Creative Thresholds

by Kim Vergil

Beyond the Curtain 20×20

Blizzard Conditions 24×30

Descending 30×30

Face à Face 24×30

Fenced 20×20

Fire in the building Hot Hot 12×12

Horse Rider 30×30

Miss Lady 30×30

Opening Celebrations 30×30

Place of Reflection 30×30

Portrait of a Masked Woman 48×36

Sitting with Fire 30×30

So Says…. The Sea 36×36

Tipped 36×48

Wolf and Company at the Door 30×30

Woman in a Red Dress 24×30

Artist: Kim Vergil

I can remember my dreams all the way back to my childhood and now, paying attention to and working with my night dreams has changed the way I see life and my creative process.  I am a Mixed Media artist working and living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Using my photographs of everyday life from the mundane to the fantastic as a starting point of raw material I collage them onto a canvas like we use the images from our everyday lives to create our dreams…  I use paint as the emotional energy that binds these images into a whole.  Then the adventure of discovery begins.  Once I have discovered the dream scene, dreamscape or dream mood that resonates for me within each piece I can return to a technique and sense of focus that fine tunes the story.  The hardest part and my goal is to work with and never lose any of the original energy, brushstroke and spirit within each piece. If a portrait shows up with one eye there is a reason and I leave it that way.  I always try to put ego aside and work as much as possible from the wealth of the creative, unconscious mind, that true nonjudgement part of ourselves, as possible.

I still get butterflies in my stomach every time I work on a piece and wonder where it will lead me next. Nothing is predetermined about my work.   An excitement of finding the characters and a sense of place is always present while I am in the creative place.  My work is about being curious about life and living and Searching and finding meaning within the Chaos.  I love to decode my night dreams and discover the messages from the deep that are revealed.  The imagination is filled with unlimited potential to decode, reflect, problem solve and grow. This work is about sharing portals into the imagination that create stories, my stories and your stories and sharing them out into the universe.

Dreaming is an essential part of our lives, learning to decode and use our dreams to understand the chaos of the world around us is a tool.  I feel part of my works are a playground for learning to seek out, find and see the world through new lenses.  Enjoying the process of searching and finding story.  Our stories…Then using these stories to look back at ourselves to better understand ourselves.  Every evolving, always changing and forever fascinating.  Welcome to the journey….

www.KIMvergil.com

https://www.facebook.com/ArtistKimVergil/

https://www.instagram.com/kimvergil/

https://www.pinterest.com/kimvergil/

by Jodie King

Go Outside and Play 72″ x 60″

Her Strength 24″ x 24″

Infinity 30″ x 40″

Make Love 60″ x 48″

Never Far Away 48″ x 48″

Stay True 50″ x 42″

The B’s 40″ x 40″

The Transition 30″ x 40″

Unite 24″ x 24″

You’ve Got To Believe 48″ x 48″

Artist: Jodie King

I use bold color, many layers of paint, and other forms of mixed media to create art that has been called “whimsical, sometimes deep, and always honest.” The layers of paint on the canvas create depth within the painting and symbolically reflect back the many layers of our lives. At the heart of my work is a call to all of us to live unapologetically, with joyful abandon and freedom.

My process involves journaling and meditating before any paint touches the canvas. Afterwards, using my gut/intuition as my guide, I make marks, write, and layer paint while letting go of what the final result may be.

Whether the painting is pure abstract or infused with vintage photography, the work is a bold expression of my voice as an artist and as a woman. The hard-won lessons of life, and sometimes the downright hilarious ones, reveal themselves in my work in unexpected ways. With intuition as my guide crazy, fun, and deep stuff happens on the canvas.

by Lynn Price

‘Pages of a Landscape’. 2017 Paper, stitch installation.

Pages of a Landscape paper stitch installation 1

Pages of a Landscape paper stitch installation 2

Pages of a Landscape paper stitch installation 3

Pages of a Landscape paper stitch installation 4

Pages of a Landscape paper stitch installation 5

‘Fragments of a Landscape’.  Paper, stitch, wax, wall-piece. The Nelson Regional Award, Changing Threads Contemporary Fibre Awards 2017.

Fragments of a Landscape Detail Paper stitch wax

‘Unknown Territory’.  A 25 piece, paper, stitch wax installation. The images depict ‘openings’ representing metaphorical windows into the unknown, designed to evoke a feeling reminiscent of a first encounter with somewhere unfamiliar and new. Winner of Dame Suzie Moncrieff Judges Award, Changing Threads Contemporary Fibre Awards 2016.

Unknown Territory paper stitch wax 1

Unknown Territory paper stitch wax 2

Unknown Territory paper stitch wax 3

Unknown Territory paper stitch wax 4

Unknown Territory paper stitch wax 5

‘When I Think of Home’ 2015. Machine embroidery, glass, wax installation.

When I think of Home II (1)

When I think of Home II Detail (2)

When I think of Home II Detail (3)

Artist: Lynn Price

I’m an English artist, from semi-rural Derbyshire, living and working in New Zealand’s beautiful South Island. I graduated with a BA Hons degree in Ceramics and Glass in 1984 and have been apprenticed trained in Siena, Italy during 1995. Since emigrating to NZ in 2006 I have found that living with a foot in two worlds offers endless scope for creative expression. Drawing was an integral part of my art training and I frequently feel the need to express my ideas through mark-making. I work in both glass and mixed media.

Uprooting myself from my homeland, took some courage, energy and faith in the future. As an artist, the experience also makes for complex influences that, willy-nilly, manifest in one’s work.

‘the power of a place where formative experiences helped shape identity lives on, a power more remarkable since it relies not on physical presence but only the act of remembering’.   John Percival, Return Migration in Later Life

From a migrant’s perspective, this quote resonates deeply for me. Through my art practice I address memory and nostalgic association with the landscape I call ‘home’, yet it references a narrative that can be read as personal or generic. I’m interested in the fact that we are able to bring associations to places and landscapes which, through memory, hold a resonance throughout our lives.

As I revisit these themes, memories ‘fine tune’, shift and idealise and I’m always surprised at how entangled I become in both the depth of the memory and the emotive response to it.

www.lynnprice.co.nz

www.instagram.com/lynnpriceart

www.facebook.com/lynnprice.nz

Lynn welcomes commissions and her studio is open by appointment.

by Thomas Donaldson

Artist: Thomas Donaldson

Thomas is an English figurative painter and Lecturer based in Asia. He received his Master’s degree from Newcastle University in 2000 and since then has taken part in numerous exhibitions globally. His visceral works depict the portrait/nude which has been a traditional subject within the history of painting, which is easily recognizable and has been painted over and over again. This familiarity with the subject and the ideal of beauty in an increasingly over photo-shopped media allows Thomas to develop the process of painting through abstraction, mark making and impasto and at the end of the process still have something that remains familiar although imperfect and slightly awkward.

Website: http://www.thomasdonaldson.biz

Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/thomas.donaldson.art

Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/thomasdonaldsonart/

Twitter       https://twitter.com/thomasdonaldson

Pinterest     https://www.pinterest.com/thomasdonaldson/

Tumblr       http://thomasdonaldsonart.tumblr.com/

by Susan Heggestad

Susan M Heggestad received her Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking from the University of South Dakota, and her Masters of Fine Arts degree, with an emphasis in Printmaking, from SUNY at Buffalo.  She creates mixed-media works on paper utilizing collagraph, monotype, screen-printing, and relief processes, as well as larger works in sculpture and installation.  Her work has been showcased at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences in Sioux Falls, the Haydon Art Center in Lincoln, Neb., North Dakota State University in Fargo, as well as numerous other venues. In addition, she is the recipient of several awards, including a South Dakota Arts Council Artist Grant in 2007 and 2011, and is currently on the Artists in Communities and Schools roster for the South Dakota Arts Council.

Susan lives with her family in Vermillion, where she maintains a private studio, and works in public relations for her local public library.  For the past twelve years she has worked in this region with a particular focus on creating opportunities for artists, advocating for arts education at the state and local level, and working toward cultural development in her community.

Website: susanheggestad.com

Facebook: facebook.com/SusanHeggestadArtworks

by Andrew Hitchen

Surprise

Guilty!

Escape

Laundry

Umbrella

Paper Christmas Tree

Yoga Mat

Paper Moon

Origami Fish

Paper Boat

Bandages

Paper Stars

Owl Impression

Paper Bird

Duvet Cover

Andrew Hitchen is a freelance illustrator based in London, UK. His distinctive style of drawing has earned him numerous commissions for magazines, newspapers, theatre groups, events and indie record labels over the years. His current artwork is now a fascinating blend of traditional and modern techniques, drawing inspiration from Pop Art, Graphic Novels. Surrealism, Cartoons, Music and Children’s Literature. Andrew is also the creator of the popular ‘Things To Do With Yesterday’s Paper’ series – a collection of whimsical drawings involving a mischievous black cat and its various creations with a sheet of old newspaper. The illustrations in this series have been described as “unique, memorable, and lively” and have been attracting the attention of both children and adults alike.’

Redbubble: www.redbubble.com/people/hitchen/shop
Website: www.andrewhitchen.com
Facebook page: facebook.com/paperclaws
Society6: https://society6.com/andrewhitchen
FAA: fineartamerica.com/profiles/andrew-hitchen.html.

by Jon Davenport

Miss Golightly II 60×48

Rocket II 48×48

Southern-Fried-24×24

North-Carolina-Royalty-24×36

Orange-Soda-48×48

Artist: Jon Davenport

From biology student to owning and running a creative agency in London to a career as a fine artist, life has taken Jon Davenport on a rewarding and unconventional journey. Despite his scientific beginnings, he’s always had a strong artistic streak weaving its way through his different career paths.

Growing up in Ipswich, UK, Jon was always an avid drawer, and could often be found with a pencil and paper in hand. With the arrival of his first computer, he embraced the new frontier of digital art, and had work published in one of those early computer magazines. The stage was set!

His creative urges took a backseat to getting a biology degree at Brunel University in London. It was afterwards, in his first job working at Archant newspaper group in Ipswich, that he quickly progressed from plate maker to becoming an integral member of the art studio. It was during this time that he taught himself photoshop, desktop publishing and graphic & web design.

After a few years he setup a design agency, and eventually went full time and moved to London. This proved to be a successful move, working for a number of clients such as Nike and Virgin, and gaining praise from the likes of Richard Branson and Tony Blair.

It wasn’t until Jon moved to the USA to marry his wife, Atlanta artist Christy Kinard, that he began indulging his pure creative urges, with her constant encouragement. Thanks to all the previous twists and turns, as well as embracing a new found love for photography and the paintbrush, it was only then that he could truly begin to create artworks that he was proud of.

Website:  http://jondavenportart.com

by Patti Agapi

A self-taught and ever-evolving Canadian abstract artist, Patti Agapi channels her creative expression into vibrant abstract paintings and intricate mixed media and collage art. She works with acrylic paints and various collage elements – found and vintage papers, pencil, metal leaf, plaster, metal and fabric. Patti’s abstract paintings are most often stimulating eye-candy, intense and engaging. Her mixed media & collage pieces evoke a curiosity and sense of mystery – each piece is a microcosmic journey of layers via intricate connections of text, texture and color.

The core themes of her work revolve around perception and personal reflection, and the mysterious ethereal elements of reality.

Patti lives in Orillia, Ontario, Canada and between catering to two boys, studiously works on creating Art.  She is a member of the collective art gallery Peter Street Fine Arts Gallery & Studio where she occupies a small downtown studio and shows her work on a regular basis.  She is also a member of the artist-run Zephyr Gallery in Orillia,

More info:

www.pattiagapi.com

www.facebook.com/madwithrapturestudio

www.twitter.com/madwithrapture

www.peterstfinearts.weebly.com

email: pattiagapi@gmail.com

by Caroline Nevin

Fanny

Trixie

I adore flappers & bees so it’s no coincidence that elements of bees and vintage girly delights are juxtaposed, and in most cases combined in many of my pieces. The intention is to create a conversational timeline between the past and the present and make evident the parallels that still exist today as we continue to adapt and respond to nature through social response. Here are some connections and parallels I’ve perceived between the importance of the work of honeybees, and the work of women in the 1920s.

Historically, dancing has and continues to be used as a popular form of expression and as an indicator of social behavior – as a sacred ritual, as a form of communication for social change and courtship activity, or just to let loose, dancing provides us with important cues that can actually be key to our survival, providing an evolutionary advantage. No one knows this better than honeybees, especially currently. Honeybees (scouts that just happen to be female and are known for their sociability) use the waggle dance for resourceful foraging by indicating to the hive where nectar and pollen can be found in abundance and also where the best new possible nesting locations are. This dance saves the whole hive valuable time and energy and in essence is a harmonious nurturing and preserving of the community. This is especially important now, given the struggles honeybees are facing in recent years through Colony Collapse Disorder after thriving for 50 million years, as a result of current farming practices specifically through the use of pesticides.

Buzz.fm

When I contemplate the roaring twenties, I automatically think of a group of gadabout flappers kicking up their heels and dancing The Charleston, much like a swarm of bees. It is the epitome and image of the liberated woman. Women were evolving from the strictures of the Victorian era. In that time, women were seen as chattels of their husbands. The flappers began to emulate the freedom that men had so long enjoyed. They were seen in “speak easy” bars, they smoked, danced and engaged in ‘unmentionables’. They cut their hair short in the flapper “bob.” Until then, women had long hair that they wore up, restricted in a bun. The flappers showed their knees, as long hemlines were replaced in favour of short, loose dresses, which was in revolt of the long heavy skirts and corsets worn by Victorian women. This also coincided with women getting the vote (suffrage) and women working outside the home. Women came together in hive like behavior as they banded together to fight for their rights in a gesture of alliance and posterity, foraging together – and indeed their life depended on it. Women today depended on the work they did to ensure advancing the rights of women.

Saucy Queens

Which brings us back to the bee. I’m not asking you to get your picket signs out and start a revolution. Picketing isn’t for the faint of heart. Although if you feel so inclined, please do! I’m suggesting the gentle gesture of planting a bee friendly garden that will attract honeybees. You can even start with one potted plant if you don’t have space for a full garden. And secondly, refrain from using pesticides. This is for your benefit as much as for the bees.

You may find there is a vagueness to the comparison I’ve drawn, but the most important thing to know for now is that I mean to amuse through my art pieces while raising awareness about bees, and the essential importance of their ability to nurture and sustain nature and community in their fragile states. Things will become clearer as I elaborate on these ideas in future musings. Things will become clearer as the idea unfolds and develops. In the mean time, I leave you with the Bee Knees to contemplate the profound act of synchronicity and connection that occurs through the social expression of dance – a mirror to nature…and ultimately, us.

Frances

Garnet & Ashes is a sprightly line of vintage inspired mixed media original fine art & reproductions.  A venture of Caroline Nevin; a contemporary artist and BFA graduate from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Garnet & Ashes utilizes a nudging, playful approach with a mélange of bee imagery, vintage treasures and ephemera to arouse and ignite the senses and inspire reflection on notions of identity and memory, discordant habitats and reevaluations of archaic social structures.

Caroline Nevin

www.garnetandashes.com

www.instagram.com/garnetandashes

www.twitter.com/garnetandashes

www.facebook.com/garnetandashes

www.pinterest.com/garnetandashes

https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GarnetandAshes

By Michael Orr

My name is Michael Orr, I am 39 years old. I am from and currently reside in Clarkston GA with my wife and son. I studied design at the Art Institute of Atlanta and The Creative Circus. During the day I pose as a research technician at Emory University. I’ve always made art. It’s a compulsion. It takes me away. It’s fun and makes me happy. I must do it. I started getting away from my sketchbook and making small pieces about 7 years ago. I started mailing things to friends, random people and places. My work is mixed media, collage, design, illustration, and hand carved rubber stamps over existing cardboard packaging waste, album covers, old game boxes, paper or canvas. I enjoy  working on top of existing graphics and incorporating it into my own creation. Many works are a collaboration. Gradually I discovered there is a vast organized mail art network out there, composed of people from all over the world. I like the free exchange of art and ideas. The freedom of letting the works go. The enthusiastic collaboration among the network. The visual poets of this network have directly inspired and influenced my work. Since discovering this network I’ve been in a handful of little group shows around the world and published in a few zines, and a couple of book projects. I’ve shown my work locally at a few events and small venues. Most recently I’ve curated a mail art show at Atlanta’s Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery. 

Website: Sang Moo

Flickr: cornp0ne

Twitter: Michael Orr (@cornpone)

Facebook: Artpone