The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.

I was pleased to come across the finished short film of the story, because I’d thought it was just an iPad app. It’s a beautifully done animated film about the curative power of story. Be sure to watch it full screen.

I like the process of making these designs because it’s loose, flowing and spontaneous. I grab a piece of paper, decide upon a single shape as a starting point for the design, and then start cutting. I try not to over think things and just let the design flow across the page. It’s a wonderfully meditative process.

All three of the paper cuts featured here are 5″x7″, and took between one to two hours to create. I want to go larger with these and also play around with layering a few of them together within a frame.

So far 2012 is shaping up to be the year of turning thinking into doing. You know how it is, there are all these intentions and ideas in your head, and you never quite get around to them. For me this is completely focused around art, and all the things I’ve been thinking about for ages and not getting around to are ones that could contribute to my development as an artist.

In the past month there are three of these intentions I’ve taken off my list and transformed into reality. The first was to begin hosting an evening of art making with a small group of fellow artists. It was a terrific evening of good conversation, productivity, and sharing of art – exactly what I’d hoped for. I can hardly wait for the next Artist evening…

The second intention/idea I was happy to finally get around to was to launch my very own artist interview series. This was an item I’d written down on a list of goals for last year. It was the series of Food Advocate profile interviews I started for the Foodtree blog that got me going. I was impressed by the level of information people were willing to share about food that encouraged me to finally bring this idea to life and reach out to artists. You can read the first interview here.

This week marked the beginnings of getting started on a third goal that has been languishing away on a to do list, which is to establish a mentor relationship with a more experienced artist. Until recently I wasn’t really sure who to approach about this, especially knowing there isn’t another artist doing work similar to mine in Vancouver. But I realized this wasn’t a detail I should get hung up on, and came up with someone I wanted to reach out to. Yesterday I met with M.A.Tateishi, a mixed media artist I admire, and we discussed this idea of having her become my mentor. It was a really good conversation, and I look forward to her input and guidance as we trial this relationship over the next three months.

It feels very satisfying to get these long held thoughts into a forward motion. Now I just need to keep up the momentum…

I’m pleased to be kicking off this series of artist interviews with assemblage artist (and good friend), Valerie Arntzen. I hope you find her as inspiring as I do.

Valerie in her studio (Photo by Wendy D)

Tell us about yourself:
For starters I am female and going to be sixty this year. I love those milestone birthdays as they kind of knock on your door of memories and aspirations. You take stock of where you have been and where you are going. I have been a worker all my life from draftsperson, treeplanter to buyer in the film industry and artist. My life started in Toronto, Ontario but when I was 19 I moved to Vancouver. I am married to an artist, Arnt Arntzen who is a designer/builder of modern furniture. He makes every piece himself. We both collect things but his found objects are large. He is also my technical director when I need a problem solved. We have been together for 33 years.

How long have you been an artist and how did you become one?
I have been a self taught artist for over 20 years. My first show was in 1990 and since then I have tried to be in at least one show a year while I did my money job in theatre and film.

I like to work and use my hands and head. My mother says I was always working on at least two things at the same time. As a kid I received a brownie camera (which I still have) as an Xmas present and took photos and created photo albums. I still carry a camera and take a lot of photos which I often use in my pieces. I started my art career as a painter of found objects in which I would do these crazy patterns all over vases, furniture and other objects.

I am now an assemblage artist. Assemblage is an artistic process in which a three-dimensional artistic composition is made from putting together found objects.

Do you work full time or part time as an artist? If part-time, what do you do to support yourself?
Retirement from my money job happened about 8 years ago and I have been a full time artist since then. I was also a founding director of the Eastside Culture Crawl and the executive director for 11 years. Retirement from that position happened 2 years ago. The amount of money I have been earning from my art practice has been going up every year. I would not have been able to support myself on those earnings in the past but now my studio is paid for and my husband works full time in his art practice and is very successful.

Record History by Valerie Arntzen

Record History (detail) by Valerie Arntzen

What are some of your favorite materials to work with?
I LOVE JUNK! Being an assemblage artist is a fun job. I get to collect, re-use, recycle and give new life to discarded objects, wood and metal. The found objects I collect can vary from a souvenir Statue of Liberty from New York to a complete set of sun dried animal vertebrae found on the beach in Mexico. I collect when I am out for a walk or traveling different parts of the world.

Tell us a bit about the process you go through to create your work:
I almost always have my camera with me. I use my photos in lots of different ways: in my assemblages, cover them with bees wax, collage them or make books. My files of photographs are categorized under themes such as fences, rust, texture, chairs.

My studio is a visual feast piled high with labeled boxes and drawers stuffed chock o’ block on shelves holding my collections of junk and treasures. Getting out my treasures and creating an assemblage in a favorite box takes me back to a memory of a special trip, person or event. I like to work in series mostly due to the fact that I collect in multiples but I also find my thought process needs more than one piece to be complete. One assemblage piece seems to complete the other.

Shamans Closet by Valerie Arntzen

Shamans Closet (detail) by Valerie Arntzen

Where do you find inspiration for your work, and what keeps you motivated?
My travels definitely inspire me. I collect stories, treasures and photos from my trips. I can start a piece with a found object, box or photo and then it just develops from there. I think I have about 10 years of assemblages worth of stuff in my studio. If I think I have artist block I try to challenge and inspire myself by taking a class, collaborating with another artist, attending art shows, artist talks or going through my library of art books. My biggest motivation at the moment is moving to Amsterdam later this year for six months. I have a show in October there and will be making the art locally as well.

Is there a favorite project or piece of artwork you’ve created? Tell us about it:
One of my favourite pieces I have made is called “Bullets to Buddhas”. It started with a printer spacer box that a friend gave me from his old building in North Vancouver. The spacer box was used to store pieces of wood that you would put between the laid out type (yes one letter at a time!) to create space around each article. I filled the box with bullets I had made by a props person in the film industry and small metal Buddhas I bought at a temple supply store. On the back I carved text from the bible Isaiah 2:4 that talks about turning your swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. My thoughts behind the piece, is that thousands of years later we are still using weapons (bullets) and they should be turned into something peaceful (metal Buddhas). Peace not War!

Bullets to Buddha by Valerie Arntzen

Bullets to Buddha (detail) by Val Arntzen

Tell us about other artists who have inspired you:
I look at Joseph Cornell‘s work a lot. He was an American self taught artist and sculptor, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. I love Frida Khalo‘s story and work…against all odds and lots of pain she stayed true to herself as an artist.

Artists that are alive and I admire, show with and talk with are Ken Gerberick (Vancouver) and Bill Thomson (Burnaby). They are both assemblage artists and they both paint as well.

Other than art, what are you particularly excited about right now?
I guess my trip to Europe is what I am most excited about as it won’t all be about art. My husband and I will be learning so much about living in another culture as we usually only travel to places, and not spend so much time there. There will be lots of new adventures and new people in our lives.

What are some of the biggest challenges you feel artists face today?
I am one of the lucky ones who has a studio that I own. Studio space is disappearing or getting too expensive. It is affecting all types of artists from every medium. For those who go the gallery route we are also losing our galleries as they close up for various reasons.

What is special about the arts community where you live? What’s one thing you would change?
I live in a part of Vancouver that has always housed and supported artists. Translation: rent was cheap and places are in the area of mixed use – industrial and residential. Our community supports each other by collaborating, sharing, coming to each others shows. The artists here give back to our community whether it is through teaching children, helping raise money for a project or just generally making our neighbourhood beautiful with their art.

Our biggest hurdle is rentals that are reasonable whether it is a studio, home or live/work studio. As people purchase and renovate and save the old houses the extra space becomes too expensive for artists to rent. We are also getting too many cars in this neighbourhood as more people move here.

Where can people find you both online and offline:
I have an open studio date on the First Saturday of the month. The next ones are February 4th and March 3rd.

Website: www.valeriearntzen.com
Blog: valeriesarttalk.blogspot.com
Contact: 604-817-9130 or valeriearntzen@gmail.com

My friend Val and I were the first to arrive, and Hugh treated us to genmaicha in beautiful handmade mugs while we waited for the rest of our group.

Hugh Kearney is a mixed media painter creating very colourful landscapes, abstract work, and sculpture from found objects. I really enjoyed his talk because he spoke at length about the evolution of his art career and how this affected his process over time.

He mostly works on paper and is heavily influenced by his environment, both natural and handmade. He’s also a musician, as evidenced by the guitars and amps placed around the studio.

These intimate studio visits are a great opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the many artists in Vancouver. The series will continue once a month until June, so stay tuned to the Eastside Culture Crawl facebook page and website for details of these upcoming events.

I’ve chosen to do a mix of paper cuts and collage on alternating pages, exploring the theme of Thread and Surface (one of the ten you have to choose for the Project). The paper cut pages will overlay the collage pages and create an additional layer. I’ve been concentrating on the paper cut designs first and have been creating them free hand with an xacto knife. These are three of the seven I’ve completed so far.

I’ve been choosing a different shape to focus on for each one and just letting the design flow from there. It’s an addictive process to work with – creating designs from cutting paper – and all sorts of additional ideas have grown out of it.

I’ll share more as the project progresses. I can’t wait to get started on the collage pieces next.

To get an idea of some of the work you can make in this class, check out the set on Flickr of work made by students from previous workshops.

For further details and to register for the class, please visit the Blim website.

Altered Book Workshop at Blim
Date: Saturday, February 25th, 2012
Time: 2 to 5pm
Cost: $74.80 ($65 + tax + $2 service charge)
Location: 115 Pender St. E, Vancouver

Guy Laramee

Guy Laramee carves stunningly detailed landscapes from stacks of books.

Isaac Salazar

Isaac Salazar uses math and an exacto knife to create intricate text-based designs.

Robert The

Robert The “lovingly vandalises books back to life” by precision cutting shapes such as guns, and insects from books.

Thomas Allen

Thomas Allen cuts and creases the covers of vintage paperbacks to create three-dimensional tableaux, which he then photographs.

Veronika Anita Teuber

Veronika Anita Teuber takes the books she has read and seals them in paint and beeswax.

Casey Curran

Casey Curran creates amazing kinetic sculpture from books, wire, wood, and rope.

There are more artists working in altered books beyond the ones I’ve listed here, but these are some of my favorites. If you’ve come across book-related art you’d like to share, please do leave a comment.

Since I often get sent links to the work of artists I’m already familiar with, I thought I’d highlight some of them here. It’s amazing to see the variety of ideas and styles of work each artist has developed in working with old books as their medium.

Brian Dettmer

Brian Dettmer describes his work as “book autopsies” as he seals the book and carefully cuts away page by page to reveal interesting elements of the book.

Su Blackwell

Su Blackwell uses books to create beautifully detailed diorama’s inspired by fairy tales and folklore.

Mike Stilkey

Mike Stilkey is a painter and illustrator who uses stacks of books as a canvas for his whimsical cast of characters.

Kylie Stillman

Kylie Stillman creates much of her work by cutting into stacks of books or paper, and focuses on imagery of birds and nature.

Cara Barer

Cara Barer is a photographer who documents the sculptural pieces she creates from soaking and manipulating discarded books.

More to come in part 2 of the altered book artist round up…

If you’ve never heard of The Sketchbook Project, it’s a collaborative series of art books created by 5000 artists from around the world. Each person signs up to receive a blank sketchbook, which they fill with whatever they choose in any medium, and then send it back to the organizers. The collected works becomes a travelling show, and eventually a printed catalogue.

If you’re interested in participating, the deadline for sign-up is tomorrow.

These photos were taken near the lighthouse, which on previous visits took about an hour or so to hike in to see. I suppose it was too much to hope that this part of the island would be left as it was and not end up as yet another subdivision.

Boris and spent a week on Bowen Island over the Christmas holidays, as we’ve done for the past few years. It was a very rainy Christmas but I still managed to get out for a walk each day. This is the same view of the North Shore mountains taken about twenty-four hours apart. It’s one of my favorite views on Bowen.

Please join me for the opening reception this Thursday January 5th, from 7 to 9pm. As part of the evening’s events I will be giving a short artist talk about my work in the Atrium at 7:30pm. Public speaking isn’t my favorite thing to do, so your moral support would be greatly appreciated.

Also opening on January 5th at Place des Arts, Expansions by Karin Vengshoel, and When Imagination Meets Clay… by Kwai Sang Wong.

Directions to Place des Arts:
Drivers can use exit 40B on Highway #1 then proceed east on Brunette Avenue.

Transit users can get to Place des Arts by taking bus 153 or 156 from Braid Skytrain Station or bus 157 from Lougheed Town Centre.

Opening Reception: January 5th, 7pm to 9pm
Dates: January 5th to January 28th, 2012
Location: Place des Arts
Address: 1120 Brunette Avenue (Google Maps Link), Coquitlam BC V3K 1G2

It was a year filled with lovely moments, which these photos only hint at.

Here’s to a good year in 2012!

Perhaps I need to revisit paper engineering in the new year.

These photos are from two weeks ago when Vancouver had a few days of frost on the ground. I love the look of frost on leaves and grass, the way every detail is outlined and highlighted.

Here are a few ideas that I’ve found so far:

Zipper8Lighting on Etsy

nellianna on Etsy

TetraBox Light by Ed Chew

This last one comes with a step-by-step how-to, and is made from reclaimed TetraBox packages. I really like the idea of making a new chandelier from recycled materials.

Watch the teaser trailer:

If you love Improv Everywhere (like I do) they need your help to complete the film. Check out their Kickstarter Campaign and make a contribution to support the project.

I really like these owls on the streets of Vancouver because they’re cute and clever. I hope more of them will make an appearance around East Van.

To clear out some of this older work I’ve decided to continue with the inventory clearance sale I held during First Saturday a few weeks ago. Come find a great deal on one of my metal prints, or maybe an altered book is more your style.

Here are a few of the items I am selling:

Altered Books

In The Shade of The Cherry Blossoms – $300 (regularly $450)

Circle Away & Return – $300 (regularly $550)

Metal Prints

Magnolias 24″ x 12″ Metal Print – $150 (regularly $300)

Red Leaves Above 24″ x 24″ Metal Print – $300 (regularly $500)

Please note: the altered books included in the sale are ones I consider one-off experiments. Most of the altered books are regular price, but are also available for viewing.

The work can be viewed at my East Vancouver studio by appointment. Contact me by Email: rkashe (at) gmail (dot) com or by Phone: 604.787.9237 if there is something you’d like to see.

So I thought I’d try something new and share some of the things that inspire me right here:

Illustrations by Dorian Mocan

Altered envelopes by Kristiina Lahde

Thread and canvas paintings by Nava Lubelski

May the inspiration weave it’s way into a new series of work…

If you’ve never been to Got Craft it’s a terrific craft sale that happens twice a year in early May and December. The vendors are juried by a small panel of judges, and they do an excellent job of selecting a good variety of artisan designers and artists to keep the sale interesting. For the holiday edition, there were fifty vendors chosen from about two hundred applicants, which gives you an idea of the amount of competition to participate.

I decided to apply because I wanted to do more face-to-face sales, but I was also curious to see if it would be a good fit for my work. I created a bunch of small collages, postcard sets, and paper flowers to sell at the show, with the idea lower priced items would be an easier sell than the altered books. I was right (mostly), but things didn’t go nearly as well as I’d hoped.

I’m glad to say I made a profit on the weekend, but just barely. The most popular item that sold were the paper flowers because they were colourful, eye-catching and cheap. The Imaginary Girl and collage postcard sets barely sold at all, which is weird because people snatched them up at the Eastside Culture Crawl. Two collages have happily gone to new homes, including a recycled wood collage that was my favorite. None of the altered books sold, but that’s not a surprise at all because I was pretty sure they’d be too expensive for this type of event. I think there were many more sales I could’ve made if I’d been able to accept Visa or Interac payments.

The money bits aside, I had good conversations with shoppers and it’s good to know my work really “Wows” people (literally). I made a point of encouraging sign ups for my monthly newsletter and I came away with about twenty-five new contacts to add to my mailing list.

All in all, it was a positive experience to be a seller at Got Craft. I would definitely take part again if the opportunity presents itself, and use some of what I learned from this experience to do better next time.

It was my second year participating as an exhibiting artist and though I had a good idea of how things could go, I still didn’t quite feel prepared enough. I’m no longer an artist full-time and so preparations for the Crawl happened around my part-time job, which meant the final set up came down to the wire. (Thank goodness I don’t work full-time).

I open my apartment to the public for the Crawl because my studio is inside my home. We’re located on the ground floor of a building just off Commercial Drive so it works rather well for getting people in and out of the building without disturbing the rest of the tenants. Our apartment also transforms rather nicely into a spacious, cosy gallery space with most of the furniture removed. It’s a lot of work to get the place set up, and I’m not sure I want to keep doing it at home year after year.

You would think it could be weird allowing a large group of strangers into your home, but for the past two years it’s been a pleasant experience. Everyone is very appreciative and respectful about being here, and many people hang around for awhile chatting and enjoying the work. I enjoy the conversations with visitors and I’ve received terrific feedback from people about the originality and imaginativeness of my work. Showing in my own private space means I have everyone’s full attention, and that kind of exposure can’t be beat.

Comparing my two experiences as a Culture Crawl artist, there were about seventy-five more people this year than last. I think this was thanks to more artists participating with open studios in my immediate area. But while attendance was up, sales were down from the previous year. I felt very discouraged by this even though it’s not all about sales, and I didn’t have any specific expectations about how much I hoped to sell.

A few days immediately after the Culture Crawl I met with other artists and it was good to hear about everyone else’s experiences. Many people felt discouraged because either attendance was down, sales were down, or both. It made me feel better to hear how the others had done, and realise some years are just better than others when it comes to the Eastside Culture Crawl.

A big thank you to my partner Boris, who is a huge help in playing host to visitors, and has also been very tolerant about the transformation of our home. I don’t think I could continue to do the Culture Crawl without him.

Founded in 2007, Got Craft? is held twice a year featuring 50+ handmade designers, fresh food, DJ, a D.I.Y. table and free swag bags for the first 45 people through the door.

Got Craft?
Date: Sunday Decmeber 4th, 2011
Time: 10am to 5pm
Admission: $3.00 (kids under 10 are free)
Location: Royal Canadian Legion
2205 Commercial Drive (at E 6th Avenue)

First Saturday Open Studios is a mini studio tour with a rotating roster of Culture Crawl artists that happens on the First Saturday of every month. So if you have the post-Crawl blues and need an art fix, mark Saturday December 3rd in your calendar and visit artists in their studios.

For First Saturday in December I will be having an inventory clearance sale of older artwork, which will include metal prints, and a small selection of altered book work. The time has come to clear out the old and make room for new work, so come take advantage of lower prices.

I will also have two other creative friends on site for the day. Come meet Monique Trottier, maker of magical fragrances at Botany of Delight, and Heike Kapp, maker of hand-blown glass pendants and art objects.

First Saturday Open Studios
Date: Saturday December 3rd. 2011
Time: 11am to 4pm
Address: 1660 East Georgia Street