painting

Beauty in a Time of Dryness

Beauty in a Time of Dryness

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. 


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It's Hard to Paint Walls White

It's Hard to Paint Walls White

Last month our gallery walls were every colour in the rainbow, thanks to Borys Tarasenko's bold black brush strokes and your felt pen skills. It was an awesome month. Now we have another show ahead, and there is so much work to show that we absolutely need some nice, quiet walls to start.

I'm hoping you can help.


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Jim Visser Shares His Revelations

Jim Visser Shares His Revelations

Jim Visser is a landscape painter with a deep connection to his faith, and to the land. Until 1999, when he began painting full time, Visser was a farmer. In Revelations, his most recent exhibition, an awe-filled faith meets a reverence for the earth we all share


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Makoto Fujimura Paints with Gold and Grace

Makoto Fujimura is an artist who has opened worlds for me. He opened the world of abstraction so that I could walk inside. I'd felt shut out of that world before I encountered the welcome of his work. Something in his work continues to draw me, even though it contains no forms I recognize and no concrete concept I can dissect or explain. Even though I'd never heard of Japanese Nihonga painting before.

Fujimura might be the reason I painted my bedroom wall gold. 

Makoto Fujimura opened the world of faith and the arts several cracks wider for me. He showed me, before I began to see it everywhere, that there are artists of excellence who are fervent Christians. Honestly, I'd thought that was a hybrid that didn't exist, like a unicorn.

Finally, Fujimura showed me that, even in a world filled with hunger and thirst, extravagance in art is not only alright but needed. That beauty is life-giving. That hope and creativity are conjoined twins. 

Discover his work at http://www.makotofujimura.com/works/



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Deep Freeze Five Finger Friday


It’s a true winter weekend, with big beautiful snowflakes drifting down. We are going to do what we have to do to survive this together – find the good and celebrate.

We are holding the first of many 2016 winter festivals this weekend, right here on the Ave. Deep Freeze is in its 9th year, and here are five reasons why this ‘cool’ festival (sorry) should be on your to-list this weekend.

image from DeepFreezeFest.ca

image from DeepFreezeFest.ca

INDEX FINGER: THE LEADER

Snow and Ice Carvings

The great big snow carvings are always a hit, and what I’ve seen developing on the Ave this year will not disappoint. The ice carving competition (with chainsaws) starts Saturday with judging on Sunday. It’s always fantastic to see what these carvers see in a block of snow or ice. In the case of the snow carvings, sometimes we also get to play.

MIDDLE FINGER: THE ATTITUDE

Mischievous Fairies Projection Mapping

I’m not sure exactly what to expect from this, but I looking forward to something cool every time I hear ‘projection mapping’. This is essentially projecting moving images onto a building in a way that interacts with the three dimension space of the building. These Deep Freeze projections are set to enchant us on the facade of Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts on Saturday from 6:30 to 9:30 PM. Once the sun goes down, get ready for the fairies will show up and get up to some sort of mischief.

From the website; 

Mischievous fairies, elves and ogres take over the facade of the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts through brilliant projector mapping by Owen Brierley and David Banks. Catch these fantastical creatures popping out of windows, jumping out of doors and sliding down balconies on Saturday from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm.

RING FINGER: THE FAITHFUL

Alysha Creighton’s WAITING ROOM

Find respite from the madness that is a huge festival in the still solace of Alysha Creighton’s WAITING ROOM. Our current intermedia exhibit of image and sound ends very soon, so this is a perfect chance to catch it while you can.

Find out more about WAITING ROOM here.

PINKY FINGER: THE OUTLIER

Alberta. Of Earth and Sky at Gallery at Milner

image from Earth Sky Art

image from Earth Sky Art

While not out of town, this show is not actually part of Deep Freeze at all, so we shall consider it the week’s outlier.

Local artist and arts champion Jay Bigam (@JayisPainting) has a solo show on at the Gallery at Milner at Stanley A. Milner Library downtown. His show features abstract landscapes that capture the feeling of a place, rather than a direct representation.

Get ready for landscapes that burst with colour and dance across the canvas in ribbons.

Jay Bigam will be live painting at the Gallery every Saturday from 2-5 while the show runs (throughout January).

Get more information here

THUMB: THE UNSUNG HERO

Deep Freezer Races

It’d be hard to dub the annual Deep Freezer Races as art, but I would say this one zany event is the force that keeps Deep Freeze interesting every year. This is the one thing that people tend to go ‘huh?’ about, and the one crazy idea that shows off just how willing Arts On The Ave is to bring crazy ideas to life.

It really is people pushing each other around in deep freezers, and it really is amazing.

Catch the races between noon and 2pm on Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10 on 118th Ave between 92 and 93 Street.


See you on the Ave this weekend?



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Listen to Your Soul This June

Listen to Your Soul This June

I’m Dave Von Bieker, a singer-songwriter who has learned the immeasurable value of connecting my creativity to my spirituality. I’m looking forward to focussing on both this June in the mountains, and I’d like to invite you to join me

 


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You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.