It has been a very good week

but too far from familiar.

                                                                           The beauty of simple shapes and balance

 Going towards Ward's Island from the city harbour                                                                                          Returning to the city from Ward's Island

                                                                  Sun and Moon are passing figures of countless generations                                                     

            and days coming and going wanderers too.

              Each day is a journey and the journey itself home.

                                                                                                                                                                                Basho

Every year at this time I am asked to write a summary of all the exhibits that have happened in that year.

I try to remember just how each show has evolved from the previous one. I am reminded of the continuity leading to

this moment now. It is a challenge to return to the past but a good way to enter into the present.

Inside the plane, trying to be comfortable,

Sae's mom has a cup of tea.

Working together again after time away

it's a good way to find out who we are

surprising!

                   Eron is often the only guy at the collage table

                   an interesting challenge

                                                                                               that I think he enjoys

                                                                                    ...Plans for the Ark

How did this mysterious horse enter into the city

resembling the legendary Trojan horse

with the scaffolding of its making still in place

a painting of the Greeks before they hid inside merges with Sae's photo

a magical meeting of  gestures

Fragments of images

from other times, other places

gestures recognizable, interchangeable

placed to alter each other's stories,

complete an incompleteness.

Unexpected meetings

surprise us to look.

Will the real Modigliani please stand up.

                                         We are also showing photographic work in the Up North and Ascending Galleries from previous exhibitions.

After a week of working in the stairwell

up and down a hundred times

we are looking something like this!

Today we finished putting up the photographic work in the Ascending Gallery all the way to the fourth floor.

We purchased a new extension ladder which allowed us to reach the ceiling (with some difficulty).

Ed helped with his long reach and between the three of us we got it done.

Sae's mobile is a permanent fixture in the stairwell. It seems to float and dance between the pieces.

All and all it is a magical space.

The photographs shown are by Simeon Posen

with the two middle framed pieces in the roof space by Elaine Ling and Pamela Williams

The reflective quality of glass is that it brings another layer to the underlying image,

in this case it allows the viewer, Sae,  to enter into  the past.

                                                                                  Looking Down / Looking Up

                                                                    Today's Second Installation for the next exhibit 'Photographic Memory'

This is the first piece to be installed in our next exhibit  'PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY'.

The next week will be a bit of a marathon to get ready for the May 11 reception.

You are invited to attend or to visit our website where the exhibition will be documented.

                                                  Alex in Hamilton                    Della Hayward 's painting now hanging in the library at Arcturus

Today Sae'n'I' were re-hanging the collage gallery with new work.

Hammer, pins, transparencies are the tools we use.

These photos were taken during the process.

What is interesting is the way in which these images are composed.

The angles as they repeat and move seamlessly from one frame to the next.

Seen together they reveal something of the mysterious patterns of perception.

We usually think of filling the space,

something we all know how to do

but space may be the most valuable and rare treasure we have

not for what we can put in it but for the experience

of simply being in it.

All the things I want to do

and don't want to do

all stacked up around me...

some thing will call

louder than the rest

that's the one I'll answer to

                                           A friendly wake-up call. Spring has been sleeping too long.

These two collages were done on two separate days.

The one in the foreground is by Sae Kimura

the ghostly figure in the background is by me, deborah harris.

We made the each of their surrounding space transparent and overlapped them,

making them appear to walk together.

They seem to describe something of our relationship.

                                                                                                  "No."

                                                                                          Have a good weekend

                                                                                                                         (It's bit of an uphill climb)

                             Such a  privilege to care for a small piece of earth and watch it come to life each spring.

                                                                                     a high pitched wake up call

... whispering a promise of warm

Today the Reference Library was having a used book and magazine sale. The collage artist's dream is to scrounge through such a sale and find hidden gems. Eron and Sae met there and were shocked by the line-up circling the building. It is a strange phenomena, lining up for something that you want. The longer you wait the more you want the reward of waiting and the harder it is to leave the line, to quit, to give up on your wanting.  Knowing when to quit is a useful lesson to learn in any situation. It is not always a failure to walk away. It can be that it allows us to proceed with something other.

Vivian Felsen's miniature collage response to the new exhibition

and Sae Kimura's response to her response on the top of the mylar display.

... the strands of shredded paper surrounding Jeremy Gordaneer's sculpture,

part of the new exhibition entitled  'i t ' s   c o m p l i c a t e d ' ,

catch the last rays of light.

...can sometimes be an uphill climb of ferocious effort

a fullness and an emptiness on either side of gravity

wanting both but succumbing to the dictates of the moment

we do the best we can.

                                                                             Odawara Kanagawa Japan

                                                                                                  Last day of February 2019

                                                                                                                                                     ...perhaps a clue

...the world is very small

                                            Twenty minutes, give or take, from the city center is Riverdale Farm.

                                                                                                          In the valley of  Riverdale Hill,

                                                                                                              dogs and their people.

                                                                                        and I'm in a tea-cup.

                      Imagination touches the edge of what is known and gives form to what is otherwise elusive.

Happy Valentines Day

                                                                            A space we want to work in.

Today was spent going through art storage and studio in an attempt to find and re-order space.

It is a daunting task which we had enormous success with (even if it does not appear so).

We will continue tomorrow...

                                                              ...each one precariously supported by the other.

                                Working on invitations is exciting and very satisfying, when they are finally complete.

                                But the process takes time and there is an exhausting search for perfection.

                                Fine tuning the colour, the type, the composition to represent the artist's work.

                                The most difficult is getting the placement right for double-sided printing.

                                That is a bit crazy making.

The unexpected guest,

the weather to change,

inspiration, invitation, exhaltation.

The perfect circumstance

to surround us with abundance.

The strength to keep waiting.

This is part of the new exhibition showing five paintings by E.J. Gold from our permanent collection.

                       The process of taking down a show always allows for another seeing of it or seeing it anew.

                        There is both a sadness and an excitement. Sadness that what was will not be again and

                         excitement for the unexpected surprise of what comes next.