What I felt profoundly on the other side of our country was bounty … Vancouver Island is so rich in colour, flavour, kindness, soul … I spent two bountiful weeks there, one of which was teaching “The Memory Chair” … we made memories, remembered many earlier memories and had a most memorable week.
The time together meant so much to all of us because we had not been together in seven years and poof ~ there we were, at the Raven’s Moon Craft Cidery stepping back into the pleasures of being in this wonderful place creating together.
The outpouring of laughter was constant and as always, Laura’s food was outstanding.
Here are some pictures from our days together…
Thursday we passed a piece of clay from hand to hand creating a face together …
This precious creative time left us with (in our own words) joy, inspiration, bliss, peace, exhilaration, contentment, enthralled, openness, learning and gratitude, and … I think everyone should wear rabbits and ravens on their heads.
Meanwhile, back on the East Coast, a group show called :
Featuring the work of Michael Greer, Peter Bustin, Mark Schwartz, Chippie Kennedy, Ian McKinnon, Louise Pentz, Simone Labuschagne with Guest Clay Artist – Mindy Moore and myself.
I do not have images from the exhibit but when we visit the show later this month I will post work of my fellow artists.
These are my pieces for the show. Done layering or painting over my life drawings of the model …
and, so exciting for me, was taking some of my line drawings, creating a pattern with them and sewing their bodies to articulate them in the poses I had captured with my pencil or chalks. Fully integrating my two worlds …
Plans are in the works for another workshop next spring, so stay tuned . . . .
Well, now that March has come, so has winter ! We have had a very mild winter but with the arrival of March came snow storms and lovely white things are falling gently outside my studio windows.
Winter is my time to hibernate. I am loving the studio we built for me at the back of our house, one that has a story with it which I will save for another writing day …
Here, in my sanctuary, I have been hiding out while the dark and long winter season holds me happily inside it’s walls. This winter, we are finally NOT moving (I counted five moves in five years) and I have begun to work …
It has been a several months of working every day, and some of the new pieces are at the final stages of being built, and so I am posting some pictures of them here… some finished and some not q u i t e :
By next week I will be in the finishing stages of this heavenly time of winter space and will move into preparing costumes and materials for the classes I have coming up.
Teaching is another part of my life, separate from the studio as it takes me at least two weeks to prepare for a class and then followup takes another bit of time.
Speaking of teaching I have been asked to teach one more class in Chester here in Nova Scotia in April !
Also, the summer course at The Lunenburg School of the Arts will be another week of the workshop ” The Memory Chair” which I am teaching in May, in Courtenay BC. The registration should be open soon, and the dates are August 21-25th. Keep an eye out for the summer workshops or join their mailing list for the notification when they do open registration… https://lunenburgarts.org/join-our-mailing-list/
Stepping between my deep space of work and the vivacious energy of teaching is not easy for me, so I have learned to simply focus on one or the other,
When I teach, I feed my spirit and my confidence, and always brings a huge gift of you, my wonderful students . . .
Finding Tenderness figures : students will learn polymer clay basics and several techniques for working in cloth . . .
5 day SPRING WORKSHOP: The Memory Chair . . .
Ravens Moon Craft Cidery: May 18-22nd Courtney , Vancouver Island BC
Bella and Rabbit . . . example and pattern beginning for the workshop
May is a return to Raven’s Moon Craft Cidery on Vancouver Island with our fabulous host Marla Limousine.
“The MEMORY CHAIR WORKSHOP” was developed from three series pieces I created this past year about sitting with memory.
MEMORY CHAIR project piece: Bella and Rabbit
The class in it’s “are you interested?” stage has filled …
BUT there is a waiting list and a delightful return to teaching at the Cidery in times to come!
If this is somewhere you may wish to take a week long absolutely delicious class . . . please let us know and we will keep you informed and on a list if a space becomes available and upcoming workshops. Here at Raven’s Moon Kraft Cidery, as well as our week of creative sessions, we enjoy deliciously prepared organically grown food, gentle yoga stretch for the weary body (due to long intense focus on little details) and all the amazing tastes of the cider and wine George and Quinn produce at the farm.
A heavenly week in a heavenly setting. . .
The Remembering Chair . . .. . . when rabbits in boats travelled by sea . . .
S U M M E R classes:
2 Days : JULY 2023 : KNOWING THINGS
July 16-17 Spencer, North Carolina:
“KNOWING THINGS” prototypes, students will learn lots about polymer clay and build one little being . . .
KNOWING THINGS will be a two day workshop held right after the 60th Anniversary NIADA Conference in Charlotte North Carolina. Registration opens January 15th and I will post a reminder for this~
What better than to feel like you are Knowing Things (even if it is just for a few days) !!
I am (since I still have time) deciding what would be a great idea for this summer session….
A beautiful setting for a week long creative workshop! Lunenburg School of the Arts sits in the sweet town of Lunenburg; a UNESCO Heritage Site. A world famous magical town on the south shore of Nova Scotia. I first visited here when I was invited by Alma Houston to have a solo show in her gallery after becoming one of her gallery artists when I was a mere 23 years old…
The Houston North Gallery was the reason I visited Nova Scotia during the winter it opened in 1981. Having never been to the east coast of Canada I was thrilled to be invited to do this.
A young artist, barely liberated from education, health and family issues I agreed to have a show in the gallery in January. It was quite an event in my life and resulted in my falling in love with this place and moving to Lunenburg several months following my show from Toronto. I came on the train with a possible bookkeeping job, a place to stay in return for the work and $500.00 (my life savings) … but more about this in this year of personal stories ahead . . .
Holding On . . . prototype for the workshop . . . you take it from here !
October 2-6th brings me back to Mineral Point Wisconsin and Shake Rag for a week long session called “Creating Expression “
The catalogue will be published in a few days ! ! ! (Jan 4th)
Registration will open for class that day!
Such a delightful place to visit and know about, the workshops offered are so vast and the fellowship and community of Shake Rag and Mineral Point is fantastic, so I cannot say enough about this lovely place to treat yourself to a workshop, or . . . T W O !!!
The Rain Collectors . . . another part of the Creating Expression workshop
I finally made the trip to teach at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Wisconsin. A class that had to be postponed three times… and then, this fall, it was possible.
I think until the plane took off I remained ready for things to come to a halt but other than some anxiety for managing the three planes and airports, it was just as if I had slipped through the doorway that said: “ Return to Normal”
Life through the door led me to friends and students I had thought might not be possible to contain in my smaller world and the gratitude in my heart was over the top… For all of us, to finally be able to come together and share a week of creative play was rich and powerful, like a banquet for the soul.
Also, the little town of Mineral Point is an artist’s heaven, the beautiful buildings, the real shops and studios, the local restaurants, the community and of course the Art Center.
My last years of working close to home has brought new awareness of how much art adds to our lives in a most practical and emotional way. I speak largely but mean to say that when something has been lost and then is returned, the workshop collective is more dimensional… thicker, richer more vital and colourful.
Our theme was ‘Metamophosis’ and the week felt timeless, a metamorphosis for all of us in our own personal ways. The projects that were realized carried deep significance for me as I was the facilitator and the receiver of this gift for myself of returning to one of my sources of joy.
. . . a mix of delightful reconnection and inspiration . . .
I truly felt my students all received something tangible from our week, and that is my mission but also why I love to teach my workshops. They are personal, involved and real.
The outpouring was exquisite to witness and the results left me a bit speechless. In our final session we could have talked about our metamorphosis as a group and individually but all I felt was a real accomplishment for everyone and thrilled by what was created both physically and personally . . .
So, a huge thank you to my generous students, the exceptional group at Shake Rag, my dear friends Cheryl and Jim Smeja for the gift of your apartment and assistance and my fabulous friend Judy for assisting me through our class and taking wonderful care of me once again…!
The result of this journey for me was to find that I could manage the travel and the full week of time again!! So, stay tuned for the workshops that are planned for this new year of 2023!!!
The NIADA Holiday Show is on line and this means that I have uploaded my available work which is honestly a personal victory. I seem to have trouble finding the time to do this lately.
Sensing Tenderness . . .
There always seems to be something more important (which may just be an avoidance tactic) because wrestling with a website or unfamiliar platform has been known to unhing me. But here I am, making it happen. Not as hard as I thought.
Washed Ashore . . .
Here is the link to the Collection, there are many beautiful things to see. If you are interested in a particular artist you can put their name in the search bar and it will select their work . I find this simplifies my scrolling through an alphabetical list of everything there.
KATE CHURCH 