The Promised Artwork

 

In my recent newsletter, I assured you that if you couldn’t make it to the opening of the Symbolically 8 exhibition at Gallery 8, you’d see my entry for the show in this blog. I’m here to do just that but first, let me give you a little background as to how it came about as I grant that it is waaaaaayyyyyy off my usual creative track.

 

Last year in La Manzanilla, I met Wolfgang Henze, a contemporary artist from Germany whose work just blew me away. In person, his pieces have a power not felt from the image viewed on the computer. Nevertheless, check out his website.

 

At the exhibition of his work in the Mexican village, there was a used teabag with an attached sprig of lavender hanging on the wall. I was pulled to the simplicity of what was there – a teabag that was no longer a teabag. (I am now the proud owner of this piece by the way.) I smiled, no, I laughed when I saw it because I have always been fascinated by used teabags –  their shapes, their colours, their characters – and here was one as a piece of art. Suddenly I had ‘permission’ to do something with this lowly yet compelling (to me anyway) material. And so I started on my teabag adventure. “Dangling Conversations” is one of the results of these explorations.

 

And so, without further ado, here it is!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Shirlee Lewis for coming up with what I think is a perfect title!

 

 

Maggie Price (1947-2013)  – In Memoriam

 

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Maggie Price, founder/editor of The Pastel Journal. I remember coming across the first issue of the magazine back in 1999 and being amazed and delighted that there was now a periodical solely devoted to the pastel medium. Maggie and co-founder, Janie Hutchinson (publisher) continued to put out this bi-monthly magazine until 2003 when they sold it to Fitzhenry and Whiteside. This allowed Maggie to focus on her own art practice, both painting and teaching. The Pastel Journal is going strong today under the editorial leadership of Anne Hevener who wrote a piece on Maggie Price for the magazine’s blog.

 

Artist Michael Chelsey Johnson also wrote a lovely personal remembrance of Maggie. Click here to read it.

 

 

 

 

Maggie Price was diagnosed with brain cancer in December. Life is short so with that in mind, here’s a link to 45 Life Lessons written by Regina Brett.

 

 

That’s it for this blog. I’d love to know your reaction to “Dangling Conversations” be it enthusiastic, confused, ambivalent or ?

 

Thanks for being a subscriber to my blog. I really do appreciate it!

 

~ Gail

 

PS. I now have a business page on Facebook. Click here to check it out!

 

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