Many years ago I picked up this invitation to a show of carved wooden Bird Sculptures by Guy Taplin from a Salisbury gallery, Courcoux & Courcoux. It has been pinned up in my studio next to where I paint my jugbirds ever since. The simple shape and bold colours have been an inspiration. I've always been impressed by the fact that public and private galleries…
The latest show at Port Moody Arts Centre is being taken down today. I attended a closing talk last night, presented by the collaborating artists Kathryn Gibson O'Regan and Robert Shiozaki. The show, Creative Conversations, opened the night before I left for England and I hadn't taken the time to pop in to see the show since I returned. I'm pleased to have met both…
Earlier this year Vancouver sculptor Debra Sloan was an artist-in-residence at the Leach Pottery in St. Ives. Debra has taught pottery and sculpture for many years and can certainly make pots on the wheel, but she did not make Leach-inspired pots while she was in Cornwall. It turns out that Bernard Leach did in fact make clay sculpture as well as his writings, wheel-throwing and…
One of the things I really wanted to do during my brief holiday in England was to get to the Tower of London to see this year's installation of poppies there. They will commemorate one hundred years since the beginning of the First World War, with the last poppy being placed with over 888,000 others on November 11th 2014, Armistice Day. Each poppy represents a fallen…
On my recent flight to England my hand luggage was ten jugbirds. I had checked the size and weight allowed - 22lbs, and bought a cardboard box just under that size. Each was wrapped in newsprint and then small bubble-wrap. I made a handle out of duct tape with rope inside so it was easy to carry, and astonishingly the box weighed 14lbs! It fitted…