!
Treat yourselves to gourmet nibbles, fine wines, and Picaroons excellent beer. (Your ticket will provide you with a free drink, after which there will be a cash bar.)
Tickets, $35 per person:
Available at Westministers books, from FAA Board members, or at the door. Call 454-1139, 455-8045
Organized by the Fredericton Arts Alliance
Art Trek is a studio tour open to the public which takes place October 17-18 in Fredericton. Art Trek provides the public with the opportunity to meet artists in their place of work, and to do a little Christmas shopping while enjoying the fall colours. Admission to the Art Trek tour is free.
You can access more information, including a listing of all participating studios and a map, by downloading the Art Trek brochure at: www.frederictonartsalliance.ca Brochures will also be available around the city.
Art Trek hours are Saturday, Oct 17, 10-6 PM and Sunday, Oct 17 from 12-5 PM.
snagged directly from all the FAA promo material. Nothing original today.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Quick Update
Last night was the official opening of the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia's annual competition and exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax.
We decided to go last night.
I happily picked up an Honourable Mention in the Nova Scotia Stone Category.
I can also finally show off pix of the submissions.
Sea Grass bracelet, sterling, pearls, weaving, wrapping .
The bracelet in action.
A fuzzy pic of the Honourable Mention: Skate
Reef Life: a neckpiece in sterling with pearls and a simulated topaz.
Detail of neckpiece.
We decided to go last night.
I happily picked up an Honourable Mention in the Nova Scotia Stone Category.
I can also finally show off pix of the submissions.
Sea Grass bracelet, sterling, pearls, weaving, wrapping .
The bracelet in action.
A fuzzy pic of the Honourable Mention: Skate
Reef Life: a neckpiece in sterling with pearls and a simulated topaz.
Detail of neckpiece.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Curate: the word
I thought that this was interesting article. It addresses an aspect of art-speak: the appropriation of the word "curate" for the mundane but fun, much the same as stores have used "associate" and some of us use the word "colleague".
THE Tipping Point, a store in Houston that calls itself a sneaker lifestyle shop, does not just sell a collection of differently colored rubber soles, along with books, music and apparel. No, its Web site declares, the store “curates” its merchandise.
On the Tip of Creative Tongues
Promoters at Piano’s, a nightclub on the Lower East Side, announced on their Web site that they will “curate a night of Curious burlesque.”
Eric Demby, a founder of the Brooklyn Flea swap meet, does not hire vendors to serve grilled cheese sandwiches, pickles and tamales to hungry shoppers. He “personally curates the food stands,” according to New York magazine.
And to think, not so long ago, curators worked at museums.
The word “curate,” lofty and once rarely spoken outside exhibition corridors or British parishes, has become a fashionable code word among the aesthetically minded, who seem to paste it onto any activity that involves culling and selecting. In more print-centric times, the term of art was “edit” — as in a boutique edits its dress collections carefully. But now, among designers, disc jockeys, club promoters, bloggers and thrift-store owners, curate is code for “I have a discerning eye and great taste.”
Or more to the point, “I belong.”
For many who adopt the term, or bestow it on others, “it’s an innocent form of self-inflation,” said John H. McWhorter, a linguist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. “You’re implying that there is some similarity between what you do and what someone with an advanced degree who works at a museum does.”
Indeed, these days, serving as a guest curator of a design blog, craft fair or department store is an honor. Last month, Scott Schuman, creator of The Sartorialist, a photo blog about street fashion, was invited to curate a pop-up shop at Barneys New York.
The term “curator” was not intended to be hyperbole, said Tom Kalenderian, the men’s fashion director for Barneys. Consulting closely with the photographer, a former fashion retailer, the store stocked just the right items to help shoppers achieve the elegant, eclectic look The Sartorialist regularly features on its site.
“It was precisely his eye” that made the store want to partner with him, Mr. Kalenderian said. “It was about the right shade of blue, about the cut, about the width of a lapel.”
Curtis Macdonald, a Brooklyn musician, also says that “curate” precisely describes his job: hiring bands for a local site.
“When given to opportunity to curate an evening of music, choosing the right bands is very similar to curating a museum,” Mr. Macdonald explained in an e-mail message. “Since I, the ‘curator,’ choose personnel based on a particular aesthetic, I am able to think of creative ways of presenting music beyond the traditional ‘call-up a venue and ask for a gig’ way of presenting.”
Indeed, invoking the word can be good for one’s image and business, said Karuna Tillmon James, 30, who has a background in fine-art photography and recently opened a consignment shop selling designer clothing in Brentwood, Calif. It’s name: Curate Couture.
“I knew that people in the know would gravitate toward it,” Ms. James said. The name signals that hers is not just another secondhand-clothing shop, she said, “selling stuff that was gross and old and had been crammed in trunks for years. It would have very specific pieces, selected purposefully.”
Summon the word “curate,” she added, and “people know you’re going to get it.”
Pretentious? Maybe. But it’s hardly unusual for members of less pedigreed professions to adopt the vernacular of more prestigious ones, said Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley.
For instance, he said, the term “associate” originally tended to connote a partner or a work colleague who shared “a position of authority with another,” as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it. The description has expanded to include employees at all levels of the organization, including sales and customer service associates.In the case of curate, which the Oxford dictionary simply defines as “to look after and preserve,” its standard “museum” meaning dominated until the mid-’90s, when references to curating hotel libraries and CD-of-the-month clubs started to pop up in periodicals, said Jesse Sheidlower, a lexicographer with the Oxford English Dictionary.
After 2000, nontraditional usage of the word took off. And as it continues to grow in popularity, others must adopt it, too, or face the consequences. For example, if all the rival nightclub promoters are “curating” parties, Mr. Sheidlower said, you don’t want to be the one left “hosting” one.
On the Web, the word — and the concept — have taken particular hold, not a surprise given the Internet clutter. Etsy, the shopping Web site devoted to handmade and vintage goods, routinely brings in shelter magazine editors, fashion designers and design bloggers to serve as “guest curators.”
Even news-aggregator Web sites, like Tina Brown’s Daily Beast, promote themselves as cultural curators.
“The Daily Beast doesn’t aggregate,” Ms. Brown says in a statement on the site. “It sifts, sorts, and curates. We’re as much about what’s not there as what is.”
In fact, curatorship of photos culled from Flickr pages, or of knitted scarves on Etsy, can be an artistic pursuit in itself, said Virginia Postrel, a cultural critic and the author of “The Substance of Style.”
“Because there are more things to put together,” she said, “the juxtapositions become a big part of the interesting experience of those things. It is a creative activity in itself.”
The talent for choosing among countless objects is not very different from the work of collage artists — or top D.J.s, explained Scott Plagenhoef, the editor-in-chief of Pitchfork, the music Web site.
“Certainly things like structure, flow, revelation, juxtaposition and other elements of D.J.-ing and mixing are considered an art,” said Mr. Plagenhoef, who served as an unpaid “curator” for the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival in England. “Remix culture is a form of creative expression in its own right.”
And what of actual museum curators themselves? Are they offended by the democratization of their title?
“Maybe the use of ‘curate’ to refer to extra-museum activities is just metaphorical, akin to the way we use the word ‘doctor’ as a verb,” Laura Hoptman, a senior curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, wrote in an e-mail message. “If we doctor a script, we are only theoretically operating on it.”
“It doesn’t really bother me,” she said of the trend. “Actually, I’m hoping its popularity will spawn a reality television show — maybe ‘Top Curator’? ”Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Going Political #1
I have had a continual debate with myself for some time about being political in my blog. I have always backed down on making a statement, but the time has come to go there.
There is often a handful of dedicated protesters across the street from Fredericton's women's clinic with placards that support a pro-life stance. I have an odd reaction to seeing the various persons there, and as I drive by and wave, I find myself singing this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8
It's perhaps a funny choice of song, but being that both men and women appear there, and that their belief in the idea of the moment of conception being the beginning of life as we know it, I would want to push the argument back and ask which came first: the egg or the protester?
....and no, I don't want to start a riot over this, just want share an odd reaction.
--
There is often a handful of dedicated protesters across the street from Fredericton's women's clinic with placards that support a pro-life stance. I have an odd reaction to seeing the various persons there, and as I drive by and wave, I find myself singing this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8
It's perhaps a funny choice of song, but being that both men and women appear there, and that their belief in the idea of the moment of conception being the beginning of life as we know it, I would want to push the argument back and ask which came first: the egg or the protester?
....and no, I don't want to start a riot over this, just want share an odd reaction.
--
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Up & Coming
The Fredericton Arts Alliance Summer Residency Exhibition opened last night at city hall. It looks very nice and the range of artistic talents that is shown is fantastic.
Also coming up is the 5th Annual Arts Trek Open Studio event starting with a Gala opening at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre on the evening of Friday October 16th and the studios are wide open on Saturday (17) and Sunday (18)
To see a copy of the poster: http://www.frederictonartsalliance.ca/trekposter.pdf
Tickets for the Gala are $35 each and available at Westminster Books as well as through the Alliance.
In other news, back in the studio now that the shop is closed for the season, getting ready for the Christmas shows, and back to teaching classes more regularly for a bit.
--
Monday, September 21, 2009
Changes:
or rambling because I refuse to address the real issue :-P
'Tis the season for change.
Fall has set in with the first signs of frosty mornings and colourful leaves. The hummingbirds are long gone and the last of the tomatoes have been picked from the plants.
The casemate that I shared for the summer in the Garrison District closed yesterday and I gathered all my things from it last night. I will miss the place and the social activity that it provided. Fortunately this week is a busy one with something on for every evening and classes all day on Saturday.
Another sign of the season was changing the stovepipe in the studio. Inevitably it rots out after awhile and wood heat is the only heat source in the studio for the winter months. Winterizing has started.
I am seeing changes in people too with the change in season, the return to school for some, leaving summer vacation behind for others. Changes in the way we dress, an extra layer, woolly somethings added, or for the brazen, adding a colourful scarf and hat to an outfit. Attitudes are changing too, we seem to be calming down and leaving our summer bravado behind as we prepare to hunker both into ourselves and our eventual snow-covered abodes.
A lot of folks that I have spoken with lately really hope that we have a another month or two of warm weather reaching into the high 60's or low 20's depending on wither they are Fahrenheit or Celsius minded. Our summer was Hobbes-ian: "short, nasty, and brutish" with far to much cool and wet weather followed by what seemed far too much heat and humidity and suddenly a few brief days of near ideal conditions for the first weekend of September.
Upcoming adventures on my agenda for this week include getting involved with Fredericton's Pride 2010 planning, going to the season opener for the Women & Business Network, the opening of the Fredericton Arts Alliance Summer Residency Programme show at City Hall on Wednesday night at 5, and teaching.
And finally, an early Happy Birthday to a friend who will soon be entering his mid-life crisis in style. That's the way to do it darling!
'Tis the season for change.
Fall has set in with the first signs of frosty mornings and colourful leaves. The hummingbirds are long gone and the last of the tomatoes have been picked from the plants.
The casemate that I shared for the summer in the Garrison District closed yesterday and I gathered all my things from it last night. I will miss the place and the social activity that it provided. Fortunately this week is a busy one with something on for every evening and classes all day on Saturday.
Another sign of the season was changing the stovepipe in the studio. Inevitably it rots out after awhile and wood heat is the only heat source in the studio for the winter months. Winterizing has started.
I am seeing changes in people too with the change in season, the return to school for some, leaving summer vacation behind for others. Changes in the way we dress, an extra layer, woolly somethings added, or for the brazen, adding a colourful scarf and hat to an outfit. Attitudes are changing too, we seem to be calming down and leaving our summer bravado behind as we prepare to hunker both into ourselves and our eventual snow-covered abodes.
A lot of folks that I have spoken with lately really hope that we have a another month or two of warm weather reaching into the high 60's or low 20's depending on wither they are Fahrenheit or Celsius minded. Our summer was Hobbes-ian: "short, nasty, and brutish" with far to much cool and wet weather followed by what seemed far too much heat and humidity and suddenly a few brief days of near ideal conditions for the first weekend of September.
Upcoming adventures on my agenda for this week include getting involved with Fredericton's Pride 2010 planning, going to the season opener for the Women & Business Network, the opening of the Fredericton Arts Alliance Summer Residency Programme show at City Hall on Wednesday night at 5, and teaching.
And finally, an early Happy Birthday to a friend who will soon be entering his mid-life crisis in style. That's the way to do it darling!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Thanks
Well now, there's a milestone for the blog: "1000" views since I put the counter on it... On the funny side of this, it would have been nice to note the date that I did that... and "no", the tracking software for it doesn't count my IP, or for that matter just about any IP that runs through the particular ISP that we use, blocked a large series of IP's when it was set up.
As always, please tell me what interests you or comment. Tell me why you keep coming back to visit, I know that some of you do, or why you stopped by in the first place.
Cheers.
As always, please tell me what interests you or comment. Tell me why you keep coming back to visit, I know that some of you do, or why you stopped by in the first place.
Cheers.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Shots for September
Fall is setting in and winter will follow just as surely as the birds are beginning to flock and devour the fruit of the mountain ash.
The sunny yellow flowers of the pond lilies are still showing their warmth and will continue to decorate the pond until the frost finally skims the top with ice.
The same frost will take its toll on the remaining brown eyed susans and the colourful painted daisies of the garden.
But once in a blue moon, and the moon is hanging high into the morning sky...
.. .a fawn is spotted on the lawn still showing the marks of youth...
...before dashing away after its twin through the remaining fall flowers.
It is not the first the fawns have been spotted since spring, but it is the first time that I could quickly get to the camera and grab a couple of shots through the window.
The sunny yellow flowers of the pond lilies are still showing their warmth and will continue to decorate the pond until the frost finally skims the top with ice.
The same frost will take its toll on the remaining brown eyed susans and the colourful painted daisies of the garden.
But once in a blue moon, and the moon is hanging high into the morning sky...
.. .a fawn is spotted on the lawn still showing the marks of youth...
...before dashing away after its twin through the remaining fall flowers.
It is not the first the fawns have been spotted since spring, but it is the first time that I could quickly get to the camera and grab a couple of shots through the window.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Romance & Technology
I am quietly laughing at an email from a friend this morning. It appears that the way his brother is announcing his engagement to his family is via chat on X-Box. I hope that he didn't make the proposal to his affianced in a similar method.
Our teenager also maintains her romances and friendships via IM and FB, and I am frequently informed of break-ups and make-ups and make-outs that are entirely electronically based.
In a way, this both intrigues me and saddens me, whatever happened to going to the florist to wire real flowers, and send real love letters via snail-mail? Is the lack of the tangible in relationships going to be the death knell of real romance?
Our teenager also maintains her romances and friendships via IM and FB, and I am frequently informed of break-ups and make-ups and make-outs that are entirely electronically based.
In a way, this both intrigues me and saddens me, whatever happened to going to the florist to wire real flowers, and send real love letters via snail-mail? Is the lack of the tangible in relationships going to be the death knell of real romance?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Ritual
I had the opportunity to discuss the value of ritual in out lives with Nate this morning.
When a lot of us think of ritual we consider it in a wholly religious sense relating to church ceremony, but it's not just that. It is something that can be a personal practice. Our lives are filled with habit but rarely ritualized practice.
A ritualized practice is something that we can do everyday to prepare ourselves for writing, playing music, or getting ready for work as examples. A ritual can bring us back to ourselves and remind ourselves of a relaxed time, a moment when we felt peace or joy.
For myself, a ritual that developed when I was on vacation this spring was getting up in a quiet house, making an espresso and heading outside to the deck with my notebook. Sitting in the sun and just enjoying the beverage and early morning light. Simply relaxing into that moment of time before starting my journal pages for the day. Another thing that got added onto that time was some walking meditation for about 10 minutes, just breathing and taking small deliberate steps in a pattern. Even though the location has changed, I am here and not on vacation, I can recapture that moment of quiet by simply going through the ritual of brewing an espresso and heading out the door to a lawn chair with my notebook in hand.
The problem with ritual is that even when we know that something has the ability to relax us, to allow us to experience a pleasure sensation, we tend to put it off in our daily lives because we don't have time. We revert back to the habit of looking after the daily grind, rather than taking 15 minutes for ourselves to be with ourselves.
It's good to be reminded that a daily practice, whatever it is that we choose to practice, is soothing for both the mind and spirit.
I'm going back outdoors, then back to the studio.
--
Currently listening to Chocolate Drops - Emanate 7
When a lot of us think of ritual we consider it in a wholly religious sense relating to church ceremony, but it's not just that. It is something that can be a personal practice. Our lives are filled with habit but rarely ritualized practice.
A ritualized practice is something that we can do everyday to prepare ourselves for writing, playing music, or getting ready for work as examples. A ritual can bring us back to ourselves and remind ourselves of a relaxed time, a moment when we felt peace or joy.
For myself, a ritual that developed when I was on vacation this spring was getting up in a quiet house, making an espresso and heading outside to the deck with my notebook. Sitting in the sun and just enjoying the beverage and early morning light. Simply relaxing into that moment of time before starting my journal pages for the day. Another thing that got added onto that time was some walking meditation for about 10 minutes, just breathing and taking small deliberate steps in a pattern. Even though the location has changed, I am here and not on vacation, I can recapture that moment of quiet by simply going through the ritual of brewing an espresso and heading out the door to a lawn chair with my notebook in hand.
The problem with ritual is that even when we know that something has the ability to relax us, to allow us to experience a pleasure sensation, we tend to put it off in our daily lives because we don't have time. We revert back to the habit of looking after the daily grind, rather than taking 15 minutes for ourselves to be with ourselves.
It's good to be reminded that a daily practice, whatever it is that we choose to practice, is soothing for both the mind and spirit.
I'm going back outdoors, then back to the studio.
--
Currently listening to Chocolate Drops - Emanate 7
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Waiting for a hurricane
The hurricane is the second named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. "Bill" is on his way into Nova Scotia. His effects can be felt here this morning, very tropical air, a steady rain, a continuous breeze with light gusts. Another 5 hours and the eye of the storm is projected to pass the eastern edge of Nova Scotia just north of Halifax.
The east coast is often brushed by tropical and post-tropical storms throughout hurricane season, but we are not used to hurricane force winds and rain conditions. Fortunately Bill is said to be weakening and has been downgraded to a Category 1.
Currently the wind effects for Bill extend into Quebec on the west and over to Newfoundland in the Northeast already.
Here is to praying that Bill passes through without the kind of damage that happened in late September 2003 when Juan hit Halifax and surrounds.
--
Edit 10PM
And I am pleased to report that we had a lovely afternoon in our neck of the woods, and according the bit of news that I have gotten via the web, there wasn't much for excitement in most of Nova Scotia. Power grid is out in some areas, localized flooding and tree branches blown off as well as the usual thrill seekers looking to get swept off of slippery wet rocks at Peggy's Cove and damn near succeeding in getting themselves drowned. There always at least one every year.
The east coast is often brushed by tropical and post-tropical storms throughout hurricane season, but we are not used to hurricane force winds and rain conditions. Fortunately Bill is said to be weakening and has been downgraded to a Category 1.
Currently the wind effects for Bill extend into Quebec on the west and over to Newfoundland in the Northeast already.
Here is to praying that Bill passes through without the kind of damage that happened in late September 2003 when Juan hit Halifax and surrounds.
--
Edit 10PM
And I am pleased to report that we had a lovely afternoon in our neck of the woods, and according the bit of news that I have gotten via the web, there wasn't much for excitement in most of Nova Scotia. Power grid is out in some areas, localized flooding and tree branches blown off as well as the usual thrill seekers looking to get swept off of slippery wet rocks at Peggy's Cove and damn near succeeding in getting themselves drowned. There always at least one every year.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Interview Op Taken
The blogosphere is an interesting place.
I was contacted this weekend by another blogger to participate in an interview that has just been published on their blog: The Pakistani Spectator. To hit the interview directly: http://www.pakspectator.com/interview-with-blogger-cynthia-ryder/
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to put myself out here in the big wide world.
I was contacted this weekend by another blogger to participate in an interview that has just been published on their blog: The Pakistani Spectator. To hit the interview directly: http://www.pakspectator.com/interview-with-blogger-cynthia-ryder/
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to put myself out here in the big wide world.
Cargotecture, et al
My most recent momentary obsession and research topic has been the construction of housing using decommissioned shipping containers. I think that the idea appeals because it is a relatively cheap construction material to acquire, it stacks like Lego bricks (and I love playing with Lego), the design possibilities are incredible and lend themselves to Bauhaus styling which plays into my interest in Art Deco period architecture, and it's green. I'm not a huge environmentalist type, but why spend big bucks on new when the same effect can be achieved with recycled components. Put all of that together with the desire to stay unique and voila: a new studio/house project may happen someday sooner than later. The key question is going to become where it happens though.
Here's three of the dozens of links for Cargotecture that I checked out recently:
http://www.shipping-container-housing.com/index.html
http://ecopods.ca/
http://www.containercity.com/
Still working on the submissions for the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia annual competition and exhibition. It is a must to get things finished off this week as they need to be in the post very soon to meet the deadline. I will take pix of the entries, but I won't be able to post them until after the judging has taken place for the show.
This Saturday, August 22nd: Women's Festival in Fredericton, all day till 9PM.
Back at the Garrison Studio shop for tomorrow and next week I am next door at Productive Hands from 11:30-1:30, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That's the NB Crafts Council's shop where I will be demonstrating for 2 hours each day.
And yes, there is stuff on the bench, work in progress for custom orders, but not finished yet.
Cheers,
Here's three of the dozens of links for Cargotecture that I checked out recently:
http://www.shipping-container-housing.com/index.html
http://ecopods.ca/
http://www.containercity.com/
Still working on the submissions for the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia annual competition and exhibition. It is a must to get things finished off this week as they need to be in the post very soon to meet the deadline. I will take pix of the entries, but I won't be able to post them until after the judging has taken place for the show.
This Saturday, August 22nd: Women's Festival in Fredericton, all day till 9PM.
Back at the Garrison Studio shop for tomorrow and next week I am next door at Productive Hands from 11:30-1:30, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That's the NB Crafts Council's shop where I will be demonstrating for 2 hours each day.
And yes, there is stuff on the bench, work in progress for custom orders, but not finished yet.
Cheers,
Friday, August 7, 2009
This week
Heading into a busy week starting tomorrow with my residency with the Fredericton Arts Alliance in their casemate at the Garrison District. I have 4 days to work away on some fabulous ideas for the "Sea Life" entries for the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia. I worked up some maquettes earlier this week for a bracelet, pendant and neckpiece. I'll be working these all in sterling silver and will be using a lot of textile techniques in the construction.
I built a slide presentation that can run on my laptop for the residency as well so that there are images of past work, show booths, and most importantly, studio shots of where the work is usually done as well of some slides of quick and random facts about me. Sometimes technology is helpful in capturing attention when you are doing low tech work.
Once this coming week is through, then it is back to the usual studio again, to finish up the entries for the guild show and start work on some new items for the New Brunswick Crafts Council show in Fredericton, September 4-6. In between here and there, there is a women's show in Officers' Square on August 22 and I have some classes to teach as well a few casemate days to put in.
Sometime after the 20th of September when the shop closes for the season, I will be doing my first live presentation, as compared to dead or via forums, on working in the handcraft industry. This first seminar will be geared for a jewellery making audience. Once I get a trial run of this done, and secure my feedback, I'll be figuring out how to take that show on the road too.
It was an interesting week at the Garrison shop for me, a lady walked in one day wearing a pair of earrings that she purchased at the Originals show in Ottawa, from me. She loves them, and what a complement that she would choose that pair for her trip east. A couple of other ladies form the area were in too, and they were very pleased to see my work, very expressive in their appreciation. They'll be back to see more.
I realize now, what a great opportunity it is to be able to present my work to the local community. It has been a rarity until now and mostly restricted to NBCC related events for the past 3 years. Doesn't hurt to get out there and get known at least a little bit in the home town.
I built a slide presentation that can run on my laptop for the residency as well so that there are images of past work, show booths, and most importantly, studio shots of where the work is usually done as well of some slides of quick and random facts about me. Sometimes technology is helpful in capturing attention when you are doing low tech work.
Once this coming week is through, then it is back to the usual studio again, to finish up the entries for the guild show and start work on some new items for the New Brunswick Crafts Council show in Fredericton, September 4-6. In between here and there, there is a women's show in Officers' Square on August 22 and I have some classes to teach as well a few casemate days to put in.
Sometime after the 20th of September when the shop closes for the season, I will be doing my first live presentation, as compared to dead or via forums, on working in the handcraft industry. This first seminar will be geared for a jewellery making audience. Once I get a trial run of this done, and secure my feedback, I'll be figuring out how to take that show on the road too.
It was an interesting week at the Garrison shop for me, a lady walked in one day wearing a pair of earrings that she purchased at the Originals show in Ottawa, from me. She loves them, and what a complement that she would choose that pair for her trip east. A couple of other ladies form the area were in too, and they were very pleased to see my work, very expressive in their appreciation. They'll be back to see more.
I realize now, what a great opportunity it is to be able to present my work to the local community. It has been a rarity until now and mostly restricted to NBCC related events for the past 3 years. Doesn't hurt to get out there and get known at least a little bit in the home town.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Thank you
Just giving a shout out here to my regular readers over here for the past month. Turns out that there is a growing number of you that are making more than one visit a month. Thank you!
It's nice to imagine that some of the things that have been shared are either interesting or useful to you.
As well, it turns out that there is someone out there who likes my style of poetry - in Canada no less. That person seems to be checking regularly for what's new. WOW. Now that's a compliment, but my paranoid freak friend would tell me that could be a stalker. I don't think so, I think it just happens to be someone who gets it.
Anytime that any of you want to comment, complain or just agree, feel free, I do mod the comments though just to keep the spam efforts in check.
Cheers
--
It's nice to imagine that some of the things that have been shared are either interesting or useful to you.
As well, it turns out that there is someone out there who likes my style of poetry - in Canada no less. That person seems to be checking regularly for what's new. WOW. Now that's a compliment, but my paranoid freak friend would tell me that could be a stalker. I don't think so, I think it just happens to be someone who gets it.
Anytime that any of you want to comment, complain or just agree, feel free, I do mod the comments though just to keep the spam efforts in check.
Cheers
--
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Good Stuff
On the positive side of this week:
I finally got my old '97 Chrysler replaced with a newer version of the same with 213,000 less kilometers on it. This one is in far better shape body wise and only has 157,000 and the price was right, and getting it registered was relatively painless, and it doesn't shake and rattle when it rolls down the road. Thanks to a good friend for the head's up on where to find this one.
Finally getting out on the bike for a nice drive this evening. Detoured for an ice cream cone which felt a bit like being a kid again. Until today, the 1st of August, the bike had hit the road for a grand total of 20 minutes this summer. The weather has played havoc as well as a few other things interfering with the fun.
Went out last for an evening on the town with a good friend. He's just finishing up his leave for this summer after several training sessions for preparation for his deployment overseas in late fall. I think that we succeeded in finding him some eye-candy, music and beverage. He might just have overdone the shooters however, but a note late this afternoon indicated that he was well on the way to recovery.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that several new pieces were placed with Handsmiths in Halifax last weekend. It sounds like some of the new work is a hit as I received a phone call from a gentleman earlier this afternoon who purchased a set through Handsmiths to thank me for spelling Aluminium the English way in my cleaning instuctions for the work, and to say that the work is lovely. It is going to his daughter for her 24th birthday on August 12th. He was impressed with the fact that it is like so much of my jewellery, a one of a kind. The real compliment is that he considers it in the realm of the work of Chris Wallace. WOW!
It's nice when the not so good stuff gets balanced out.
--
I finally got my old '97 Chrysler replaced with a newer version of the same with 213,000 less kilometers on it. This one is in far better shape body wise and only has 157,000 and the price was right, and getting it registered was relatively painless, and it doesn't shake and rattle when it rolls down the road. Thanks to a good friend for the head's up on where to find this one.
Finally getting out on the bike for a nice drive this evening. Detoured for an ice cream cone which felt a bit like being a kid again. Until today, the 1st of August, the bike had hit the road for a grand total of 20 minutes this summer. The weather has played havoc as well as a few other things interfering with the fun.
Went out last for an evening on the town with a good friend. He's just finishing up his leave for this summer after several training sessions for preparation for his deployment overseas in late fall. I think that we succeeded in finding him some eye-candy, music and beverage. He might just have overdone the shooters however, but a note late this afternoon indicated that he was well on the way to recovery.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that several new pieces were placed with Handsmiths in Halifax last weekend. It sounds like some of the new work is a hit as I received a phone call from a gentleman earlier this afternoon who purchased a set through Handsmiths to thank me for spelling Aluminium the English way in my cleaning instuctions for the work, and to say that the work is lovely. It is going to his daughter for her 24th birthday on August 12th. He was impressed with the fact that it is like so much of my jewellery, a one of a kind. The real compliment is that he considers it in the realm of the work of Chris Wallace. WOW!
It's nice when the not so good stuff gets balanced out.
--
Friday, July 31, 2009
...And Just For Fun...
... it's BBC's Odd News: it's Odd Box, which is a about 4 minutes of the week's top 10 odd news tidbits. Usually enough charming and amusing stuff to bring a smile and a chuckle. The video link is at the right hand side of the page under "From Programmes". This week covered the NY Central Park underwear run and Japan's top supermarket cashier.
... and Fabulon, a blog that is NSFW (not safe for work), but is fun nonetheless, that covers fabulous fun fashion, vintage and celebrity shots and houseboys... you don't have to be gay to appreciate the houseboys...er, eye candy.
...and lastly, Ben Conrad's embroidery, it's not just for grandma and it's not flowers, it's an anatomy lesson. Ben is Jersy City, NJ artist, his other work is good too. It's nice to see traditional art forms stretched.
Enjoy
--
... and Fabulon, a blog that is NSFW (not safe for work), but is fun nonetheless, that covers fabulous fun fashion, vintage and celebrity shots and houseboys... you don't have to be gay to appreciate the houseboys...er, eye candy.
...and lastly, Ben Conrad's embroidery, it's not just for grandma and it's not flowers, it's an anatomy lesson. Ben is Jersy City, NJ artist, his other work is good too. It's nice to see traditional art forms stretched.
Enjoy
--
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Autophobia and Athazagoraphobia: fear and loathing in New Brunswick
Fear of self and fear of being forgotten... are perhaps more related than being just phobias.
Autophobia is often associated with self-loathing and low self-esteem. Self-loathing and low self-esteem are often masked with arrogance, which is strongly associated with overbearing and egotistical attitudes.
Athazagoraphobia is often felt by people with low self-esteem with symptoms of self-doubt, the feelings of being unlovable, unwanted, undesirable. In other words, they feel that they are unremarkable people in and of themselves, thus are easily dismissed, unless of course they do something spectacular with their lives to bring some form of notoriety, which can be interpreted as egoism and arrogance.
Fears, and I know I touched on fear recently, so bear with me here, can sneak up on us. They produce symptoms of depression and bring a sense of gloom and hopelessness. Sometimes it makes us near motionless, stopping us in our tracks, figuratively and even literally. It can make us turn around and run back to our safe place to hide out until the feeling passes.
Sometimes our fears are brought on by a decision that we have to make. Sometimes it is having to face another person. Sometimes it is a physical place. Sometimes it is our own self-talk, our own personal doubts about our worth as a person that creates the fear.
The fear is a dark place in our own mind and it isn't as real as we think it is. What is real is that most of us experience it at some time in our lives, and what is real is that by taking some kind of forward action, it can be overcome. Not all at once maybe, but step by little step.
I have been thinking about this for a couple of days now and I wonder how often my own issues with self-esteem are misinterpreted and how often my fear gets in the way of growing forward?
... and maybe that is why blogging gained so much popularity so quickly, the words and actions of our lives are digitally recorded for a potential eternity, never to be forgotten.
Someday I'll deal with my fear of regret.
--
Autophobia is often associated with self-loathing and low self-esteem. Self-loathing and low self-esteem are often masked with arrogance, which is strongly associated with overbearing and egotistical attitudes.
Athazagoraphobia is often felt by people with low self-esteem with symptoms of self-doubt, the feelings of being unlovable, unwanted, undesirable. In other words, they feel that they are unremarkable people in and of themselves, thus are easily dismissed, unless of course they do something spectacular with their lives to bring some form of notoriety, which can be interpreted as egoism and arrogance.
Fears, and I know I touched on fear recently, so bear with me here, can sneak up on us. They produce symptoms of depression and bring a sense of gloom and hopelessness. Sometimes it makes us near motionless, stopping us in our tracks, figuratively and even literally. It can make us turn around and run back to our safe place to hide out until the feeling passes.
Sometimes our fears are brought on by a decision that we have to make. Sometimes it is having to face another person. Sometimes it is a physical place. Sometimes it is our own self-talk, our own personal doubts about our worth as a person that creates the fear.
The fear is a dark place in our own mind and it isn't as real as we think it is. What is real is that most of us experience it at some time in our lives, and what is real is that by taking some kind of forward action, it can be overcome. Not all at once maybe, but step by little step.
I have been thinking about this for a couple of days now and I wonder how often my own issues with self-esteem are misinterpreted and how often my fear gets in the way of growing forward?
... and maybe that is why blogging gained so much popularity so quickly, the words and actions of our lives are digitally recorded for a potential eternity, never to be forgotten.
Someday I'll deal with my fear of regret.
--
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Stuff again
I'm glad that I had a class to teach tonight. The ladies that attended the earrings 1/2 combo class at the Beadnik in Fredericton were fantastic. It was good to get out and good to get out my own head for a few hours.
Concentrating on the teaching and on the students was good. I was able to forget about some of the disappointing things from this past week.
The show in Halifax was pleasant with lots of positive comments, but the overall results were not fabulous for me. The emails and postcards didn't seem too effective this time around though it did get some folks out that hadn't visited the summer show before.
A good friend that has been plagued with some health issues got another call from her Doc today with some not so good results... time will tell, but at least we made some fun about it, and this was after a bad fall yesterday after some other med tests. Keeping my fingers crossed for her.
Another bud has called his vacation short which meant that the part of the trip that would have brought him east to here is off. He has some "stuff" to deal with. Keeping my fingers crossed for him too.
With all this finger crossing it might be a bit hard to get some new work done for the shop in the Garrison District and the upcoming Women's Festival in Fredericton on the 22nd of August, but I am sure that I will figure something out.
The challenge with any disappointments is to keep it all in perspective, and to keep myself from getting to mired in the negative aspects of it. Getting out and doing is still a pretty good solution. None of us should stop trying to live even when things are looking down.
Concentrating on the teaching and on the students was good. I was able to forget about some of the disappointing things from this past week.
The show in Halifax was pleasant with lots of positive comments, but the overall results were not fabulous for me. The emails and postcards didn't seem too effective this time around though it did get some folks out that hadn't visited the summer show before.
A good friend that has been plagued with some health issues got another call from her Doc today with some not so good results... time will tell, but at least we made some fun about it, and this was after a bad fall yesterday after some other med tests. Keeping my fingers crossed for her.
Another bud has called his vacation short which meant that the part of the trip that would have brought him east to here is off. He has some "stuff" to deal with. Keeping my fingers crossed for him too.
With all this finger crossing it might be a bit hard to get some new work done for the shop in the Garrison District and the upcoming Women's Festival in Fredericton on the 22nd of August, but I am sure that I will figure something out.
The challenge with any disappointments is to keep it all in perspective, and to keep myself from getting to mired in the negative aspects of it. Getting out and doing is still a pretty good solution. None of us should stop trying to live even when things are looking down.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A Bad Fear Day
It happens.
It was one of those days that I felt it badly. It sneaked up in me this morning and grabbed me by the throat and threw me around for a bit. "Stuff" going on is the simple way to explain why I got overwhelmed for a bit today. I found that part of the solution to this feeling and the immobilizing condition that it brings on was to write about it... longhand and just pour it all out onto the page. Once I exhausted the word "fear", I tackled the words "afraid" and "scared" and listed all the things that I attached to them today. I finished by asking myself "Is there anything I am not afraid of today?"
The quick realization that followed the writing is that there were many things I am not afraid of; that what was scaring me was OK and that I could handle it and that I would be alright.
I followed this with a list of accomplishments for the last week, which was a far longer list then the fears and by the end, made me feel pretty good about "stuff".
This is the first time in quite awhile that I have felt this much fear, and a lot of times when I have, I have stayed stuck in it for several hours, sometimes days. It is immobilizing and has prevented forward motion before. The interesting thing about addressing it quickly in writing is in how quickly it dissipated and how much more I actually got done today because of the writing.
There is something to be said for writing in a journal. It allows one to sort out the real problems that can be worked on from the ones that are beyond control. It puts it back in perspective... at least for me.
--
It was one of those days that I felt it badly. It sneaked up in me this morning and grabbed me by the throat and threw me around for a bit. "Stuff" going on is the simple way to explain why I got overwhelmed for a bit today. I found that part of the solution to this feeling and the immobilizing condition that it brings on was to write about it... longhand and just pour it all out onto the page. Once I exhausted the word "fear", I tackled the words "afraid" and "scared" and listed all the things that I attached to them today. I finished by asking myself "Is there anything I am not afraid of today?"
The quick realization that followed the writing is that there were many things I am not afraid of; that what was scaring me was OK and that I could handle it and that I would be alright.
I followed this with a list of accomplishments for the last week, which was a far longer list then the fears and by the end, made me feel pretty good about "stuff".
This is the first time in quite awhile that I have felt this much fear, and a lot of times when I have, I have stayed stuck in it for several hours, sometimes days. It is immobilizing and has prevented forward motion before. The interesting thing about addressing it quickly in writing is in how quickly it dissipated and how much more I actually got done today because of the writing.
There is something to be said for writing in a journal. It allows one to sort out the real problems that can be worked on from the ones that are beyond control. It puts it back in perspective... at least for me.
--
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Summer Show in Halifax, etc...
I'm getting ready to hit the road again: this time for Halifax.
The Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council's Summer Market is fast approaching with the opening on Friday at noon. The show returned to its original location at the corners of Spring Garden and Queen last year after being very downtown at the waterfront for a short time and then a year of non-existence. This year the show has grown again and boasts 32 attending artisans.
I have made several new pieces for this show, not that I have photographed them all, have to take the camera and grab snapshots of the pieces on display, just so that there is a visual record of the work before it sells (now there is some optimistic thinking).
My postcard invites went out last week and my email invites went out yesterday. The more inexpensive pre-show promotion that we can do the better. This little bit of work on my part has the potential to add between 40 and 80 visitors to the event that might otherwise not become aware of it. And the moral of this tale boys & girls is that the more artisans that create a client list of thier supporters and interested persons and use it, there are going to be more people aware of the event and in turn, the more there is for all of us. It's a win-win idea. I invite my clients, you invite yours and we share. Not to shabby, eh?
In other news: I am enjoying the social life provided by my partnership in the "Garrison Studio" in the Garrison District on Queen in Fredericton. The sign for the shop was painted and installed yesterday. Big cheer there as that meant that the weather was finally dry enough for the city's summer students to get it done. It also doesn't hurt my feelings that there have been some decent sales from the effort and I've only been brusque with one person so far this summer... "No, I don't make this in Mexico." Sorry dude, I know it's a legit question, but when you add that you are super familiar with the differences in jewellery styles, it strikes me as an odd question and I was obviously in an odd mood. Ooops, now you all know how to get me riled up;)
Went to a meeting for the Fredericton Arts Alliance Art Trek last night. The question is wether or not the open studio tours for 2009 can be pulled together as there was significant decrease in funding for the coordination and operations of this growing event. One brainstorming session later, it is looking a lot more positive, but the committees involved are going to be one very busy bunch for the next short while. As it stands, dates for the event are the 17 & 18 of October with a gala opening on the evening of the 16th.
Anyway, we hit the road on Thursday morning, drive through and find our flop-house in H'fax, check-in and then do the set-up for the show. On our way back after tear-down, we stop in Moncton and deliver some finished work to a colleague at midnight or so. Looking forward to this weekend and then getting back, grabbing a nap and getting ready for company that is arriving mid-week.
Cheers
--
The Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council's Summer Market is fast approaching with the opening on Friday at noon. The show returned to its original location at the corners of Spring Garden and Queen last year after being very downtown at the waterfront for a short time and then a year of non-existence. This year the show has grown again and boasts 32 attending artisans.
I have made several new pieces for this show, not that I have photographed them all, have to take the camera and grab snapshots of the pieces on display, just so that there is a visual record of the work before it sells (now there is some optimistic thinking).
My postcard invites went out last week and my email invites went out yesterday. The more inexpensive pre-show promotion that we can do the better. This little bit of work on my part has the potential to add between 40 and 80 visitors to the event that might otherwise not become aware of it. And the moral of this tale boys & girls is that the more artisans that create a client list of thier supporters and interested persons and use it, there are going to be more people aware of the event and in turn, the more there is for all of us. It's a win-win idea. I invite my clients, you invite yours and we share. Not to shabby, eh?
In other news: I am enjoying the social life provided by my partnership in the "Garrison Studio" in the Garrison District on Queen in Fredericton. The sign for the shop was painted and installed yesterday. Big cheer there as that meant that the weather was finally dry enough for the city's summer students to get it done. It also doesn't hurt my feelings that there have been some decent sales from the effort and I've only been brusque with one person so far this summer... "No, I don't make this in Mexico." Sorry dude, I know it's a legit question, but when you add that you are super familiar with the differences in jewellery styles, it strikes me as an odd question and I was obviously in an odd mood. Ooops, now you all know how to get me riled up;)
Went to a meeting for the Fredericton Arts Alliance Art Trek last night. The question is wether or not the open studio tours for 2009 can be pulled together as there was significant decrease in funding for the coordination and operations of this growing event. One brainstorming session later, it is looking a lot more positive, but the committees involved are going to be one very busy bunch for the next short while. As it stands, dates for the event are the 17 & 18 of October with a gala opening on the evening of the 16th.
Anyway, we hit the road on Thursday morning, drive through and find our flop-house in H'fax, check-in and then do the set-up for the show. On our way back after tear-down, we stop in Moncton and deliver some finished work to a colleague at midnight or so. Looking forward to this weekend and then getting back, grabbing a nap and getting ready for company that is arriving mid-week.
Cheers
--
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Decision Made
When I look back over my history of attending both retail and wholesale shows for the past 15-plus years, I think that this is the first time that I didn't tough it out to the end.
This weekend was the New Brunswick Crafts Council Fine Crafts Festival in Rothesay. It is a nice show with wonderful artisans in attendance, but because it is an outdoor event we are always at the mercy of the weather. In the past, we have been windblown, which is disastrous for pottery displays, the artisans have chased jewelry across the field, and weavers and fabric designers get blown away and bleached out as we all stand nonchalantly at the corners of our tents trying to look calm as we wonder which gust of wind will finally take it away into the neighbours' glass display. Some years it just rains and other years we all bake in the hot sun. This year in the span of two days we had all.
If I hadn't looked at the weather radar this morning, I might have decided that the weather was going to improve quickly and stick it out... at 3PM it is still raining there according to the highway webcam in the area. Not spending the entire day cold and wet is a good thing in my book even though it does affect the quality of the show. The quality of which is determined in part by the quantity of vendors, which was rapidly decreasing at our arrival on site this morning. A few other artisans with weather sensitive goods had already decided that they weren't staying for the day prior to a quick meeting held to gather a consensus about shutting down the show.
In brief, there are many artisans that are just getting to the point of not wanting to be at the mercy of the weather, product is too easily damaged and costly to rebuild, replace, or repair. A lot of time is lost from regular production when you have to clean up everything including product, tents and tablecloths in the days following a show. Besides, very few people enjoy shopping in the rain and no one likes to sit in a tent for hours with nothing to do except watch the rain.
I repeat, the show is good, the artisans wonderful, the NBCC is certainly putting in a fantastic effort but it is the weather that is going to inevitably kill the outdoor crafts festivals as more and more artisans become reluctant to exhibit at outdoor venues. I know that I am now among them after just a few short years of trying this event.
In balancing the real costs against the income from the events, with the prospect of loosing productivity and revenues because of the increasingly unpredictable summer weather, add to that the wear and tear on the nerves from just the wind, and it starts to look like a 'never again' kind of thing. If anything, this weekend's experience was far from bad, it was just another lesson and I know that I am not as hardy and stubborn as I used to be which also means that I look after myself better than I once would have. I appreciate being warm and dry.
--
This weekend was the New Brunswick Crafts Council Fine Crafts Festival in Rothesay. It is a nice show with wonderful artisans in attendance, but because it is an outdoor event we are always at the mercy of the weather. In the past, we have been windblown, which is disastrous for pottery displays, the artisans have chased jewelry across the field, and weavers and fabric designers get blown away and bleached out as we all stand nonchalantly at the corners of our tents trying to look calm as we wonder which gust of wind will finally take it away into the neighbours' glass display. Some years it just rains and other years we all bake in the hot sun. This year in the span of two days we had all.
If I hadn't looked at the weather radar this morning, I might have decided that the weather was going to improve quickly and stick it out... at 3PM it is still raining there according to the highway webcam in the area. Not spending the entire day cold and wet is a good thing in my book even though it does affect the quality of the show. The quality of which is determined in part by the quantity of vendors, which was rapidly decreasing at our arrival on site this morning. A few other artisans with weather sensitive goods had already decided that they weren't staying for the day prior to a quick meeting held to gather a consensus about shutting down the show.
In brief, there are many artisans that are just getting to the point of not wanting to be at the mercy of the weather, product is too easily damaged and costly to rebuild, replace, or repair. A lot of time is lost from regular production when you have to clean up everything including product, tents and tablecloths in the days following a show. Besides, very few people enjoy shopping in the rain and no one likes to sit in a tent for hours with nothing to do except watch the rain.
I repeat, the show is good, the artisans wonderful, the NBCC is certainly putting in a fantastic effort but it is the weather that is going to inevitably kill the outdoor crafts festivals as more and more artisans become reluctant to exhibit at outdoor venues. I know that I am now among them after just a few short years of trying this event.
In balancing the real costs against the income from the events, with the prospect of loosing productivity and revenues because of the increasingly unpredictable summer weather, add to that the wear and tear on the nerves from just the wind, and it starts to look like a 'never again' kind of thing. If anything, this weekend's experience was far from bad, it was just another lesson and I know that I am not as hardy and stubborn as I used to be which also means that I look after myself better than I once would have. I appreciate being warm and dry.
--
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Favorite Times of the Year
One of my favorite times of the year is upon us right now: Haute Couture Autumn/Winter. The other is Haute Couture Spring/Summer.
I have been following the Paris Week via the UK Telegraph among others.
The eye candy of the Haute Couture season is always inspiring and sometimes awing and occasionally just baffling. Periodically the scene will promote haute jewellery such as that of Loulou de la Falaise. This season it is stunning works of floral inspired multi-stone pieces. I am smitten which is not a surprise for a stone cutter.
I am looking forward to following this season's haute presentations as fashion weeks rotate through Paris, London, Milan, Berlin and New York.
Inspiration will abound...
I have been following the Paris Week via the UK Telegraph among others.
The eye candy of the Haute Couture season is always inspiring and sometimes awing and occasionally just baffling. Periodically the scene will promote haute jewellery such as that of Loulou de la Falaise. This season it is stunning works of floral inspired multi-stone pieces. I am smitten which is not a surprise for a stone cutter.
I am looking forward to following this season's haute presentations as fashion weeks rotate through Paris, London, Milan, Berlin and New York.
Inspiration will abound...
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Recent discoveries
This is hardly a post of thoughtful philosophical discoveries but of things that are fun.
Internet radio is not new and this station isn't either: Martini In the Morning, but it's new to me, and I have always adored Rat Pack music. I'll admit now that I was an 80's kid... I missed the big hair and opted for short pixie/punk kinds of cuts. I also toted around my post-punk 80's rock like Adam and the Ants and shopped the yard sales for used Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald LP's (the big black vinyl disks that preceded cassettes that preceded CD's). Now I'm starting to feel old and I might have been a bit of an oddball musically.
I came across June Cable's WiZard of Felt web site a few years ago and was smitten with her felted dolls. I thought they were fabulous with great whimsy but at the time she didn't live in New Brunswick. She obviously moved here sometime in the past couple or three years. She is delightful and just as whimsical as her fabulous creations. I had the privilege of acquiring a couple of berets from her this past weekend. I love them and anyone that knows me, knows that I like my hats, not too wild but just different enough to be noticed and June's work gets noticed.
A friend recommended William Shatner's autobiography "Up Till Now" to me recently. Laughed my way though it when it was appropriate. Like the fine actor he is, he plays the comedy off the tragedies of his life and it makes a fine read. It's not heavy and moross so it is ideal for grabbing a few pages here and there, but really, you may get into it and not want to put it down.
Enjoy the discoveries.
--
Internet radio is not new and this station isn't either: Martini In the Morning, but it's new to me, and I have always adored Rat Pack music. I'll admit now that I was an 80's kid... I missed the big hair and opted for short pixie/punk kinds of cuts. I also toted around my post-punk 80's rock like Adam and the Ants and shopped the yard sales for used Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald LP's (the big black vinyl disks that preceded cassettes that preceded CD's). Now I'm starting to feel old and I might have been a bit of an oddball musically.
I came across June Cable's WiZard of Felt web site a few years ago and was smitten with her felted dolls. I thought they were fabulous with great whimsy but at the time she didn't live in New Brunswick. She obviously moved here sometime in the past couple or three years. She is delightful and just as whimsical as her fabulous creations. I had the privilege of acquiring a couple of berets from her this past weekend. I love them and anyone that knows me, knows that I like my hats, not too wild but just different enough to be noticed and June's work gets noticed.
A friend recommended William Shatner's autobiography "Up Till Now" to me recently. Laughed my way though it when it was appropriate. Like the fine actor he is, he plays the comedy off the tragedies of his life and it makes a fine read. It's not heavy and moross so it is ideal for grabbing a few pages here and there, but really, you may get into it and not want to put it down.
Enjoy the discoveries.
--
Monday, July 6, 2009
Revisiting Praise Junkie
I've been thinking about what I said here in June.
I'm wrong, the rare compliments are the true gems. The usual ones are great, but they do loose their luster faster by fading from memory sooner. The rare ones are the ones that truly get tucked inside the mind and held onto as real treasured memories.
Time has a way of passing, and in passing, teaching.
--
I'm wrong, the rare compliments are the true gems. The usual ones are great, but they do loose their luster faster by fading from memory sooner. The rare ones are the ones that truly get tucked inside the mind and held onto as real treasured memories.
Time has a way of passing, and in passing, teaching.
--
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Measuring Success: it's not just in the money
It's a topic that I have been thinking about for awhile and it certainly comes up with every show that I do. Inevitably an organizer, or more frequently, other artists/artisans will ask "Was it successful?"
Very rarely now do I feel that a show has been a failure. It has to be a real bad one in a lot of ways to get that designation.
This weekend's Art Market in Fredericton was no exception. All the attending artists were asked to complete a survey with various questions measuring the success of the venue. Did we hear/see advertising for the event? What went right, what went wrong? What else could have been done? And the clincher of most events that have some amount of municipal, provincial or federal funding: Circle the number that represents your sales for the show.
The problem with evaluating the success of a show/sale totally in terms of actual sales at the event is that it never takes into consideration the other things that make it a personal success.
There is the amount of personal promotional effort that a person puts in. How many business cards and brochures were distributed? How many conversations did you have with people who have never seen your work before? How many people are seeing you again and are now getting interested in what you do? How many people were complimentary or just plain curious? How many names did you get to add to your contact list for the area in which the show was held?
Answering and measuring from that perspective can take a show with low sales numbers and turn it into a success that can built upon at a later event.
The surveys also don't address these possibilities either: If you teach in your medium, did you get new students? Were there any commissions or custom orders placed for your work?
Another avenue for success: Did you make a connection with another exhibitor or a visitor that may lead to another income stream, exhibition possibility or further recognition for your work?
And finally, one of my favorite ways to measure the success of a show: Was it fun and did I get to meet other artists and exchange ideas?
The Art Market in Fredericton was a raging success for me on a lot of fronts. There were sales and a couple of commissions. Lots of compliments and conversation. Plenty of cards and brochures out there now. No new names on my list, I'm really bad at that part yet. Met a lot of the other artists and had some great conversation with them. Got some new ideas for business too and may have snagged a couple of new students. Not bad for a rainy weekend in Freddy Beach.
--
Very rarely now do I feel that a show has been a failure. It has to be a real bad one in a lot of ways to get that designation.
This weekend's Art Market in Fredericton was no exception. All the attending artists were asked to complete a survey with various questions measuring the success of the venue. Did we hear/see advertising for the event? What went right, what went wrong? What else could have been done? And the clincher of most events that have some amount of municipal, provincial or federal funding: Circle the number that represents your sales for the show.
The problem with evaluating the success of a show/sale totally in terms of actual sales at the event is that it never takes into consideration the other things that make it a personal success.
There is the amount of personal promotional effort that a person puts in. How many business cards and brochures were distributed? How many conversations did you have with people who have never seen your work before? How many people are seeing you again and are now getting interested in what you do? How many people were complimentary or just plain curious? How many names did you get to add to your contact list for the area in which the show was held?
Answering and measuring from that perspective can take a show with low sales numbers and turn it into a success that can built upon at a later event.
The surveys also don't address these possibilities either: If you teach in your medium, did you get new students? Were there any commissions or custom orders placed for your work?
Another avenue for success: Did you make a connection with another exhibitor or a visitor that may lead to another income stream, exhibition possibility or further recognition for your work?
And finally, one of my favorite ways to measure the success of a show: Was it fun and did I get to meet other artists and exchange ideas?
The Art Market in Fredericton was a raging success for me on a lot of fronts. There were sales and a couple of commissions. Lots of compliments and conversation. Plenty of cards and brochures out there now. No new names on my list, I'm really bad at that part yet. Met a lot of the other artists and had some great conversation with them. Got some new ideas for business too and may have snagged a couple of new students. Not bad for a rainy weekend in Freddy Beach.
--
Friday, June 26, 2009
And before it's too late...
... a little more self-promotion here:
There is a jewelry fashion at Fusion Coffee on Main, in Woodstock, NB, tomorrow at 2PM. It is in partnership with Viktor's Blue Rose Salon, Spa and Boutique. Not only is it a great opportunity to see my fabulous work, but to learn about all the new services that are being offered at Viktor's and to see some of his and Christian's hair design expertise.
Next weekend, starting on Thursday July 2nd and running through to Sunday afternoon, is the City of Fredericton's Art Market in Officer's Square. This is a first time event and in celebration of the fact that Fredericton has been named a Cultural Capitol of Canada for 2009. There is going to be both visual art and fine craft at the venue, but only one of a kind and original pieces.
Yesterday, to my delight, I found out that the New Brunswick Craft Council has featured a piece of my jewelry on this year's promotional postcard for the Fine Craft Festival in Rothesay which is quickly coming up on July 11 & 12.
Don't forget that the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council Summer Market is coming up on July 24-26 on the corner of Spring Garden & Queen in Halifax. We miss the tall ships that weekend, but we do get to see the Pride celebrations which is fun too.
And lastly, my schedule for the Fredericton Arts Alliance casemate at the Garrison District Artisan Shops in Fredericton has been confirmed and in co-operation with the other artist participating that week, I am in residence from August 8-11. I will be spending that 3.5 days working on exhibition entries for the rapidly approaching Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia competition and exhibition on "Sea Life". It's a broad subject, so the possibilities are endless so I need to narrow it down just a bit from there.
--
There is a jewelry fashion at Fusion Coffee on Main, in Woodstock, NB, tomorrow at 2PM. It is in partnership with Viktor's Blue Rose Salon, Spa and Boutique. Not only is it a great opportunity to see my fabulous work, but to learn about all the new services that are being offered at Viktor's and to see some of his and Christian's hair design expertise.
Next weekend, starting on Thursday July 2nd and running through to Sunday afternoon, is the City of Fredericton's Art Market in Officer's Square. This is a first time event and in celebration of the fact that Fredericton has been named a Cultural Capitol of Canada for 2009. There is going to be both visual art and fine craft at the venue, but only one of a kind and original pieces.
Yesterday, to my delight, I found out that the New Brunswick Craft Council has featured a piece of my jewelry on this year's promotional postcard for the Fine Craft Festival in Rothesay which is quickly coming up on July 11 & 12.
Don't forget that the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council Summer Market is coming up on July 24-26 on the corner of Spring Garden & Queen in Halifax. We miss the tall ships that weekend, but we do get to see the Pride celebrations which is fun too.
And lastly, my schedule for the Fredericton Arts Alliance casemate at the Garrison District Artisan Shops in Fredericton has been confirmed and in co-operation with the other artist participating that week, I am in residence from August 8-11. I will be spending that 3.5 days working on exhibition entries for the rapidly approaching Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia competition and exhibition on "Sea Life". It's a broad subject, so the possibilities are endless so I need to narrow it down just a bit from there.
--
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Praise Junkie
There are people in our lives that we often receive compliments from or give compliments to... We feel good for both giving and receiving. Sometimes we find ourselves smiling a little brighter or trying a little harder because of the receipt of the compliment. We want another one, we need another one, our mind cries out for another one, we need the hit of the boost of the compliment.
The moment of realization dawns: I am a "Praise Junkie".
Now assume for a bit that you are not a junkie, but someone with confidence in your abilities and an unquestioning faith in yourself. Assume for a moment that you do not regularly seek out praise. Assume that you rarely receive complements and that for just this once, someone you have rarely received a compliment from gives you one. What value do you place on that praise? Is that one comment now worth more because it is rarely given than a similar one that is received daily?
I found myself pondering this recently. Both evaluating my need for a hit for the praise junkie and why one rare and off-hand comment about being "pretty" from a friend seems to have had more power than the daily reminder that I am "beautiful" from my partner.
On the rather cynical side though, praise is like marketing and diamonds: Rarity can lend value and perceived scarcity can up the demand.
I'll draw this conclusion for the moment, I have a daily showering of "diamonds" from my partner, so I guess when I get tossed another colour of gem, it's just unusual enough to be fascinating for awhile, but eventually the novelty wears off as the edges chip and the shine leaves the softer gem.
--
The moment of realization dawns: I am a "Praise Junkie".
Now assume for a bit that you are not a junkie, but someone with confidence in your abilities and an unquestioning faith in yourself. Assume for a moment that you do not regularly seek out praise. Assume that you rarely receive complements and that for just this once, someone you have rarely received a compliment from gives you one. What value do you place on that praise? Is that one comment now worth more because it is rarely given than a similar one that is received daily?
I found myself pondering this recently. Both evaluating my need for a hit for the praise junkie and why one rare and off-hand comment about being "pretty" from a friend seems to have had more power than the daily reminder that I am "beautiful" from my partner.
On the rather cynical side though, praise is like marketing and diamonds: Rarity can lend value and perceived scarcity can up the demand.
I'll draw this conclusion for the moment, I have a daily showering of "diamonds" from my partner, so I guess when I get tossed another colour of gem, it's just unusual enough to be fascinating for awhile, but eventually the novelty wears off as the edges chip and the shine leaves the softer gem.
--
Friday, June 12, 2009
Another quick update
I just received word via email that I am on the tentative schedule for a Fredericton Arts Alliance residency at the FAA casemate, Garrison District, Fredericton, for August 8-14. Formalities need to be concluded with the scheduling, but so far so good.
--
--
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Updates as promised
News regarding the Casemates or Artisan Shops at the Garrison District in Fredericton:
I joined a casemate on Monday with 2 potters and a surface designer, all students from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Open daily through 20 September.
Received notice on Monday night that I will be doing a week of Demonstrations for the New Brunswick Crafts Council casemate, Productive Hands, on August 24,26 & 28 from 11:30 - 1:30.
More Critter action:
A deer was browsing the elder bushes that edge the lawn yesterday, got some shots, but I do need to oil the hinges on the living room door.
And finally a jewelry shot:
Badly photographed as it was taken in haste but this is the Nephrite Jade piece that was chosen nonetheless for the gift given to the "Irish girl" at last Friday's retirement party.
I received another note from "P" on Monday morning to let me know that the recipient "loved the necklace."
And now for something completely random:
I am missing a particular breed of an espresso addicted personality quite sharply today. Oh well...
--
I joined a casemate on Monday with 2 potters and a surface designer, all students from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. Open daily through 20 September.
Received notice on Monday night that I will be doing a week of Demonstrations for the New Brunswick Crafts Council casemate, Productive Hands, on August 24,26 & 28 from 11:30 - 1:30.
More Critter action:
A deer was browsing the elder bushes that edge the lawn yesterday, got some shots, but I do need to oil the hinges on the living room door.
And finally a jewelry shot:
Badly photographed as it was taken in haste but this is the Nephrite Jade piece that was chosen nonetheless for the gift given to the "Irish girl" at last Friday's retirement party.
I received another note from "P" on Monday morning to let me know that the recipient "loved the necklace."And now for something completely random:
I am missing a particular breed of an espresso addicted personality quite sharply today. Oh well...
--
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Critters
Our critters are out in force these days.
One of the large Grey Squirrels released her brood of 7 foolish little ones from the nest on Sunday. It was wonderful display of bizarre and clumsy acrobatics. One of these days I will get a picture of one of the greys. They are very timid out here in the country, so they don't sit still very long when they hear a noise.
This particular chipmunk though, despite their inate timidity, was willing to let me get out the camera and snap a couple of close-ups. Apparently though, 6' is close enough to suit him. He's been happily stuffing his jowls with some of the bird seed that I threw out for the Junco's and Jays earlier today.
Now this is "Mamma George". All of the red squirrels that frequent the house are called George, regardless. This particular George is one of the ones that will come when you call, and she does expect to get a piece of bread and peanut butter when she comes knocking. Which she does... she'll climb the screen door at the kitchen and ring the brass ships bell that we have by jumping on it.
Mamma posed for several pretty shots, including this one, before she got tired of the beep and whir of the camera. Note the small piece of bread that she eagerly grabbed out of my hand and is now devoid of peanut butter.
Sometime in the next 3 weeks or so we will see her with bringing the little ones out of where ever it is that she has them in the nest.
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One of the large Grey Squirrels released her brood of 7 foolish little ones from the nest on Sunday. It was wonderful display of bizarre and clumsy acrobatics. One of these days I will get a picture of one of the greys. They are very timid out here in the country, so they don't sit still very long when they hear a noise.
This particular chipmunk though, despite their inate timidity, was willing to let me get out the camera and snap a couple of close-ups. Apparently though, 6' is close enough to suit him. He's been happily stuffing his jowls with some of the bird seed that I threw out for the Junco's and Jays earlier today.
Now this is "Mamma George". All of the red squirrels that frequent the house are called George, regardless. This particular George is one of the ones that will come when you call, and she does expect to get a piece of bread and peanut butter when she comes knocking. Which she does... she'll climb the screen door at the kitchen and ring the brass ships bell that we have by jumping on it.
Mamma posed for several pretty shots, including this one, before she got tired of the beep and whir of the camera. Note the small piece of bread that she eagerly grabbed out of my hand and is now devoid of peanut butter.
Sometime in the next 3 weeks or so we will see her with bringing the little ones out of where ever it is that she has them in the nest.
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