Artist in the Window –Genevieve, Saturday, May 19th, 11-4

May 17th, 2012

We are pleased to announce that Painter, Genevieve Simmonds will be in our store this Saturday as part of our Artist in the Window series! Genevieve is a Vancouver-based artist, who studied at Emily Carr University. Her paintings are simultaneously textured and etherial, providing space for the viewer’s eyes to linger and contemplate.  Genevieve is a long-time blogger (since January 2008!) and clearly this thoughtful and reflexive practice has provided much inspiration for her work. She also uses her blog to collect visual inspiration, all neatly categorized for future use.  It could be said that her photo collections have become little works unto themselves; the collected became the “reorganized”, in little thought montages called Dares.

Genevieve will be in the store making work, this Saturday, May 19th from 11 to 4. Please drop by to say hello!

If you would like to see more of Genevieve’s work, please visit her blog.

Private View Door Prize Winner

May 12th, 2012

I’m not sure if you all may know this, but each Private View the Spotlight Artists generously donate some of their work for the door prize. This months winner is the lovely Ms. Shirley who has won, not one but two hand-painted wine glasses and a card by Laura Eveleigh and a beautiful calendar by April Lacheur. She was thrilled to be the recipient of these wonderful art pieces……who know maybe next month it will be you :D

May's Private View door prize Winner - Shirley!

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 12th, 2012

Hello all you Mothers! …..and not meant in a nasty way, or with another word after it. I want to wish all the wonderful Mother’s out there, and especially mine! For without my Momma I would not be here or here in this store without all her love, support, and belief in me. So, I would like to turn that around and pass it on to all the tireless Mom’s I know, like Jennifer Conway of Ravens Rest Studio, Jen Ellis of Jen Ellis Design, Lisa Geddes an amazing painter from Whistler, Jennifer Harwood Vancouver painter, and Abbie Finestone of Twig Prints to name just a few of the amazing Mom artists that we have here in the store.

This Sunday, I will be celebrating with my 3 amazing children for brunch, the circus and then I am heading off for a few days of much need R and R in Whistler. It has been so busy here that in order for my smile to return I will have to be still and quiet for a bit (Is that even possible?)  I have heard some great reviews of this MUST visit spa in Whistler called Scandinave. Here are some of photos I have been drooling over (and must say, not so great for the computer)

Scandinavian Spa Whistler

Spa overview

Scandanavian Spa Overview

I will tell you all about it when I return…..that’s if I can remember when I return feeling so relaxed.

 

With thanks and gratitude to you all ….. Karen :D

Just Unpacked

May 3rd, 2012

My favourite magazine just arrived, and you can find me in my office with a cup of tea reading every single page of this. I have every issue and this is the magazine that gave me the courage to open a store again…..I hope you enjoy it :D

Where Women Create - Spring 2012

I am thinking of posting some of the photos from the inside….of course taken from their website, but I am not sure how legal that is. I recently got in trouble because I posted a photo of an artist that we had here in the store from their previous employers website. I know I won’t do that again. So maybe I just need to entice you with some of the articles. Oh, here’s one……I know I will enjoy reading this one. It’s about an artist named Ali DeJohn who started a creative retreat called the Makerie in Boulder, Colorado. The retreat gives the gift of uninterrupted creative time shared with others. It looks like a fun place to go, and one that I will add to my wish list.

Artist in the Window –Lori Popadiuk, this Saturday, May 5th, 11-4

May 3rd, 2012

Artist in the Window this week invites Lori Popadiuk to paint in our window. Lori’s work is moody and textural, layers of paint that create patterns and nooks for our eyes to dream into for hours. Originally working with oil paints, Lori has recently moved into acrylic and is loving the shift! Her work is meditative for her to make, unstructured and fluid, she approaches her canvases with the idea of harnessing the flow of creativity. Letting the paint move without too much restriction, she gudes it only to help it find to the canvas, allowing the paint to participate in its own co-creation. Watching her work will surely be a treat!

Come by  this Saturday, May 5th from 11-4 to watch this meditative creation, and get inspired!

To join Lori’s Facebook Page, click here.

Artist in the Window –Elaine Simandl, this Saturday, April 28th, 11-4

April 25th, 2012

We are pleased to have back visual artist Elaine Simadle as part of our Artist in the Window series! Elaine primarily creates greeting cards that are hand-drawn works of art, and we’ve featured her vintage tattoo inspired cards in a previous post, but there is one project series in particular that is my personal favourite! At first glance, her this series of cards look like traditional silhouette images, the profile views we might remember on our grandparents walls. They are  often of heads and are featureless and can be made from any black material -mostly cut, black paper- on a white or light background. Elaine makes her silhouette images out of chalkboard paint, creating a wonderful surprise where her art becomes the surface for your art!

Each card comes with an envelope and a piece of chalk.

You can drop by the store, this Saturday, April 28th, between 11 and 4 to meet Elaine and see her work on her cards.

To view more of Elaine’s work, find her on Flickr.

Kez Sherwood Ceramics

April 14th, 2012

We have just added this amazing porcelain ceramic artist, Kez Sherwood,  to our collection, and are thrilled to have not only her Cup/Votives for sale but also her porcelain pendants. These all make amazing Mother’s Day as well as Wedding Gifts. Here are a few photos to whet your pallet :D

Illuminated Cups/Votives

Barnacle

Snicket Rocks - Sechelt

 

Driftwood

 

Porcelain pendants: In Red, White, Blue, Yellow and Green

 

 

Paintings by Dana Johnson

April 14th, 2012

We are constantly receiving new art work here at the store. We almost cannot keep up with the sales and replacing the empty spaces on the wall with new art work, but today we just received 4 beautiful pieces from Dana Johnson. Some of you may know her from the library, or took a class from her (she teaches Fashion Illustration at Blanche MacDonald ) or maybe you are just familiar with her amazing work and you already own a piece. Whatever the case may be we would like to introduce you to her work, and here are a few photos of what we have on hand. Enjoy……

Little Red Trees

 

Shades of Fall

Vibrant Light

Warmed by the Sun

I took a very quick trip up to Whistler to pick up more art work by Lisa Geddes and met the wonderful curator of Art Junction, Harvey Lim. I highly recommend you stop in Function Junction and check out his well stocked art gallery. I will be bringing in more work from the Whistler area, so …… Stay tuned to more art to be posted here. :D

Artist in the Window — Lori Bagneres; Caede’s Card Making Workshop; and Cocolico Chocolate Tasting events this weekend.

March 28th, 2012

We have a plethora of events running this weekend, so get your electronic devices/day timers and pens ready!

This week’s Artist in the Window is visual artist, Lori Bagneres. Born in Ontario and now living in North Vancouver, Lori received her art education in France at L’école Nationale des Beaux Arts de Grenoble.

Lori’s new body of work uses of images of crows to explore the continuous cycle of networking in today’s society. The Corvids (the family name for crows) diurnal, or daily cycle, mimics those of humans. In particular, the social behaviors of sharing, adapting, co-operating -and even spying, grieving and remembering who-did-what-to-whom- have been observed. The images of crows, our urban cousins, are layered into surreal settings through the use of mixed media techniques and offer visual explorations of common idioms that tell ironic tales of the ins-and-outs of communicating within our complex social structures.

Getting our wires crossed, Sharing the party line and It’s complicated are titles of paintings currently showing in our shop. Drop by this Saturday, March 31st, between 11-4 to watch Lori work on her composition entitled,  Out of the Loop. To see more of Lori’s work, please visit her website, here.

 

 

Caede Pungente will also be in the shop this Saturday, March 31st between 1:30-3:30. She will be offering a card-making workshop. This is a perfect opportunity to make customized cards for upcoming birthdays, Mother’s Day, Easter, or for any other event you might be booked to attend. Space is limited, so please call ahead to book your spot at 604-874-7415. Caede’s Cards makes personalized, one-of-a-kind cards using montage techniques and recycled bits. To read our previous posts on Caede, please follow this link, and this link.

 

 

 

 

Back by popular demand, and not to be missed, we have Cocolico and their wonderfully decadent chocolate confections for an in-house tasting! Roll your tongue around these little morsels of delicousness for a special Sunday afternoon activity. Treats will be served this Sunday, April 1st between 2-4:30. To read our previous post, please follow this link.

 

Beautiful Jewellery!

March 23rd, 2012

As promised, more pictures of amazing work just in. These photos are of Liz McDonald’s PMC Artisan jewellery. What does PMC stand for, you may ask. Well, it stands for Precious (and not in the Gollum sort of way) Metal Clay. In its raw state it can be molded into organic shapes, fired in a kiln where all organic material is burned off and you are left with a 99.99% pure silver piece of jewellery. PMC jewellery does not tarnish, and anyone with a base metal sensitivity will be able to wear these beautiful pieces. These will be on the website for purchase shortly…….maybe even this afternoon :D

PMC Artisan - Fern Earrings

PMC Artisan - Bronze Earrings on Fine Silver ear hooks

PMC Artisan - Paisley Earrings

PMC Artisan - Flower Wave Necklace

PMC Artisan - Fern Necklace