Spotlight on Lee McLean

 

Leaving Alone by Lee McLean

Lee McLean is a new member of SAQA Atlantic.  She had the following to say about her entry in the Spotlight Auction: 

I am currently exploring our increasing invisibility in society as we age.  Dylan Thomas' poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night", deeply affected me as a teenager when dealing with the loss of my grandmother.  It resonates as I age.  Working in a series, this piece is inspired by this topic.

The Spotlight Auction is now over for the year, but Lee and the other entrants helped SAQA to raise over $30,000. from the sale of their small works.  Well done, all!

 

Kudos to Helene Blanchette and Regina Marzlin

 

Down the Shore by Helene Blanchette 2021
w34"x h19"

Helene Blanchette has had her work, Down the Shore, accepted into a show at the Argyle Fine Arts gallery in Halifax.  The show, "Get Outta Town" is a group show about travelling.  Argyle asked artists to show their favourite places to escape to, both near and far.  The show runs until April 28 and details of opening hours and directions can be found at www.argylefineart.blogspot.com. 

For those of you who can't make it to Halifax this month, the show will be available online through the above website.

Down the Shore, detail

Artist Statement:

This is a picture of the drive down the Cabot Trail looking North towards Chéticamp. It doesn't really look like this, but if you take your time and go off the main road, you may come across any of these scenes.

Xylem and Phloem by Regina Marzlin,
w24"x h37" 

Regina Marzlin's work, Xylem and Phloem, was accepted into the SAQA international show, Microscapes.  The show will be opening this fall at the prestigious Houston Quilt Festival before touring internationally for 3 years.  

 Regina's artist statement about Xylem and Phloem: 

Those two plant cell types have the function of transporting water, sugar and minerals through the plant. Cellular structures look fascinating under a microscope, they reveal a hidden world and let us marvel at the powers of evolution.

Xylem and Phloem, detail

Audrey Feltham's show, The Inner Landscape, opens April 16th at The Rooms, St. John's NL

Covid 19: The Inner Landscape #6
by Audrey Feltham (2021) w19" x h21"

Printmaker and textile artist Audrey Feltham, from Deer Lake Newfoundland, is pleased to announce her upcoming exhibition at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in St. John's NL.

The artwork in Feltham's show, The Inner Landscape, was created during the pandemic. Her pieces combine print and drawing on cotton with stitch and textile collage. 

Covid 19: The Inner Landscape #8
by Audrey Feltham (2021) w19" x h21"

The Inner Landscape is part of the Gallery's Present Tense exhibition series highlighting the work of artists creating in isolation during the pandemic. Audrey Feltham's exhibition continues until July 16th.

AF:
I am in search of a new place, a new time, and a new attempt to make a bewildering world less painful, less stressful and less threatening. I have dug down deep, talked (a lot to myself) and have tried to listen carefully to what I am saying.

These pieces are a culmination of several years of trying to see my way forward to marry traditional print practise with textile work. For me, each of the processes is immersed in a very meditative and slow response to the hand and the way of mark making. I delight in both creating marks on a print matrix and also carefully creating a lasting textile mark with a needle and thread. My textile marks are almost entirely done by hand. I find it calming and soothing.

Covid 19: The Inner Landscape #4
by Audrey Feltham (2021) w19" x h21

Covid 19: The Inner Landscape #12 (detail) 
by Audrey Feltham (2021).

The entire Inner Landscape series will eventually be on display on Audrey Feltham's website Atelier West Studios.

Learn more about Audrey Feltham at Atelier West Studios, and in our 2018 feature interview Audrey Feltham: Printmaker on paper and textile + stitch.