The first art show this summer

The body of work Seven Organs found a exhibition space to take off.  From May 17 to June 17 it will be part of the Chinatown Remixed, a fun event that takes place in Ottawa every year.  It is an artist-run event that takes over the area of Chinatown, where lots of venues open their doors for artists to exhibit work.  I asked for a Chinese acupuncture office, and instead they offered me the Middle East Bakery.  I will show the Seven Organs, but they will be connected with strings and flags related to the Middle East Phoenician culture, that I much admire. Stories of the king Nebuchadnezzar 604-562 BCA, (in Spanish Nabucodonosor); the incredible tyrian purple extracted from a minuscule sea shell; their amazing ships that cruised the Mediterranean Sea and around the African horn looking for commerce and trade; and their timely invention of the phonetic alphabet. These are among the many wonders of what we call today Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Palestine. Perhaps it is best that I wasn't given a Chinese acupuncture place after all.

I will post images of the bakery with the banners I will make, connecting my Seven Organs to these images of history, our history. We owe a lot to the Phoenicians, so THANK YOU PHOENICIANS! (As Maria Montessori used to say).

Forest School training

At the end of this month I finish the Forest School Training. My dad sang Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, when he saw me last summer, ax in hand, making a horse saw. Crockett was an American folk hero, who lived in the 1700 and 1800, soldier, senator twice, and frontiersman. Frontiersmen were the pioneers who moved into the frontier zones at the time. He was strong and was credited with acts of mythical proportion. I hardly consider myself a frontiers-woman, certainly not a soldier, and far from politician. But I like the idea of being the Queen of the Wild Frontier, if studying more, and pushing my boundaries counts.

For the Forest School course we have to learn how guide a group of learners into the forest, and offer a chance to experience and explore a natural environment. We share information on flora and fauna, geology and rock formation. We may discuss ecology and how to minimize our footprint. However the journey is far more than academic. It is an immersion into a beautiful setting, with an opportunity for Silence and calm. There are exercises we propose such as the 3S: sit, still, silent. The purpose is to quiet mind and body for a while. According to studies in UK, this experience helps to build self-esteem and helps with behaviour issues in children. During some of the visits we guide on how to make instruments from natural materials, using tools like a hatchet, a Mora Knife, a bow saw, and pruning shears. Practitioners must submit a portfolio with three fat chapters on diverse aspects of administration of a Forest School including parent handbook, risk management, policies and procedures, first aid certificate, history of forestry, and a lot more.

Here I am building a shelter in a beautiful place near Maniwaki, Quebec. This picture will go in the portfolio, in the section of Practical Skills and Woodland Management. The white background is a frozen lake. The other photo is where we built the fire next to the stream. What a place! Alejandro took the photos and videos while I sang, Mariii Mariii Gomez, Queen of the Grand Frontier.

Findings

On Friday March 14 I had two appointments: One at Ontario Arts Council in Toronto, and the other at the Archives of Ontario, located in York University in the north of Toronto. Both appointments were connected to the work of Ricardo Gomez Campuzano. The first to find out more on how to apply for a grant to search for his paintings in Canada, the second to look for information of his life as an artist when he lived in Toronto with his family.

Myles Warren from the Ontario Arts Council was great. He gave me useful tips on how to apply and how the process works. The deadline to apply for the Chalmers Arts Fellowship Grant is June this year.

The archivists of Ontario Archives were incredibly kind and helpful, and they helped me find some information on the days of Ricardo Gomez Campuzano in Canada. I found three newspaper clippings with information, which I am posting here. In the first of them RGC offered to paint portraits of children for $150, head and shoulders for $250, and three quarters for $350. Considering this was fifty years ago, I wonder how he would announce those services today. Would he include digital copies as part of the deal? Would he take Pay Pal? Would he offer options such as installation portraits or performance-landscapes? I wonder what he would think of todays art world. I suspect though, he wouldn't bother and would continue with his oil paint landscapes and portraits, unaffected.

How we have FUN

Here is a video I finished today (less than 3 minutes long). It is the middle of a very long winter, Jose is travelling, and I am fighting a cold. All will be well, with a little help from my friends.

Creativity Unleashed in a New Direction

Did you know my grandfather was a painter? If you didn't know you could take a look at this website to see where his artistic legacy is exhibited today. If you did know, here is how he comes into this blog: I am taking a new creative path these days. I've started a detective search to find his paintings when he lived in Canada, from 1949 to 1952. His family of 9 lived in a grand house on Russell Hill Rd., Toronto, where he had his painting studio and clients came for landscape and portrait commissions. He devoted his life to oil painting while grandma Inés was the art dealer and family manager.

Today I start on a new direction, cheered by Jose (my permanent boyfriend). I started a search for the art he did and sold in Canada, and I am going to apply for a grant from Ontario Arts Council called the Chalmers Fellowship to pursue this project. I am beginning to contact different persons and art institutions in Toronto and I hope to find some leads to get me going.  I know this research will feed my artistic work, but I cannot foretell how exactly. All I know is he and I work in different ways, and none is better than the other.

Here is a sample of his paintings found at Google Images I had never seen before.

Group of Seven on the Wall

When applying to grants for the Canadian arts funding organizations, it is easy to imagine members of the jury looking at your webpage or reading your blog… it makes me nervous. So here it is, the blog that shows my artistic path.

The Group of Seven Organs is up on a wall. It's great to see the work as a group, photograph it, look at it from a distance, and think of it as somebody else's production. Now it has a life of its own. Each one of the Seven taught me different things about my self and about others. For instance I realized I do feel the liver but in an indirect way: when I overload my diet with animal protein, I get an stirrup taste in my mouth (Yuk! I know). So avoid eating meat and eggs and the iron taste goes away in a couple of days. After reading this blog my mom told me she feels liquid traveling along the bile ducts. Who knew? 

This group of organs made me aware of my inside landscape in a new way. For instance, I learned about the spleen (bazo in Spanish) and the gallbladder (vesicula biliar). Two fascinating little corners of the body that do a lot for me. I learned that the spleen is part of the lymphatic system, clearing worn red cells and taking care of other foreign bodies that could be harmful. I thought of including the spleen in my collection but at the end didn't because I wanted to limit the work to the organs I have had issues with.

The Group of Seven is ready to leave me and travel. Where to? I have yet to find out, and I will keep you posted. For now, take a look at its first layout. I suspect the order will change soon. What would this artwork say on a different surface, or in another environment? We'll have to try and see.

Five Organs, Now Seven

I am about to finish the Five Organs, but ended up having enough material for seven. Like having too much sauce and little bread. So now I have to go and cut two more organ shapes to add to the initial group. The Group of Five became the Group of Seven, just like the books we read as children. To maintain the cohesion of form I need to remember to follow a similar process: how to flow while standing still on one emotion. I am trying to feel hoe the emotions are related to organs.

For each organ, I have been attentive the way each organ feels like inside my body. Some are easy to track and sense, like the large intestine, as it works in direct relation with eating habits and diet. Other organs I am only aware of when there is something wrong with them, like the kidneys: I feel them when they are working harder. Yet the one organ I have not been able to feel at all is the liver, I wonder if any one has. I will keep working on this elusive one, and I will let you know of my findings.

My main resource is "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom" by Christiane Morthurp, M.D.

Connection During the Process

I find it intriguing how the creative decisions are made. Allowing emotions to guide me, I empower the non logical side of me to steer the creative process. I try to be aware of the one emotion I want to focus on and if I am distracted I remind myself to go back and stand on it, balancing and keeping straight yet mobile, as if standing on a ball. This is how I know when to stop using red and start with gold thread instead, when to burn with the torch, where to place the image on the wooden shape. Emotion is a mysterious driver and it is often deceiving, at times elusive and worst: it camouflages under other emotions which can last a long time.

Today I was trying to remain connected with a place of calm and centre. The flower-like shapes on the photo are an internal representation of lungs.

New Project, Five Organs

This is a new project I am working on, based on transfers from anatomy books, embroidery and torch. I am looking for identity clues in images of the inner body, in texts, and also in images and objects that surround me. I assemble these items with thread through embroidery, which becomes a means of drawing. I then torch them, which becomes a way to transform, draw and shade the fabric. These two photos show where these objects are today, and I will let my emotions lead the way toward a final product. I cut, primed and sanded five wooden objects in the shape of five vital organs, and they will receive these images as part of its surface work. I will write more on the evolution of these five creatures.

Shows in September

I had three shows in September: at The General Fine Craft gallery, Almonte. Also at the Nepean Recreation Facility, and at the Senkman Arts Centre. Lots of openings, lots of positive feedback!

Video about Women's Hands

I have been learning how to edit simple videos. The first one I do is called Manos de Mujeres, or Women's Hands. The song was composed and sung by Marta Gomez and I sent her link through Facebook and she liked it a lot. I decided to show the movie in my blog, to honour the women who enrich my social ecosystem, and who's prolific hands help build a better world.

September, Show Time!

I have scattered the Healing Alphabet in groups. During the months of September and October I will have pieces in three different exhibits. The first show will open on Friday September 9th at The General Fine Craft Gallery located in Almonte (20 minutes from Kanata) as part of Text Me, a collective art show of about 20 local artists. The second exhibit will open on September 26th at the Shenkman Arts Centre as part of the show Selections which will be open for a month. Finally, I have three pieces at the Nepean Visual Arts Centre on Woodroffe Avenue as part of an exhibition organized by the Ottawa Mixed Media Association (OMMA).

Selections at Shenkman Arts Centre

The piece "Healing Q" was chosen for the show Selections at the Shenkman Arts Centre from September 26 to October 22 at the Trinity Gallery. Yeey!  Also, the appointment I had with the gallery owner got postponed to the 5th of August.  I hope she will show some of my work at her gorgeous space.  And I continue to search for a place to show the whole Healing Alphabet.

Thank you friends for your comments on the Spanish alphabet.  Apparently 'ch' and 'll' are no longer considered letters in the alphabet but spelling options since 1999.  Therefore Spanish has 27 official letters.  There was another comment on the term 'mother tongue' which I did research: it means the same as native language or mother language.  However I prefer to leave the tongue, considering I am dealing with parts of the body in relation the cultural construction of Healing.  Thank you for your comments, they are always welcome and carefully read.

Healing Q

Last bits of the Healing Alphabet

Here I am, repeating some letters in my Healing Alphabet, and working on the 'ñ', the 'll' and the 'ch' to honour Spanish, my beautiful mother tongue.  I'm redoing the letter 'F' I donated to the 101 Gallery auction.  Next week I will display the whole collection to a gallery owner, and perhaps I will be able to show it as a group as it was meant to be.  These last pieces were primed (an initial coat of paint) with milk paint, which is sold as a white powder.  It is basically casein to make the surface absorbent for wax to penetrate the surface nicely.  Also the colours will be brighter than painting over wooden colour. This part of the work reminds me of Marisol, the Venezuelan-American artist of the 70's.

Panama in April

I spent a week at Panama in April.  I loved many aspects of Panama: an unexpected sense of pride and promise for a bright future.  They received their country 13 years ago, with tons of useful infrastructure, and with the complete revenue of the Panama Canal working full blast. They have the will and the means to build a great country and this is the start of a good foundation. They are paying attention to the environment, the arts and education.  How they have to pay close attention to corruption... the temptation to go the wrong way is very high.  Here are some photos of the old city, which shows how everything is ready to be rebuilt and beautified.

I met the Argentinian artist Carolina Antoniadis who had a Greek grandfather.  She was painting a mural at the Miraflores lock, the middle of the three locks the Chagres River runs through.  We started talking and she said she was participating in the first Panama Art Biennial.  She had no helpers and she was short of paints.  I offered to lend a hand and I spent two and a half days in bliss, helping her with her project.  The image she designed shows a cargo ship carrying a load of "molas" which are beautiful textiles produced by Embera women. They live in the area between Panama and Colombia, follow no strict geographical divisions, and continue to speak their own language. Here is what the mural looked like, unfinished. I also met Mabel Flores Rojas, a Cuban artist who works with women in prisons of Havana, and who participated in the Biennial (second photo).  And finally, an overlook of a tributary of the Chagres River where the big ships aren't allowed, along the Gamboa Eco-reserve.