Calyx in Calgary and Edmonton

Calyx this past weekend was busy. Sunday was a beautiful day and more than 630 people came to the Art Exhibition and Sale that day. I am attaching a link because Calyx in Edmonton is coming up Saturday, May 5 at the Pleasantview Community League Hall. It should be another great day.

http://www.calyx.ca/

Curiosities Exhibition

I have six peices in The Curiosities Exhibition at The Hive Artists' Hub in Medicine Hat. Three free-standing sculptures and three "Luckys" (wearable sculptures).

http://www.hivehub.ca/

At The Circus

The Ruberto Ostberg Gallery second annual June Group Show
This is an open-theme, open-medium juried show

Show Details
The show date is June 17 – July 9th 2011
Opening reception is Friday, June 17th, 5-9 pm

2108 18th Street N.W. Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2M 3T3
403 289 3388
http://www.ruberto-ostberg.com/

One of my pieces (a Metal Collage Quadtych - Four Vertical Panels) entitled 'At The Circus' was chosen to be this Group Show.

Artist Statement for At The Circus

Artist: Susanah Windrum

Title: At The Circus

Medium: Metal Collage Quadtych

Materials: Post-Consumer Metal Tins, Metal Bottle Caps, Metal Rivets, Wood, Acrylic Paint

Artist Statement:

As a young girl, my parents took me to art galleries to show me Pop-Art Exhibitions. I remember being intrigued looking at a cupboard made from scraps of wood that opened to reveal a pop can, set on a pedestal, like an altar. That pop can meant something, it was important; it wasn’t just a piece of trash. As a child, I might not have seen the message the artist intended but what I saw was that a pop can was more than disposable. That artwork made me look at things differently.

I love the process of making something fresh and exciting out of materials that otherwise might just be cast off. Working with found and recycled metal is a stimulating challenge as you must craft your vision with the resources you have collected. In a throw-away society, it is very satisfying to work with post-consumer metals and create art that has historical reference and is at the same time new.

Created from images and pieces of thirteen different tins and thirty-four bottle caps, At The Circus, layers images, text, pattern and colour to invoke the excitement and animation of the circus. Like the activity at the circus there are many elements competing for your attention. The materials are mundane and commonplace until they are juxtaposed to each other creating tension and movement and hopefully allowing you to see them differently.

At The Circus - Panel One

At The Circus - Panel Two

At The Circus - Panel Three

At The Circus - Panel Four

The Chef

The Chef is one of my bigger sculptures. He stands about 22 "inches high and is 18" wide. He's ready to go to work preparing a feast or overseeing the festivities.

Did two art shows with Caylx Distintive Arts in May, one in Calgary and one in Edmonton. Good response for both. Here's a picture of me with some of my characters at the Edmonton show.

Susanah's Portrait

Lucky's (Wearable Sculptures)

A few of my Lucky's

Some Lucky's

Handy

Handy stands 8 inches high, 6 inches across with a 3.5 inch base.

The Monk with Yellow Shoes

The Monk has a full write up on an earlier post, but he wanted to be included with the rest of the folks. His height is 12 inches, width 8.5 inches and the base is 4.5 inches.

On My Mind

This personable figure stands 12 inches tall and is well supported on her four legs which measure 4 inches across. She will do your worrying for you.

Mr Uptown

A fine building of a man, Mr Uptown is 10 inches high while only being 4 inches across at his widest part. His base extends to 3 inches and can be folded up.

Skywatcher

10 inches tall and looking upward, this character is 6 inches across with a 4.5 inch base.

Corn Maiden

This slender lady is 13 inches tall with only 3 inch hips but a long base of 5 inches.

High Noon

This iconic piece stands 8 inches high with the widest part being the base at 3.5 inches.

Mighty Mouse

This fiesty superhero is 9.5 inches tall with a span of 7 inches due to that curly copper tail. Ready to save the world from his 3.5 inch base, Mighty Mouse will always bring a smile to your face.

Geisha

This tiny figure stands 6 inches from her powder white face to the her slightly turned in toes. Just 2.5 inches across with a base of 2.5 inches also, she packes a lot of personality into a small package.

Rusty Tin Man

Rusty Tin Man started life as a aresol can, now with his rusty torso he stands 11.5 inches tall and is 6 inches across. His large feet add to the length of his base to make 5 inches. A fine upstanding gentleman.

Round Heart

Round Heart is a cheerful fellow 10 inches tall with a broad shoulders measuring 7 inches across, standing on a 4 inch base.

Lucky

From horseshoe bottom to curly-q, Lucky is 11 inches in height with a span of 4.5 inches, the base is 4 inches long.

Eagle Kachina

Inspired by the Hopi Kachina this little guy is 7.5 inches tall with a wing span of 4 inches standing on a 3.5 inch base.

Dinah

Named for the song "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah", she stands 10.5 inches tall and is 9 inches from fork tip to fork tip with a 4 inch base. Both of Dinah's arm/utensils were recovered in thier flattened state from campgrounds and given to me by people who know my work.

Black and White

This sculpture stands about 11.5 inches tall and is 7.5 inches across with a base of around 6 inches. Made of various new tins and has a jaunty white hat.

Work at the Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts

I have put three pieces of sculpture into the Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts

2010 Studio Art Sale Fundraiser.

The Studio Art Sale Opening Party:

Thursday, November 4th from 7 pm – 11 pm

The Studio Art Sale Dates:
Thursday, November 4th from 11 am to 11 pm
Friday, November 5th from 11 am to 6 pm
Saturday, November 6th from 11 am to 5 pm
Sunday November 7th from 11 am to 5 pm
Monday, November 8th from 11 am to 5 pm
Tuesday, November 9th from 11 am to 3 pm

Gallery Location

Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts
104, 800 Macleod Trail SE
Calgary, AB

I will be paticipating in two more Art Sales before Christmas.

Christmas In Kensington Craft Fair

on Saturday November 27th and Saturday December 4th

The show will run from 10 am -4 pm on both Saturdays. At the Carpenter’s Hall located at 305 10th St. N.W.

Hope to see you there.

Upcoming Festival

I will be one of the artists participating in Calyx Art Exhibition and Sale on Saturday, October 23 at the Crescent Heights Community Centre 1101-2nd Street NW from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Hope to see you there.

More info at www.calyx.ca

Chewy (3"x2"x3")

Five of my Little Metal Sculptures were part of THE WORKS Art & Design Festival 2010 in Edmonton, June 25 -July 7. These pieces were part of the Smaller Than a Breadbox Exhibition.

Smaller than a Breadbox

Works Public Participatory Project

Site # 2 City Hall, South

In a game of 20 Questions, asking "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" is sure to narrow the scope of the mystery object. In the realm of art, smaller works create a sense of mystery and fascination because of the care and intimacy involved with working on that scale.

For this exhibition, The Works invited artists from across the country to create and send in their artworks sized 3x3x6 inches or smaller. The size comes from a ceramic tradition of the Cone Box show, where artists make works of Clay that are able to fit inside an Orton Standard Pyrometric Cone Box. The Pryrometric cone is used by ceramicists to monitor kiln temperatures during firing.

For The Works Smaller Than a Breadbox exhibit, participants were encouraged to use any material make artwork within the prescribed dimensions.

The Monk With Yellow Shoes

Let me introduce one of my characters. This is the "Monk with Yellow Shoes". He is a free-standing sculpture made of recycled and found metal parts attached with copper rivets. If you look closely, you start to recognise the origin of many of the components, his body started as an aerosol can, his face used to be a pin-on button and one shoe was once the top of a "Burt's Bees" lip balm container. These disparate pieces all come together to create a whimsical character with lots of personality.

"The Monk with Yellow Shoes" Dimensions
Height - 30 cm or 12"
Width - 21 cm or 8.25"
Depth at Base - 11 cm or 4.25"

The "Monk" recently participated in "Ecopalooza" (a one-day festival of green events) held at the Central branch of the Calgary Public Library in April. The library put out a call for submissions from artists who had "created works with recycled, salvaged or reclaimed materials" and I felt the "Monk" was a perfect representation of my work.

Above are three images of my show of "Luckies" at North Mount Pleasant Arts Centre. I also just learned that Ceramic Artist Tony Clennell purchased one of my "Luckies" while he was at North Mount giving a workshop this past weekend. It's such a great feeling when other artists like your work.

Just one of my Lucky Wearable Sculptures.

Every Lucky has its own story...

For the month of May, 35 of my small wearable sculptures are on display at the North Mount Pleasant Arts Centre.

Copper Lizard Studio – "Lucky Wearable Sculptures" created by Susanah Windrum are made of recycled, found and repurposed metal. Each Lucky is a whimsical character with lots of personality.

Discarded, lost, tossed or abandoned bits of metal have been found, scrubbed, shaped and lovingly made into a "Lucky" for you.

They attach to your clothing with exceptionally strong rare-earth magnets. There are no pins or clasps to create holes in your t-shirts, jackets, hats, ties or anything else you want to wear them on.

You might wonder how I got started making "Luckies". Even though I go by the name Susanah, my parents actually named me Penelope Susanah and as a young girl I was called Penny.

Consequently, I have always had a love for copper, coins and metal that changes. It seems that as soon as I could walk, I started looking for lucky pennies.

And during my life, I have found many abandoned pennies and a lot of odd treasures along the way. Treasures, like rusty pieces of tin, flattened bottle caps and other strange bits of metal. Luckily, I saw it as treasure not trash.

These days, I take all this bounty back to my studio, scrub it up and look at it. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, at first, all the pieces look the same and then I see a face, an arm, someone’s body and a new Lucky is born.

I love the process of creating something new, out of objects that once had a completely different origin.