Off to North Bay

this is not North Bay, but a photo of THE cool intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan

(that's a statue of Rosa Parks on the left)

I have been offered a joint show (with fellow shadowbox artist Betty Sager) at the Thames Art Gallery in the Mezzanine Gallery in 2012. Then it's off to the Kennedy Gallery in North Bay.

This exhibition requires an entirely new body of work. And it would seem that Betty and I have to produce this thought-provoking show before the end of March. The glue on my shadowboxes, The Saints Series, is barely dry and those boxes were just hung for The Exhibitchin' at ARTspace a few weeks ago. Now I need to bust out my A Game!

Although I was originally a little freaked out (as this is my first show outside of Chatham!), I know this opportunity is the next step in my art practice. A show of this magnitude gives me the impetus to take a step backward and figure out what I really want to say with my art. I need to start thinking about a simple, solid concept. One of my biggest downfalls, I think, is that I tend to overthink my projects. (And eat too many gummy bears in the process.)

I recently took a weekend video workshop taught by Toronto artist Grahame Lynch (who is exhibiting at the Thames Art Gallery later this month, with his show The Logic of Subduction) and it got me thinking in an entirely different way. I am a found object artist who is suddenly interested in movement and sound and memory. Whether this ends up becoming the basis for my upcoming show, I do not know.

But this is all exciting! Movement, sound, memory, found objects, shadowboxes..... stay tuned. I am going to search the dark recesses of my brain and create something very interesting.