Exhibition: just turn your head a little

Below are a few photos of the exhibition just turn your head a little, created by Frances Vettergreen and I at the Leighton Art Centre.

Our exhibition will be up until Saturday April 13, 2019. 

While pictures and blog posts are lovely, they really do not compare to an in-person experience of any type of art.  If you have never yet been to there, this would be a great reason to go and visit the truly wonderful Leighton Art Centre!

Frances' paintings are a remembered record of her experiences.  My installation works are created in response to the place in which they are made.  

Sky Land
String drawings with hanging branches
Dimensions 26" and 16" in diameter, approx 60" height

Reflecting the sky and rolling land around the Leighton Art Centre, these drawings also pay homage to the playful nature of some of Barbara Leighton's own artworks.

Roots
Strings and tree roots collected after the 2013 flood
16 x 32" each side

Strings: to work with the window frame, and to mirror shapes in Frances' painting.  

Roots: because the basement of the LAC is a world unto itself, and knowing the roots is integral to  knowing any person, place or thing.

with Frances' painting "A Garden To Feed Her Family"

front: One suspended transparent drawing
back: Tea-dyed office paper with root and branch, 50" in diameter x 120" height

Tea-dyed office paper, because Barbara Leighton liked to offer her guests tea, and because the LAC remains operable through the efforts of the admin staff.

front: Two suspended transparent drawings
back: String drawing with stones, 59" in diameter

The string drawing is on the wall.  The stones are suspended 18" in front.  Both circles are exactly the same diameter, despite appearances to the contrary. 

This work relates to the calm and elegant feeling of the LAC.  Situated in nature, surrounded by extended vistas, the scale of human endeavours can be perceived in an alternate proportion relative to the environs.

right: String drawing with stones, 59" diameter
left: Suspended transparent drawings, 24 x 90" each

Drawings: sinuous like trees, to bring the outside in.

Transparent: to see through, as in a winter forest.

Suspended: on sensitive swivel hooks, so that they move in the tiniest ambient air currents, as trees do.  These drawings are always in motion.

front: Suspended transparent drawings
back: Frances' badlands paintings, which are also like drawings.

The part of the tree that we see above ground is the same size as the part we cannot see: the roots below ground.  In these suspended drawings, both parts are transparent.

It occurs to me that the transparent drawings can also be viewed as water rivulets...

Really, I hope they can be seen in many ways by many people.  I do love when people  see all sorts of things in my work.  Sometimes what someone sees gives me a kind of "ahhhhhhh...." feeling, sometimes it is very surprising to me.  

That is a big part of the fun of making art: we all do our own very individual thing, and at its best our work relates universally to other people, all of whom see their own very individual things in it.  I just love that.

p.s.  I should mention that I'll be teaching an all-day art-making workshop at the LAC Education Centre on Saturday April 6th.  I believe there are still some spots available if you'd like to join us.

Until next time,

Verna

Blackbook: continuing adventures

I find myself working in sketchbooks quite a lot these last couple of years.  I mean besides the portrait books which are ongoing for decades, there are now books dedicated to the exploration of abstract imagery and ideas.

Here are a few images from the Blackbook 6x8"...

First I close my eyes and draw the lines with various sorts of markers and pens, then I open my eyes and colour them in with acrylic paints, sometimes gouache.

The very repetitive process goes a long way toward developing the visual language.

installation week

Exhibition: "just turn your head a little"

by Frances Vettergreen and Verna Vogel 

March 2 - April 13, 2019

Work in progress:
my installation artworks with Frances' paintings.

Frances and I brought her paintings last weekend, and then I spent the week at the Leighton Art Centre, conceiving, creating and installing most of my work on location.

In the main gallery:
my hanging drawings move with the slightest change in air currents, 
such as those made by the movement of people in the gallery.

All my pieces, by concept and by materials, relate to the LAC in some way.

The hanging drawings of trees intertwined with circles were created by dipping twigs and branches in ink, and hung from a branch at the top.  This reflects the beautifully treed environment around the house, and the cycles of nature.

First wall piece: tea-dyed paper

The circle on the far wall was created with tea-dyed office paper.  This reflects the fact that the late Barbara Leighton liked to offer her guests tea, and also the current work of administrative staff at the Art Centre.

Second wall piece: strings and stones.

A circle created with strings and stones reflects the the simultaneously energized and peaceful feeling that pervades the property and house.

Third wall piece, in the hallway.

A multi-circular piece reflects the undulating landscape and mountains, as well as a light sense of playfulness, which I believe would resonate with Barbara Leighton as evidenced in her own artwork.

There is a fourth wall piece which uses sections of tree roots.  No photo yet, but it is reminiscent of music, and the tree roots indicate that what lies underneath the surface is very important for understanding the history of a place.

Reflections: the hanging drawings in action.

Conceiving and creating these pieces inside the gallery has been very fulfilling for me.  It's been like a mini artist residency.

Warm thanks to the very fine folks at the LAC (including the "spirit of Barbara Leighton") for allowing me to take over the house this week!