New commercial gallery in Prince George!

I am so excited that my friend Melanie Desjardines is opening Groop Gallery! It has been a while since there was such a place and I know that the artists in this town have work just piling up at home with no where to display it. The grand opening is tomorrow night and I am sure the crowd will be large. I have a gorgeous piece in the show, but I you will not see it here. If you want to see it you need to show up tomorrow night on 3rd avenue across from the court house, right next door to the new farmer's market at 7pm. I hope to see you there!

the bidding begins...

The Coke Aboriginal Art bottle auction has begun. You can bid on my bottle at Ebay until February 25th. The bottle would be a perfect addition to a corporate workspace. To see my original post on this piece of art check out my connection to the 2010 Olympics. The proceeds go to a legacy fund for Aboriginal youth. What a great investment in our Canada!

My connection to the 2010 Olympics

As a leap year baby, the winter Olympics often happened each year I had my real birthday. I used to dream about participating in some way, perhaps as a figure skater. My athletic abilities never reached the world class level as I had to quit my skating lessons at 14 due to 'weak ankles', as my doctor would have said. Thankfully I don't need strong ankles to make art and making art has taken me to places beyond any dream I have ever had. In May of 2009 I was one of 15 Canadian Aboriginal artists commissioned to create an art bottle from Coke's Iconic shape. I began working on the 6 foot fiberglass base in October '09 and finished installing the solar-powered light in December. My husband was a huge help with the wiring and installation of the light and solar panel, but the graphics featuring ravens and flowers in the style of Metis floral beadwork are all my work. There were a lot of problems to solve along the way, like applying a flat graphic to a curved surface, and making sure the paint coverage would still allow light to shine through, but overall the project went smoothly. My bottle was unveiled along with 3 others in Vancouver, British Columbia to a room filled with media from all over the world. The sight filled me with excitement and nervous energy. These bottles will be auctioned off during the 2010 Olympics with the proceeds going to a legacy fund for Aboriginal children in Canada and I can't say enough about the opportunity to showcase contemporary Metis artwork to the world and to have contributed to the future of Canadian Aboriginal youth. I am touched to have made my own contribution to the Olympics. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in my art career, your support has encouraged me to continue on this path. Art is the window to the soul. It is able to communicate beyond borders and cultural boundaries reflecting the world we live in and motivating us toward a better future. If you know an artist, please encourage them by purchasing their work, or appreciating what they do. If you are interested in participating in the Coke Aboriginal art bottle auction, it starts February 15, 2010.

I have been debating with myself and anyone else who will listen whether or not to invest in a studio space in the city. I currently live 40 kms north of Prince George on an acreage. My studio has been an unfinished space in the basement for the 6 years that we have lived here. I have worked there, complaining only mildly about the water leaks, dog hair, and noise from the TV in the next room, but the matter became urgent after having several studio visits which left the visitors feeling a bit 'flat'. Tiny comments like, "oh." were all I heard after showing them where I create my art. The thing about it is that I want a place where I can go even for a short time, like half an hour, whenever the mood hits or some time opens up. I live a busy life and need to cease whatever time I can for art making. I would use a studio in the basement way more often that one in town, so the basement was the final decision. After securing agreement from my husband that he would be willing to renovate the basement, I approached my brother and asked for his help. He is a genius at many things but his latest thing is home renos and I really wanted to benefit before he changes to something like, flying jet engines, or dog walking. The two men have created a simple, but clean and well lit space with a door that closes and two small windows for natural light. I am very pleased! This space will be used a lot in the next two years as I work on my Master's, prepare for classes, and create art. Many thanks guys!

New Drawings

I spent yesterday at a local ranch working on some new drawings. Our local art gallery asks artists to come out and work in a variety of gardens and properties and the community come out to tour them. I worked behind one of the cabins on the ground. It felt so good to be connect to the earth. I had prepared several frames with stretched hides, 2 moose and one deer hide. I want to explore these as a new drawing surface. The moose hide was only partially tanned but was already taking on a soft appearance, whereas the deer hide is still in the rawhide state. I use a chalk pastel that comes in a cake, applying it with sponges. It's like a combination of drawing and painting and I really enjoy the marks I can make. I plan to do more work in this area, conceptually using the circle as a starting point. These drawings were inspired by barbed wire and hair that I had set in a circle on the ground. With the moose hide, interupted circle I also used heat and metal to insize the hide.

Trickster

My history with corvids (crows, ravens, magpies) goes back a ways. When I was about 14 yrs old, I had my bedroom upstairs in an old farmhouse. There was a small window in a dormer and it lead right out onto the roof. My brother and I used to get onto the roof so we could see to the back of the property. On the prairies anything high will give you at least a 20-50km view. We weren't the only ones who used this 'perch'. A magpie discovered it while trying to amuse himself one day. He sat outside my window at about 4am and 'sang'. It was summer and it was hot so I had my window open. His raspy voice sent me flying outta bed. I flung open the screen and started swinging at him with my arms. He hopped out of the way and looked at me with great amusement. "Ach, ach, ach", he said and look for my response. I cussed him out with every word I knew and he responded, "Ach, ach, ach." I finally had to crawl out and chase him off. He visited me at 4 am for the next 4 days and sang before he lost interest and looked for someone else to pester.

My Art at Two Rivers Gallery

I was pleased to have 3 pieces chosen for the Two Rivers Gallery 'Flux' show which is on here in Prince George until May. You can see one of my pieces on their website, Flux In my artist statement I talk about the work being my reaction to comparing the Christian iconography I knew as a child in the Catholic Church with Cree Medicine bundles of my aboriginal ancestors. Specifically exploring the idea that these visual 'objects' were thought to have incredible positive influence on the lives of those who had them, but as we move forward, not only are notions about these things changing, but the objects themselves are being represented digitally and through art. Do these 2D representations hold the same power and mystery as the originals?

Back to Babel

You may remember my art installation. I had installed a 2100 block tower in the Two Rivers Gallery last year (2008), and more recently had it installed in the College of New Caledonia where I work. When the time came to remove the installation, the kids and I knocked it down first. What a blast hearing all those blocks come down. The dad-guy recorded the event with the only device on him, his cell phone. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ytWAOFqtY&hl=en&fs=1]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfpFaLeyr3M&hl=en&fs=1]

Buy my Art

Okay, so this is a very bold statement but I figured I should just be honest. I am hoping you will be interested in buying prints of my art. I know Christmas is coming, birthdays are coming, or maybe you just want to treat yourself to something special. I hope you will look at my Imagekind site. It is the most amazing online store for high quality art prints that I have encountered! You can choose your potential art purchase, then actually try several types of frames on the piece, right there, online! You can see what it will look like on different colour walls, they have an option to change the colour of the walls. There is even an area where you can see what the art print would look like over a couch! Now that is online service! Even if you don't end up buying anything, do me a favour and go play there with my art for a while. Come back and let me know what you think! Here is the link:http://kimstewart.imagekind.com. If want something and you don't see it there in the gallery, just ask me and I can add it.

I've been Behancing myself

I have spent the better part of 2 days building a profile on the Behance.net creative network site. They have an amazing interface that organizes and flatters the work. Other creatives are encouraged to view projects and appreciate them using the feedback button at the bottom of each project page. Membership to the site is by invitation only keeping it focused on quality creative work. I'd love you to visit my profile. Here is the link: http:www.behance.net/kimstewart

if you like what you see, appreciate it! You'll know what I mean when you get there...and thanks!

me, myself and I

I have been drawing a self portrait each day for 2 weeks. First thing after breakfast I would drag myself over to the mirror and try to capture what I saw. I discovered that mornings are not when I look my best as many of the drawings show a grumpy, puffy looking face peering back at me. It was an excellent exercise, kind of a 'photo of the day' thing. Anyway, I am sharing my favourites with you here. The full colour one is a digital drawing done in Illustrator based on a photograph of me. Everything else is drawn using some sort of pencil-like instrument.

new post to saved project

I've changed the name of my "preserves' project to 'saved'. I like the connotations of the new title. It's less domestic.  I've added a new page, saved art and made a post to it. You should be able to see it as one of the options at the top and side of the blog. It will contain some of the drawings I made as a kid. Check them out, they might surprise you.

watch the birdie?

I thought I would let you in on the drawing process from my point of view. I have been experimenting with ways to document artistic process. This '.gif ' image cycles through several stages of a drawing I did using an effective new pastel product called PanPastel in combination with graphite.

Light appears...

where you least expect it. This beautiful reflection showed up in one of my photos. It was too lovely to ignore so I isolated it and did some manipulation. It feels to me like it should be called "Transfiguration".

Their Work in Progress

Here are some photos of the installation with the 1700 blocks I was talking about in my previous post. The zeros and ones are binary code. Each set of 8 numbers represents an ascii character or letter of the alphabet, which works into a phrase. If you are into code breaking, here is the binary that is on the piece: Phrase One:

01110011 01100001 01110110

01101100 01100001 01110011 01100001 01110110

Phrase two:

01101011 01100001 01110110

01101100 01100001 01101011 01100001 01110110

You may have to 'google' the resulting phrase.