I’m  taking my second online course through SFU on technical writing. At the end of May I’ll have to decide whether I want to commit to the Certificate program–it’s not an easy decision. I’d rather build on my credentials to teach art but don’t feel very secure at all about future prospects.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make a go of being a craft artist so I’ve decided to focus on personal work and exhibitions (one coming up in August). This forces me to consider my revenue generating options. Since I’ve done some freelance writing before and since the technical communication field seems to be one of the few fields experiencing growth, I might just do the certificate. I am someone that likes details and clarity and drafting clear sentences (not necessarily on my blog where I want to be more casual) so I feel this might work.

So there’s the online course, prepraring for an exhibition, living with and training a puppy (now four months old), and thinking about the future or rather trying to formulate a plan on how to make the right decisions. This is where art journaling came in. I practiced art journaling from January through March and then derailed my routine with the introduction of a puppy! I had no idea how much work this little creature would take. Although she makes me very tired, she has also provided positive distraction from thinking about the self too much. Oh, and I was also taking an online painting course with Lisa Congdon and Mati Macdonough. I’m glad I took that course even though I wasn’t able to participate in the last 2 painting assignments. It pushed me to work with paint only and me realize that to grow as an artist, it is important to keep on taking creative workshops.

Acrylic on wood panel -- assignment from Get your Paint On online course. Copyright Laura Bucci

I’m also looking for a part-time job–a very challenging task. Primarily, right now I need cash to cover my basic creative practice expenses.

I’ve started working on my exhibition pieces for August and will post a preview soon. If you’re in Vancouver, I hope you’ll come to the opening. Yikes! An opening. I’ll be showing with another artist but how embarrassing would it be if hardly any people came to the opening! It’s so different from doing a craft show that I don’t want to even think about it!

Now, I really need to write my artist statement for the exhibition…

Some recent changes to my life have made it a bit more difficult to put aside time for art journaling. One of them is the addition of a puppy to my home. Please meet Carrie — named after Carrie Bradshaw of the television show Sex in the City. Carrie was 8 weeks when we got her. She is now 12 weeks. She certainly keeps me busy. Who knew that a puppy would be so much work, but I say this very happily. There’s nothing like a dog to bring joy to your life, to lighten the mood. Carrie is my first dog! I had a cat for 20 years, Suzie, but sadly she died just before Christmas. I was unsure about having a dog but not anymore. I am overjoyed now!

Carrie at 8 weeks old

Carrie is a chocolate labrador cross with border collie. We got her from a family in Chilliwack who lives on a farm. The mother is the chocolate labrador and the neighbour’s dog — the border collie — snuck in over the fence. And there was Carrie plus 10 other pups.

5 by 7 inch postcard; acrylic paint, collage, stencilling

Last week I mailed off my first mail art piece which was for a mail art call to be exhibited in May at the Nanaimo Art Gallery on Vancouver Island (BC, Canada).

Mail art is fairly new to me. I had been aware of it somewhat but never really explored it. I started reading more about it and decided that I like the idea of sending a postcard  that is made by me and has my own artwork front and back. I also like that it goes through the postal system getting cancel stamps and that it functions as an interesting piece of art for the postman, the sorters, and everyone involved in moving a piece of mail.

the back of the postcard, postage by Canadian artist Fafard

In my first project, the Mayworks Mail Art Exhibit, I was often thinking about the postman/woman and about capturing their interest in my postcard. The theme assigned for the exhibit was “labour and / or work.” My composition evolved into an exploration of  ideas about women in the arts & crafts. Are they/we experiencing disadvantages when in it comes to making money in the field? No answer is offered, only the germ of a thought.

With mail art, “art” is taken out of the gallery system and out of the jurying process. Everything received is exhibited. And everything received is not returned, it is usually catalogued at the gallery.  Sometimes catalogues are published online or in print. I find this aspect of letting go of a piece of art refreshing.

Ray Johnson is credited with initiating the Mail Art movement back in the mid-1950s. Only when he started his project it was a bit different then what I’m participating in. Johnson …

[built] up a network of correspondents who would exchange objects and messages through the postal system. Initially it was Johnson himself sending out small collage-like works to a mailing list, urging people to keep them, to add to them, to change them, to send them to others, to return to sender. In time others joined in this activity, and in the course of the 1960’s and 1970’s the network grew way beyond the immediate reach and touch of Johnson’s own mailing activities. The initial network was named The New York Correspondance School (sic) – a spin or pun on the idea of artistic schools and the concomitant idea of art history as a succession of such schools. But then the quip about the history of Mail Art was itself a pun, of the most serious kind. Like so many other avant-garde artists (who left painting and behind) Johnson was eager to cut through the historicist temporality that informed modern art history and art production, with its logic of continual succession and supersession of artistic tradition. Cutting through this logic meant placing the production and thinking of art within the immanence of an eternal present, an uncontrollable present of events, not unlike the eternally present liveness of television – a technology and a communication medium which was just at that moment appropriated for artistic purposes.

Ina Blom at rayjohnson.org

So with this postcard on its way, I am looking to participate in other projects. A great website that posts calls to particpate is Mail Art Projects.  Got any websites/projects you’d like to share on the topic? Let me know in the comments.

A few days ago I picked up Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down The Bones to explore different ways to approach writing, which is something I want to combine with my art journaling. I’m pretty excited about her suggestions and hope that I can give some a try during the month of March and then hopefully try to combine my writing with my art journal pages on a semi-regular basis.

I was happy that my proposal was accepted (this will be my first exhibition of personal work in over 12 years) and that I was paired with another artist so that we’ll be sharing the space — less wall to fill, less stress. But as often happens to me, a proposal that sounded good to me last year no longer feels as relevant today.

I had started with the plan to make pocket mirrors with one-of-a-kind collages on the other side that were going to be all about internal reflection. But around last October, I allowed a dormant interest to flourish — curiosity about the history of Vancouver.

A new year, a new plan

Having finished craft production & craft shows, and having moved out of a big studio at the end of December, I had made the decision to take a break from all of that, and to embark into a new phase of my creativity starting January. That I did.I have been exploring my creativity within my art journal a lot, and I have found a new focus for my exhibition to take place in August. It’s a bit strange, as come June I’ll have to have a few images for publicity, so I’m hoping that by them my focus will be clear and that half of the work will be done. I’m not sure that pocket mirrors are the right medium anymore!!

The Italians in Vancouver

So these days I’m reading books on the Italians in Vancouver and in particular about a very influential Italian-Canadian lawyer and judge. This all started because I wanted to know why there was an abandoned monument/plaza in my neighbourhood — lots of questions about this. Who was it built for, who wanted it built, what was it used for, why was it abandoned? At first I was investigating three different buildings in Vancouver but now I have found the one that really interests me and coincidentally the story behind it is Italian-focused (I am Italian-Canadian).

In other words…

I’m not following my original exhibition plan but I believe you have to be open to change and that you have to be excited about your work. And this to me, right now, is exciting — the story of Italians in Vancouver. I hope the rest — the medium, the content — will slowly emerge and make itself obvious.

Vancouver had a lot of wonderful architecture, signage, neighbourhoods, ect. “Had” I say because when you see his work you realize how much we’ve wiped out. At some point, Vancouver’s development seems to have been dictated by developers. Old, character buildings have been replaced by tall glass and concrete structures. The skyline consists of shades of gray.

Many memories are lost with the replacement of buildings and re-development of neighbourhoods. Europe has retained it’s history and is proud of it. Vancouver seemed and still seems to be intent in wiping out any sense of history. I went to see the exhibit with my neighbour who is from here and grew up here. She said that today’s Vancouver is not the Vancouver she grew up in. When she goes downtown on Granville Street she feels she does not fit in anymore.

This is a wonderful exhibition to check out and I dare say, sad too.

I started this art journal page today and I may work on it some more.

I’ve been wanting to do more pieces with typewriters, so today I tried hand-drawing my Brother typewriter from a photograph. I’m pretty happy with the results as I consider myself more of a photo-based artist. I even used watercolor to fill in the colour, which again is not something I have a lot of experience with.

The title and text for this piece was inspired by Julia Cameron’s book Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance. It always amazes me how relevant her writing is to whatever I’m going through artistically. And in the morning, reading a few paragraphs from the book always provides inspiration.

Are you making any Big Decisions this year? I am!

One of the projects we launched last year was East Feast Vancouver  and this year — in June — we will hold our 2nd annual feast. We are now taking artist submissions! The deadline is April 1st.

The EAST FEAST is a micro-funding event that supports local artists who live or work in the neighbourhoods of Grandview-Woodland & Strathcona through a community meal that raises funds through ticket sales to the event which in turn directly funds an artist or artist group. This FEAST is grassroots micro-funding at its best, relying on community engagement to be successful. We are looking to support and stimulate experimental, creative, and critical projects that would benefit the FEAST community.

To apply & more info visit: East Feast Vancouver

There’s three there right now, two more to go. Two of the collages are on Vancouver and the others on Guatemala.

These are one-of-a-kind and not multiple reproductions, so get them while they’re here.