This is the story of Mary in one thousand parts. It is an excercise in building a non-linear narration between a group of people. Each person participates and adds to the naration what elements they will, building towards a final conclusion.

The tale is documented over time in images that are then cut up and sent out as postcards to participants, to be reassembled at some point in the future.

It is ultimately a story of discovery, of searching, and of the confusion along the way...

Untitled for now

Daily life, dreams and inner thoughts are woven to present a personal narrative in these experimental works. Each digital painting is a vignette, representing a personal journey and self-portrait. “My obsession with self portraiture, occurred early in my art career. I am intrigued by the temporal nature of the self-portrait and how they can be sensual, ridiculous, meaningful, cryptic or concealed, with their true meaning sometimes only understood by friends and cognoscenti. I wanted to be part of the canon of artistic tradition, which explored the ideas of “Vanitas” (My Vanity of Self) and “Memento Mori” (Remember you must die). I firmly believe the journey to understanding yourself, is based on your understanding of people and the world around you, which informs your own personal construction of self.” These temporal portraits were done as part of something I started this year, making digital paintings/prints each day to express my feelings or experiences. Each portrait is different and done without any limits or restrictions.

My visual artistic practice has primarily been in the field of Printmaking and other Print related media, with research most recently being informed by time spent on the west coast of Scotland. This area lends itself greatly to subject matter that has always been apparent in my work, which is water. Water is very seductive to me. This was probably first realized when peering over the stern of the B.C. ferry as a small child, completely mesmerized by the repetitive motion of the churning wake. I find myself most inspired spending many meditative hours obsessively analyzing the lustrous shine on the crest of the waves as the tide ebbs and flows.

A major factor having a profound effect during my research on the coast was the realization of my Uncle having developed severe dementia. I have become interested in the idea of rebuilding a relationship with someone whom you were very close to at one time, yet has absolutely no idea who you are now. This new relationship sparked ideas such as the notion of constant fluctuation, distortion and instability, all inherent qualities of water The work is of a time based nature, as the pieces represent a documentation of various visits with my Uncle as his condition became progressively worse.
These ideas have surfaced in a body of printed photographic pieces entitled: Lost In Tide. They are a series of portraits of my Uncle placed behind a water-like textured window (though the window may sound confusing, it is a common thing in most British homes). The quality of the window diffuses the subject in a way that the division between presence and absence is obscured. As his days are often spent at home slowly observing the tide of the Irish Sea, the water-like texture of the window almost reflects the flux of his mind. The images are then photographically printed onto a three-meter by one-meter sheet of silk. The silk material is important to the piece, given it is very translucent and fluid-like. I find the use of photography appropriate to the work, as it is a tangible memory of a particular moment in time. The combination of the delicate, preciousness of silk with the soft, yet sometimes disturbing qualities of the photographs makes for a dynamic piece that is very ephemeral in nature.

Some of my work...

I'll add more when I get a chance...

You can also go to...

http://student.vfs.com/~fd07stephen/ib.html

To see a flash site I made at VFS... I like it.. check it out.

Anything to say or ask or whatever here's my email

scfrew@gmail.com

In a way, like many other artists, my work is a visual depiction of my life – an autobiography of some sort; a diary. It is a record of my emotional and psychological awareness at a certain time in my life, day, week, month, minute or second.

Everything I produce is based on my experiences and the emotional clout that I am going through at the time. The recurring themes that I concern myself with include death, rebirth, emotion, celebration and the cycle of life, protection, frailty and the human body. My work, like myself, is an anomaly. I am an enigma. What is truly going on in my mind?

My work has been a journey of discovery of the “self” with each individual piece representing my current state of mind. In the beginning there was confusion and chaos, being bombarded and pulled into multiple directions with no focus. It felt as if I was disappearing into what others wanted me to be and at times I believed I was what others wanted me to be. I was in denial. Recognizing this, I re-evaluated myself and asked, “Do I want to disappear?” Does anybody want to disappear? What happens when they do? What happens in the transition from the physical realm to the spiritual realm? How much time passes between these stages? Does this transition even occur? When a person passes, what is the last thought on their mind? What is one’s greatest fear? What is the most unnerving situation that I fear the most asides from dying? Dying in the comfort of my very own home. The moment you realize you’re about to pass. What will be my last thought? I chose to focus on this subject matter and used it as a recurring theme as it was, and still is, pertinent in my life and the way that I live my life. This is part of my cyclic journey and acceptance of my destiny that all things will eventually come to an end.

The sky has no boundry, except where it meets the earth. We have yet to colonize the sky, though it is not free from human influence. Chemicals pollute it, vapour trails rocket across it, and our metropolitan lights put out the stars. Yet, point a camera at the sky at any location on Earth and the resulting photograph will not easily reveal where you were standing. The sky, aesthetically, has little sense of place--the salient distinct alterations that bely countless generations of human influence.

This new postcard series by Sarah is part of a larger art project involving an altered book. Sarah, who has recently become engaged, has chosen to create an altered book based on the theme of "wedding planning". Each chapter of the book has a full two page spread embellished with collage and rubber stamping. From these pages, a single postcard is dissected. The postcards then go their merry way through the postal system, while the remaining page spread is altered to completion.

Hello, my name is Aaron, and I am a bibliophile. I inherited my love of books from my parents. If I am not wandering through bookstores, reading on the train, or sleeping, then chances are I am making books. I combine art, poetry, and graphic design with various bookbinding techniques to create one-of-a-kind or imited edition objects. This gallery contains a few samples.

It has been a year of major transition, of learning to let go of some things and hold tight to others. I had no idea how this would manifest in my artwork, only that it inevitably would. I’m finally starting to see it now, but have barely touched on understanding it. What began as a self-portrait for a planned exhibition has turned into a new project, a new series, a new outlet.

The works are hand-stitched self-portraits on fabric (specifically corduroy). The imagery is based on blind contour self-portraits drawn with conte on paper. I began the blind contour drawings as a way to get back into drawing. It had been too long since I last tried to draw something from life and not from my head.

The blind contours take on new life as they are re-interpreted into stitches. In a way, the stitching process contradicts the notion of blind contour. Blind contours are done without looking at what you’re doing, while hand-stitching requires you to constantly glance down. Blind contours, although drawn with great concentration, are a fairly quick exercise, while the same image done by hand-stitching takes weeks to complete.

The blind contour and hand-stitching processes are not entirely unconnected. They both rely on observing the details, of studying the microcosm. Both, also, rely on interpreting the subject through the most simplistic form, specifically line. And yet, even through this, both blind contour and hand-stitching allow incredible likeness, personality, and expression of the subject to show.

These hand-stitched self portraits are a methodical attempt to come to terms with a sense of loss of “home”. I’m not completely “homeless”, but for now I am transitioning from the sense of “home” that has seen me through the past twenty-four years to a new “home” that will accompany me into the future. My family, my brothers and parents, have always been my “home”, and although they still remain, I need to acknowledge that particular “home” is of the past.

I have also started doing hand embroidered postcards. It is my newest postcard series and is related to my self-portraits... all a part of my stitch therapy.

I captured this series of photographs on a stormy spring day in 2006. I was visiting a friend on his farm southeast of Calgary. Above the gently rolling landscape a tempest of clouds swirled in forboding confusion. The dark, intense clouds mirrored my mood. I quickly composed a few photographs, sans tripod, with a 300mm lens. I dove deep into the liquid sky for a few minutes and then completely forgot about the images until months later when I was organizing my computer files. It wasn't until that moment that I realized what I’d captured -- a single wonderful and isolated instant in this world that will never be repeated, and which maybe really only occured in my mind anyway.