Gone Fishing


 

Regular schedule resumes January 16th but check here  for surprises.

 

Merry Christmas to All and To All A Good Night

From Ed our doorman and tour guide


and the motley basement crew, Eron, Mark, Sae and deborah

            we are wishing you a joyous holiday season.


I Wonder as I Wander


Today's youngest visitor 

learning to walk 

and explore

a whole new world. 

A Little in the Shadow A Little in the Light


ONe FoRty FivE


 

OnE ForTy FiVe...

a time (in the afternoon or morning)

an age!

an address (without the street name)

the number of buttons in a jar

the number of centimeters of a shorter than average person

the cost of a skill saw on sale at Canadian Tire

the size of a large herd of cows

five pennies short of three rolls

when the train departs

the page in the book facing  144

 

(and the number just below the very nice shoe).

 

 

 

 

 

Everything tells me Something


 

In this image I recognize the object to be a chair.

I know that it is sitting on a floor.

 

The wall behind tells me that I can not walk forward 

but must exit the space to the left or the right.

 

The shadows also tell me something of the space surrounding,

of its shape and where the light is coming from. 

 

And it can be said that the chair recognizes me.

It has been carefully crafted for a person, such as myself, to sit upon.

 

In this way I am welcomed to the space.  

 

Wondering Which Way is Up


 

What is it that allows us to know where we are?

 

Recognition: To know 

 

To recognize and be recognized.

 

Without that we are lost.

 

 

 

Footprints in the Snow


It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas


It happened that while we were having our ongoing conversation

about this and that

and that and this,

the winter arrived

and settled all around us.

 

 

This sculpture can be seen in front of the Mars Medical Research Building

just south of College St. east of University Ave.

Confessions from the Work Place


This week began with a lot of unknowing 

 

 and ended with a little bit of floating.

Learning to Float is a Life Saver



    Please come to our holiday reception at Gallery Arcturus 

80 Gerrard St E., (Gerrard at Church St)  2:30 - 5 pm,

Saturday December 9, 2017

   All of our five gallery spaces will be open with new work

and yummies will be served.

Six Steps of Learning to Float


 

 

We are working on the exhibit 'Learning to Float'.

This is not necessarily referring to swimming or flying

but more as a way of being.

To do the work I am asked to be honest about my own experience.

I realized at this time floating seems impossible

but what if I have something to support me.

This piece is my way of teaching myself how to float.

SK 

Cradling the Egg


Hello December

                                    Twenty-five days til Christmas!


Inside the Prism


One and Many


Dispersed

 

 

Today nothing is lining up the way it should.

Impossible, it seems, to hold onto anything. 

Thoughts fly by like balls of light, 

 too fast to catch 

And should is just an empty word.

 

Perhaps lines can be stretched 

and holding released 

 if only for a moment

to float.

 


Here


Can We See the Wind?

 

 

C.S. Lewis writes:-

"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable spirit who reveals Himself 

in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."

 

 

Towards Horizon's Line

Row, row, row your boat

Gently on the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream.


Wrestling with Illusions of Grandeur

Sometimes I worry too much and think that I must be able to change the way things are.

I imagine that I am bigger and more important than I am.

This collage is a reminder of that illusion.


In and Out of Focus


 

We decided that what we want most today is to be able to focus on a single project and to see it proceed towards completion.

This photo is a perfect example of unfocused. It is also very beautiful and evocative because of its blurred edges and sense of movement. It is fun to see in many different ways, and to approach our projects from many different angles. That is creativity. 

Land Ahoy!


 

High strung and tangled

how to be in the ocean

on a ship    or   as a fish

   ?

wanting to  make it easier.


Wound up

in a tight ball 

wings humming

head  pointing

no feet for landing

no stopping 

stuck

up in the air.

Sharing the Job


When you hold the ladder

I can climb higher.

Transparent


Standing in the middle of too many fragments

things begun but unfinished

what piece to pick up first 

where to direct attention

overwhelmed and wanting completion 

in some corner or other

standing in the middle...

still standing.

The First Glimpse of Winter


Inside the Story of Shmo

Today Sae sat in the library till the light grew dark

and worked on the illustrations for the story of Shmo.


This is Bonnie, my new best friend

 

 

I believe that animals bring us back to our senses. 

 

 


Undercover


Somewhere Above the Tree Line


 

somewhere above the tree line

a lone cow

a ladder

and a place to wait


A Little Bit Tangled in the Branches

 

The darkness and light

seemingly in equal proportion 

and somewhere between 

carried by an unseen force

a line of colour. 

 


Looking to See What's Ahead


Returning with a Memory of Saguaro



 

Having made a brief trip to Tuscon for the weekend to visit with a friend 

and wondering how does the experience of a place and time faraway 

shape the here and now?

This is the answer today.

 

Prowling Towards Halloween


Framed

Today we are reassembling frames and stretching canvas over them making beautiful forms to paint on. The process requires attention, evenness of strength and exactness. Making them our selves feels very different from buying them ready made. There is a sense of satisfaction in the form itself.

 

We have not even considered the paintings which may appear on them.


A Story of What Was

 

 A story of what was 

incomplete but beautiful. 

A small finding and curiosity

makes us look further, 

collecting the fragments

and piecing them together 

into something

which resembles the whole. 

 

 


Music to Look At



You are invited...

f i N d i n g  f o r m

anD

c L i m b i N g  L a d d E r s


Reception

Saturday October 21,

2:00 - 5:00 pm

Works by allen egan, jeremy gordaneer,

camie geary-martin,

sae kimura, eron boyd, deborah harris

Building a Painting


It is very different experience making installations with forms and then trying to paint or draw them.

I would say that the act of painting is one of seeing and it allows us to discover something new.

It is a way of engaging with the forms in the intimate and also limited, space of the canvas. 

Something of a conundrum. 

A Work In Progress

 

Today Vivian, Sae and deborah started painting using the installations            in the gallery as their subject. This is Vivian's beginning,

to be continued... 

 


On The Path Forward


Higher Up and Farther In


It's the Weekend... Let's Kick Up Our Heels



Finding Form and Climbing Ladders

 

What was once a railing has become a ladder.

A bridge between earth and sky.

 


Close Up and Far Away

 

We can easily make the close up, such as this screen disappear, just by focusing on what is distant. It is fun to experiment with all the different ways we can look at our surroundings and to notice the habitual ways we have of seeing. I have noticed that whenever I change my perspective new possibilities open up that I could not have imagined before. 

 


It Looks Like Someone Dropped the Bag


And it all unraveled after that...


                             

 

                              This was the feeling today, 

                                                                               too many loose end

                                                                                                              s

 

                                                                                                


From All of Us to All of You...!


A Kiss


 

In the dream world the canary and the fish can meet

an unexpected moment of surprise and delight

when one swims away from the many

or sits outside of the cage.

 

Red Foot Pigeon Theatre

One Crust Eleven Birds Not Sharing

 

                 The stage is set...

 


  Enter the birds.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                    Exit the Birds.

 

The Crust is Gone.

 

THE END

 

 

New Beginnings

In the process of 'f i n d i n g   f o r m', the exhibit now in the Genesis Gallery on the main floor, we introduced 'the egg' as a form which perfectly contains potential. This form has become the central theme in the Collage Gallery which we began hanging today. This exhibit is entitled 'e g g x a g e r a t e d  p o t e n t i a l'

and these are two of the new pieces.


DO NOT DISTURB

 

 

This baboon skull was found in Africa some forty years ago.

The circular form is an ostrich egg shell.

They are now part of the exhibit entitled  'f i n d i n g  f o r m'

and can be seen in the Genesis Gallery at Arcturus.

 

 



Seeing Through Reflections

                                  Hard to know which way is which.


Small and Perfect

Little/Little turns one today. Happy Birthday Little/Little.  xxoo


The Up North Gallery has moved into fall...


These painted sketches are done by Eric McConnachie of the lands and sky surrounding his home in Haliburton. 

The sculpture is by Susan Valyi wearing a mask by Sae Kimura.

The egg in the box is an introduction to the next Collage Gallery exhibition.

Holding Possibility

 

Ideas float towards us 

from outside in. 

They enter if there is space to be received.

 

 

 


On Loan

This collage was made at the collage workshop on Saturday past by Petrea Hansen. Unfortunately for her but fortunately for us it was too big for her to take it home on that day. Consequently, we have become the temporary custodians and are able to appreciate it while it waits to be picked up.


The Show Must Go On


                                                             

 Today we are feeling a bit like the three stooges

a little slap-stick. a little sleepy,

                                                                                           but still in sync.

 

       Curly, Larry and Moe


In the House


A House to Carry

 

 

This house began as a collage (shown in our August 29 blog) Sae began building it as a three dimensional form on the same day that I was introduced to the painting (shown in detail below), by Allen Egan. His painting is further inspiring its evolution.


Floating

What is a cloud?

soft, undefined,

constantly moving and changing shape

blurry around the edges

what is it not?

it is not something determined or decided

it is not focused or sharp

 

Today we have found ourselves somewhere inside a cloud

bumping around and sometimes into the other.

 


Portrait of the Day


                                      This is Bear.

                                      He is visiting with us while his family is away.

                                      Sae met him for the first time today

                                      and was inspired to make his portrait.

Counting Clouds


We welcome a new artist into the fold,

Allen Egan is the artist of these two new acquisitions,

which seem already to be part of the conversation begun here in August.

Allen was showing his very inspired work at the Cabbagetown Festival this past weekend. We are hoping for further collaboration. 

 

You can visit his web site eganacci.wixsite.com/allen-egan-paintings


Looking to the Other Side

                                                      ...?


A conversation between forms



Finding Form


Inside and Out

 

 


Welcome to the Secret Gallery


                   

                        September has arrived and we are open again for what always feels like the beginning of a new year. 

Bonne fête


When the sky's on the ground 

and the world's upside down

la la la la.

In the spirit of Annie Oakley 

and girls with gumption,

Happy Birthday Maya.

Kitsune no yomeiri


The foxes' wedding.

It came so suddenly, we almost missed it.

A mysterious occurrence,

we sometimes refer to it as a sun shower.

Life is a Miracle


'It's Raining, It's Pouring...'


Spin Dry


 

 

 

Today feels like being turned inside a giant spinning drum

impossible to stop or to get out.

Nothing to be done but record the journey. 


Seen Through


Soaring



Who has seen the wind?

 

 

   Today we have been visited by the warm winds of summer.


Rhythmic Harmonies


 

 

Sina Lack and Jerome Paul came by the gallery today with their instruments, the Hang Bal, Gubal,

Hang Gudu and Pang Sui and played with us for the afternoon.

Please click on the link to have a taste of what we experienced with them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6tKuw7yLmM

 

 

 

 

 

This two string instrument is a Pang Sui.


As Above So Below

 

 

 

A carpet fallen from the tree tops.

And one who is looking for something.


She Who Knows

Sensing you, our dear friend, Heather.


Black and White


Full moon rising


On an even keel

 

'on an even keel'

not easily losing balance 

or returning to balance after difficulty.

 

This expression was first used as a 

nautical term. 


Drifting


You are Invited...




Feet and Inches


Their is a very old saying :-

'To see from another's perspective you must stand in their shoes.'

This is an unspoken request when looking at art and is the reason why art has the possibility of expanding our view.

 

Shoes themselves are interesting forms. How they touch to the ground, how they lift off.

They tell a story of how we place ourselves here and how we arrange the rest of our body to balance.

It all begins with the feet. 

 

The Red Shoes




 

 

Daniel Hanequand's drawings have inspired this three dimensional collage sculpture.

To see more of Daniel's extraordinary work please visit Gallery Arcturus.

 

Circling


 

 

Today we have been spinning like two balls

or maybe it is two holes that we are looking through,

holes that shape what we see and frame what we know,

or are they spheres drawn upon in fine detail

to throw up high or roll across the floor

 

 

 

  

Chance of Thunderstorms


The beginning of something new


Today began with sunshine and blossoms 

by late afternoon the day became a shadow of itself.

Inside we were peeling off the photos

and taking down the show.

In it but not of it


Can we be separate from the crowd and also part of it?

Perhaps it is better when we can see it from outside.

 

This drawing is by Daniel Hanequand and can be seen in the library at Gallery Arcturus.

Tip Toeing Through the Tulips



The Measure Of..


How tall is a goose?

How wide is the sky?

   How long is a tiger's tail?

 

How immeasurable the whole?

 

 

Signed, sealed and delivered


Today was a mailing day, sending out invitations for the next show and opening of Daniel Hanequand's work;-

't h e   v i e w   f r o m   h e r e' .     Labeling and stuffing envelopes, sealing and stamping, and carrying them

in the rain to the post box before 5pm. It's a rhythmic job, when you get into it, which all of us seem to enjoy

accompanied with just the right music and the crunch of chips. 

 

Reclining Figure


                     

In my opinion, everything, every shape, every bit of natural form, animals, people, pebbles, shells,

anything you like are all things that can help you to make a sculpture.  

 

                                                                                                                                                  Henry Moore, Sculptor

Here and There


Snacking on collage

(or how to make a meal of it)

the brother 

and three sisters

Intersection and Ascension



Eyes on the ceiling



The Warp and the Weft




Under construction

a weaving of heavy metal 

and brilliant colour

pulled to the sky

and entered from below.

 

Full Moon Rising



And feeling turned

upside down.

 

Japanese Street Musician 1870


Rainy Day



A Movement and a Waiting




The Yellow Light


The image on the left was taken today at the corner of Church and Gerrard. The photo of our friend Piet Corr was taken a month ago in the gallery. The two seemed to want to go together with the lens on Piet's camera turning colour. I went to the internet and looked up 'yellow light' and this song appeared, by the Icelandic group 'Of Monsters and Men'. We decided to include the link here.

 

 

Piet this is for you.

 

Click on 

Yellow Light

 

 

 

You are invited to...


As Above...   So Below



                                                                 'Playing Hands'   9 collages by Vivian Felsen

 

                                                                          Click on each small image to see.

Handmade


For thousands of years human beings have been shaped by what we hold in our hands. 

'The hand shapes the tool and the tool shapes the hand.' 

 

Waiting for the Arrow


It's hard to stand or move with an apple balanced on your head.

 

Maybe it's better to eat the apple?

 


Wet



Hand me downs





Constructing a work space


Securing and preparing the site,  framing

whatever is to be observed to that it can

be seen and held in focus,  penetrating

the matter in question in order to

understand it better... all of this

could be said of what we do in the gallery.

 

 

 

The work space  itself is a work of art,

changing shape in response

to whatever is placed within it. 

 

 


Side by side


Returning to work after four days away, it is about re-orientation to the gallery space, and to our shared projects.

Collage is a surprising way to see what we are up to and where we are situated now. It sets us up for the week ahead.

Getting Better

Being sick is a big 'STOP' sign, nothing else is possible, you just have to wait for the sky to open up and be clear again.

 

 

Orange you glad you're not sick!

Stuffed Up!


Nothing is as it seems


In the box but not of it


 

 

It often seems that we are surrounded on all sides, demands, expectations, things happening all the time.

We are always spinning, as if suspended by a thin thread.  And sometimes there is a moment, a pause 

when time stands still and I return to a sense of wholeness and energy..

A moment.

 

 

What changes and what stays the same?



Today we are four

 

 

It has been awhile since the 'core four' have worked together,

Vivian Felsen, Eron Boyd, Sae Kimura and deborah harris.

Today we met at the oval table and this is the result of our lively and at times profound exchange.

 

 

W  E  L  C  O  M  E

                                                         "This morning I found a chair placed in the space,

                                                            it invited me to sit and to pause and look."

Friends



Into the sunset



Through the doorway


A door between two spaces

 

an opening we can move through 

going out or coming in

and the invisible barrier of a window

which lets us see the other side.

 

 

This doorway is to the Allen Garden conservatory located between Carlton and Gerrard Street east.

This doorway is the main entrance on the Palm building constructed in 1910.

 

The act of creating

 

 

 

 

 

 

We began with a question, 'what is the language of gesture?' An idea arrives,

not as words but as a vision, not quite distinct. We search for and find materials to make the vision manifest. But then the process begins and materials have a mind of their own, conforming to weight and gravity, light and shadow and what happens is something of a miracle, a total surprise

that we feel privileged to be witness to.


Remembering


Fire

we circle round it, turn our faces towards it 

for warmth, for light, for the transformation of food. 

our first and ongoing necessity is to feed ourselves,

in times of abundance and scarcity.

 

hands collect the seeds, plant the seeds, care for their growth, harvest the crop 

hands build the fire, cook the food, hold it to our mouth to eat.

 

Sometimes through grace and effort we are able to amass a surplus

it is only then that we are afforded the possibility of reflection,

to consider our existence here on earth,

to observe what we have discovered and to share that knowledge with words.

 

 

 


Hand




A story of three

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            The one who waits...


             

 

 

 

 

 

 

             The one who comes...


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              The one who watches...


Foggy morning at the Brick Works




Photos taken by Ayokah Beauchamp

Seen


 

 

Collage,  stories,  the body 

all the things we do, are mediums

that hide and show what's hidden. 

 

 

 

excerpt from Rumi

collage by deborah harris

image of sculpture by Rodin

Drawing a line on the floor

Which way is up?


The birth of language



This is the beginning of a new body of work showing in the Genesis Gallery at Arcturus

where we are exploring the universal language of gesture found in the expressions of hands.

walking on clouds

 

How can a wet slab of sidewalk contain the sun and sky and all the branches of a tree? It seems to be a doorway into another world that we need only step into. 

 


Happy Valentine's Day


The Language of Objects

petal   boot   shadow   wrench

     each word has such a different weight

each makes a different sound when it falls to the ground

landing softly or with a heavy thud or metallic clang

words call meaning to them

and speak for us. 

 


The Language of Gesture

7th Century Japanese Scroll

Hand photos taken by Ayokah Beauchamp and Sae Kimura


Billboard at College and Elizabeth St.


Slippery When Wet!

Weather is always a surprise and sometimes, like yesterday evening, it transforms something we see as ordinary and even dreary

into a magical crystalized landscape.


The Travelers


LEAVING THE HERD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Travelers  Part II



   INTO  THE  UNKNOWN


Notes on a string


A musical score composed in Japan.

Still in the engine room


Around the table we meet to converse and collage and share coffee. 

New friends can be found here.

Welcome to the 'engine room' (where things get started)


This is just one corner of the basement studio where visitors are welcome to come and see the abundance of work 

that is created here, a treasure trove of paintings, collage, sculpture and found objects enough to inspire any imagination. 

So many I's

'Constructing an Identity' is the name of the body of work by Eron Boyd now showing in the collage gallery.

This quote by C.S. Lewis and miniature sculpture 

seems to describe something of that search for ' I '.


A long climb


To get from the bottom to the top we build stairs

objects and forms are shaped by necessity

Meeting someone from the past


All of the above collages began with a photocopy image of this photograph

'Portrait of a Young Writer" held in the archives of the Jewish Public Library in

Montreal. Each of us was inspired to enter into a relationship with the

original portrait and in the process of collage I think we all came to see and

appreciate the character even more.  As much as she has been transformed in

these works a strong trace of her remains.

 

                                                         


Where are we?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we watched this little guy and wondered

is this a rabbit with cropped ears and long tail?



Squirrels are welcome here.

Today



                                                        Today the sun is like the moon

                                                        the carpet is like the earth 

                                                        and the small cut paper is like a bird

 

                                                       And what of the lines running from side to side?

 

                                                       They are like the conversation between us

                                                       straight, unimpeded, true.

 

 

 

                                                        Today's photos taken by Ed Drass

Looking with eyes wide open

There and back again


A triad of opposites...

 

These three collages were done

at our first coming together again in the new year,

 

 

 

 

 


It is easy to see how each of the pieces are different

but can you also see the way in which they connect. 

Finding what it is that we share

is always a surprising example of communication.

 


Passing on the news

Are we willing to receive good news?

or to even consider the news we receive as good?

or more important can we be witness to what is happening

in order to learn about ourselves. 

 

On Martin Luther King's Day his niece wrote:  "I pray that all polar opposites learn to Agape Love, live and work together as brothers and sisters--- or perish as fools."


At the station


If only I had wings


  The popular name now for a Japanese kite is Tako -

  The symbol for tako is made from two characters :  凧



which means wind and



 which means piece of cloth.

 

put them together and you get the symbol for kite

a kite is a call to the wind
holding the string
we are lifted.

 

A conversation between us


 

 

On the bridge looking towards the hills

on the shore looking towards the bridge

sending a message

swift as the kite flies


View from my room

after the sake, after the champagne,
the day arrives, as it always does,
as it never does,
expected but unpredictable.


Lighting the way

On New Year's Eve we walked to the shrine closest to our home.
They had fire and lights and sake to welcome the people who came to visit and pray.