ArtWalk YEG - Return (#2), Clouds (#4), Transitions (#10) & Valley Wall (#15)

so hello.  it's been awhile.  and i have not kept up with my plan to do this whole artwalk thing over the winter, ugh.  also the computer died and i have not been able to upload pictures so whatever.  but i have collected a few, well, 3 of them over the past little bit, so i thought i would lump them all into one post!   yay!~
these are all part of the ArtWalk YEG thingy... which i am slowly (very slowly) documenting.. for my own posterity..  so here it goes...

#3. Return - by Catherine Burgess

so.. acording to the site, this is from 2001 and is made from "390 individually cast aluminum rings that are interconnected to represent the Edmonton Community Foundation, their donors and monetary recipients."

and then, just because it was kinda nifty and i hadnt taken any 3d pics in awhile.. i 3d-ized it.. so if you have any 3d glasses you can have a look see!

#4. Clouds - by Gordon Ferguson (2003)

this is kinda neat.. but my pictures of it are not that great.  it is alongside a parkade and is apparantly a " mural evolved from a collection of photographs of cloud formations."   They are made from lazer cut steel plates. 

 

#10. Transitions - Edmonton Small Press Association, Josh Holinaty & Luke Ramsey (2010)

kinda neat looking, on the side of a building.. and according to the site: Winning an Award of Excellence by the Edmonton Urban Design Awards (2011) and a Medal in the National Urban Design Awards (2012) by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the ESPA proves that doodling can communicate very important messages. Designed by fellow zinesters, Holinaty and Ramsey, and created by a team of 14 artists,Transition reflects the ESPA’s advocacy towards an ideal and sustainable Edmonton.

+ the espa is pretty nifty.  i first came into contact with them ages and ages ago.. in the early 2000s through a mailart project they did at the works festival that i helped out a bit with..  since then i havent had much to do with them but they were good people!~


#15. Valley Wall - Will Truchon (2009)

this was a pain in the arse to take a picture of.. i dont know if it was just the crappy lighting (it was rather miserable out) or what, but it just.. ugh.  it's so high and close quarters and then the weird lighting or whatever kept reflecting and when i tried to take a picture you wouldnt see the painting you would just see a glare.. so.. ugh.
but it's pretty..

the end.
for now..
#9. Chez Pierre
#20. Neon sign museum

ecodye postcards

so so so.  i had made some ecodyes specifically with the intent to make them into postcards!~  but had not really knew how/what/where/um..yeah.. not really known how i was gonna go about doing it.. cause well, i thought just mailing a piece of fabric is not the most practical means.  i think it would work, but not the most practical.  i intend to try it though!
but i wanted to get some hard board of some sort to affix the fabric to.. so i got some mattboard!  and i thought i would stitch the fabric onto it.  awhile back i had started using this white cotton string in all my dye experiments that involve tying.. this way it takes up the dye and i can use it later for another project.. so i used it that to stitch them!
i have made 2!~  the first one is 4x6"

i did some fancy schmancy stitches at the sides to make it all purty like..

the back.. well the back has stitches on it too.. but i think that it is fine.. i personally dont mind it, i think it looks kinda neat!

& then the next one is a bit bigger, it is 5x7"

i have to note here for myself that my camera..  ugh.  i accidentally touched the lens the other day and it has a nice smudgey finger print right in the center of it!  i dont want to attempt to clean it, i dont have any sort of wipes or cleanser or anything & well, i dont want to scratch the lense - it already has a nice little chip in it from the stupid wind blowing something into it... but there is a blurry spot in the center of the photos because of this.  i am gonna go to the camera shop at the mall tomorrow and get it taken care of, but for now.. these get to be slightly blurry, cause it doesnt really matter all that much.

stelliferous!~ -new mini artistbook.

so! well. i made a new little artistbook thingy.  it's cute.  it's got stars.  it's called stelliferous! ..which is a dictionary word of the day, it means "having or abounding with stars" ...it's an adjective, can you title things with adjectives?  maybe not properly?  oh well, i rarely do things exactly properly.  it looks like this:

 the cover is silver.. silver does not show up well on screens does it? ..and then i stamped the title.  the binding are teeny tiny little star brads!~  and the pages.. the pages are full of stars! ..well.. dots and stars.. but in the sky stars look like dots.. so the dots are stars.. get it?  

it gave me the opportunity to use up  some of my scraps from making those 800!!! mini envelopes for Sinoun & her Big Love project!  i just hated to throw out all that scrap paper, so i have been holding on to it for.. something?!  so yay!
here is what it looks like on the inside:

it is small.. just an eighth of an inch on each side over 2x2.5inches.. and i only made 15.. numbered and everything.  but the idea had been puttering around in the back of my head for some time, ever since i put a few random punched out stars and dots in a little zip lock bag just to get them out of the way some time ago, so i am happy to get it out of me!~

gingerbread houses!

    i made gingerbread houses today with my nieces!  well, mine was made with little graham cracker cookies, but anyway..  it was pretty fun, if not at times disastrous..  poor little scarlett's house fell completely apart at one point, but the little girl is determined.  & mine was a bit of a mess.    i have no idea what my mom made the icing out of.. she did some sort of eggless thing cause scarlett is not supposed to eat eggs, but it was pretty icky in consistency and not a very good house glue.  ..but then we added more icing and things worked a bit better. 
    this is the one that gwen & my mom worked on... but gwen was really far more interested in playing than making little houses..

    & then scarlett's .. she made this SUPER AMAZING house!  with lots and lots of candy! 

    check out even the cute little details inside..

     & then my little bitty house in a puddle of soupy icing..

     i stole scarlett's idea for little lights around the house.. but i like my little trees.  no way i am gonna eat this icky thing though.  uck.  but it was fun enough!~

pottery class - winter 2015

     so!  i went to go pick up my pottery stuff today.. from my last pottery class.. most of it turned out pretty decent.. except for this one leaf plate, it was a plate i had made last year but hadn't had a chance to glaze, so i did it this time.. but ugh.  it turned out so so ugly.. i dont know why?  ...cause i had made another one last year that turned out so pretty!  and then i made one this year that also turned out pretty.. it's made with a holly hock leaf.. anyway..
    i only took pictures of a couple of things though..  ..every class i take i make myself a little little cup thingy.. i have a collection of them on my shelf cause i have taken, oh.. i dont know?  5? classes?  ..but this time i painted my cup with coloured slips and then finished it with black slip and then carved fireworks into it!~ ...however, i carved too deep, and all you can see is the white clay underneith.. oh well.

     i tried to think of different types of fireworks designs to carve.. eh.. i dont know?

    i made another little one, shorter, that i carved a little grass into.. you can sorta see the blue sometimes on this one..

     & then here is a leaf plate i made that turned out pretty good! ..it is made using a leaf from my russian comfrey plant..

    & then this.. oh this.. this was the most frustrating thing in the world.. ugh.  it actually turned out a lot better than i expected, so that's good.. but ugh.  ...it's a plate sorta..dish, i dont know what it is really?  but i made it with silver maple leaves.. and it took me so much time.. cause first it cracked or something & i was trying to fix it...repair it.. and then the tip of a leaf or two fell of.. so i was trying to patch that.. and then.. then.. ugh.  then after i had worked on it for all that time.. the whole damn thing brok in half!!!!  ..i was not going to give up though.. i patched it up and wrapped it up and waited for the next class.. in the end it looked kinda crappy but i though, i am gonna try and have this thing fired and see what happens, i was not really expecting it to work.. but it kinda did.  .. still.. but i thought, i will glaze it and see how it turns out.. and here it is:

    if it had not been so horrible to me i would have been able to do a bit more with it.. try and bring out some of the detail of the of the leaves like the other leaf plate above.. but as it was a lot of the top center was just mush.. so i just dipped it and let it be.  .. but if you look closely you can still see the details in some of the leaves a bit..

    i also made a nifty baking dish (roughly 8x8") and a mug for my sister that turned out not half bad.. i am not so fantastic at mugs.. i always end up making them super tiny for some reason?  ..and handles are hard ya know.  ..but i didnt take pictures of them..  
    so yeah.. those are some of my pottery things from this last class.

ArtWalk YEG - Chez Pierre (#9)

     Ok.. forgive me, this photo is really dark, cause, well, it was dark out.  I was not really expecting to be doing this, but i was walking past here & remembered this was on here, so i though.. mine as well take this now!!!  Chez Pierre.. oh Chez Pierre.. ugh. 

    i say ugh.. because this painting kinda gives me the creeps... (this by the way, is #9 on ArtWalk YEG ) according to the site, this is a painting of "Pierre Cochard operated Edmonton's first nude dancing club for more than 40 years" ..still..creeeeepy... i much preferred the old painting.. but apparently my memory serves me incorrectly.  what i remember is a sort of ..line drawing type painting of a nude lady... not necessarily very.. oh.. family friendly per say, but not so pervy.. as mr.pierre here.  BUT! according the artwalk site and anything i have read on my quick but unfruitful search to find a photo of the old painting online says is that it was a painting of 2 nude girls... i only remember 1????  oh well.  my memory sucks anyway, so i am not gonna be too concerned about the matter.  (the painting is by Ian Mulder by the way, if i am reading the artwalk site properly... i dont imagine anyone could have painted this and i not found it kinda creepy)
     but much more lovely.. the neon signage at the front... (& i know, the photo is blurry.. but oh well)

     & here is a slightly better one of the dancing lady...

     & from the other side!

 

     ...i do like my neon signs.

ArtWalk YEG - Neon Sign Museum (#20)

 So!  the other day i finally got a chance to pick up a copy of ArtWalk YEG .. a map of various public artwork that you can see downtown!~  lot of the things on there i have seen and noticed before, but several of them i have not and look forward to checking out on various little artwalk adventures this..winter.  ..hey, gives me a good reason to get out walking this winter eh?
    i was on my way to a dr. appointment when i picked it up and while waiting to go in i had a quick little look and decided that i should probably make it into a little photo project and document them all because hey! that might be a bit fun?  ...and then after the appointment i did some stuff.. and then i was walking along 104th ave.. and its getting to be winter time, so of course it gets dark early..so i was walking to 109th street to walk back down to jasper to catch the LRT & thought.... the Neon Sign Museum is just a couple blocks further.. its dark already.. lights are on.. i should go check that out right now!  so, yeah.. i did!
   the Neon Sign Museum is super cool!~  ..well maybe i am a bit biased because i kinda love lights, but still.. its pretty neat.  its a collection of old neon signs that are all put together on the side of a single building.  super!  ..so, this is the first time i ever looked at that page about it & apparantly the city has collected 12 and 8 have been restored and put up, i hope the other 4 get put up shortly!

     that site also says that this is part of the city's effort to revitalize 104th street.. well, as far as lights go.. 104th street is pretty spiffy.  if you head down the block they have their trees done right up!

      it is super!  so.. check on the neon sign museum.
oh yeah, and in case you have your 3D specs handy...  here it is in all it's 3d anaglyph glory.. cause i am spiffy like that.

happy day!~