 We're done, we're done!!!! So, now you can come and see our fabulous creations at the Textile Arts Grad Show at City Scape Gallery on 3rd and Lonsdale from May 14th-June 5th.
All are welcome to attend our opening night on the 13th from 7pm - 9pm where there will eats and bevies and lots of lovely ladies to congratulate.
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 Our friends Jeanette and Steve are getting married in July and they've registered with a local social enterprise JustWork who has an Etsy store. I LOVE this idea. They even have their own section in the store. It's perfect because each dinner set is $75, great for the friends that are students (ie. me) and it's easy enough to double or triple the order if you're a family member etc. So smart.
Also I just love knowing that their new home will be filled with hand-made ceramics, so it's fun to peek at what they've asked for. JustWork is an economic initiative who employs people with multiple barriers. There are several initiatives under the JustWork umbrella including JustPotters (as seen above), JustGarden, JustCatering and JustRepair. My imagery for this project is inspired by conversations around the church, hospitality and homosexuality. I will be attempting to wear my convictions when this fabric is made into a dress. The dominating image is that of a chalice which, in the negative spaces of stem, show two like-faces confronting each other; representing the likeness in gender among homosexuals who are in partnerships, as well as echoing the biblical scripture, 'God created man in His own image' Genesis 1:27 I am currently going to a Baptist church here in Vancouver where we are in an active and serious dialogue about this topic. I am extremely convicted about the importance of equality for gays in the church (and everywhere), and am feeling especially overwhelmed lately by the misinterpretation of the bible regarding the topic. I pounded flowers (representing hospitality) into the fabric to achieve texture and later dyed it in potassium to show the contrast of the chalices (silk) against the negative space (rayon). It is no coincidence that the faces are in the 'negative' space.  I later rusted the fabric with nails and found objects.   I then created a silkscreen of a chain and discharged the image on top, sometimes purposefully placing them across the mouths and eyes of the faces. I'm not extremely satisfied with the obvious image of a chain for the purpose of representing bondage, burden and restriction. I usually like to use more subtle imagery. For this purpose it works though since, when it is made into a dress, it will not be as obvious what they are. In some places I added chains with a foiling technique using gold foil.    Today at school I did a mock-up of the type of dress I plan to make with my chalice fabric. It's a pattern making technique developed by Julian Roberts called subtractive cutting. It is very counter-intuitive for me and challenges my spacial intelligence in a big way. Katherine Soucie, who did some work with Julian, visited our class a couple of weeks ago and gave us a demo of the process.
I had challenges right off the bat with this mock-up, and it didn't really work out in the end, but it's not too bad for a first try I'd say. This fabric is very different from my chalice fabric in the way it will drape and hang off the body, so this is not a very telling photograph. I mostly wanted to experiment with the pattern making style before I cut into my precious fabric. I learned a lot and now know what not to do....(famous last words)  pic by Lisa howarth I have officially received my acceptance in to the Fibres Program at Concordia University in Montreal. So, come July Danny and I (and Lily our cat too) will be leaving on a jet plane. YAY!!
 I had the best visit with grandma tonight. She is doing really well; walking around and doing everything on her own. She even stood up to hug me good-bye.
Here we are wearing matching shrugs.  Thanks to our amazing friend Corrie we have already found a place to live in Montreal. We are probably moving in August, but thought it would be smart to secure a place for July just in case we went any earlier, especially since we're bringing kitty. Also Corrie will be here in Vancouver for June, so now was the best time for her be looking for us. She looked at a few places, some too small, some strangely laid out, some without laundry. She was very patient and found exactly what we were looking for within our price range. Our place is a 1 bedroom one the second floor (in the building pictured bellow) with in-suite laundry. We are only three blocks away from Jean Talon Market in Little Italy, and a five minute walk away from the metro. Google Maps Street View (as creepy as it is) has helped us become better acquainted with our new neighborhood. Isn't it cute?  Upon closer observation I realized Street View was also giving us a sneak peek at one of our neighbours too. So funny.
I am still waiting for a reply from Concordia regarding my acceptance in the Fall. I have been cruising Kijiji and Craiglist for apartments with much appreciated help from my friend Corrie in Montreal. I sent her a long list of possible places which turned out to be laughable in terms of location (apparently I'm not very good at deciphering distance on Google maps). My portfolio came back in the mail today, so I hope that's a good sign. Teachers and colleges keep on telling me that 'of course I'm getting in' and to continue to plan for the move to Montreal, but I know it won't seem real, and I won't begin hauling ass until I've heard from them. So, alas the wait continues.
On a sadder and more important note, my lovely grandmother Clara has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I found out tonight that it has spread to her liver. So, obviously she is experiencing the ultimate painful wait. It must be so surreal to know that you are going to die soon, and that you are actually saying good-bye to your loved ones forever (at least in this lifetime). I have taken a week off school to spend time with her while she is at Lions Gate Hospital here in Vancouver. My priorities have been really made clear since I heard the bad news, and especially after spending so much precious time with her. I know that being with her is all that matters, even though I am in the home stretch of my two year textiles program. My teachers have been more than understanding, giving me extensions on everything (thank you, thank you, thank you). A couple of nights ago I was visiting with her wearing one of my Penny Shrugs and she admired it all night long. I would take it off and shortly after she would ask to see it on me again. I told her that I would make her one and she happily complied but only under the condition that I do no use "that lovely fabric....it's too nice". Of course she deserves only the nicest yarn, and I made it for her today, only after she made some button choices yesterday (she chose the brown ceramic ones). I'll be seeing her tomorrow and adorning her with it, hopefully helping her feel cozy and beautiful  I have discovered the mother of all vintage Etsy stores and am afraid for my bank account! Yet again this is too good NOT to share. Timeless Vixen replenishes their store on a weekly basis with exquisite vintage dresses from the 1870's to the 1970's. Are you drooling yet?      This is too awesome not to share. These whimsical hand-painted dolls are made in Portland. They are all one of a kind and very unique as you can see; where else are you going to find a bearded mermaid. So awesome!!!!!
The creators are a husband a wife duo, Jo and Dylan. Jo does the designing and painting and Dylan does the sewing, promo photos and other businessy stuff. They were recently interviewed on Etsy, check it out. Available to buy here at their Etsy store.  I was on an escalator tonight, standing to the right as per escalator etiquette, and a young man, who I soon after realized was equip with many a bag, began to softly beat-box into my ear so as to indicate that he'd like me to move. I obviously thought he was a crazy person and simply ignored him until I realized he was trying to get by.
That later got me to thinking about something my prof recently said to me (in response to me jokingly sharing a word I had accidentally invented) "But Janna, you can't just make up your own language. No one will understand you". But can't I? Language is something I've thought a bit more about recently, especially since I'm planning on moving to Montreal this summer. I like to think that as long as your message gets across somehow, that being grammatically incorrect (or off-beat) shouldn't really matter. With this in mind I have decided, what with all of the acronyms and minified versions of words and phrases that are invented on a regular basis in conversation these days (digitally and otherwise), that having a person melodically hiss and spit at me is not that outlandish I suppose.  My love for skies (and one particular photo of the sky) has evolved to be somewhat of series of art pieces beginning with the photo itself, then taking the form of a dress in hand woven shag, and finally a tapestry weaving. Tapestry weaving is different from the more commonly known type of weaving in a few distinct ways, one being that the weft (horizontal) is discontinuous and another being that it is weft faced, making it imbalanced--as in, there is not an equal amount of warp (vertical) showing. Both of these aspects, particularly the weft faced one, usually means that the weaving would be more time consuming than one that is not weft faced. This is only my second tapestry weaving so I can hardly attest to the labour of tapestry (especially since mine are both only about 6X6 inches), but I can surely attest to the fact that it is meditative and exhilarating at the same time (giving your spacial intelligence a workout). As you can see from the back this type of weaving is not exactly strait forward. Usually tapestries are woven based on a cartoon which can be mounted behind the loom as a guide. When I began this project I wasn't fond of this idea since I had looked at the photo for so many hours while weaving my shag dress. For this reason I chose to attempt to weave my image without mounting it, using it more like inspiration, referring to it now and then. It will accompany a short research paper about tapestry weaver Jean Lurcat, who I will share more about in the next few weeks.    I just found out that I have been accepted into the new Knitta book We Knit Graffiti. It's a picture book of yarn graffiti from around the world, but with a focus on the location at which the graffiti took place and the meaning behind it in relation to that location. Naturally my Main & Hastings yarn bomb is the perfect candidate. I knit this during a night shift at Hotel Washington with the Downtown East Side community in mind (it's highly populated with addicted and mentally ill homeless people--in fact it's the poorest neighborhood in Canada). Many business people drive through the DTES every day on their way to work neglecting to look, afraid that they might catch something (like a slice of compassion-God forbid). I made this yarn bomb with the hopes that the colour and whimsy of the design might catch peoples eye and encourage them to look more closely at their surroundings as they drive by.
It was on a parking meter that is right next to the Hastings Folk Garden which, in the spring and summer when it is in full bloom, has the same effect on passers by, I think. Janna fabulous photo by Craig Sinclair |
About me:
I'm a west coast Canadian gal who after completing a BFA in Fibres at Concordia University in Montreal moved to the New York metropolitan area where I am pursuing my art practice while learning the ropes of motherhood.
June 2021
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