January

January has been a transitional month. Different projects different activities but essentially I was waiting out time until my schedule at work adjusted to my new reduced hours so I can get started on the projects lined up.

I am still carving linocuts for Francois Morelli, just finishing up another big one and he sent me 4 small ones to carve. I can’t wait!

I have some drawing lessons lined up to start new week.  Which is exciting, haven’t been able to teach since I left Montreal and always love doing it. Time to dust off my lesson plans and assignments and start on a new adventure!

Artistically I have been taking a few detours the past couple month mostly because time, daylight and energy was so extremely limited that I mostly worked on knitting and trying to declutter my studio.

Scott and I finally rented a Storage unit to store all those things that other people would have in their garages or storage closets.  Which freed up a lot of space in my studio.  Our current apartment is very small and has very little storage space which has cluttered up my studio to the point where it was impossible for me to work in it.

But as Scott always says if something doesn’t work for you, make changes. So that’s  what we did.

I am working on some knitting to use as backdrop for my paintings, and as new little installation project. I love knitting in an organic non-prescribed-pattern it definitely feels much more natural to me.

To become a bit more active again until it gets warm enough for me to run outside I started riding once a week at Turner Stables just about 15 minutes drive from our apartment. I haven’t had the chance to take lessons since I was a kid and being around horses has been absolutely wonderful. Except that riding at -11 C is a little bit cold.  
Additionally we have been hiking no matter what weather and exploring our new home.

Rose & Gollum Christmas

I just finished the image for the christmas card for Kwik Kopy Halifax. It features Kwik Kopy's Labs Rose & Gollum, in fact those two even have their own blog!

The new look of Maria-doering.com

This weekend we launched the new version of http://maria-doering.com
My amazing husband has outdone himself and put together an excellent showcase of my work, that even works on tablets and iphones!
If you haven't already, please check it out!

Alderney Landing Market

Last Saturday was our first time at the Alderney Landing Farmer's Market. It was a very enjoyable experience, so much fun in fact that despite the very early morning rising we decided to try it again next Saturday. I was lucky to get a table set up underneath my installation. Definitely the best spot in the whole market for me. Despite only a few first sales we had many interesting conversations with people stopping by. Tons of visitors grabbed my cards, which reminded us of the importance of updating my website! (Which is another project Scott and I are working on right now).
The Alderney Landing Farmer's Market has many different kinds of goods for sale, there are home made pies, veggies, art, crafts, jewellery, home made jam, kettle corn, knitted & felted goods, Indian food, fish, wood carvings... lots of baked goods, tea, vegan & soy products and so much more. There is something for anyone and everyone and you will meet many amazing people! It's each weekend from 8-1 at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth. COME VISIT!!

Metamorphosis - the art of Robert Pope at the Nova Scotia Art Gallery

The current exhibition on the top floor of the Nova Scotia Art Gallery had me gasping for air. Robert Pope's (1956- 1992) final pieces of artwork illustrated and expressed his experience through his battle with cancer. And they are very matter of fact, honest and absolutely emotionally charged. To me they communicated the silent scream and the frustrated battle of a man who wants to live. He explains the viewers experience perfectly:
  "Art is powerful preventative medicine," Pope wrote, "Looking at a picture is like walking through an endless series of doors, with each succeeding door leading us deeper and deeper into a richer experience. This journey stimulates our minds, our emotions, our souls. It makes us more fully alive. Ultimately, the aesthetic experience heals us and make us whole." (more here.)

Of course these few poor photographs don't do his work justice at all. The exhibition is still on until December 9th, and a definite must-see. And for more information on Robert Pope, his life and work check out this site.

Exploring Nova Scotia - Rainbow Haven Beach in November

Just because the weather has gotten cold and it is November it surely doesn't stop us from a visit to the beach. Not many people were there, it was almost like we had an entire beach to ourselves. Listening to the Ocean, breathing in the amazing salty sea air and seeing nature's beauty wherever we step is still my favourite thing to do. It's simply good for body and soul. The best part this beach is not even a 15 minute drive from our apartment. 

Bursting with excitement.. Nova Scotia is a truly beautiful place!!! 

I love the smooth rocks everywhere, the tides and the ocean have flattened and rounded them into very beautiful shapes. 

Yarn Adventures II - scarf madness

So between working full time at the moment and the regular everyday chores and things to do I have no energy left to do anything .... but knitting. So I am knitting ... a lot! To the delight of my neighbour the Dartmouth Yarn-shop owner Kate, I have been in her shop once a week, picking up another batch of yarn, for yet another creation.

 Simple lace knit scarf

 Fisherman's Rib Knit Scarf

Rick Rack Rib Scarf

Yarn adventures - re-discovery of knitting & new exciting ideas

When Scott and I moved into our new apartment right above a Yarn shop we knew we were in trouble... After weeks of restraint I finally went in about a week and a half ago and got promptly bitten by the knitting bug. My great grandma taught me how to knit when I was a little girl but I couldn't remember how to do it. The lovely Kate at Dartmouth Yarns  taught me again how to cast on and do a simple knit stitch. I didn't remember how it worked but my hands did. As if I never stopped knitting 20 years later my hands picked it right away. So with my excitement of rediscovery I went home and knit away. My Mom and Mom-in-law both have given me very helpful pointers, which is greatly appreciated!

Of course as with everything my mind is trying to figure out how this could be useful in my artpractice. And the jump from my printed and drawn patterns to knitted patterns is a small step. So at the moment I am teaching myself how to knit lace (also thanks to the lovely Kate at Dartmouth Yarns for giving me answers to a million questions). Eventually the goal is to laceknit my own organic patterns that compliment with my paintings.. that will eventually maybe even become part of my paintings... We'll see. :) In the meantime I am just knitting away, trying different needles, different kinds of yarn and how to do the basic stitches.

My first creation. 

My second creation. 

Third one is mostly an experiment. 

And now I am learning how to knit a ribbed - lace pattern. On my way to learning all the little ways of making lace so I can create my own soon. 

"Inside Me" at Craig Gallery in Dartmouth, NS

Over the span of 5 days I installed the "Inside Me" fabric installation at Craig Gallery at Alderney Landing.

Since I am currently working full time I could only work on it in the evenings, which I had never done for this project. In the past it took me about 1 1/2 days to set it up now I stretched it over the span of 5 evenings, which had the lovely aspect that the public was able to see the progress.

It is also the first time that I have installed it in a completely public space. It is the outer wall of the gallery, which is still within the Alderney Market building but it is freely accessible to the public while people move through the space on there way to work or home from the ferry.

Tomorrow the Saturday Farmers market will happen right in that space and people will move busily past the installation. Vendors will be face to face with the fabric bulging from the wall all day.

It's definitely an interesting experience. A mix between pride and excitement but also vulnerability. The work is not hidden in a gallery space that only gets viewed by a select few who don't feel intimidated by the gallery set up. It's out there to live and breath in everyone's daily environment. 

Day 1 - Piece 1 

Scott helped out the first couple of days with anything from holding the latter, handing me pins and just good old moral support. Best husband in the world! 

Day 2 - It is growing!

Day 4 - Almost done.

Day 5 - Paparazzi? ;) 

Close ups of the finished set up

The finished Installation. Feels good!


And here is the official Artist Statement:

{Inside Me

Making the surface transparent; breaking down the borders where the inside begins and the outside ends; pulling the inside out; letting the inside become the surface that inhabits the environment; these are considerations, processes and techniques by which I am trying to understand the entity that is me.

While gestures, expressions, rashes, hives and illness are common manifestations of the body’s complexity on the outside, I seek to imagine what happens beyond. Through my imagining, I come to myself. What if the internal patterns and textures are literally brought to the surface? What if they become part of the environment? Would I discover greater insight and understanding of my body and its intricacies? The interlace of systems, that I call “lacery”, delicately functions together and is so easily disrupted and turned against itself and its elements each to the other.  Each pattern I create is another layer that I extract from this lacery that is inspired by cellular and muscular structures, patterns of blood vessels, the nervous system, emotions, thoughts and feelings.

The “Inside Me” fabric installation brings the image of the body’s mystical interior to the public eye, it invades the public space. It asks the viewer to consider the consequences. What does it look like if our inside would become our living space. Would it be threatening?  Claustrophobic?  Spreading like a disease? Or would we feel liberated and see it growing like a beautiful plant? Would it be ornate and static or pulsing and alive?

“Inside Me” is constructed from fabric that is printed double sided with ballgrain plate lithography, a meticulous printmaking process that takes full body involvement.  Then each piece of fabric is sewn and stuffed into bulbous formations that get pinned together and stretched over shapes of chicken wire. Each time “Inside Me” is constructed it changes and adapts to the space and environment around it.