February 26th - Finished Piece, Using Portraits from Haiti, for the Women's Art Show

Well, I have always been able to work best with a deadline. I tend to wander off to other projects if I have all the time in the world. So, just in the nick of time, I finished my piece for the Women's Art Show at the Banff Public Library. I worked on it for about a week. I am really happy with how it turned out. I start with a basic plan but am not really one to lay out a project before beginning. I tend to have the best results when I just jump in. I know that seems strange but the minute I get hung up on something being perfectly straight or perfectly anything, it goes awry. This all went so well I am thrilled. You can see yesterday's post for the progression of this piece. Here are the photos of the finally step and the finished piece. It will be on display at the Banff Public Library for the month of March. All proceeds in the sale of this piece will go to His Hands for Haiti to build a home for orphaned and abandoned children.

February 24th & 25th - Women's Art Show Piece, Using Portraits from Haiti

(The beginning of my piece; I selected images from my negatives, had them printed, arranged them, added fabric hearts and collaged text from a vintage dictionary.)

Usually when I drop off the face of my blog for a few days it is because I have been busy creating (and I am probably under a deadline). My post to Thing-A-Day for February 23rd was the tutorial below, although I posted about the making of the project on the 22nd. And my last two posts to TAD have been about the piece I have been making for the Banff Public Library's Women's Art Show. I have been in this inspiring show with my fellow creative Banff sistas, for the past three years. I have been working on this mixed media piece for about a week, here and there.The show corresponds with International Women's Day on March 8th. There is always a theme but artists do not have to work within it. This year it is "Equal rights, equal opportunities: progress for all". I would have to say that I didn't work within the theme, at least not only in a women's rights sense. I chose to do my piece on Haiti. I have been there twice. I used images I shot for a child sponsorship program and collaged on them with text and fabric. I used both male and female images that I embroidered together. The next post will be the finished piece.




(I hand embroidered the photographs together using a variety of stitches)


(Once I had them all emboidered to one another I laid them onto handmade paper. The final steps will be in the next post).

Upcoming Art Show at the Banff Public Library

Today, I matted and framed three of my photographs for the upcoming show at the Banff Public Library. It will run for the month of March, and is inspired by International Women's Day on March 8th.


All of the participating artists are women, working in a variety of mediums, and the theme of the show is "Global Women, Bridging the Gap". This is the third year that the Library has hosted the show, and the second year I have participated.


I love to come together with other artists to exhibit and I am looking forward to the opening on March 7th. My images were shot in Terrier Rouge, Haiti. I chose three images of women who are wearing vibrant smiles, which is not necessarily the usual tone of my documentary work. As a photographer, capturing emotions is an important way to communicate universally with an image. A smile can speak volumes, where language may not. The images together are titled, ""Our Smiles Can Speak to the World".


I selected the following quote to be displayed with the images...
"And I have learned that even without a shared language, it's easy to let people know that their children are beautiful, their homes are lovely, their tea is delicious, and their stories are worth sharing with the world." Annie Griffins Belt, National Geographic Photographer & Mother


The other thing I did today was start a class on writing memoir. I am really excited about it. Memory is the inspiration behind a lot of my mixed media work and I am looking forward to learning to write more eloquently about my life experiences.