Felt by Design goes LOCAL!

I am pleased to announce that two of my fibre art pieces and a selection of my one-of-a-kind greeting cards are now available in one of my favorite places in my neck of the woods - Wabi Sabi.

This fabulous knitting, weaving, spinning and felting store found in Ottawa's artistic Hintonberg area is featuring a selection of unique works by local artisans.  The wares on offer include arm warmers, ceramic knitting bowels, scarves, ornaments, jewelry, and my hand-felted items in addition to its usual overflowing stock of art yarns, wool, roving, knitting needles, spinning wheels and many other glorious things.

Visit Wabi Sabi, Ottawa's unique destination for knitting, spinning, and weaving at:

1078 Wellington Street West
Ottawa, ON  K1Y 2Y3
(613) 725-5648
www.wabi-sabi.ca

Store hours:

Tues - Fri:  10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday:    10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunday:      12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Public Transit: #2 (stops in front), #14 (stops on Gladstone, one block away), O-Train Bayview Station (10 minute walk).

Also, check out the latest creative endeavor in support of this fiberlicioius hot spot:  http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=698d46383cbe1cef172136610&id=9280a999f4

* Finally, keep your eyes pealed for instances of knit bombing - Wabi Sabi is not immune!!!

Etsy Treasury Lits Curated by Felt By Design

This just in - Etsy treasury lists curated by Felt By Design just in time for the holidays!




Find treasures in pleasing tones of yellow ocher at: 
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NTUyNjEwOHwxMDU1ODQ3ODAx/yello-ocher-envy?index=0

Fiberlicious fiber arts and supplies at:  http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NTUyNjEwOHwxMDA0ODA5MzQ2/fibrelicious?index=1

Shades of Gray for a Sunny Day - who says gray needs to be dreary???  http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NTUyNjEwOHwxMDAxNjMxNjUx/shades-of-grey-for-a-sunny-day?index=2

Felt by Design greeting cards hit Ottawa!

Good news!  Just in time for the holidays, Felt by Design greeting cards can now be purchased in Ottawa, Ontario at the Rama Lotus Yoga Centre.  Drop in for a yoga class and pick up a card.  

Visit www.ottawayoga.com for boutique hours and a class schedule.

Rama Lotus Yoga Centre
342 Gladstone Ave.
Ottawa, ON
(613) 234-7974

My Latest Creation!

As always, I am fascinated by the changing of the seasons and the life cycle of trees.  This is my largest in my "Four Seasons" series, coming in at 6 feet by 2 feet.

Felt by Design reaches New Brunswick!!!

I am pleased to announce that my line of fibre art cards are now being sold at the Common's Creperie Cafe in Rothesay, New Brunswick, just outside the city of Saint John.  The cafe is a lovely spot where you can enjoy a scrumptious grilled panini sandwich or savory crep with curried squash or carrot soup followed by a dessert crepe and locally roasted fair trade coffee while surrounded by one-of-a-kind art pieces.

The Common's Creperie Cafe can be found at:

11 Hampton Rd.
Rothesay, NB
E2E 5K8
(506) 847-8480

I will be announcing additional Ontario points of sale for my fibre art cards shortly.  Until then, contact me directly at allysongreen@rogers.com for additional information.

Sneak Peak! (felted cards)

Coming soon - my new line of hand felted cards, available in bricks and mortar points of sale in and around Ottawa!

OAG Director's Blog: A Visit to the Prairies: Art Gallery of Alberta

OAG Director's Blog: A Visit to the Prairies: Art Gallery of Alberta: "In light of the potential for a new purpose-built space for the Ottawa Art Gallery, I have taken time to tour various municipal and regional..."

Follow this blog for a sneak peak into some of Canada's most vibrant and innovative galleries...

CTV News Spot - Flo Glassblowing

My friend and fellow artist, Melody Jewitt was recently featured on the CTV News show at noon. She and her business partner, Bronwen McKnight, opened a lovely glass blowing studio and showroom - Flo Glassblowing - on Gladstone Ave. near Ottawa's Littly Italy. The film clips show Melody crafting a glass bird and Bronwen blowing a glass ornament.

View the Flo Glassblowing website and online store can be viewed at: www.floglassblowing.ca. See the interview and glass demonstrations at: www.ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080205/ott_highlights_noon/ (choose the videos on the right hand side entitled "Leanne visits Flo Glassblowing - Part 1 and 2").

As a side note, thank you Melody for providing these beautiful neclaces for my very special event!

Upcoming Exhibit - selected work at AOE Selections 2011

I am very pleased to announce that my piece entitled "Burning" has been accepted into this year's AOE Selections 2011 exhibit at the Shenkman Arts Centre. The exhibit runs from September 29th to October 25th and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Please join us for the vernissage on September 29th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Trinity Art Gallery, Shenkman Arts Centre, 245 Centrum Blvd., Orleans.

Full information can be found at: http://www.artsoe.ca/en/events/selections.aspx

July Creations

With some unexpected 'free' time on my hands this month, I created two summer-in-Ontario inspired pieces that I am very excited about. Find them, and additional artworks at my new Etsy shop (highlighted below): http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rowanwood?ref=si_shop.

My new Etsy Shop!

Here are my first listed items...

Commissions and Pieces Currently Available for Purchase

I recently uploaded a series of photos to my flikr page in a set entitled "Felt by Design." Within this set, you will find photos of now available for purchase; prices are listed in the description area. I currently do not have a "Four Seasons" piece in stock, but can make it to order (images of available windows are also posted in this photostream). Please note however, that as fibre is unpredictable, each piece is unique unto itself and so no "Four Seasons" piece can be perfectly reproduced.

Follow this link to reach the photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39731623@N03/sets/72157627060379894/

Sneak Peak, Take 3!

(thanks for your inspiration on this one Armita!)

(Quilting, in a different way...)

Sneak Peak Take 2!

Sneak Peak! - The New Art Festival

Upcoming Exhibit @ The New Art Festival!

Ottawa’s longstanding outdoor art tradition, The New Art Festival, is repeating once again this spring on June 4th and 5th. This year, I am excited to be a participating artist and will show my fibre art on the “Clemow Pathway,” space 37.

The New Art Festival (formerly Art in the Park) remains Ottawa’s largest outdoor art exhibit with over 250 artists and entertainers from a full spectrum of disciplines. As always, the festival takes place in the Glebe’s Central Park – east of Bank Street up until O’Connor, between Patterson and Celmow – and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, rain or shine. [Due to construction, the Festival can be accessed by car on O’Connor or Patterson, or by foot on Bank and Clemow.]

According to the organizers, The New Art Festival is a non-commercial event and therefore does not include any mass-produced goods, nor does it have any representation from large chains or corporations. It also continues to be a low carbon footprint event. When attending the festival, you can expect to find:

- free admission
- a family-friendly and community-oriented environment
- a beautiful park setting
- food from local vendors
- a selection of art that is juried by artists and arts professionals
- artists on site to answer your questions and explain their craft

For full details about the exhibition, including driving and public transit directions visit http://www.artinfoboy.org/. In the coming days, you will find samples of my work in addition to a site map on this blog.

Culture in the upcoming Canadian Federal Election - get your vote out on May 2nd!!!

CCA Bulletin 15/11 - Federal Election 2011 - The Party Platforms: What About Culture?

"The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) has taken the platforms available from the five major federal political parties and broken them down for you. Below, you will find all pertinent elements of the party platforms divided into different priorities identified by the CCA. These priorities are areas of focus for the arts, culture and heritage sector in terms of public investments in culture, cultural policies, regulation and taxation. We have not edited any elements of the platforms: we have simply divided them into relevant categories. We also have not omitted information in any of the sections below. Empty columns indicate that we did not find any relevant information on that particular topic in the respective party’s platform. As a final note, with regards to the Bloc Québécois’ platform, we ourselves completed the French to English translation.

"Next week, we will complete our analysis of the political parties’ platforms from the cultural perspective by publishing their responses to the questionnaires we sent them on April 5."

See the full CCA analysis at: http://www.ccarts.ca/en/advocacy/bulletins/2011/1511.htm

Tips & Tricks for Buying Art

Check out this great Etsy blog by Kate that has excellent tips and tricks for buying art you love: http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/eight-etsy-artists-you-should-know-12547/?ref=fp_blog_title

Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the interdepartmental Government Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was designed to facilitate reflection upon strategies to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities throughout all government programmes and policies - a treaty that Canada ratified (with one reservation for Art. 12(4)) on March 11, 2010.

According to UN Enable - a web portal to information on the rights of persons with disabilities - the Convention:

"marks a 'paradigm shift' in attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities. It [shifts] from viewing persons with disabilities as 'objects' of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with disabilities as 'subjects' with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being active members of society... It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights and areas where their rights have been violated, and where protection of rights must be reinforced" (emphasis mine, http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid=13&pid=150).

The full text of the Convention can be found at http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid=13&pid=150.

Throughout the course of the day, conference participants examined the Convention itself, community responses to the Convention, the application of the Convention to our work as public servants and best practices in accessibility in the Government of Canada.
From my perspective, highlights of the conference include:

• The resounding "Nothing about us, without us!" was heard frequently throughout the day. This refers to the call from the people whose lives will be most affected by policies and programmes that target clients with disabilities - they ask that we do not take action without client consultations (as provided for in Art. 4 of the Convention). This is because "able-bodied" people do not understand the complexity of a life lived with disability so therefore their programmes or policies may not account for all the diverse needs of people with disabilities. Moreover, acting without the input of people with disabilities reinforces traditional conceptions of disability where disability is understood in terms of dependence and infirmity.
• Disability does not discriminate - it is (and can be) experienced by people of all ages, races, genders, and socio-economic classes. In addition, able-bodiedness is not fixed or stable - any one of us can acquire disability in our lifetimes. Therefore, disability issues are not only relevant to those with impairments.
• Disability is not necessarily the result of physical impairments, but rather disabling social barriers. For example, someone who is visually impaired can navigate society and the workplace if information can be translated into text. Here, text-to-voice software like "Kurzweil 3000" which reads text found in pdf. format offer different, though no less effective, methods of engaging with language. "Jaws," another similar programme allows people with visual impairments to navigate Microsoft Office and web browsers by reading out loud the dialogue boxes and function keys on the screen.

These are just a few of the highlights and questions that I am considering after my attendance at the conference. If anyone wishes to discuss these, or any other issues, or would like to look at my materials from presenters, then I would be happy to do so.

Work in Progress...

And so it begins...

I lay out squares of partially felted wool upon a layer of un-spun roving...

The piece expands until it is...

...all laid out...

...and ready to go! So I cover the piece...

Add hot soapy water and agitate...

Until I peel back the screen to see the un-spun wool as cloth!

*Stay tuned for the COMPLETED project which will include sewing, beads and a frame!