2018 Year in Review: The Out Front Year

On this last day of 2018, I am compiling a list of accomplishments to help me reflect. The numbers of some achievements are smaller in several cases. My artwork production level stayed the same but the nature of the pieces was very different. What is crystal clear to me after this year of being Out Front is that I am in need of a more internal based year in 2019. For me, that means continuing to maintain my volunteer commitments for Studio Art Quilts Associates and my job at the Museum 20 hours a week. In the other hours of my days, when glimmers of free time appear, I just want to make art.

2019 is going to be a year of production. A year to establish a new body of work. In January I will finally finish the last two pieces of my Transmutation series that is now going into it's third year. Quilts are not fast to produce, they take time. There are times when the pace is frustrating, but I want to honour the pieces and rushing them does not do that.

Here is the 2018 list. Links to further information about some items are listed when relevant.

Number of Completed Pieces: 5
Number of Pieces sold: 1
Number of Exhibitions applied for: 5
Number of Exhibition rejections: 4
Number of Exhibitions: 4
Number of Exhibitions visited: 11 (an increase of 4 more than last year)
Number of Artist Talks: 1
Number of Talks as a SAQA Rep: 1
Artist Residency Completed in May 2018
Press Coverage: 2 Articles in the Burnaby Now, 1 feature on Vancouver is Awesome.com
Hosted a Public Artist Lecture by Lorraine Roy
Established a YouTube Channel featuring videos about my work

In front of "Crow Corridor" one of my Pieces in the Textile Narratives Exhibit

I would like to thank everyone who reads my posts, likes and shares content and watches my videos. Being out front is not easy for most of us but being supported by all of you makes it worth it. This space will be changing in the new year as I establish a fresh website, and there will be lots more news as the days progress. For now, Happy New Year and all the best to you all in 2019.

Looking for Center: 2017 in Review

It is that reflection and goal setting time of year again. I shared 16 posts in this space in 2017. I think I'm ok with that. Considering that it was one of the busiest years of my adult life. I've gathered some numbers for taking stock of the year.  I do not usually do this but I felt like it would help me put things in perspective.

Taken on Salt Spring Island, BC July 2017

I often felt a sensation of being in limbo despite pushing myself further than I ever had before. Looking back on the year this way has given me piece of mind that I have indeed achieved more than I thought. That is a reassuring feeling and it is helping to keep the limbo feeling in the background. Here are some numbers about my year.

Number of Completed Pieces: 5
Grants Written & Applied for: 2
Grants Received: 1
Art Sales: 2
Exhibitions Applied For: 10
Exhibitions: 4
Exhibition Rejections: 7
Art Related Articles Published: 2 (SAQA Journal Summer & Fall issues)
Press Coverage: 2 (Friendship Show UDHR Embroidery)
Art Exhibitions visited: 7 (a number I'd like to increase for 2018)
Attended SAQA Western Canada Regional Retreat in Kelowna, BC
Became SAQA Western Canada Regional Representative
Began my first Artist Residency at Forest Grove Elementary School
Began a part-time job at Mackin House Museum
Craftivist project artist for UDHR Quilt Project
Set up a Monthly newsletter
Set up a Facebook artist's page

These are career related accomplishments of course. There were many more parts to this life. Turning 40, sharing time with family, reading 36 books, travelling to some lovely locations, raising two boys and maintaining our crazy family of 4 life.

Installation view of Look In, Reach Out at the Zack Gallery, Vancouver BC, May 2017

A few thoughts to ponder as we move forward in 2018.

Why think about the rejections?  They are just as important as the acceptances.
Do you reflect on the passing years in your art practice? I do.  My project is called Memory Keeper and is now going into its 10th year.  Here are some past examples of the small pieces I make to mark each year.
2008 2010 2011 2012

Here's to an art filled 2018.

JJ

Put a Bird on It: A 2015 Art Review

Snow is falling softly here as I write today.  It seems a good time to take stalk of a bumper year for me in terms of career opportunities.
January will always mark an important time for me as it was 3 years ago this month that my work was first exhibited in the Lower Mainland in an emerging artist group show.  It was a great success all around when I not only got into the show but also sold the piece that was submitted.  Three years in and I have shown many more times, learning a lot about what is and is not possible at this stage.
Of course things are always changing, so I continue to challenge what appears possible.
I don't think that 2016 will be any different in that respect.
As for 2015, my impression of the year overall harkens back to the title of this post.  My bird obsession was not obvious to me until the last few months of this year.  But as the last three pieces I've made have had a bird in them (the new one I'm working on now adding a fourth) I feel it is safe to say I'm in a bit of a "bird phase."  
I know for sure that after this current piece is done I will make at least one more piece with a bird as a focal point.  I haven't intellectualized this too much as of yet.  I think it stems from nature as inspiration and birds being the wildlife that I am exposed to the most on a daily basis.  We live in a forested mountain area so birds are all around us.  Plumage is also very beautiful to paint and stitch.
There is much folklore and many myths attached to certain birds. I don't think of these animal's appearance in my work to be coincidence.  There will not be a time that I will be done with birds as subject matter since I made no concious effort to study them or use them exclusively as a muse.  I assume that they will flit in and out of my work forever.  Only time can tell.  But what a pleasure to sit with these creatures and come to know them in such an intimate way.
To stitch, study colour and gesture, it forms a bond.  An understanding of the type of space that they take up in the sky or on a branch.   It is a sincere pleasure to observe and depict.

In case you are not familiar with the post title (used in a very tongue and cheek way)  please click through to this Youtube clip of the funny show Portlandia for an explanation.

Wishing you all a very happy new year!       JJ

     flight, 2014

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