Art

Exposure

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“Sometimes we find our inherent selves in youth. It is a recognition of something that at first is small within us, that we will grow into somehow” The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje

I was struck by these thoughts. They have woven themselves into me,  and they have pressed up against a barrier on the way out.

I am seeing a small girl standing on the tailgate of truck. (Is that right? Did we have a truck at that time? I do remember being high up.)  She is standing with a brown rectangular box in her hands. A camera. Her first. As I remember this I am watching my younger self. One of those third person memories, where you are separate from the girl you are looking at, but you are also in her, and are her. Those memories can’t always be trusted. They are both real and not real. They ripple with distortion.

As you are protectively watching her, she glances over her shoulder, as if for reinforcement. As though you are her buttress. And you know that you are.

She is marking time. No. She is stopping time. Marking changes.

click. that click seems so quiet. a pause. these images she is making are just whispers in time. there are people here in the landscape, but is that what she is trying to hold on to?

Something tangible will remain. It will be a small paper square with a white border. The surface glossy. The white border is appropriate because it is a landscape of snow.  White, grey and cold.  On the cusp of a warmer  season. (those people; what do they look like now?)

You can almost smell the plasticity of the brown box. The smell of the film. The acrid odour of a just-burned flashbulb. It is powerful, that  particular sense. A sense that can send you back into a memory as fast as a swirling twister. One quick spiraling breath and you are there. Fleetingly. But in that snippet of time you remember that sensation.

The power of pausing time. Shaping images.

click. it is a quiet place this marking of moments. are they shaped to her favour? if the memories can’t be trusted, can the images? are they too, manipulated by time? it doesn’t matter. she is fond of the layers that time settles on these moments, she is easily pulled into the riddles.  click. exhale.  she is still lost in this visual space.  still at times, glancing over her shoulder. i am watching her, still.

© Karen McRae, 2012

Rain

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We’ve been having bits of rain today. It is a sweet relief for a parched land with cracking earth, wilting trees and low rivers. The mudflats stretch on and on like a low tide.
I rarely insert myself into the landscape but today I felt part of it.









Ottawa River

All images © Karen McRae

An Urban Breathing Space: Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto

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A wonderfully creative and sustainable use of retired industrial land in the city, the Evergreen Brick Works is an extraordinary community environmental centre located on the site of the former Don Valley Brick Works (1889-1980’s) which produced many of the bricks that built Toronto. Old and new is beautifully integrated, creating an eclectic and vibrant space that makes full use of its central location on a swath of green space along the Don Valley ravine that runs through Toronto.

If you arrive on a Saturday you will find a bustling farmers market, selling local seasonal food, and buzzing with the energy of creative and interesting people. We brought home some fresh fish, garlic scapes, new potatoes, swiss chard and multicoloured heirloom carrots, which were all put to good use.
An interesting little shelter where you can wait for a bus or a free shuttle to take you to the subway system for a convenient commute. Note the industrial pieces on the ceiling re-purposed as integrated art.

A central garden space showing both new and old buildings.


Above: A small section of the children’s garden. There are children’s day camps that run out of some of the buildings.

The open rafter area inside this building above,  marks the Koerner Gardens, which are planted with native species. There is also a garden shop where you can learn about, and purchase, native plantings and many other products.


The large artwork on this wall is called Watershed Consciousness and was created by artist Ferruccio Sardella. It represents a map of the rivers that flow through the city and gently flows with water itself to sustain the plants tucked into the crevices that mark the waterways. The structural metalwork acts as a support for the both the building and the artwork.



Much of the old graffiti has been left on the surfaces and somehow it adds to the dynamic community feel of the site.

The interior space of Koerner Gardens. In the winter this area is transformed into a skating rink where you can wind your way around the raised beds under the open rafters. The skating rink is equipped with a refrigeration system and the waste heat produced from this system is directed to heat the adjoining cafe.

An image of what the clay and shale quarry used to look like before it was filled with water and turned into a vital habitat for native flora and fauna.
Below: A cross-section representation of the rock layers found in the quarry.


You just have to turn away from the buildings to see what is, essentially, the back garden to the Brick Works. A green space so vast that it’s hard to image you are in a huge city. There are winding walking trails within the 40 acre site that take you to lovely ponds, boardwalks and sitting areas. And beyond that the continuation of the ravine system and its huge network of paths.





There are many interesting businesses, events and features within the Evergreen Brick Works that I haven’t even touched on here. If you are interested in more information you can visit their website here: www.ebw.evergreen.ca

All images © Karen McRae

Driftwood Diversity

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I’m working on a little art and photography project related to children and it got me thinking about things that I would have been interested in, and looking for, when I was a child. Not so different from what I’m always absorbed in now!
The bird above is a good example; I picked this up when I was child, out of the same river I am often beside (or in) these days. I was at a cottage with my family and this driftwood bird was lying at the water’s edge waiting for me to come along. It is, as I found it, and has flown with me from home to home ever since.

These smaller driftwood pieces have been arranging themselves into little works of art. They are pieces infused with salt air and salt water. Wood that has traveled the sea.






listen…

All images © Karen McRae, 2012

Moving Day

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A rare draw portion of Draw and Shoot…I posted an unfinished version of this previously but I think I’ve finally finished fussing with it.
Moving Day oil & conté on Mylar, mounted on board
18″ x 36″ (2 panels)

© Karen McRae, 2012

Recurrence

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I’ve been examining some of the natural objects I’ve picked up over the last few months and I am always amazed at the extraordinary things that can be observed when one stops to really look.

This is a collection of small but very different natural works of art, etched out by time and environment.
This worn shell from Cape Breton reminds me of a delicate piece of filigree china.

It also appears to have tiny articulated legs!? Perhaps the calcified legs of some other creature, or some sort of plant growth, I really don’t know. Or maybe it’s just the way it’s wearing away. Any ideas?

This small stick I picked up from the shore of the Ottawa River is heavily engraved with “drawings” made by insects. The first thing that comes to my mind, is that it looks like a little carved totem pole.



Below are images taken of fossil-bearing rocks from the Ottawa area. The first three contain beautifully patterned fossils of tetradiids, which were solely Ordovician lifeforms. These fossils are quite small and were photographed using a macro lens.



Fossils in the abstract.


All images © Karen McRae

Departure

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Yesterday evening I returned home from more than two weeks in British Columbia. I was fortunate to have the window seat during the departing flight from Vancouver and managed a few quick shots of the rhythmic landscape of low tide.

If it seems as though I’m starting my journey at the end, I suppose I am. The last glimpses of land before a largely cloud-covered flight home. This departure is also a starting point. (Sometimes I read magazines backwards, too…)



All images © Karen McRae

A Little Reveal: A Comb Jelly

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If you saw my last post you would have seen the above unexplained image. Most people knew it was some sort of sea jelly.
Although not a true jellyfish, it is a type of comb jelly, (perhaps Mnemiopsis?)

In the first image the jelly is inverted and at rest, sort of folding back on itself. I like how it’s so abstracted and looks somewhat like a drawing.

The following images show that same sea jelly in motion. This little Atlantic comb jelly is only about 1cm long. I  photographed it with a macro lens, while it was temporarily captured in a bucket. (click on images for a larger view)


Thanks to everyone who “played” along. I love all the creative suggestions as to what it might be!

All images © Karen McRae