via Jane Kidd

My parents have now been living with Air over land since January. My mother, Lorna Sarah recently sent me some really beautiful images of the piece. I will have more to share eventually as the work is also being documented with time-lapse video.

Although they are holding up fairly well in the strong prairie wind, “the socks” as my father Ed has been calling them, are showing signs of wear. Their deterioration was expected of course, but it is remarkable how quickly the linen and wool are being stripped away.

For Ed, “the socks” are a confirmation of the elements he has always paid close attention to. I think I am interested in this landscape and its elements because of him.

The first few weeks they were up I received text messages almost daily, reporting things like, “The socks blew south all day, cold north wind.” After a particularly intense blizzard toward the end of February  he wrote, “90-100 km per hour winds last night blew over the cows and re-bent that pole that we bent. This a.m. I re-bent the pole and all the cows were up.”

By wrapping ordinary consumer objects with thin, mercerized cotton thread, I am creating a fictitious testament of the everyday through the augmentation of common, household items, which represent a contemporary Western aesthetic. This wrapping of the exterior highlights the objects shape while creating new delicate surfaces and patterns. Formerly taken for granted, these symbols of the everyday have been displaced from their surroundings, preserved within layers of thread and transformed into precious objects of desire and contemplation, removed from but still pointing to the familiar realm of the everyday.

Congratulations Jolie!

Join us at 2 pm CORRECTION 3 pm in the Stanford Perrot Lecture Theatre at ACAD (just off the main mall space) April 9, 2013 for this exciting lecture.

More from Macleans.ca…

I have begun reading a biography of Mary Delaney (1700-1788) over the weekend. Written by Molly Peacock and entitled the Paper Garden: Mrs Delaney Begins Her Life’s Work at 72, the book reads more like a treatise on creativity and the impulse to make than a biography, but is enjoyable thus far. I am certain that these beautiful images of her work available online pale in comparison to the actual paper cuts/collages. Anyone want to travel with me to the British Museum? Maybe I am just keen to start gardening. It seems hard to believe that spring will ever come.

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Mary Delany began making paper collages, or ‘mosaicks’ as she called them, at the age of 72. The idea came to her while staying with her companion, Margaret Bentinck, duchess of Portland, at Bulstrode in Buckinghamshire. She had noticed the similarity of colour between a geranium and a piece of red paper that was on her bedside table. Taking up her scissors she imitated the petals. Upon entering the room, the Duchess mistook them for real: ‘Her approbation was such a sanction to my undertaking… and gave me courage to go on with confidence’. Delany later wrote that her work was intended as an imitation of a hortus siccus or collection of dried flowers. (via The British Museum)

Images Via Cheri St. Clair

Papergirl Calgary is looking for three artists to produce three limited edition posters for Papergirl Calgary 2013.

Learn more about the Papergirl movement and events surrounding this year’s Papergirl Calgary on their website. CHECK IT OUT!

Kristofer Kelly has a new website.

A little more video of this piece captured this morning (thank you Lorna Sarah). Time-lapse cameras will soon be set up for recording over a longer duration.

This past weekend I attended the opening of The News From Here: The 2013 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art at the AGA in Edmonton.

According to guest-curator Nancy Tousley, Alberta artists, working in the second decade of the 21st century, are forming their identities around the places they choose to live, work and travel—the idea of a single, dominant centre is no longer applicable as it is distant and divorced from their daily lives. They are now, more than ever, aware of the larger art world in which they participate. In this exhibition, the physical, societal and cultural geography of Alberta is felt in the works of art, both in the foreground and background of imagery, subject matter, content and critical issues. Rather than a defensive regionalism, one finds in their work an acceptance and consideration of place.

My work Noise 120429 (pictured above) was selected to be included in this exhibition featuring 36 artists from all over the province, including:

Trevor Anderson | Kyle Armstrong | Noel Bégin | Elisabeth Belliveau | Richard Brown | Eric Cameron | Bruno Canadien| Sherri Chaba | Chris Cran | Alysha Creighton | DaveandJenn | Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby | Mackenzie Frère |Sarah Fuller | Jason De Haan and Miruna Dragan | Faye Heavyshield | Terrance Houle | Gary James Joynes |Kristopher Karklin | Emily Luce | Robyn Moody | Eric Moschopedis and Mia Rushton | Pamela Norrish | Gabrielle Paré |Taras Polataiko | Jewel Shaw | Laura St. Pierre | Larissa Tiggelers | Laura Vickerson | Jennifer Wanner | Donna White |Maria Whiteman

I am very honoured to be included in this survey of contemporary art in Alberta and encourage everyone to visit the AGA in Edmonton before May 5, 2013. More information about the exhibition and its artists HERE