Snuggle up with cuddly fibres this October

The crafts of Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers Guild will be the featured exhibit at the Osoyoos Art Gallery during the month of October. Guild members will have their work on display beginning with an opening reception on Saturday, Oct 8 from 1 to 3 p.m.  The public is welcome to attend. Some items will be for sale. 

The Slow Fibre Fest, sponsored by Desert Sage Spinners & Weavers Guild, is planned for Saturday October 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Seniors Centre on South Main in Penticton. The event will feature and promote the use of natural fibres.  Much like the “Slow Foods” movement that champions traditional, healthy, and eco friendly methods of growing and preparing our own foods, the “Slow Fibre” Festival promotes using fibres in traditional, “home-grown” and eco-friendly ways, from raising animals for wool to using eco-friendly dyes.  There will be a vendor market, demonstrations of weaving, spinning and felting including display of the Guild’s felted yurt. A fashion show will take place in the afternoon. A fun day for all and admission is free. Refreshments and lunch will be available.

Photo Credit: Val Friesen

Fall Art Show and Sale is FASS-t approaching

This popular annual event is on Saturday October 1 – Sunday October 2 at the Oliver Community Centre, in conjunction with the Festival of the Grape. See poster for details.

View many interpretations of the “Outside the Box” theme in eight artistic categories: photography,  fibre arts, 3 -D, oils, acrylics, watercolours, other media, and a category for young “emerging artists”.

Saturday is a great day to see the show for free,  from 3 – 9 p.m. View the artwork, vote for your favourites, purchase artwork, bid in the silent auction,  and tour fascinating non-competitive displays such as the RipOff Artists American Gothic and demonstrations. Visit the arts council information booth. In the evening, nibble at the reception, listen to live entertainment, and be present for the announcement of category winners and “Best Interpretation of the Theme” (our version of Best in Show).

The Sunday entrance is free only with your paid entrance to the Festival of the Grape. The exhibits and sale continue, as does the silent auction. Meet the artists. View the category winners and the  overall “Best in Show”. Did your favourites win?

Watch for cute little wine glass tags commemorating poster art from the last four art shows. They make great souvenirs as well as being handy to wear on your Festival of the Grape glass on Sunday. 

Bring your chequebook because, in addition to the great art, arts council memberships, souvenirs and gift items on sale, you will definitely want to enter the silent auction!

The silent auction is looking absolutely fantastic this year! The auction continues the “Outside the Box” theme. Bid on dozens of tempting hand-painted boxes laden with various themed goods.  Each box is filled with items such as “a night at the theatre”, “home preserves”, “vacation”, “outdoor living”, “games night”, “school days”, “kitchenware”, “gardening”, “coffee bar” , “tea for two” or “bath and beauty”, just to name a few.   Each filled box makes an attractive gift or keep it for yourself and display it at home.

Between now and the festival, watch for our travelling “Outside the Box” display! The 6-foot tall stack of boxes looks like the poster graphic.  Can you find it around town? Thank you to Beyond Bliss, Medici’s Gelateria, Interior Savings  Credit Union, Valley First Credit Union, and the Oliver Regional Library for hosting the box stack so far! Please patronize these community-minded  businesses and institutions!

RipOff Artists “Stick It” to American Gothic

“All the really good ideas I’d ever had came to me while I was milking a cow,” declared Grant Wood whose American Gothic painting of the dour-faced pitchfork wielding farmer and his sister is famous worldwide.  Wood’s masterpiece became a national symbol; a vision of hope during the Depression that still resonates today. “Because American Gothic is so iconic, it was the perfect mark for this year’s RipOff challenge,” raves fiber artist, Terry Irvine.

This July the RipOff Artists stick it to American Gothic at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre in Oliver, BC. This multi-media collective includes artists working in fibre (quilting, felting, weaving), photography, mixed media collage, oils and acrylics, 3-D installations, and encaustic (hot beeswax).  For the fifth year in a row, this nefarious group has dared to take on the grand masters of art. To mark such an auspicious occasion, they added a twist to the proceedings. Each artist has chosen another artist through which to interpret American Gothic. It’s double the ripoff and double the fun!

The public is welcome to watch the RipOff Artists assume the styles of  Picasso, Klimt, and Degas, along with seven other famous artists, and reinterpret Wood.  

American Gothic Challenge
Monday July 4 – Saturday July 9
Opening Reception:
Monday July 4, 
6 – 8 pm
Daily Hours:
Tuesday July 5 – Saturday July 9
9 am to 3 pm 

You are encouraged to come frequently during the week to get a true sense of how their artwork progresses from rough idea to finished creation.  Be sure to see the completed project on the Saturday! It will be left to you to decide: Is Wood’s masterpiece a celebration of America’s stoic determination during the Depression? Or is the finished product a critique of those same American values? Come view the action and decide for yourself.

Incidentally, the treasures from the four previous “RipOff raids” are currently on display at Leir House Cultural Centre in Penticton until June 23. You can view their “stolen” interpretations of Gustav Klimt’s Emilie Floge, Goergia O’Keeffe’s Pink Tulip, Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Cypresses, and Lawren Harris’ Mount Lefroy in a variety of artistic media.

For more information about the RipOff Artists, click on their link under “Member Groups” in the column at right.  Or use the search bar on our website (type in “RipOffs”) for photos and articles from their past shows.

RipOff Artists "Stick It" to American Gothic

“All the really good ideas I’d ever had came to me while I was milking a cow,” declared Grant Wood whose American Gothic painting of the dour-faced pitchfork wielding farmer and his sister is famous worldwide.  Wood’s masterpiece became a national symbol; a vision of hope during the Depression that still resonates today. “Because American Gothic is so iconic, it was the perfect mark for this year’s RipOff challenge,” raves fiber artist, Terry Irvine.

This July the RipOff Artists stick it to American Gothic at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre in Oliver, BC. This multi-media collective includes artists working in fibre (quilting, felting, weaving), photography, mixed media collage, oils and acrylics, 3-D installations, and encaustic (hot beeswax).  For the fifth year in a row, this nefarious group has dared to take on the grand masters of art. To mark such an auspicious occasion, they added a twist to the proceedings. Each artist has chosen another artist through which to interpret American Gothic. It’s double the ripoff and double the fun!

The public is welcome to watch the RipOff Artists assume the styles of  Picasso, Klimt, and Degas, along with seven other famous artists, and reinterpret Wood.  

American Gothic Challenge
Monday July 4 – Saturday July 9
Opening Reception:
Monday July 4, 
6 – 8 pm
Daily Hours:
Tuesday July 5 – Saturday July 9
9 am to 3 pm 

You are encouraged to come frequently during the week to get a true sense of how their artwork progresses from rough idea to finished creation.  Be sure to see the completed project on the Saturday! It will be left to you to decide: Is Wood’s masterpiece a celebration of America’s stoic determination during the Depression? Or is the finished product a critique of those same American values? Come view the action and decide for yourself.

Incidentally, the treasures from the four previous “RipOff raids” are currently on display at Leir House Cultural Centre in Penticton until June 23. You can view their “stolen” interpretations of Gustav Klimt’s Emilie Floge, Goergia O’Keeffe’s Pink Tulip, Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Cypresses, and Lawren Harris’ Mount Lefroy in a variety of artistic media.

For more information about the RipOff Artists, click on their link under “Member Groups” in the column at right.  Or use the search bar on our website (type in “RipOffs”) for photos and articles from their past shows.

Fibre Madness Challenge winds up

Local fibre artist Terry Irvine has completed a creative challenge: designing and creating one new work per day during the month of February. What a great way to beat the February blues!

Here is the second set of photos from her project. Scroll down the page to find the article  detailing the first installment.

“The seemingly dye resistant flowers accepted the colour when immersed in my acid dyes. Success!” says Terry.

Here is a whole bouquet of  acid dye flower brooches :

 

Terry completed two sets of hot pads wirth coasters, each in an animal paw design.  The first photo shows the blue and white set before the felting process. It was created using thick handspun and a store bought edging yarn after knitting. The next photo shows the set after felting.

 

The third shows the results of the second set.

  Terry comments on the process:  “The coasters didn’t felt that easily by hand so I gathered some other things that needed felting and put them all together in the washing machine. The next day the hot pad was ready for felting, but nothing else was. Interestingly enough, the machine felted coasters were thicker and fluffier than the hand felted hot pad, which was surprising and, if ya think about it, opposite how you’d want them for functionality.”

Irvine also tried her hand at felting a water bottle carrier. However, felting is a mysterious process that doesn’t always give you what you expect:

“This was already knitted [before the challenge started], but needed finishing, ends sewn in or twisted for design elements, a border added to finish the top edge and felting and was one of those items added to make a load in the washer worthwhile. Its purpose when knitted was to be a bottle carrier complete with handles.

As you can see, it is so not a bottle carrier, but a uniquely shaped vase!”

And here’s a bit of whimsy: “I wanted a container for tissues in the car that could be crushed and otherwise abused and still look good. The final project is smaller than it should be, but I was able to try out my handspun ‘eyelash’ yarn and really like the result. I coulda checked the washing machine sooner, but…….”

Terry also sent a photo showcasing the whole Fibre Madness collection, nicely arranged on a fallen log. Congratulations Terry!

Want to comment? Email olivercac@gmail.com and we’ll publish it or forward it to Terry per your request. Are you an OCAC member with a project of your own? Let us know!

Slow Fibre Festival Wins over Crowd …FAST

The Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers hosted the Slow Fibre Festival in Summerland on Saturday October 9, 2010.  The festival observed a similar principle as “slow food”: focussing on natural fibres and local fibre producers and artisans.  The event, including displays, demonstrations, and sales tables was a huge success. It was a perfect tie-in with the Thanksgiving weekend. Member Gail Erickson says the venue was bursting at the seams with vendors and customers, and they will be looking for a larger location next year.  Take a look at some of the photos from the festival, featuring the busy Desert Sagers at work.

Wish you knew how to do this yourself? Join the Guild! Contact the Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers by visiting our “Contact” or “Groups” pages, or by emailing the OCAC at olivercac@gmail.com to be put in touch with the Guild.

Photo Credit: Roger Richardson

RipOff Artists Reach the Peak with Mount Lefroy

During the last week of June, the South Okanagan’s  RipOff Artists attracted media coverage and crowds of curious onlookers with their fourth annual exhibit, “ripping off” Group of Seven’s Lawren Harris and his iconic Mount Lefroy. During a weeklong demonstration and exhibit, each of the ten artists in the collective interpreted the famous painting in their own medium.

Leo Pedersen’s 3-D woodworking installation in progress.

Encaustic artist Thea Haubrich recreates Mount Lefroy in hot beeswax.

JoAnn Turner turns a CD cabinet into a work of art. Can you see the drawer knobs? Or are they surreal snowballs and mountain rocks?

3-D artist Kurt Hutterli adds the finishing touches to an elaborate installation. Painted egg cartons on the floor give the illusion that his artwork is at the “pinnacle” . The whimsical climbing figures added to Harris’ landscape are adapted from a famous period photograph of Rocky Mountain alpinists.

Kurt Hutterli discusses his tongue-in-cheek demo piece with OCAC member Dot Cranston. Mount Lefroy is painted on the hood of a rusted car, cruched in the shape of a mountain peak. Hutterli wonders (with a twinkle in his eye, of course) if the car perhaps once belonged to Lawren Harris himself?

Spinner and weaver Barb Levant  recreates Mount Lefroy into an outfit a sherpa or alpinist would be proud to wear. She carefully chose colours and banded patterns to match Harris’ original painting.

Quilter Dianne Birne adds the last finishing stitches to her fabric  interpretation of the painting.

Enid Baker reinterprets the masterpiece in watercolours.

Photographer Russell Work cleverly reimagines Mount Lefroy as “two-two-two Mounts in one!” His photo installation rotates (much like some modern billboards) to switch from the Lefroy painting to a photo of artist Harris at work on Mount Lefroy.

See a video of the “revolve” in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orECiugsq9Q&feature=player_embedded

Collage artist Marion Trimble painstakingly glues strips of fabric and paper onto her piece.

And now for the finished exhibit! Marion Trimble, Enid Baker, Barbara Levant, Russell Work, JoAnn Turner, Terry Irvine (knitter), Diane Birnie, Leo Pedersen, and Thea Haubrich. Missing from photo: Kurt Hutterli.

Photo credits: Russell Work, Thea Haubrich

For more photos, visit Thea Haubrich’s Encaustic Blog: http://encausticcanada.wordpress.com/2010/07/04/finale-ripoff-project-mount-lefroy/

For a fantastic video of the RipOff Artists with Mike Roberts of CHBC, take a look at

http://www.chbcnews.ca/video/index.html?releasePID=f5794obragGwCKDQACQpmpfwc7SlVcJm

Comments about this article? Share them at olivercac@gmail.com We’ll post them at the bottom of this article as received. (The email method helps us avoid spammers. )

RipOff Artists Reception Monday June 28th

by Marion Trimble

The “Ripoff Artists” once again rise to the challenge as they scale new heights in lifting Lawren Harris’s “MOUNT LEFROY” during a week of open studio. So-named for their annual pilfering of a famous dead artist’s masterpiece, the Ripoffs, a “Group of Nine”, have selected the Canadian icon who was the driving force behind the formation of the Canadian, “Group of Seven”.

Lawren Harris, a major leader and influential artist of this country, was pivotal in the development of a uniquely Canadian style of landscape painting. By virtue of its isolation, he felt the Canadian landscape required a different painterly approach. This insight led him to begin simplifying his palette and forms in the belief they were capable of expressing spiritual truths. “Mount Lefroy” in it’s symbolic blues and yellows, is an example of his dramatically designed, mystical compositions.

The collective’s ringleader, fabric artist, Terry Irvine known for her functional, sometimes humorous original creations stated, “I like the simplicity of the painting, while at the same time, I’m surprised by its complexity”. “It was an easy decision in picking this year’s prey”, said paper collage artist and member, Marion Trimble. “After imitating the likes of Vincent van Gogh, Gustav Klimt and Georgia O’Keeffe in previous years challenges, it was time to come home”.

The nine artists recreating “Mount Lefroy”, a Canadian rockies buttress on the B.C./ Alberta border, represent several different art forms. Dianne Birnie and Enid Baker are both gifted members of the Double “O” Quilters and the Fabricators. Each employs a different method of quilting that always impresses. Enid in past challenges elected to paint rather than quilt so it will be a surprise to view which of her talents she employs this year. Another surprise can be expected from multi-disciplined, fine artist, JoAnn Turner. In previous challenges, she painted her image on a non traditional surface. Chosen from any one of her mediums of pottery, jewelry, basketry or clothing design, we can expect her piece to be skillfully produced. Kurt Hutterli is a writer and artist. His imaginative 3-dimensional creations of recycled, mixed media, have delighted audiences in past exhibitions. A member of several weaver’s Guilds, including the Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers in Oliver, Barbara Levant, a weaver and spinner for over 35 years, enjoys the suspense of seeing fabric develop and colours interact as she weaves.

Another Ripoff participant since it’s inception in 2007, is encaustic artist, Thea Haubrich. An active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, her works win awards locally and nationally. As exclusive representative for Canada of the Arts Encaustic International products, she is a well-known, dedicated promoter of her art form. Pushing the boundaries of digital photography, Russell Work’s innovative images last year were an exciting addition. Known for capturing the beauty of the Okanagan Valley landscapes, he specializes in panoramic compositions. This year guest artist Leo Pedersen joins the gang. A member of the Oliver Sagebrushers, Leo is a self taught painter and woodworker who learned the basics from his grandfather and father. He now carries on a family tradition, teaching his grandchildren the love of art.

 In 1940, Harris moved to Vancouver where he spent the last 33 years of his life making an enormous contribution to contemporary art. He was a strong supporter of younger artists and influenced the direction taken by the Vancouver Art Gallery. Harris was the driving force that brought together the varying talents and temperaments which formed the Group of Seven. This week his guidance reappears to inspire our very own talented Group of Nine, the Ripoff Artists.

Visitors are welcome to view the artists’ progress as they gradually ascend the lofty goal of bringing their Mount Lefroy interpretations to conclusion. The skullduggery takes place at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre, 34273 95th St., across from the airport in Oliver. Opening reception is Monday, June 28th, 6-8 pm. Studio times Tuesday June 29th through Saturday July 3rd from  9 am to 3 pm. Join the artists during the week as they scramble to a dramatic climax by 3 pm, Saturday, July 3rd. For information contact Terry Irvine at 250-498-4156.

Ripoff Artists Scale New Heights

The Oliver-based artists’ collective known as the Ripoff Artists are getting ready to “lift” the work of Group of Seven painter Lawren Harris, “Mount Lefroy”.

Each exhibit, the Ripoffs select one famous piece of artwork for inspiration. Each artist in the collective then works independently in their chosen medium to capture the essence of the masterpiece.  The Ripoff Artists excel in photography, wood working, 3-D, weaving, felting, quilting, encaustic (hot wax) art, mixed media collage. In previous years, the artists have “ripped off” such great artists as Vincent Van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Their interpretations are always breathtaking in their creativity!

Find out the artists’ visions at the opening reception. Drop by to watch the artists at work during the week. Return for the final frenzy and the finished creations on the Saturday.

Come experience Harris’ “Mount Lefroy” with all your senses!

Monday June 28 – Saturday July 3
Quail’s Nest Arts Centre
 34274 – 95th Street, Oliver BC
 
Opening Reception:
Monday June 28
 6 – 8 p.m.
 
Daily Demonstrations in Studio:
Tuesday  to Saturday
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Comments about this article? Share them at olivercac@gmail.com We’ll post them at the bottom of this article as received. (The email method helps us avoid spammers. )