Canadian Winter = Time for Crafts!

I wrapped up my travels by going to my parents’ home in Edmonton for the holidays. I get antsy if I go five minutes without having something to do with my hands so I capitalized on being locked in doors by making some commissioned Go Eat Some Poison products and by organizing some family-fun crafts.

The first project was a Solstice banner (our holiday of choice). On the Winter Solstice every member of the family completed one or two banner pieces by sewing letters I cut out in advance to a triangle of a different material. The level of sewing ability varied greatly but everyone felt very accomplished in the end.

We also made a felt wreath, I crocheted some berries and everyone cut-out different shaped leaves and petals (based on their scissor abilities). I stitched the pieces of felt holly together and glued it to a wire wreath ring.

I was also busy making some more cross-stitched Interracial Sex Sketchbooks (I’m working on some gay couples now), and decided to try out a less controversial image for a sketchbook cover. All in all, it was a restful and productive holiday season.

Toronto's City of Craft!

Best friend and fellow artist, Pamela Norrish and I travelled thousands of kilometres to meet up at Toronto’s City of Craft event where we showed a film piece we had collaborated on months early, titled Coast to Coast to Coast. It was a stop motion animation that we shot it in a non-digital photo booth using objects made from various craft mediums. For now you can see the film here, but soon it and photos of our installation will be on my website once my computer savy friend, Scott Borys tweaks some things to support video files.

The event itself was a really lovely experience with loads of talented artists, crafters and DIY’ers. It was hosted in the Theatre Centre on Queen West, and for sentimental reasons ( I used to live in Toronto) it was really great to be back in that neighbourhood. I also showed pieces from my Crèche exhibition at a show curated by Tara Bursey titled Home and Away. To the right is a photo of the vendor's tables once some of the hustle and bustle died down.