DIY: Gallery Show Recap
DIY is an ongoing culmination of hand-making inspired by craft movements. In March 2023, some of these projects primarily Conte Crayon illustrated ‘recipes’ were shown at the Ranger Station Art Gallery, in Harrison Hot Springs as a month-long solo show meant to inspire the audience to participate in DIY activities. A big thank-you to the Ranger Station for the incredible opportunity to display my work. Gallery Information and Hours
Recipe Card Series
The recipe card series was inspired by my paternal grandmother who lived one hour outside of Fort St. John BC, on a homestead-style farm. As Fort St. John’s planting season is very short it is incredibly difficult to grow pumpkins, so she would bake carrot pie as an alternative. The contents of the recipes created are reflective of my location in Fraser Valley, BC, and are easy to substitute.
Visual Recipes
The recipes were not limited to just food production but were expanded with some visual instructions for DIY household solutions using windowsill plants that are easy to grow. Aloe Vera was shown as it is excellent for skin conditions, and catnip was chosen to encourage the reuse of fabric to make a toy.
Sock Monkey Demo
The tutorial for sewing a cat toy inspired me to also draw my sock doll process. This later resulted in a 3-hour demonstration during the final day of my gallery show, where I did a sock doll-making workshop with five participants. The workshop included the reuse of many materials, the encouragement of improvisation, and the teaching of basic sewing skills.
Canister Wraps
This series blurred the lines between traditional art and craft design. The first canister, ‘Finch and Roses’ paid homage to William Morris’s Arts and Crafts movement but with modern pattern production methods. The design was digitally painted using Procreate, and rendered into a pattern using Photoshop. The DIY Punk wrap used the same Photoshop method for making the pattern, however, the vest was sketched with graphite while the patch was hand embroidered. In the spirit of punk rock, these handmade elements were then scanned.
