Paula's Wall Vase

Last Christmas I made 2 wall vases and exhibited them at Soft Box Gallery's Christmas Show. My friend Paula bought one of them and has sent me a picture of her beautiful Ikebaba flower arrangement in the vase.

It is very exciting for me to see the owners of my art pieces continue the creative process through their use of the object. 

Costumed Self Portrait Series - Miss Universe as a Punch Girl

In 1999, Caribbean Contemporary Arts CCA organised and hosted their first Big River International Artists Workshop in Grande Riviere Trinidad. The workshop invited 10 local artists and 10 international artists to spend 2 weeks at Mon Plaisir Guest House and produce new artwork.

During the workshop, I made this piece and called it Miss Universe as a Punch Girl. When I showed it in a travelling exhibition in Canada, I renamed it Beauty Queen as a Pin-Up. The photographs were taken by famous Japanese photographer Noritoshi Hirakawa, who was also participating in the workshop.

The starting point for the piece was a copy of the Sunday Punch Newspaper and the fact that the Miss Universe Pageant was to be held in Trinidad in a couple of months time. I am very much against beauty pageants. If you want to provide a platform for "decent, middle-class young women" to display their talent, skill, moral code and educational background, why do you need to know their bra size and waist measurement?  This brings up 2 questions for me. The first is - What is the difference between the public's opinion of women who go up for the Ms Universe pageant and women who appear in the Sunday Punch newspaper? And the second is - Suppose these 2 women are one and the same?

With regards to the dress, the oversized breasts are made from terracotta clay with black cord tied together to imitate string vests. The crown was made from wire, my own hair and butterfly clips.

Soft Box Christmas Show

Soft Box Art Gallery, 9 Alcazar Street, St Clair, opens their Christmas Show on Friday 16th December 2011, from 6.30 to 9.00 PM. The show will continue on through to the beginning of January 2012.

For this group show I have submitted the last of my etchings, as well as 2 new pieces - copper and glass wall vases. Here are images.

Angels now available at Rainy Days

Today I delivered some copper angels to Rainy Days Gift Shop at Ellerslie Plaza.  Here they are.

My Etching for Holy Name Convent Art Sale

This coming Saturday,  December 3rd 2011, from 10 AM to 12 noon, at the Marian Hall, Holy Name Convent (my alma mater), there will be an art sale to raise money for some school renovations. The sale follows on from the art auction that took place earlier this month. Many of the past pupils who are now professional artists have donated work.

I have donated one of a limited edition of etchings. These prints were my first and only experience with etching and it was very enjoyable. A steel plate is covered with a tarry substance, then heated to fix the tar to the plate. Then, taking any sharp implement, you draw your image on the tarry plate exposing the steel underneath. The plate is then put into a bath of acid for a period of time until the acid etches grooves where the lines of your drawing exposed the steel. The plate is then removed from the acid and the tar cleaned off.

Unlike commercial reproduction techniques, artist printmaking techniques (like etching, silk screen, lithography,wood and lino cut) leave room for variation in each print. While the etched surface on the plate remains unchanged, the colours of the inks and the way that the plate is inked up and burnished can create these variation.

Here is an image. The title of the piece is Bamboo and Fern.

Wire Work at Paper Based

For the Christmas season, I have a small selection of my wire craft for sale. Available at Paper Based, my Mum's bookshop at the Hotel Normandie, you will find the following:

1. This 4 inch Wire Cube Box is made from galvanised wire and mesh and embellished with blue beads and some sheet aluminium.

2. These 6 inch Wire Wall Cube Baskets are made from galvanised wire and various meshes. The addition of a hand glazed tile adds some colour. One is available in green plastic wire.

3. The Quirky Trapezium Pencil Box is made from galvanised wire and meshes and some aluminium sheet. Sorry I have no image of this one.

These wire boxes and baskets are multi-functional. I have used them in my kitchen or bathroom when I have limited counter space.

4. The Wire Angel is the first  commercial item that I made from wire. Unlike the angels in the photos below, this year the angels are made of recycled copper wire with wooden or plastic beads.

Women and Art Exhibition

To commemorate 100 years of International Women's Day, the National Museum and Art Gallery of Trinidad and Tobago has curated and organised an exhibition of Women Artists. The show has been running since April 6th and is due to close on Tuesday June 21st 2011.

The exhibition features a really great collection of work and a good mix of painting / printmaking and sculpture.  It is a rare opportunity to see the work of Amy Leon Pang, Sybil Atteck, Nina Squires, Pat Bishop, Lisa Chu Foon, Vera Baney, Wendy Nanan, Lisa O'Connor, Anna Serrao, Irenee Shaw, Abigail Hadeed and many more in the same show. The Museum also produced a thorough catalogue.

For this show, I submitted the 2 remaining torsos from the Third Eye Flowering Series. Here they are.