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The Signature of All Things: opening exhibition

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artist talk | Kristin Voth
artist talk | Bre McDaniel
artist talk | Katrina Stock
artist talk | Laura Auxier
artist talk | Andrea Armstrong
Open Book Art Collective!
Kristin Voth
Jenny Hawkinson
Katrina Stock

The Signature of All Things: Gallery of works

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Into Being | Katrina Stock | eco and ice dyed silk
Into Being | Katrina Stock | eco and ice dyed silk
Into Being | Katrina Stock | eco and ice dyed silk, hair
sometimes she longed to be a plant | Kristin Voth | cyanotype prints
Te mau pure atua [the people of God] | Kristin Voth | cyanotype prints
Nautilus | Laura Auxier | graphite
Laura Auxier | graphite
All Roads Lead to Terminus | Katrina Stock | Encaustic (beeswax and damar resin), oil stick, Ice dye on silk
Movement and Nature | Mahla Shapiro
Movement and Nature | Mahla Shapiro
Globe Flowers (Trollius X Cultorum), Fern (Polystitchum Setiferum), Hydrangeas (Hydrangea Macrophylla) | Bre McDaniel | watercolour on paper
Wreckage and Resurrection I | Jenny Hawkinson | sculpture
Wreckage and Resurrection I | Jenny Hawkinson | sculpture
Wreckage and Resurrection II | Jenny Hawkinson | sculpture
Wreckage and Resurrection II | Jenny Hawkinson | sculpture
Wreckage and Resurrection III | Jenny Hawkinson | sculpture
Herba Hominem | Andrea Armstrong | oil on Arches paper
Herba Hominem | Andrea Armstrong | oil on Arches paper
Herba Hominem | Andrea Armstrong | oil on Arches paper
Herba Hominem | Andrea Armstrong | oil on Arches paper
Herba Hominem | Andrea Armstrong | oil on Arches paper
Herba Hominem | Andrea Armstrong | oil on Arches paper
Herba Hominem | Andrea Armstrong | oil on Arches paper

Introducing Our Next Book: The Idiot

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Open Book Art Collective is pleased to introduce the book we will be reading, exploring and creating art around this 2015 winter/spring season.

The Idiot is a classic, written by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, between 1868 and 1869.  Contrasting with Dostoevsky’s portrayal of a guilty man in Crime and Punishment  is his portrayal of the ideal man, a man of pure innocence, Prince Myskin. The Idiot explores what happens when this Prince encounters the real world, a world that Dostoevsky paints as being obsessed with power, money and manipulation.

Have you read this book before? If so what are your thoughts on Part 1? Do you agree with the statement below?

Follow along with us as we read and digest all four parts of this intriguing novel and then join us for the art exhibit later in the year!

Happy Reading!

Cheers,

OBAC

‘Dear Life’ Gallery

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Life coming to conclusions about you from vantage points you couldn’t see – by Andrea Armstrong
Because this is not a story, only life – by Andrea Armstrong
An Excellent Wife by Jenny Hawkinson, from ‘Haven’
A Good Place To Die by Jenny Hawkinson, from ‘Dolly’
Caught by Katrina Stock, from ‘Gravel’
To Reach Japan by Katrina Stock, from ‘To Reach Japan’
False Walls by Cara Bain, From ‘Pride’
Thoughts That Prey by Cara Bain, from ‘Night’
Thoughts That Prey by Cara Bain, from ‘Night’
The Captain of the Pinafore by Joelle Gebhardt, from ‘Amundsen’
A New Reality by Joelle Gebhardt, from ‘Corrie’
Farm Memories by Mahla Shapiro, from ‘In Sight of Lake’
‘Oh Sadie’ by Mahla Shapiro, from the ‘Eye”
‘Bobby Pins’ by Breanne McDaniel, Oil on Canvas. From Leaving Maverley.
‘Tart tin’ by Breanne McDaniel, Oil on Canvas. From Voices.
‘Leah’s Brown Jacket’ by Breanne McDaniel, Oil On Canvas. From Leaving Maverley.
‘Iron’ by Breanne McDaniel, Oil On Canvas. From Voices.
‘Lint’ by Breanne McDaniel, Oil on Canvas. From Voices.
‘Pencil Shavings’ by Breanne McDaniel, Oil on Canvas. From Voices.

Alice Munro has mastered the craft of saying a lot with a little, and consistently captures an essence of Canadiana in person and place in her numerous short stories. In her most recent collection, Dear Life, she allows the reader to witness subtle yet pivotal experiences of her characters’ lives within a familiar Canadian landscape. Munro constructs vignettes that seem to be like significant links in domino chains of events-coming of ages; accidents; close encounters- though we as readers are left behind at the end of each story to imagine the fallout.

Munro’s stories are not expansive or epic, yet when magnified they reveal rich symbolism paired with characters whose complex networks and personal histories intersect. This is the material that the participating artists have drawn on to curate this collection of work.

The Open Book Art Collective seeks to create a visual/literary dialogue with art objects that are both informed by and informing the literature. Each individual artist has applied their medium to two short stories from Dear Life, exploring broader themes of recollection, place, banality and nostalgia. With painting, encaustic, drawing, sculpture, photography and textiles. Dear Life is a sensitive exploration into what it means to be human.

‘Dear Life’ Exhibited at The Moat Gallery, Central Vancouver Public Library, from Sept 2nd-Sept 26th, 2014.

An opening reception was held at The Shack Gallery on August 28th, 2014.

‘Dear Life’ Opening Night and VPL Exhibit Set-UP

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Vancouver Public Library ‘Dear Life’ Exhibit Set-up

‘Dear Life’ is an exhibition by the Open Book Art Collective, inspired by a book of short stories by Nobel Prize Winner Alice Munro.

‘Dear Life’ Exhibited at The Moat Gallery, Central Vancouver Public Library from Sept 2nd-Sept 26th,  2014.

An opening reception was held at The Shack Gallery on August 28th, 2014.

Dear Life

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Open Book Art Collective is pleased to announce our next book selection. This winter we will be reading and exploring Alice Munroe’s latest collection of short stories, ‘Dear Life’. In case you didn’t know, this 82 year old Canadian powerhouse,  recently received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

“It has become practically de rigeur to refer to Munro as ‘our Chekhov’… But at this point in Munro’s career, how much can it add? What is certain is this: She is our Munro. And how fortunate we are to call her that.” — New York Times Book Review

We encourage you to read along with us and to stay tuned for upcoming shows this spring and summer!

Happy reading!

pick up a copy here

The Death of A Beekeeper Exhibit

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Front Entrance, “In Paradise There Are No Lies” (The Blue Book III:5), Encaustic and Mixed Media, Katrina Stock
“In Paradise There Are No Lies” (The Blue Book III:5), Encaustic and Mixed Media, Katrina Stock
“Left Behind” Prelude, Installation Above Front Entrance
Prelude, Curatorial Statement & Inventory of Sources
Inventory of Sources, 1. The Yellow Notebook, 2. The Blue Notebook, 3. The Damaged Notebook
“One Agreement” (The Blue Book II:2), Encaustic and Mixed Media, Katrina Stock “Everything, our whole life together, was based on one very simple principle, on one agreement: Looking at one another was forbidden. I mean, really looking at one another.”
“Hovering Between” (The Blue Book V1:1), Graphite drawing with Hand-Embroidery, Joelle Gebhardt
“This Body is the Wrong One ” (The Yellow Book I:8), Charcoal Drawing with Hand- Embroidery, Joelle Gebhardt
“The gaze of Grandmother Tekla’s eyes, this age old look. The same darkness as that of the universe out there between the galaxies.” (The Blue Book VII), Encaustic, Acrylic, Mixed Media, Katrina Stock
“The Peculiar, Quiet Melancholy of Boyhood” (The Yellow Book III:33), Plastic figurines, wood glue, canning jars, honey, Jenny Hawkinson
“The Peculiar, Quiet Melancholy of Boyhood” (The Yellow Book III:33), Plastic figurines, wood glue, canning jars, honey, Jenny Hawkinson
“Only: this body is the wrong one.” (The Yellow Book I:8), & “Answer: less than a millimetre. And without a name.” (The Blue Book I:1), Oil on wood, Andrea Armstrong
“What is the maximum distance you can love a human being? Answer: less than a millimeter. And without a name.” (The Yellow Book I:8), “Shortly after coffee, right before the television newscast, there was a kind of ebb tide, the water withdrew, the rocks became visible” (The Blue Book II:2) & “Much more important than the presence of the pain is keeping it hidden…” (The Blue Book II:2), Oil on wood panel, Cara Bain
“The Art of Bearing Pain” (The Blue Book IV:1), Mixed Media, Katrina Stock “According to Wilhelm Wundt, who in his last day had a not inconsiderable reputation as a psychologist, as I gather from the Nordic Conversational Encyclopedia, there are three kinds of pain. There are dull pains, stabbing pains, and burning pains.” (The Yellow Book 1:8) “And every morning the same fear, that the pains will come again. The whole winter I had pains. Now I am suffering just as much from the fear of the pain.” (The Yellow Book IV:1)
“Pitch-Black Riddle” (The Blue Book VI:1) Encaustic and Mixed Media, Katrina Stock
“Without Opening It” Ashes, paper & song Breanne McDaniel
“We Begin Again, We Never Give Up” (The Blue Book VI:1), Charcoal on mylar, type on tracing paper, Jenny Hawkinson
“We Begin Again, We Never Give Up” (The Blue Book VI:1) Charcoal on mylar, type on tracing paper, Jenny Hawkinson
“We Begin Again, We Never Give Up” (The Blue Book VI:1), Charcoal on mylar, type on tracing paper, Jenny Hawkinson
“Why?” (The Damaged Book II:5) Mixed Media Katrina Stock
“Why?” (The Damaged Book II:5) Mixed Media Katrina Stock
“Memories of a Previous Existence” (The Blue Book II:4), Encaustic, Mixed Media, Katrina Stock
‘Open Book Art Collective’, (Left to Right), Joelle Gebhardt, Jenny Hawkinson, Cara Bain, Katrina Stock, Andrea Armstrong (missing Breanne McDaniel)
Curatorial Statement:
In the winter or 2013, some friends came together to read a book and make art. The book they chose was Lars Gustafsson’s 1978 novel, The Death of a Beekeeper.  The Result is a show curated with thought provoking artworks that seek to dialogue with Gustafsson’s writing.  Through a variety of mediums, such as collage, painting, drawing, sewing and installation, six artists explore and wrestle with themes of self-realization, loss and doubt.
 
“When the letter from the district hospital in Vasteras finally came, I didn’t want to open it, so I laid it aside…” (The Yellow Book 1:8)