This is our Christmas card to all of you who visit us on the blog.

We are wishing peace and joy to you and all your family and friends.

Thank you for being with us each day.

                                                                           and still there is an opening.

...the goose is getting fat

please put a penny in the old man's hat.

If you haven't got a penny,

a ha' penny will do,

if you haven't got a ha' penny

then God bless you.

                                                                                  These are all spaces that can be visited, here at the gallery.

One of us was broken but she is mending. We will be back with you on Tuesday.

                                                                                                             Variations on a  Dali theme.

This collage was done after listening to the twenty-one musical portraits composed by Prokofiev while he was attending university.

Some of them are less than a minute in length and each is exquisitely complex and surprising. Please click on the link and enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0jJyUh0T4

Above is the full length of the book unfolded. Below is the folded version seen from the front and each side. Please click on each image to enlarge for reading.

 Today Sae'n'I spent the whole day looking at a computer screen working on making a book.

It felt a little like ice fishing in the Arctic (maybe a slight exaggeration)

We did have success, just some minutes ago but we went a bit stir crazy.

An important part of the process is being seen by those who share and care for the space with us.

The exhibition 'Primary Journey' has evolved to 'Meeting Whale'. Whale is a painting done by me (deborah harris) some fifteen years ago. In this reiteration it is in relationship to the boat figure and represents a deepening of the journey already begun.

The day we remember those we love who have passed.

Halloween began as the ancient festival of Samhain.

It was believed that at the end of summer and the beginning of winter (november 1)

the barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead became very thin.

Disguises were worn to make oneself unrecognizable to the spirits,

negativity was released to make way for new energy to enter.

Today Vivian suggested that we respond to a painting of Gauguin using collage.

It was a very challenging task moving from complete chaos to what you see above.

When we erase what is on the periphery of our attention we lift what is our focal point out of its context,

in so doing what is perceived  may become an entrance to what seems to be another world.

Waiting is not an idea living in the head

waiting occupies the whole of us,

all of our body and senses, our inside and outside must agree

to become receptive, to be ready to receive

what we are waiting for

whenever it finally comes to us.

                               These chalk drawings, done today, are copied from the same section of Salvador Dali's painting  'Burning Giraffe'.

                                                               Same perspective... different orientation

                                                                               Does that mean that we only have to

                                                                        stand on our heads to view things differently?

This blog was meant to go up on Friday... we forgot to push the button so it is up now as well as whatever we blog for today.

Sorry we missed sharing with you on the weekend.

Two different artists,

two different days,

sharing an understanding.

                                            An artist creates a visual language.

                                            In the beginning it is unknown even by the artist but over time with repetition there is recognition and vocabulary expands.

                                            But the language is not only visual it is also spatial, consisting of shapes and dimensions.

                                            It communicates direction and movement, inward and outward.

                                            Postures and gestures convey mood and complex subtle qualities.

                                            When we give our attention to a piece of art we are learning a language,

                                            one that touches the memory of our senses.

                                            We may be surprised that we understand.    

Pruning the big plant in the window, five leaves that were on their way to be discarded...

hung on the door handle they appear exquisite. The gift of discovery can happen anytime.

It is always a surprise.

                                                                                                      Painting by Floyd Kuptana

                                                     Can you spot the two sisters, each perched on a window ledge?

                                                                                                           Warm socks but summer dress!

Today we completed what is now the current exhibition in the main gallery, hanging fish which multiply with shadows

and move in such a joyful way that one could stand for hours and be mesmerized by them.

Such a simple beauty.

                                                                                                                        Little cows are easier to get into boxes.

Recovering from a 'small' mistake can be very intimidating.

But mistakes are our best teachers and if we are willing to learn

something great can come from them.

Today we discovered the magic of creative solution.

Celestial globe

by Jodocus Hondius Junior and Adriaen Veen, 1613.

National Maritime Museum, London.

                                                                                                               water melon season is almost over

All of these dogs are waiting for their persons to get coffee at Sumac Espresso Cafe.

I was at a table drinking mine and drawing them.

Different dogs, different days, different postures,

  same expressions. (with one or two exceptions)

Dogs have more variations than any other species

but it is always their nature to be loyal.

Drawings by debroah harris

                                                                    ...using the materials on hand to create a shrine,

                                                                                         a protected place to be quiet and contemplate

                                                                                           with a sense or reminder of another being

                                                                               or another existence than the one we usually engage with

                                                                                                      'in the world but not of it'

                                                                                                      ...while trying to juggle the red ring.

It has been a very good week

but too far from familiar.

                                                                           The beauty of simple shapes and balance

 Going towards Ward's Island from the city harbour                                                                                          Returning to the city from Ward's Island

                                                                  Sun and Moon are passing figures of countless generations                                                     

            and days coming and going wanderers too.

              Each day is a journey and the journey itself home.

                                                                                                                                                                                Basho

Every year at this time I am asked to write a summary of all the exhibits that have happened in that year.

I try to remember just how each show has evolved from the previous one. I am reminded of the continuity leading to

this moment now. It is a challenge to return to the past but a good way to enter into the present.

Inside the plane, trying to be comfortable,

Sae's mom has a cup of tea.

Working together again after time away

it's a good way to find out who we are

surprising!

                   Eron is often the only guy at the collage table

                   an interesting challenge

                                                                                               that I think he enjoys

                                                                                    ...Plans for the Ark

How did this mysterious horse enter into the city

resembling the legendary Trojan horse

with the scaffolding of its making still in place

a painting of the Greeks before they hid inside merges with Sae's photo

a magical meeting of  gestures

Fragments of images

from other times, other places

gestures recognizable, interchangeable

placed to alter each other's stories,

complete an incompleteness.

Unexpected meetings

surprise us to look.

Will the real Modigliani please stand up.

                                         We are also showing photographic work in the Up North and Ascending Galleries from previous exhibitions.

After a week of working in the stairwell

up and down a hundred times

we are looking something like this!

Today we finished putting up the photographic work in the Ascending Gallery all the way to the fourth floor.

We purchased a new extension ladder which allowed us to reach the ceiling (with some difficulty).

Ed helped with his long reach and between the three of us we got it done.

Sae's mobile is a permanent fixture in the stairwell. It seems to float and dance between the pieces.

All and all it is a magical space.

The photographs shown are by Simeon Posen

with the two middle framed pieces in the roof space by Elaine Ling and Pamela Williams

The reflective quality of glass is that it brings another layer to the underlying image,

in this case it allows the viewer, Sae,  to enter into  the past.

                                                                                  Looking Down / Looking Up

                                                                    Today's Second Installation for the next exhibit 'Photographic Memory'

This is the first piece to be installed in our next exhibit  'PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY'.

The next week will be a bit of a marathon to get ready for the May 11 reception.

You are invited to attend or to visit our website where the exhibition will be documented.

                                                  Alex in Hamilton                    Della Heywood 's painting now hanging in the library at Arcturus

Today Sae'n'I' were re-hanging the collage gallery with new work.

Hammer, pins, transparencies are the tools we use.

These photos were taken during the process.

What is interesting is the way in which these images are composed.

The angles as they repeat and move seamlessly from one frame to the next.

Seen together they reveal something of the mysterious patterns of perception.

We usually think of filling the space,

something we all know how to do

but space may be the most valuable and rare treasure we have

not for what we can put in it but for the experience

of simply being in it.

All the things I want to do

and don't want to do

all stacked up around me...

some thing will call

louder than the rest

that's the one I'll answer to

                                           A friendly wake-up call. Spring has been sleeping too long.

These two collages were done on two separate days.

The one in the foreground is by Sae Kimura

the ghostly figure in the background is by me, deborah harris.

We made their surrounding space transparent and overlapped them,

making them appear to walk together.

They seem to describe something of our relationship.

                                                                                                  "No."

                                                                                          Have a good weekend

                                                                                                                         (It's bit of an uphill climb)

                             Such a  privilege to care for a small piece of earth and watch it come to life each spring.

                                                                                     a high pitched wake up call

... whispering a promise of warm

Today the Reference Library was having a used book and magazine sale. The collage artist's dream is to scrounge through such a sale and find hidden gems. Eron and Sae met there and were shocked by the line-up circling the building. It is a strange phenomena, lining up for something that you want. The longer you wait the more you want the reward of waiting and the harder it is to leave the line, to quit, to give up on your wanting.  Knowing when to quit is a useful lesson to learn in any situation. It is not always a failure to walk away. It can be that it allows us to proceed with something other.

Vivian Felsen's miniature collage response to the new exhibition

and Sae Kimura's response to her response on the top of the mylar display.

... the strands of shredded paper surrounding Jeremy Gordaneer's sculpture,

part of the new exhibition entitled  'i t ' s   c o m p l i c a t e d ' ,

catch the last rays of light.

...can sometimes be an uphill climb of ferocious effort

a fullness and an emptiness on either side of gravity

wanting both but succumbing to the dictates of the moment

we do the best we can.

                                                                             Odawara Kanagawa Japan

                                                                                                  Last day of February 2019

                                                                                                                                                     ...perhaps a clue

...the world is very small

                                            Twenty minutes, give or take, from the city center is Riverdale Farm.

                                                                                                          In the valley of  Riverdale Hill,

                                                                                                              dogs and their people.

                                                                                        and I'm in a tea-cup.

                      Imagination touches the edge of what is known and gives form to what is otherwise elusive.

Happy Valentines Day

                                                                            A space we want to work in.

Today was spent going through art storage and studio in an attempt to find and re-order space.

It is a daunting task which we had enormous success with (even if it does not appear so).

We will continue tomorrow...

                                                              ...each one precariously supported by the other.

                                Working on invitations is exciting and very satisfying, when they are finally complete.

                                But the process takes time and there is an exhausting search for perfection.

                                Fine tuning the colour, the type, the composition to represent the artist's work.

                                The most difficult is getting the placement right for double-sided printing.

                                That is a bit crazy making.

The unexpected guest,

the weather to change,

inspiration, invitation, exhaltation.

The perfect circumstance

to surround us with abundance.

The strength to keep waiting.

This is part of the new exhibition showing five paintings by E.J. Gold from our permanent collection.

                       The process of taking down a show always allows for another seeing of it or seeing it anew.

                        There is both a sadness and an excitement. Sadness that what was will not be again and

                         excitement for the unexpected surprise of what comes next.

These three collages were made into transparencies and placed one on top of the other, held over a light and photographed. There placement was not random. There were elements, curves, angles and perspectives in each which corresponded so perfectly as to make one wonder how such a thing is possible, considering that each was made independent of the other.

                                                                                ... shades of tarnished silver

Today was spent looking back in time,

using old photos to give us clues about the attitudes and experiences

of those who lived a very different reality than the one we know now.

...be a shelter from the storm.