Long ago and far away...

Once there was an artist who thought it would be easy to write a blog.  She wasn't good at writing in a journal, she wasn't good at keeping notes, she did like to collect quotes and interesting sayings and she always liked learning new things. So she began, and it seemed like this adventure might be possible.  Then she didn't write for awhile and pretty soon it seemed overwhelming to write something.  Where to start?  Well, it is writing and writing is like a story and I like stories.  The catalyst was this quote I came upon the other day, "What one does is what counts," said Picasso, "not what one had the intention of doing."

Reflections and Ruminations

Justice Court Park, Vernon BC Canada

At the beginning of the year it's always interesting to consider what the past year consisted of and what challenges lie ahead.

As part of the exploration of things past, googling myself brought up this webpage that I had created while at UBCO. I  was happy to see that most of the links still work. When creating the work I was fascinated to read about the idea and intention of its creation which was pure collaborative art which included any and all that wanted to be a creative part of it. Carrying the idea out had some glitches and hiccups but it was officially opened August 2, 1969. The park is an interesting place to visit in Vernon more than 45 years later.
https://people.ok.ubc.ca/creative/virtualgallery/memory/ckashuba/

I'm always fascinated by the stories of how things came into existence and what drove their development. The concept of what happens today being history tomorrow, and that we often just putter along with no idea that our ideas and actions will become history to research down the road.

Passages of time

Taste of Autumn a three colour monotype

Passages of time

Fall marks a passage of time and bridges the gap between summer and winter.  Things that have been growing all summer come to a place of harvest and completion.  In my studio there are seasons as well, time for things to be planted, to grow and to be harvested.  There are even times when nothing appears to be happening but quietly under the surface ideas are taking shape waiting to be brought forth and seen. I've been working on a website and now it's ready to be seen www.christinekashuba.com  It's still a work in progress as with all things but now visible to the world.


Cyanotypes and Sunshine



Poppy Patch a cyanotype by Christine Kashuba

This summer I have been revisiting the Cyanotype process and creating images with the sun as the active agent. The possibilities are endless and on a sunny day I could be found going around the hillside with a piece of cardboard sourcing out places to create images.  My favorite this summer is this Poppy Patch which was created on a very hot, sunny Okanagan summer day.  The poppies were in full bloom and the shadows were strong.  The prepared paper was placed on the ground in the shadow of the poppies with selected poppies laid directly on the paper.  Sunshine activated the chemicals and after it was washed, voila the image appeared.  Similar to developing darkroom images there are controlled and uncontrolled elements in creating cyanotypes which make it an interesting and exciting media to work with.  A great source of information about cyanotypes is this Alternative Photography site.

the lure of the blank page pulls and pushes me

 

inviting me in to make my mark

 

chasing me away wanting to be left alone

 

pushing past the resistance to embrace whatever comes

 

allowing one thing to lead to another

 

appreciating the results

Studio happenings

So what do I do in my studio?  About a year ago I wondered the same thing and so I created a Studio Happenings card.  On it I noted the Date, Time-in, Time-out and Activity...might seem a bit technical for an artist but I really wanted to know what my studio time looked like. I went into my studio as early as 6:00 am and as late as 9:00 pm, working anywhere from half an hour to six and a half hours. And what exactly did I do?  Well, everything from pouring plaster to create a mold for paper relief to preparing work for a show, but the thing that surprised me was how much time I spent cleaning up.  Hmmm...more time cleaning up than creating, so what was happening in my studio when I wasn't there? 

Baseball creating Art!

Listening and watching the world series and thinking about my connections to baseball...



In the Zone monotype Christine Kashuba

I didn’t always love baseball, in fact when I was in elementary school I would be the kid who was purposely too sick to go to school on Sports Day.  In Grade Seven I started to play flag-football and my love affair with sports began. I wasn’t really good, but I loved the teamwork and the feeling of accomplishment that came with playing.

 My exposure to baseball continued to expand when I met and married a baseball fan and player.  Early on he tried to teach me to pitch, and it’s a good thing I was throwing towards the side of a very big brick building!  Participating as a team mom when our boys began to play ball helped me to understand the basics of the game. I listened, watched and learned more about the game of baseball and all it entailed.  When our youngest son started to play I thought I might be able to coach beginners so I signed up to coach and went to the coaching clinic.  I studied the coaching manual, went to the library and researched the physics and history of baseball, asked a lot of questions and got lots of help from other parents.  I ended up coaching for a few years which even included pitching to the kids so they could hit. Baseball was a staple of our summer activities and we spent a lot of time at the ball park.

 Fast forward to the fall of 2008 when we went to watch some of the last games in the old Yankee and Shea Stadiums in New York and a couple of games at the famous Boston Fenway park.  I absorbed the feelings, sounds and sights of being at the ballpark. When I returned I wanted to incorporate those experiences into my UBC Okanagan printmaking class.  I thought I would be incorporating the textures and visual imagery of the ballparks, but then the idea of throwing baseballs to create prints was born resulting in monotypes created using the baseball as the press...

 

UBCO Permanent Collection      http://gallery.ok.ubc.ca/pac/main.php?g2_itemId=4085