These are dry times. Summer slips away faster than you can catch it – a dime down the drain. The sky hangs damp and icy today. Across the globe, powerful little men toy with the world’s future like it’s a game of chicken. Hurricanes have ravaged large parts of our earth. Families will suffer the effects for years to come. Terrorists won’t let London sleep.
This planet can get so ugly. So broken. So disordered. So many of our mirrors are shattered.
There is order in beauty. A divine order, I believe, but whatever your theology you can feel it. The affirmation of disparate parts falling into place.
Jennifer Berkenbosch’s Cultivar matters because the world needs beauty today. We need to be reminded that there is goodness. There is a solid bed beneath this wild river.
Starting this month, on Wednesday, March 22 at 6:30 PM, we're offering workshops again!
Stephanie Medford will be leading us in Block Printing using the linocut technique. For just $25, you'll walk away with 5 prints on some lovely paper, and a linocut to take home and print to your heart's content (you'll have learned how to do that by the evening's end).
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
In just over two years being open on Alberta Avenue, we’ve worked with so many incredible female artists here at Bleeding Heart Art Space. Today we celebrate International Women’s Day by highlighting the work of nine of the wonderful, creative, world-changing women we’ve worked with right here in Edmonton.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
We are excited to share this opportunity to have your work displayed at the Bleeding Heart Art Space this spring in a new group show, curated by local poet and artists, Edward Van Vliet.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Today is the final day to register for our summer retreat–Small, Slow & Beautiful–before the price goes up by$100. The early bird deadline. Midnight tonight.
Small, Slow & Beautiful happens this June 29-July 2 along the Elbow River in Calgary.
This retreat is a risk for us here at Bleeding Heart Art Space. We are betting that a group of creatives are looking for a slow, beautiful space to grow their art and their faith. We are betting that you want to get better at your craft, that you desire creative community, and that you are willing to spend some time and money on these things.
We haven’t done this before, but I’m hoping this is the start of a long-standing tradition in our province. I’m hoping we gather once a year and grow a community unlike any other in the world. Because it will be you and me and some other beautiful souls.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the theme of common ground. I'm sure many of us have been. It's a frightening, divisive time politically and culturally, and the volume of this noise seems to have increased greatly in the past couple of months.
I believe and hold onto the hope that if two parties that are diametrically opposed had the opportunity to sit down with one another one on one, slogans and banners and prejudices aside, we would see some sort of common ground we have as humans.
This is to say that at our core, most of us share the emotions of fear, hope, desire, anger, joy, despair - those are all HUMAN feelings. They do not belong to the left or the right; to people with any certain shade of skin. They are common ground.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
If you are a visual artist, you may be wondering about Macro Painting & Painting. What the heck is it? Is it for you? What can you expect to make over a long weekend at Small, Slow & Beautiful?
Macro images take a close-up look at our world. They train our eyes to pay attention. They show us 'the world in a grain of sand', as William Blake put it.
Here are some examples of wonderful macro images I've found online and from the work of friends, to get your creative imagination in gear.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Our first ArtLuck of 2017 is filled with new faces alongside familiar friends. The food is delicious, conversations run deep and we are sent off with a serenade.
ArtLuck is our every-six-weeks-or-so night of creative sharing. Show and tell for grown ups. A potluck for the eyes and ears, as well as the stomach. Creative community at its best.
Here is a recap of our evening together on February 9, 2017.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Last month I put a challenge out to myself and anyone who’d like to join along (it’s never too late!). I want to support local artists in a tangible way by spending more money on their work in 2017. Not huge pile of cash, but a deliberate, reachable amount of personal patronage.
My goal is to spend 20$ on local arts experiences and $17 on an arts products, every month this year.
20 and 17 in 2017. $37 every month for a total of $444 over the course of the year. If you do this, too, we can make a big difference in the local art scene.
Instead of going to a $15 movie, go to a $15 concert.
Instead of buying a $20 poster from IKEA, pick up a print from a local gallery like SNAP or VividPrint or even right here at Bleeding Heart Art Space.
So, how am I doing? I’m getting there.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Paying attention is the core of all creative work. There is perhaps no better way to practice this skill than to observe and record the finest of details in the smallest of settings. If we can “see the world in a grain of sand”, what might we see in an ocean or a busy intersection?
Attention takes time and focus–both commodities in short supply in our harried, busybody lives. What if you set aside a few days to simply pay attention? To learn to observe, and then to practice that learning, in a supportive community of artists?
From June 28 to July 2, Edmonton Artist Daniel van Heyst will lead a small group of painters, sketchers and other visual artists on adventure in attention during Small, Slow & Beautiful this summer. You can join this group, with early bird pricing in effect until the end of February.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
“How did that fundraising campaign go?”
It’s a question I’ve been asked more than once in these early days of a new year. The question is encouraging, because it shows people are aware we have had a fundraising campaign, and because they care how we are doing. But the answer is complicated.
I want to say ‘Amazing! We hit our goal in record time!’, but that would be a lie. In fact, we didn’t hit our goal at all. So far, we’ve missed it by more than half.
This isn’t a bad news update. I’m very happy with where the Bleeding Heart stands today, and our prospects for a long, healthy future as a space for art, faith, hope and love on the Ave.
To understand why I’m happy, you have to understand the numbers I was looking at just over a month ago, as 2016 was coming to a close.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
