First Exhibit of the Year - Eros 2016

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Snow, snow and more snow.  Since yesterday  51 cm of snow has fallen.  Everything is very white and fluffy and more snow has started to fall again.  In between all this we have had some very cold weather.  

This past Sunday, Valentine's Day, I attended the Eros 2016  exhibit vernissage at the Arbor Gallery in Vankleek Hill, just outside of Ottawa.  My artist book, Arc of Desire, was chosen to be part of this group exhibit.  Regardless of the cold weather, the event was very well attended.  

ARC OF DESIRE 

This book was in the making over approximately three years.  Every time I found a quote, or the lyrics to a song that I felt would fit into the book, I filed it away.  I wrote a few fictional narratives and at the beginning of last year I decided to see if I had enough material to make the book.  When I started to put it together, all the pieces fell nicely into place, each piece complementing the previous one.  I made a limited edition of six books.  The covers are hand dyed and the materials I used in making the book include, water colour paper, pigment pen drawings around photocopied anatomy pictures, leather, rabbit fur, and  polymer clay.  

The cover is hand dyed water colour paper.  There is a hole though the center of the book in which the phallus passes through and acts as the closure. 

For the opening piece, I used a quote from The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell, "People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life.  I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking.  I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive."

I found an old book on Anatomy for Artists and photocopied some of the pieces.  Then I enhanced them with my drawings.  I created a master copy and then photocopied it for the blank books.  The text in each book is handwritten, not photocopied.  The quote on this enhanced page is by Ester Perel, Mating in Captivity,“Eroticism reveals to us another world, inside this world.  The senses become servants of the imagination, and lets us see the invisible and hear the inaudible.” 

This is one of the fictional narratives that I wrote.  The theme of the exhibit was first love, one true love.  The narratives I wrote were from the perspective of a couple remembering their first love. 

A VALENTINE'S BIRTHDAY  

My sister celebrated a milestone birthday on Valentine's Day.  When I was visiting her in November we took a walk down memory lane and talked about the friends we had when we were teenagers. As we shared our experiences with one another, she made some of her favourite tea for us.  In thinking about a birthday present for her, I decided to make a Japanese hidden compartment box.  

 I covered it with silver Japanese paper and put wooden feet on the box.  I used a small cluster of quartz crystals and a glass heart for the top of the box.  

In the first two compartments I created Past and Present sections.  I used parchment paper for the covers and did some paper cutting.  Under the Past compartment, I put in a story I had written about an experience we had one evening while walking home from the village we lived near.  In the Present compartment I put some specialty tea samples.  

In the hidden compartment, I put the Future.  In a conversation we had, during my visit, she said she would like to take six months and travel Route 66.  In this compartment I put a map of the Route and the lyrics to the song, Get your Kicks on Route 66.  

MENTORING A DIPLOMA STUDENT 

This winter semester, at the Ottawa School of Art where I have been teaching, a diploma student has asked me to mentor him in the making of an artist book.  This has been a very enjoyable experience for me and his book is progressing nicely. 

Where can you find my work:   

• Arbor Gallery Boutique, Vankleek Hill, until the end of the exhibit: http://www.arborgallery.org/exhibition.
• Ottawa Art Gallery, Sales & Rental Boutique, 2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa, ON: http://www.ottawaartgallery.ca/content/art-rental-sales-0
• Ottawa School of Art Boutique, 35 George Street, Ottawa, ON
• Ottawa School of Art, Shenkman Arts Centre, 245 Centrum Blvd., Ottawa, ON 
• La Fab Gallery, 212 chemin Old Chelsea, Chelsea, QC: http://www.culturechelsea.ca/en
• Wallack's Art Supplies, 231 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON: http://www.wallacks.com/
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You can also contact me at: bbinder999@gmail.com to inquire about the books, prices, etc.  
That's about all for now.  For those living in Ottawa and surrounding areas, don't get lost in any snow drifts and stay warm.  WIshing everyone a happy spring - it's just around the corner - yes it is - :>)

Mary