Blame It On The Rain
By Jenny Shea & Tiffany Teske
Mixed Media Assemblage
12x9"
$125
The following article appears in this week's Rocky Mountain Outlook.
Metal Meets Photography
By Michelle Macullo
Pick-up
lines—we’ve all heard them.
And when they’re not rude, they’re usually
lame. ‘Don’t you know me from somewhere? Did we go to different schools
together? Can I have your phone number? I seem to have lost mine.’
But what’s the
line when a self-taught metal artist Jenny Shea and a professional
photographer Tiffany Teske repeatedly run into one another at art and
craft fairs?
‘Hey baby, wanna make art?’
That’s exactly what they did.
And during February at the Banff Public Library Art Gallery, everyone’s invited to see Jenny Shea & Tiffany Teske: A Mixed Media Collaboration. An opening reception with both artists in attendance takes place tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 3) from 7 to 9 p.m.
The exhibit
features both individual and joint pieces. At its core is Teske’s
ephemeral photography and Shea’s patina-kissed, landscape-inspired
copper sheet work. The result is an unexpected flow and ease to it—like
to people sitting down, discussing the state of the world, while
finishing each other’s sentences.
“I like learning new things and not always doing my own thing in isolation,” Teske says. “Collaborating...pushes you to try other things.”
The joint works
suggest the two sat side-by-side as the pieces came to life, but such
was not the case. Juggling young families and life in general, the pair
decided to hand their respective portions off without instructions.
Instead, they relied on “trust and mutual respect,” to guide the
process.
“Here’s my stuff,” Shea asserts. “Decide what you want to do with it. Let’s do this and see what happens.
“And I knew she (Teske) was going to create something amazing.”
Shea says art
has taught her to go with how she feels—allowing the linear part of her
brain to come up with a rough plan, but listening to the metal and being
comfortable with what it offers.
“I’ll have an
idea in my head, but by the time I start working on a piece, it can
change,” she explains. “I have to let it go naturally.
“Sometimes after
I’m done, I’ll go to bed and decide I’m not happy with it. But I’ll
wake up the next day and know that it’s beautiful. I love the surprise.”
So now that their first collaboration out in the public domain, will there be a second for the artistic power couple?
“Absolutely,”
Teske smiles. “Jenny and I are only just getting to know each other and
what is possible together. I can foresee more than one other date in the
future.”
Shea couldn’t agree more.
“It’s nice to work with other people’s art,” Shea echoes. “I hope I get to do it again.”
For more information or to purchase a piece, please contact the artists directly at Jenny@themagpieroom.ca (Shea) and Oldesage@hotmail.com (Teske).
Jenny Shea & Tiffany Teske: A Mixed Media Collaboration is on display until February 29.
