What side of the bars am I on at any given day?

And why, I wonder, must I feel cornered before I can even know what skill or effort 

it is possible for me to make.

Life calls us to attend to life.

An interesting cast of characters, four generations meeting for lunch.

It seems to me that language is as personal as perception. 

We can only describe what we know

and each of us must attempt to do that by whatever means we have available.

Creativity is an attempt to communicate. 

Light and shadow create shapes

shapes create forms and landscapes

landscapes have roads that twist and curve and disappear into distances

and there is a sense that someone is watching all this

an observer who wonders and  sometimes questions

what is this all about? 

Meet you again on Tuesday.

Like blades of grass

to many to focus on a single one

a storm threatening but not arriving

beginnings but no completions

the line is there

but cannot be grasped

   just that kind of day. 

Today we went on a road trip 

to the Sculpture Supply Center 

To find a rock for Floyd to carve.

Stay tuned to see what emerges.

...I meet the centre

Side by side

each coming from the opposite direction  

we come to know the centre as it is contained 

in the space between.

a box

tall enough to stand inside

one open pink umbrella for the roof

a lizard, a parrot, two giraffes and a bear

and no idea!

                      We invite you to come to the reception for this exhibit this Saturday, July 14, from 2pm to 5pm 

Today was a day of many layers

laughter and tears

under a dark cloud

under a bright cloud

all of us around the table 

Eron, Vivian, deborah, Sae,

sitting, standing and dropping to our knees.

Each word is shaped by the meaning that it holds.

A word has a weight and a form.   

It can be obscure or transparent.

With curiosity it is possible to see into it and sense its many lifetimes.

 A word rarely stands alone but reflects the context in which it is placed.

Words are vehicles of travel 

carrying us towards understanding.

                                                                                                 "Catch!"

'C U S T O D I A N S' is the new exhibit in the Collage Gallery.

In asking a question, with no immediate answer, we enter into a place of unknown possibility.

In asking a question, with no immediate answer, the question may lead us home.

And all the men and women merely players...

                                                                             Shakespeare

There are times when I have been given to

and there are times when I have the impulse to give

both in receiving and in giving 

trust is the inspiration.

This line of prayer flags had fallen from where they were strung, onto the ground beneath.

A squirrel came, stuffed the one end into its mouth and carried it through two backyards, 

up into the tree where it has its home. There they are, still hanging.

Most of what I do in my life is repetitive. 

I learn from what I repeat, when I am able to observe. 

And life itself supplies the random, the unexpected, even the unwelcome. 

Those are the challenges I react or respond to.

Somehow it's all right here, even while I look for something more.

                                                                                            ...is an opening

A fish in a bowl is totally dependent on us for its survival.

It can endure our neglect for a surprisingly long time 

but also it can revive dramatically with care and attention.

It is possible for us to have relationship with every creature

when we recognize it as living.

there is a cloud of unknowing

and in the splitting of the tree

new life growing.

Today Sae 'n' I ventured out onto the street, far from our stomping grounds, looking to find who know's what. 

We took with us a CONTACT map and gallery names but never found any.

The bus was crowded and hot and we couldn't remember where we were or why we were there.

Sometimes everything we need is right in front of us. 

Returning to our familiar was a great relief.

...on the seriousness of work

...and it opens to the weekend

Ready to receive what comes

and what falls away

After working towards the completion of a body of work

and the opening which follows

there is often a dry patch

when there seems to be no direction.

This is today.

                                                         When we close the gaps we alter the landscape.

Today Sae 'n I spent all day hanging what is to be 'her show'.

It was very finicky work and exhausting.

We should finish tomorrow.

It will be beautiful!

              This is a small glimpse into the space where Marina Hashemi is exhibiting her collages:- Anatomy of a Soul

In a collaboration each participant  is moved by the other,

quite literally they are each mobilized by a recognition 

of potential to create something of beauty and perfection.

Collaboration requires heart and seeing. 

It is always surprising and its essence is joy.

Marina writes: "'Anatomy of a Soul' was born out of solitude and self reflection.

The skeleton is a form that supports and moves me through life.

My intuition, which I rely on to be my sight and guiding light,

is felt deeply in my gut and pelvis, that is where I placed eyes.

My heart, an organ I associate with deep states of anxiety,

love, empathy - that is why I placed bursts of colour,

delicate butterfly wings and soft flower petals, in the chest. 

These are my first collages.

They document an exploration and discovery 

of what lives inside my soul." 

Today's conversation between Floyd Kuptana and 'that woman' aka deborah harris

Floyd Kuptana and deborah harris have been collaborating together for many years.

His sculptures have inspired her drawings, collages, paintings

which have in turn inspired Floyd to expand his talents into drawing and painting.

This show documents their creative conversation to the present.

what was once in the ocean,

is found on the shore.

This installation ushers in a new exhibition, 

F e r o c i o u s   J o y 

This whale bone was found on the shores of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT in 1940,

  at the mouth of the MacKenzie River where it enters the Arctic Ocean.

What happens to the creative process when we try to repeat or reproduce it?

We may find our self stuck in the same place just spinning our wheels.

Something we can also call habit.

and the space enters us

Today artists Vivian Felsen and Floyd Kuptana showed up at the gallery ready to paint.

They managed to entice deborah harris, in spite of her resistance, to join them.

These paintings are the result of the dialogue between them.

Kuptana and harris' work are Picasso inspired.

Against all of our resistances,

justifications and reasons for why not,

some hidden, forgotten, longed for essence 

continues to be.

Trying to find the story 

as it enters from the outside in

If it comes in I will find it.

A moving stream full of images.

One floats to the surface and lets me catch it.

That one image holds a memory of the whole.

If I can begin with that slippery fish

it will lead me through to an ending.

It is always surprising 

and always known.

Sometimes, but almost never

we touch what we desire.

excerpt from 'Robert Frost at Eighty' by Peter Boyle

 Something rich comes from our conversations 

that I take home with me to ponder.

Sometimes we cannot initiate. 

Sometimes we do not want to do what we are asked to do,

or we cannot decide what of all the things we think we must do

that we can do.

We are surrounded by movement. 

Simple, mundane tasks require our attention.

They insure that we continue to engage. 

We must only agree.

                                                                                                                                                   grass in the wind

"Greensleeves was all my joy

Greensleeves was my delight

Greensleeves was my heart of gold

And who but my lady Greensleeves."

I asked him, "What kind of day do you think it is today?"

And he answered, "A little bit flat but friendly."

And so I thought maybe it looks like this.

The Collage and E.J Gold Gallery have joined the present show 'In Memory of Spring'

with what is being called -   'A Delicate Response'

The day began 

stepping on my own toes

but slowly the steps became more sure

more steady and evenly paced

one step following the next.