Gail Bourgeois and Paula Murray at the OAG

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Art Gallery, contemporain, contemporary, drawing, Gail Bourgeois, Ottawa, painting, Paula Murray, porcelain, porcelaine

While distributing pamphlets downtown at the Ottawa Art Gallery I visited the exhibitions of two of my friends/colleagues were having an exhibition this summer: Gail Bourgeois and Paula Murray.

“Correspondence” – From roots to rhizomes to mycelial networks – by Gail Bourgeois
June 4 – Sept. 18, 2016
I was particularly attracted to her abstract shapes on Mylar.

“You are me” by Paula Murray
June 24 – Sept. 25, 2016
Here a my favourite pieces. Guess why…

Reception night for The Seahorse Project

Tags

argile noire, Artwork, black and white, black clay, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, décoration, Exhibition, Exposition, hippocampe, Interview, Laguna Frost, noir et blanc, objet d'art, oeuvre d'art, Ottawa School of Art, Paula Murray, porcelain, porcelaine, sculpture, seahorse, YouTube

After a big Fall storm, some people were brave enough to come and have a chat during the Reception for my show at the Ottawa School of Art.
Fellow ceramic artist Hilde Lambrecht got me a wonderful bottle of wine with a Seahorse on it called “Promised Land”. It was very “À propos” for this show. Thanks Hilde! Thanks as well to all of those who showed up and those who have already visited and left a note in my book, as well as those who will come prior to Wednesday (when I’ll take it down).
A big thanks to Dawn Dale as well for graciously accepting to interview me for a YouTube video.

Nice!

Fellow ceramist Hilde Lambrecht writing a note

Awesome gift from Hilde.

Refugees.

Friends and fellow artists.

On the Line

Ready when you are.

Still Standing.

The Pacifist.

Flagship Species.

The Fallen.

Friends and fellow artists.

Friends and fellow artists.

View from outside, at night.

View from outside, at night.

View from outside, at night.

The Seahorse Project is up!

Tags

argile noire, artist residency, Artwork, École d'art d'Ottawa, black and white, black clay, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, Exhibition, Exposition, Laguna Frost, Ottawa School of Art, porcelain, porcelaine

Last week on Wednesday I set up my Artist in Residence Exhibition. Here are the pictures of the show that will be in the Lee Matasi Gallery until October 21. Reception will be this Thursday evening. Unfortunately on of my pieces broke its tail during the week-end (most likely because part of it was mended with glaze prior to the second firing and it couldn’t hold part of the weight once attached on the wall, although it was attached o the wall in 3 different points). Oh well, lesson learned. It has also been advertised on the Ottawa School of Art Website.

Artist Statement:
“Seahorses are fascinating creatures that have long captured our imagination. Part chameleons with their independent eyes and ability to camouflage, part horses with the shape of their head and long neck and part monkey with their prehensile tail, these odd fish still hold many mysteries for scientists.
Seahorses are being harvested and decimated by the millions every year. When climate change and pollution threaten the natural habitat of these coastal-living animals, they are facing yet another challenge.
When your population is driven to the point of extinction, what do you do? Do you adapt, stay and fight? Do you migrate against your own nature? Where can you seek asylum in foreign territories? ”

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2015 Ottawa Guild of Potters Spring Sale

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argile noire, black clay, Exhibition, Exposition, porcelain, porcelaine, pot, poterie, pottery, sale, vente

Today I went to see the Ottawa Guild of Potters Spring Sale. I am still a member of the Guild but am not currently exhibiting with them as it is mostly functional work people look for in these show. This is the 2nd time they use the former Horticulture Building at the Lansdowne Park in Ottawa. It was a hot and humid day both inside and out but the natural light was amazing.

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Photoshoot for Lines in Nature | La nature des choses

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Artwork, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, hippocampe, Laguna Frost, objet d'art, oeuvre d'art, Paula Murray, porcelain, porcelaine, sculpture, seahorse

Last Sunday, all of the artists collaborating on the show “Lines in Nature | La nature des choses” were at the Ottawa School of Art to take pictures of our work for the catalogue. While some of the pieces were still a work in progress, Paula Murray and I had decided to have it finished for the photoshoot.

On the project’s Blog you can see pictures of the artists interacting with each other. They were taken by Dawn Dale.

Here is our piece entitled On the line | En eaux troubles. It will be for sale at La Fab (Old Chelsea, QC) between May 23-June 21. A big thank you to our Maggie Knaus for photographing all the artworks that day. It promises to be an exciting show.

On the line | En eaux troubles (credits: Maggie Knaus)

On the line | En eaux troubles (closeup of the seahorse) – (credits: Maggie Knaus)

Artist Residency – Work in Progress (8)

Tags

artistic collaboration, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, Exhibition, Exposition, La Fab, La nature des choses, Laguna Frost, Lines in Nature, Paula Murray, porcelain, porcelaine, techniques

Starting in February I have been focusing on implementing ideas for the Lines in Nature Project/La nature des choses Project.
Here are some photos of the work in progress. (more to come)
Note: I have also posted some sketches and concept developed during the partnership with ceramic artist Paula Murray on the Project’s blog.

Piece for Concept #2

Piece for Concept #2 in the kiln to be bisqued

Sketches for Concept #3

Newspaper backing prior to laying my slabs (note: the height of the project is made so the piece will fit on a kiln shelf half)

I sketched a layout for the piece

Completing the drawing of the back of my piece (it will be 3D)

Cutout of the backing of my piece for Concept #3.

Artist Residency – Work in progress (7)

Tags

argile noire, b, black and white, black clay, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, Laguna Frost, noir et blanc, porcelain, porcelaine, sculpture, seahorse

Sorry for being late with my posts, I did some updates on my Website (CV, Links, News and Press sections) and it takes time and I have been working on a large piece for the Lines in nature Project (photos are coming soon). I also have also been working on a mangrove piece for my end of residency show using both black clay and my white porcelaineous Laguna Frost clay. It’s pretty long and wide enough that it didn’t fit a half kiln shelf so the tech will have a hard time putting it in. I hope it’ll be OK… (I did offer my help in case she needs a second pair of hands). I also glazed my second piece for the bell jar and prepared some tiles for the Lines in nature Project (spoiler alert: I might try some terra siggilata on them).

Mangrove piece

Mangrove piece

Mangrove piece

glaze firing

glaze firing

glaze firing

glaze firing

test tiles for the Lines in nature Project

Interview on “TV Rogers”

Tags

Business of Art, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, Entrevue, Gestion de carrière artistique, Interview, Laguna Frost, porcelain, porcelaine

I had the pleasure to be invited to appear live on a local French TV show called ”Entre-nous” on Tuesday, January 27th. The TV Rogers hosts Barbara Laurenstin and Pierre-Antoine Rivard Paquet were very nice and we talked about my work and the reasons behind it. The interview felt too short and I wished I had been smarter in some of my answers but I believe we covered all the messages I wanted to convey (the Ottawa School of Art Alumni show running until February 8, the Exhibition at La Fab opening May 23, the fact that I am an artist in residence at the Ottawa School of Art and the link to my website so people can get all of the info they want). I don’t have a tape of the show yet but will post it as soon as I can get my hands onto it. In the meantime, here are some pictures taken on the set.

Artist Residency – Work in progress (6)

Tags

artist residency, Artwork, Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, hippocampe, Laguna Frost, porcelain, porcelaine, Résidence d'artiste, seahorse

Here are the 2 pieces that will go into the bell jars I previously mentioned.
They are based on the curio trade or a.k.a. the souvenir trade, which is one of the 4 main reasons why seahorses are an endangered species today.

Curio # I

Curio # I

Curio # I

Curio # I

Curio # I

Curio # I

Curio # I

Curio # II

Curio # II

Curio # II

Curio # II

Curio # II

Curio # II

Curio # II

Curio # II

Artist Residency – Work in progress (5)

Tags

Céramique, Ceramic art, contemporain, contemporary, décoration, Laguna Frost, objet d'art, oeuvre d'art, porcelain, porcelaine

Sprayed on underglazes prior to spraying glaze.

Sprayed on underglazes prior to spraying glaze.

Sprayed on underglazes prior to spraying glaze.

Sprayed on underglazes with pattern used as cache, then I painted some details.

Sprayed on underglazes with pattern done in glue glaze, then I painted some details.

Sprayed on glaze on top of skeleton details done in glue glaze and pattern used as cache, then I painted some details in underglaze.