My head is still spinning with all the new techniques and ideas I gleaned from the "mini" workshops and demos put on by such expert polymer clay artists as Joan Tayler, Carolyn Good, Ellen Kocher, Olga Osnach and Jem Redlich.
It was a delight for my friend Donna and I to share our table with the highly talented and generous Korean artist, Veronica Jeong. She brought many a smile to our faces and helped us out with suggestions and ideas for our pieces when our heads were so full we couldn’t think straight! LOL
By far, the highlight of our weekend (before we got down to some "serious" claying on Saturday and Sunday) was the noisy, laughter filled start early Friday evening as we scrambled onto an antique trolley car to be transported to the retreat's opening reception at the Seymour Gallery in the tiny village of Deep Cove, B.C.
This photo of Deep Cove is courtesy of TripAdvisor
Tucked away in a naturally beautiful corner of North Vancouver, the gallery is currently hosting "Chameleon", a juried art show of British Columbia polymer clay artists that is a celebration of polymer clay as a medium for artistic expression. Although polymer clay has been available to artists for over seventy years, it has often been thought of as a craft medium for children. Over the past twenty years, there has been a dramatic shift in the art world as more and more artists and serious craft people have turned to polymer clay as a medium for their artisitc endeavours..
I was thrilled to bits that my piece "AllSorts of Claying Around" piece was chosen to be displayed in the show. As many of you know, I made a dish of clay allsort candy for my father in law for Christmas. It was definitely a winner and the source of more than a few chuckles with him and my mother in law when he opened it up. It took some convincing to get them both to believe that they weren't real.
One of my "arty" friends who saw the dish of "candy" before it was wrapped up for Christmas giving, suggested that I make another one and enter it in the Chameleon show. I must admit, I rather procrastinated getting it done and had to scramble to get it entered for jurying, pretty much at the last moment and just before the deadline. I'm glad I did. It never ceases to give me a little case of "goosebumps" when I see my "stuff" displayed in a gallery show.
The show was put together by well known polymer clay artist Joan Tayler and features western Canadian polymer clay artists Carolyn Joy Good, Rachel Gourley, Tina Holden, Gera Scott Chandler, Wanda Shum and Joan Tayler, as well as a selection of work by other fellow claying members of the Vancouver and Vancouver Island Polymer Clay Guilds.
The diversity of pieces displayed in the show will take your breath away. For a quick peek at a tiny fraction of the many faces of clay and some of the pieces in the show, you can visit the Chameleon blog.
If you live in the Vancouver area or are visiting Vancouver from other parts of the country, this is a must see show that runs every day from 10am to 5 pm until March 2. Just drop by the Seymour Gallery website for some quick directions on how to get there!
Thanks for stopping by,
Sharon