BUSY....BUSY....BUSY....

Life has been insanely busy lately and this isn't about to change until...I hate to say it.....until the snow falls.  So what have I been up to? Well to start with, I taught a large class in Davidson on April 15th.

A shot of the room we were in and several of the participants. The workshop was held in the church basement and there was lots and lots of space for everyone to spread out.

Two more stitchers having a lively discussion about technique.....or possibly that we're overdue for a break?!

...and speaking of which ........

I have to say the food was incredible.  And there was SO MUCH OF IT!  All in all though, it was a great day and it was terrific to meet such an enthusiastic crowd.  Every time I go to one of the towns in the province I'm reminded of how wonderful it really is to belong to such a community. These ladies, although I'm sure from time to time they have their differences, demonstrate all the good things about living in rural Saskatchewan. Most of all, they care for each other. What could be better than that!  Thanks to Kathy Palmer for setting up this workshop.

This was part of that incredible few weeks of northern lights that we experienced in April. This was taken by my husband in our front yard. It went on for hours and hours and the colors were remarkable.  Another of the great things about living where we do!!

This past week/weekend marked the opening of Dimensions, the SK Craft Council biennial, open and juried touring exhibition. Entries were dropped off in Saskatoon at Market Mall on April 28. On April 30 and May 1 these entries were reviewed by jurors June Jacobs of the Handwave Gallery in Meacham and Tom McFall, Executive Director of the Alberta Craft Council. On Saturday, May 2nd, the unveiling of the Dimensions Touring Exhibition was held and anyone who wished could attend the Jurors' Critique.  This was a real eye-opener for me. Both of the jurors are extremely well informed individuals who replied to questions from the audience on how they chose the finalists. Personally, my mind boggles at the task of judging around 200 entries from every area imaginable. 

Then on Saturday night, these same jurors held a special critique session at the Affinity Gallery. This wasn't actually connected to Dimensions, but was held as part of the SCC Gallery Representation Program. I managed to get into this as well, where each person in attendance sent, in advance, 5 or so photos of their work, as well as bringing along a piece of their work. We all had an individual critique session where we learned how to best present our work, approach galleries and a host of other things that I would have never learned otherwise.  I was quite impressed with the depth of knowledge of June and Tom and am very grateful for the opportunity to have attended this session. Thank you Vivian Orr and the SCC for sending out that email and putting on such a super event!!

...... Oh yes ...... one more thing ..... my big news is that one of my pieces did make the cut for Dimensions and has been included in the 2015 Dimensions Touring Exhibition. 

This is Blackstrap Revisited (ok - ok - when I was naming it, all I could think of was how many times I had taken photos of this hillside, so it seemed appropriate at the time.  Apologies to Evelyn Waugh).  This is a fairly large piece measuring, in it's frame, at roughly 24" x 20".  I had done a smaller version a couple of years previously but had always wanted to do a larger version, so last November I stitched up two fairly large pieces.  This is possibly my favourite piece of everything that I've ever done. At the time I took the photo, the hillside was lit with beautiful autumn colours under a striking blue sky.  Some of my best photos came from this photo shoot. 

Well that's it for this entry. Next time I'll have photos of new work. I expect that from now until August I'll be lucky to get away from my studio and hope to be churning out pieces regularly, so will post them as they roll off the sewing machine.......donna