Sunday, September 30, 2012

With Francis Muscat

When we left the Tinkls and continued our Uxbridge Art Tour, 
the afternoon light was changing every few minutes. 
As John puts it , "We'd turn a corner and the sky would light up.
 We'd turn another corner and we were back in a Dutch painting.
We turned off Hwy 23 onto Concession Rd #2
on our way to the studio/home of sculptor, Francis Muscat.
His place is definitely a little off the beaten path!
When we parked along his entrance lane we were greeted by a handsome black cat.
The path to Mr Muscat's home is lined with his sculpture.
His favourite medium is glass.
Eventually we arrived at his impressive, self-designed home.
John loved these glass globes. They reminded me of magical squash plants.
They reminded John of the drawings of Raymond Pettibon.
Guest artist, Frank Ditomaso, had a tent displaying his woodwork
near the front entrance to Francis' residence.
The Muscat studio itself is entered through the back. I loved the glass stairway and glass garden.
 John was drawn to this box of tumbled glass.
He looked up at the sign and said, "Let's buy some, Bill."
Inside we met the charming artist.
Francis' glass sculptures looked great in the beautifully lit space.
I particularly liked these whimsical glass figures on the windows.
John loved the view from the little porch with its ceiling of vinyl
and the kitchen pantry with a collection of preserves.
On our way out we once again admired his organic glass pieces in their perfect woodland setting.

On  the 3rd of October 2012 we received a note of thanks from the artist and this comment: "I would like to mention that the Glass around the property was provided by Alfred Engerer and includes works by many Canadian Glass Artists, there are also collaborative works." -- Francis Muscat

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

With Lynne McIlvride Evans

We saved our visit with Lynne MacIlvride Evans for the end of our trip so that we could relax with Shelley's old friend before heading home.
We pulled in at the house
and parked by the family's dairy-farm buildings.
 I followed Bill up the steps to the house.
We enjoyed exploring Lynne's studio. 
 I went straight up to this fabulous watercolour. Love it!
McIlvride Evans has been looking at the distinctive mountain range around Montserrat monastery, near Barcelona  There is a legend that the Holy Grail is hidden in those mountains.
We loved these two recent hurricaine constructions.
Then went upstairs
to meet Kristen Perrott who was showing bird collages on the second floor.
That's one of Perrott's collages on the wall. 
 More of her work -- sorry these pictures don't really convey the charm of these works.
Perrott told us not to miss the view from the second floor balcony. 
We went downstairs to join our friends,
 Lynne McIvride Evans and Shelley Savor.
I had a last look at Get in a Cupboard Now. These hurricane constructions are a departure for McIvride Evans. We envied whoever purchased this one.
We got back into our Zipcar 
pulled out of the driveway 
stopped for a moment at Lake Ridge Road
then turned south toward Toronto and home.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Ladies Who Lunch -- Patti Lupone


Queen West Art Crawl

 Bill and I enjoyed the Queen West Art Crawl today.
 Trinity Bellwoods Park is a perfect place for art and people to mingle.
 We looked for our friend Pamela Williams.
 We bought one of her photographs a decade ago and we still enjoy looking at it so we're always curious to see what she's been up to.
 Here's Williams
and her books.
 We enjoyed meeting the brains behind Foxymopquits and Quilted City.
We want all of their quilts
to furnish our dream-cottage.
 We were pleased to see Garett Walker.
We've been following his photography for the last few years.
He showed us his latest publication: Dome Sweet Dome.
 Detailing his childhood interest in Buckmaster Fuller's geodesic domes.
 Travel back in time with us to the skies-the-limit 60s!
He also showed us his latest project -- portraits of ice scrapers.
 Is summer really over?
Not yet.
 I was drawn to this table of brightly coloured printed fabrics by Avril Loreti.
 I've never seen her stuff before -- I love it. 
Perfect for our dream kitchen.
In the booth next door we met Loreti's colleague, Krystal Speck (most cosmic name ever.)
Speck and Loreti told us they'll be doing something together at this year's Design Show.
We'll leave you with the source of the soundtrack we'd been enjoying -- the deep-bass improvosation of PROCESSOR -- from Melissa J and LP.