Sarah Stevenson - Nothing Hidden @ The Esker Foundation, Calgary

Esker Foundation, Calgary, Exhibition 22 September to 21 December

October 6, 2018
An exhibition worth seeing these beautiful sculptures are a poem in form, silence, suspension and sumptuous and evocative minimalism.

“A close study of symmetry and the high level of detail necessary in botanical and technical illustration provides an appropriate starting point for thinking about the sculptures and drawings of Sarah Stevenson. Borrowing from the diagrammatic research models of biologists, naturalists, and physicists, Stevenson’s work appears as sculptural illustrations of natural forms and systems, created to further explore and understand the design and laws of nature. Like drawing in air, wire and string are arranged into bilateral and almost symmetrical forms and are suspended from the ceiling. They suggest the apparent weightlessness of a jellyfish, the minute exoskeleton of a zooplankton organism, or even the universal energy system of Toroidal Dynamics.” Naomi Potter, Director / Curator

The Art of Lyndal Osborne

September 29, 2018
Friday I drove to Calgary for the official opening of new work by Lyndal Osborne. Absolutely a not to be missed exhibition. Fantastic new work ….. and some favourites from previous exhibitions. Here are the details.

Lyndal Osborne: Mutation in the Commons Exhibition

Date & Time:

September 27, 2018 12:00 am to December 15, 2018 12:00 am

Location:

Nickle Galleries - first floor TFDL - Taylor Family Digital Library

Description:

Artist Talk: Oct 4, 12-1pm

Lyndal Osborne:  Mutation in the Commons offers a survey of Osborne's poignant sculptural work, completed since 1995.  Her work speaks to forces of transformation within nature and comments upon the pressing issues relating to the environment. In her recent work Osborne has focused on an examination of the issues of genetically modified organisms.  Mutation in the Commons features nine monumental sculptures including her new work,  Coral Project.  


Lyndal Osborne was born in Newcastle, Australia. She studied at the National Art School in Sydney and received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. Since 1971, Osborne has been based in Edmonton, and is a Professor Emeritus in Department of Art and Design, University of Alberta. Osborne has been exhibiting in Canada and internationally since the early 1970s and has shown in over 350 exhibitions. Her work is represented in numerous Canadian collections, including the National Gallery of Canada the Art Gallery of Alberta, and Nickle Galleries. Recent exhibitions include:  Vernon Public Art Gallery, 2016; Art Gallery of Burlington, 2015; Art Gallery of Alberta, 2014.

Curated by Michele Hardy, organized by Nickle Galleries


Music and the Ship

March 30, 2017
I'm learning that making and writing music and songs is akin to building or rebuilding a boat. It requires A Whole Lotta Love....real love like being in love....shiploads of patience and time, and an insatiable appetite for work and craft.

This week I had the great pleasure in meeting Jean Gaudin of Abernethy & Gaudin Boatbuilders in Brentwood Bay, Bristish Columbia.......quite by accident.  Lucky me! A wonderful pleasure, and got to see an amazing restoration they are working on now. Music was definitely the vessel for this cosmic happenstance and their work is a must see even if you're not into boats. It's poetry. 

http://agboats.com/pages/crew.html

 

Une Soiree de Poche

September 18, 2016
On Saturday the 10th, 2016 I had an album release soiree hosted by our lovely neighbours in their beautiful home.  We were at capacity at 40 people, the place looked beautiful - lights, candles, lanterns, lights in the apple tree through the windows, cozy organic casual arrangement of seating, and lots of treats spread out over the kitchen island.

With only one rehearsal the Thursday night prior (the loudest rehearsal I have ever been a part of), the band was in fine form, played solidly with passion, conviction and connection, and the audio in the room was amazing, thank you to the crew at Northern Sessions who were also part of the evening.

I have to say, the evening went by at lighting speed after months of preparation and organization for it.................and left behind itself a spell of magic, and wonderment of 'what next'.  Thank you to all the guests that came, to our lovely hosts Tony & Hilaria, to the artists that played the evening away with me, and the muses around us all.  Big hugs and thank you's to the small team of people that have been behind me and encouraged me; Kendel Vreeling of KendelMakes and Valeeshia Young (and her publishing & management advise), the band - Lara Tang, Stew Kirkwood of Sound Extractor Studios (Jeff Kynoch in spirit), Chris Tabbert and Dustin Roy.  Special thanks to my family for continually supporting my artistic path, along with my friends.

With a little luck...............we may have some video snippets of the evenings performance sometime in October..........stay tuned.

Vaughan

The Wall - El Cortez Mexican Kitchen + Tequila Bar

August 9, 2016
A must see...............new wall mural on the sidewall of the El Cortez Mexican Kitchen + Tequila Bar by L.A. artist Cleon Peterson.  Peterson went on to do an interesting installation below the Eiffel Tower just after finishing this mural.

The Tragically Hip

June 30, 2016
The Hip..............Tragically, now living their name.  Iconic music grounded in Canadian experience, an iconic band, with unique and iconic presence.  Rexal Place Stadium, sold out crowd of 18,000.

A Beautiful Stage VHS 2016

Transitory Art Project Edmonton

January 30, 2016
There is a great series of visual art installations going on in our city right now. The Transitory Art Program event called YEGCanvas is highlighting new, emerging and up and coming artists on 40 city wide billboards donated by the Pattison Group.

Sponsored and organized by the Edmonton Arts Council, it's a fantastic event which is worth touring our city to see, or keep your eyes open for as you travel around town.

The link to the interactive map, which also works well on a cell phone is as follows.

https://yegarts.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/?appid=433c870c46e54ba680764a81f915b019

Definitely worth checking out.

Mountain Mercato

Mountain Mercato Stock Shelves, Canmore, Alberta, VHS April, 2015

April 5, 2015
Once in a while I have this experience where I go somewhere with a preconceived notion of what to expect and am completely surprised.....preconceptions dashed.  

Canmore was one of these experiences recently.  I am used to driving through (or past really) this town on the highway to Banff. If I stop at all it is to get gas and some car munchies from the grocery store.  These side excursions off the highway in the past have left a revived impression that this town is a good place to 'blow through'........not much but the usual side of the highway fare.

This last trip to Banff prompted a deeper look, based on my partners impressions from a conference they were at earlier in the year.  Hearing there was a hopping town centre left me unbelieving but curiosity peaked, so we made a deliberate excursion to the original town centre.

I have to say, it was a wonderful surprise.  The sidewalks were jammed with tourists and locals strolling which frankly surprised me, I had always thought Banff was the epicentre of these parts.  There was only a little of the typical tourist shops that Banff seems to be swamped with.  Mostly, the main drag was lined with interesting boutiques, galleries, plenty of cafes that were places you wanted to hang out in, and a potpourri of off beat interesting stuff like retro stores, new and used book stores, and board shops. 

Most were high high quality.......like Mountain Mercato (http://www.mountainmercato.com). Definitely an awesome establishment with amazing import foods and goods, off the dial deli, and a wonderful cafe. Don't 'blow through' Canmore without visiting this establishment, which has been around apparently for nine years now.......not a bad track record for an 'off the road' place. 'The' town centre of Canmore is a great Canadian mix of local service and tourist trade......well worth the time to look around.  And, somewhat smaller in physical scale, so the Canadian Rockies are really present and really spectacular amidst everything normal.

THE WALL

October 6, 2014
This Graffiti Class in Edmonton was sponsored by the Edmonton Arts Council and Capital City Cleanup.  The classes were run on one of three Transitory Art locations in the city; this one is behind the PaintSpot on 81st Avenue.  The instructor was graphic designer and graffiti artist AJ Louden.........fantastic project.  This wall changes every day with free wheeling artists posting new works.  It is a permanent canvas for artists and has been very well set up with safety rails and night lighting on the building.

Half day classes were run, morning was beginners, afternoon was for advanced artists.  It was a very cool way to spend time in the sun watching art unfold.

A must go see.........................

BORDEN

September 25, 2014
Paris, Sunday September 21.......really?  Families picknicking, some tourists strolling, lolling figures on the grass amongst the leaves and dappled light, a meet-up scavenger hunt.......people dashing to check behind the sculptures...................

How Purple is Your Passion, Borden Park, Edmonton, Alberta, VHS 2014

Waiting for that rendezvous, did I explain which place clearly?  God I hope there isn't more than one purple bench.

Big Things In The Formal Garden, Borden Park, Edmonton, Alberta, VHS 2014

A good place to wash your pants, T shirt, and dry them in the sun.  Not many people around midday in the week.  So many benches to choose from, the sound of cascading water blotting out the city thrum.......god I can sleep.

The Grove, Borden Park, Edmonton, Alberta, VH 2014

Athens, late in the afternoon...............is that what it is, maybe, feels like it, the center of town, there must be ruins somewhere, I'm sure I've been here before.................what was that Italian town with the park in the middle?.............dear.......do you remember?

Quintessence, quintessence, is that the word you used?  So, so.......pithy.  

It's become many places........becoming.  So, so, so New York!  All the modernists scattered about, bohemians.......well, once...........mingling with the avant-garde, you must see it dear, I sent you a postcard.

Liege, Bruges, Brussels

August 21, 2014,
A while back I was in Belgium to speak at a transportation conference. It was a fast week with
three days swallowed up by the conference, two by travel, and one free day.

The conference in Brussels offered me an intense exposé for experiencing living history again. A colleague had passionately advised me not to miss Bruges at all cost. On my agenda was to  see and experience the new train station at Liege by Santiago Calatrava. So with my one free day I bought two train tickets, each in opposite directions; first I went south east of Brussels to Liege, and finished the day north west of Brussels in Bruges. In between conference functions I had enough time to also see some of Brussels. All three places were stunning in their own right.

Liege is about a 45 minute train ride from Brussels. My train stopped at one of the outbound platforms which are not within the main terminal but covered by long tapering steel and glass canopies, so my 'awe' response was held until I walked back into the main rail concourse. Even after looking at successive publications on new work over the years by this design firm it was a completely 'otherly' experience walking into this building. Construction was just finishing. There were a couple of glaziers at the top of the main hall roof finishing fitting glass, and a set of stairs with granite treads being completed.

With a magnificent space, soaring volumes, and mind boggling flying cantilevers, what struck me was how much this train station is viscerally within the tradition of the grand European train stations of the early and late 19th century. And as I looked more closely you could both see and feel how station industrial design elements like clock and light standards, and signage and wayfinding have evolved through traditional design history to contemporary tectonics and aesthetic. And the placement of elements is........where you expect it to be......in a traditional sense.

I spent half the day walking through and around the building, sat for a long time on the concourse grand stair that led down to an urban plaza and green space and watched people coming and going. I found that this public space is also quiet classically a very active public forum. Different from many train arrival experiences which are typically on the back side of town in industrial areas, this building is truly a civic event. I was reminded of the great rail station in Perth, Western Australia, which occupies the centre of the civic core and ties both halves of the city's core together.....linking commercial and civic districts together....a remarkable feat when successful.

The Liege train station is by far some of the most impressive craftsmanship in steel and concrete on epic proportions that I have seen (along with the Reichstag in Berlin and the British Museum), similarly so is the engineering. The public concourses at grade but below the train platforms are given equal attention as the grand hall, and although detail is only really present in smaller elements such as transportation fixtures, wayfinding and built in furniture, the structural architecture, finishing and integration of material palette is superb. Calatrava's consistent palette of materials and white architecture gives no less a sense other than profound refinement and delicateness even given enormous structural proportions.  I had a profound sense that you were somewhere special that ironically had the quality, effervescent light and spirituality of an old world cathedral. Unlike many buildings of this functional typology, this building could easily be transformed into a religious space or a sports arena.

After feeling quiet completely full I boarded the train back to Brussels which flew through the city to Bruges. This Unesco World Heritage city was about a twenty minute walk from the station, which is a more typical arrival experience. You know you have arrived at the old city because you cross over the canal that draws a ring around it. Bruges apparently is one of the extremely few cities that was untouched during the Second World War (even though it was used as a U Boat submarine base) and therefore uniquely and remarkably intact. The range of public spaces is an experience in diversity, but unanticipated is the scale of buildings and streets........I thought I was in one of Pieter Bruegels paintings full of little people.

I found the difference in the morphology of this old world city intriguing. Bruges made me think of Venice, a dense canal city. The differences and singular uniqueness' make a notable study. It was evident that there were very different cultural influences shaping the character of places (a given), streets, canals, and variety of sizes of squares in Bruges quiet differently from the similar compactness of Venice. Significantly, being a canal city along a river as opposed to in an ocean lagoon affected by tides and such, as well as the differences in the predominant form and pattern of mercantile activity through canals versus canals and streets had differing physical outcomes.

Bruges old city however did remind me of Venice, but unlike it, the horse drawn cart, and alas today the automobile, had a place in the life of the inner city.......a fundamental structural and form giving difference from Venice.  Bruges is rich in every way, from a historical city continuing to house contemporary life to it's amazing vernacular architecture and architecture of high culture, art and craftsmanship, preserved urban form and civility. It is a city not to be missed for it offers much study for every interest.

Although my time in Brussels was conference busy during the day, I did have time to see a fare area of the urban core and old city. One of my prior interests was to see the new Brussels Meeting Centre by A2RC Architects which was built in 2009 after a successful competition win in 2000 by this firm. This project bings a contemporary focus to the Palais des Cogress and the Quartier des Arts. It's central focus is a ceremonial stair into a glass cube containing circulation from upper plaza to new meeting halls below. It is an extraordinary pavilion and facility, minimal and abstract as well as classically formal.

The Centres placement and fit into it's context and landscape is beautiful. The context sits within an urban slope with stunning visual connections looking out at the entire site and old city below. Both the pavilion and some above grade meeting rooms have stunning vistas to the city. And like Liege Train Station the European craftsmanship and quality of civitas is notable. The complex is compact and although minimally contemporary fits harmoniously with the impressive plethora of historical architecture surrounding it.

There were many night walks through Brussels old city..........a feeling as though you were walking through great novels, and daytime trips back to the hotel through different routes. Like so many cities throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, the variety of public spaces was a living exhibition of diversity and range of scale, spatial texture and in many cases landscape. What I did fall in love with again was that unlike many small and large North American cities, there is life after dark in many of these public spaces. And I mean that in terms of neighbourhoods not just the gentrified urban spots for tourist consumption or grand public squares. This aspect is not the same in North America where many parts of urban centers are deserts at the end of the business day.

In urbanity, morphology in my mind is everything, it is a vessel that makes or breaks urban experience, habitability and energized life. Time, and aggregated change over time are certainly part of the equation, but equally distinctive is the mix of living, working, amenity..........ritual, and spectacle, the basics that breath life into the idea of neighbourhood and create a sense of profoundness of place.

Somewhere Along The Way

Feb 1, 2014
(Started October 15, 2013, Dubai International Airport - click on pictures for enlargement)

There are places on earth that represent for each of us psychological, spiritual, tacit places of return, ancestral ground, a spiritual centre of the universe, home coming, new beginning, birth, death or both simultaneously, positive or negative life events, and a transcendental mythology of experience that inhabits our consciousness following us through our daily lives like a whispering mist.

Sitting in the Dubai International Airport ruminating deeply on this idea as I begin another two day sojourn around our planet, watching thousands of people in motion, people that I will never again see except for this fragmented momentary fleeting glance, this fact seems at once obvious and tangible, even scientifically concrete-that we are a product of our place experiences or lack thereof.

But, do we really consider this fact as we walk through our lives, do we often drift down through the primordial mist to reconnoitre or take tacit stock of, or consider, the impact of our place experiences on our creative personality, or how the points in our geographical lives converge to influence the individual lens from which we gaze out into the world; through which we produce a myriad of mental constructs about the world and everything in it relative to our sense of self. The idea, the reality, seems ethereal and terribly existential, a human experience difficult to keep in concrete touch with and often ephemeral.

As I travel I have been realizing more and more that there are exactly as many of these geographical points of meaning as there are sentient beings walking the planet-this includes all living things really. And for many, there are multiple geographical references.

Place, it occurs to me, is a portal into the divine realm of our inner lives and understanding of our world created as we inhabit life through geographical locations. Indeed I think this becomes embedded in our individual DNA. Certainly place, nation, state, country can invoke a collective DNA of sense of place as well, a gestalt of civic or national identity, sense and image of oneself as part of a collective. But what interests me most is the creation of sense of self in relation to embedded memory or influence of place experience, how we then forever carry this unique embodied knowledge with us. Sometimes it is shared creating a common ground between ourselves and other individuals, family, friends, lovers, disciples,............the potential of place influence is enormous.

There is a great evolving body of knowledge around child development and growing experience in rural versus urban settings and how the two environments influence a child's sense of self and self-reliance, confidence and world view. Great art, literature, music, science, and social contemplation has come from personal rediscovery through change in place, Henry David Thoreau's retreat to Waldon Pond, Paul Gauguin's work in French Polynesia, Georgia O'Keefe's move to rural New Mexico, Bruce Chatwin's travels into the Australian outback and his book the Song Lines, Arundhati Roy's portrayal of Kerala India in her stunning novel God Of Small Things.  And as much as these are powerful enlightenment experiences in rural settings, there are as many in relocation to urban environments; life in Montmartre in the 1800's, Miles Davis' move to Paris, the American modernist painters, New York and the Beat Movement, John Steinbeck and the influence of Monterey on his literary work, Bob Dylan's early years in Greenwich Village, NY, J.D. Salinger's story The Catcher in the Rye, The Beatles and Hamburg.

Influence and experience of place strikes me as a profound force which is still underestimated in a personal and particularly social context and in many of our environmental constructs. Contemporary theory and rhetoric in urban design and town planning goes further today in considering 'designing in' meaning and place value and we have learnt a great deal from the social failures of the 20th century, yet at the same time we create all over the world impoverished environments manifest from either rapid change, absolute neglect, or worst of all commodified simulacra. What we do design for is values of controlled amenity, comfort and safety. These values are not however distributed equally yet should be a universal right.

Intriguing to me is that somewhere along the way in our lives we bring to our daily activities and associations an immense poetic aura embedded in our unique and distinct character, world view and sense of ourselves based upon place experience. And we may have a history bank of multiple 'placeness' that shapes us.

When I moved back to my native Vancouver, British Columbia in the mid-seventies from living in California, Vancouver was a bit of a cow town. Yes it was known internationally as a beautiful city of great natural experience right on the urban doorstep, but sleepy in comparison to what it became thirty years later. It was considered provincial in character, with dirty industrial areas all around it's waterfronts, barely one or two all night cafés to find, if you called Bino's and Denny's cafés, open parking lots and bare and barren urban spaces right in the downtown core, a few dead strips like Granville Street that continually under went urban design experiments in attempts to improve it's street scape and life. And surrounded by wooded suburban municipalities that were pretty quiet.

My embodied place sense came from being in the midst of an extraordinary urban renewal maybe seen by each of us once in a lifetime if we are lucky, and an urbanite. First the Vancouver Courts at Robson Centre in process and under construction forever it seemed, at the same time the world famous gentrification of Granville Island from an industrial centre to arts and culture based urban amenity, the announcement of hosting Expo 86 and ensuing gentrification of False Creeks industrial edges and inaugural instalment of a light rapid transit system coupled with the SeaBus creating unparalleled urban connectivity for the first time. And post Expo 86 the largest land deal ever in North America that started the morphing of the remainder of North False Creek into what it is today and densification of the city's core.  My world sense growing in the midst of this context was one of unparalleled diversity.....from urbanity to gulf islands, to little Britain (Victoria) to a natural ecology and resource rich wilderness-forestry and industrial fishing in particular. This context morphed into life in a truly cosmopolitan international city composed of both urbanity and localized deep rural roots.

In Edmonton I see a city poised on a similar stage of urban and placemaking makeover. What gives me great comfort is the socio-geographical context in which this is happening; re-habitation of the city by native Albertans whom have originally come from rural areas, or spent time growing up in that environment, new citizens from other socio-geographical contexts and a rich rural fabric of epic proportions-being the prairie environment and life. This last fact in my mind gives distinctive shape to Alberta's two cities in a unique way. Probably over fifty percent of the individuals I have been privileged to meet in the past five years here have rural roots in their personal background, and with that an attendant different grounding in sense of place consciousness.

The plus side is that there is a practical perspective and set of expectations, the down side is that the vast space gives an illusion of unending abundance.  Somewhere along the way the potential transformation is to see the poles of these two worlds, rural and urban, as mutually integral to each other and value a social conscience around guarding against undifferentiated unending development, and truly find what makes this geographical place distinct from others. Somewhere along the way depth of civic sense of place will be directly related to the quality of how all the generational experiences come together.

Prelude

January 2, 2014
Top of the New Year to You.

December was a busy month and I missed my monthly blog due to a mid month turn over of managing the site myself, many thanks to Tyler Vreeling of Fat Crow Design.

With the New Year beginning, I am offering a beautiful poem of arrival by Swedish poet, psychologist, and translator Tomas Transtromer written in 1954. Considered one of the most important Scandinavian writers since the Second World War, his work has been described as capturing the long Swedish winters, rhythm of the seasons, atmospheric beauty of nature, and a sense of mystery and wonder underlying the routine of everyday life, a quality that gives his poems a religious dimension.  His work has been translated into over 60 languages and he is the recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature.

As my studio begins a new year, you will find a brand new as yet unpublished piece of music, SLIDE CALIFORNIA in the Bits & Pieces section of Music, and previously unpublished poems in the Literature section.  Creativity is an ever awakening experience……………….an important home fire to keep burning as the light of an eternal return.  The very best to you in the New Year.

Murray River, Ravenswood, Western Australia

VHS 2012

 

Prelude
by
Tomas Transtromer

Awakening is a parachute jump from the dream. 
Freed from the choking vortex, the diver sinks towards the green map of morning.
Things magnify.
He sees, from the fluttering lark's position, huge tree-root systems like branchings of
subterranean chandeliers.
Above ground, in tropical flood, earth's greenery stands with lifted arms, as if listening to
the beat of invisible pistons.
And he sinks towards summer, is lowered into its dazzling crater, lowered between
fissures of moist green eons trembling under the sun's turbine
Then halts the downward dive through time's eyeblink, the wingspread becomes an
osprey's glide over streaming water.
Bronze Age trumpets: their outlaw tune hangs motionless over the void.
In the days first hours consciousness can own the world like a hand enclosing a
sun warm stone.
The skydiver stands under the tree.
With the plunge through death's vortex will light's great chute spread over his head?

The Waterfall

November 1, 2013
I was recently asked about the waterfall image on my home page and if it symbolizes something for me. Well, the location is Canadian being Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. The falls are spectacular despite the outlandish development and impoverished tourism driven architecture that now comprises the town of Niagara. You can see more photographs of the falls in my Art section under Photography. For me it represents unleashed creativity in a constant fluid shape that is ever changing and renewing. It represents openness, flexibility, power, form and spirituality which is an ancient symbol association with water in it's myriad manifestations.

Image from: www.cs.cornell.edu/~caruana/web.pictures/pages/waterfalls.walking.to.work.htm

Image from: www.cs.cornell.edu/~caruana/web.pictures/pages/waterfalls.walking.to.work.htm

So here's a snippet of background on the symbolism of waterfalls out there in the world.

In literature water is frequently a symbol of change and is often present at turning points. It is in most cultures I can think of, a sign of life-no surprise, but when it comes to murky water, often a sign of death.

In Classical Chinese painting the waterfall has frequently been an element which in opposition to the rock represents yin and yang and is considered the symbol of impermanence as opposed to changelessness. As an element the waterfall persists but is never the same.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, was inspired to ruminate on the waterfall as the continuos evolution of beings. The drops of water which make up the waterfall are renewed each second, just like the view in Buddhism of the purely illusory components of manifestation.

It has represented in it's downward force heavenly activity emanating from the still center, the immutable, a display of infinite potentiality.

Waterfalls also represent unharnessed elemental motion, the force-fields which one needs to master and control to one's spiritual benefit, not unlike the practice of Tantrism.

The waterfall is also seen as a symbol of permanence of form despite change of content. "Mme Liliane Brion-Guerry observes that by a species of inner vision 'beyond the natural appearance of the waterfall, its symbolic meaning may be discovered as an emblem of continuous motion, an emblem of the world in which the elements change ceaselessly while its shape remains the same'......."

In the Judeo-Christian tradition a waterfall can symbolize the insistence of intentions, exceptional career luck, invitation to delight the observer. In Buddhism the only place that water seems to figure is in the funeral ritual for monks. In Hinduism, water generally has a special place as it is considered to have spiritual cleansing powers and is sacred. The waterfall symbol in particular can mean that severe disappointment will make you wiser.

In Islam the waterfall symbol can mean focus on an important decision, but the focus has to be clear. In Japan in the Shinto tradition, waterfalls are held as sacred and standing under them is believed to purify. In Norway and Iceland, the word 'waterfall' translates as 'Foss' which in Latin is a derivative word element relating to 'light'. Waterfalls often relate to a great release of emotion, rejuvenation and renewal of spirit.

Water being one of the crucial four elements for life on our planet and the symbolism in the waterfall in particular, was in keeping with the idea of continuous creation and renewal embodied in my studio.

 

Ch Ch Changes

September 30, 2013
Moving to Alberta has brought unexpected profound change in so many ways, and the beginning of some things that just didn't seem to find their way out elsewhere. One of the things that I find profoundly moving, and akin to where I grew up in Western Australia, is the rural landscape here. And that raw poignant moment that exists all through Alberta and indeed other rural landscapes around the world, the last vestiges of a way of life frozen more now as archeological artifacts and sculpture upon the landscape is stunningly charged, majestic, deafeningly silent, utterly alone but haloed.

 

Recently I had the chance to visit new landscapes in Southern Alberta, namely Waterton National Park, which is a Unesco World Heritage site, and area. If there was ever breath taking inspiration in the sculpture of landscape this is one of those places. Most poignant was Red Rock Canyon where I made two visits to photograph. More images can be found in the photography section of the web site.

Prince of Wales Hotel, Waterton, Alberta

In The Beginning

Inspiration

Welcome to Vaughan Hoy Studio

September 29, 2013
This is the inauguration of my studio web site which has been a long time coming and way over due. It is intended to be a living portfolio of creative work and intellectual investigation, ideation, and projects and discourse going on in and around the studio. You will find the website very easy and straight forward to navigate and find title information for the work. This is just the beginning. Over the next months much of the studios work not published before will be catalogued.

The most important thing to me is inspiration; being inspired and inspiring others. This is where I thrive and from which much of my creative work comes from first. And one of the things I find continually compelling and evocative is where, when, how and from what places inspiration comes from, it's unpredictability and it's magic.

Sure there is an intent in focused creative endeavour, intellectual, intuitive or craft, but I find that the field of inspiration that charges ideas or a body of work is often altogether unique in its energy and field of influence, often organic and intuitive. Some of the more recent influences that are inspirational to me come from art and music. This year I was finally able to attend Edmonton's renowned Folk Music Festival. One of the artists I had wanted to see perform for a long time and repeatedly missed was John Butler and his Trio. A stunning singer / songwriter / guitarist with a fiery virtuosity and energy the trio produced more energy on stage than one would think possible.

There were other artists as inspirational to me..........so different yet so much creative genius. I share some of these with you in images.

 

 

I would like to thank Tyler Vreeling of Fat Crow Design for building the website and getting it started, Jim Dobie of Jim Dobie Photography for rescuing images of some of my artwork from the Silence collection and my last 2008 exhibition and his images of the band, and Katherine Kerr for her editing and support. And last but not least, Stephanie Badgley and Nadir Bellahmer for their artistry on the single Thinking Of Ginger being released on iTunes September 30th, 2013 and on my upcoming album Heaven's Arms to be released at the end of this year.