Blog

What is this creature who

leaves behind seven crows, feathers,

info that connects to Idle no more.

Obviously all cats, crows, creatives

deserve & obtain respect.

They are all about resistance, resilience,

remembering strength heard

while refusing to be herded.

This nubile Cat Fink creature

constructed from & being:

child & elder, graffiti & reality,

red-orange-pink booming amidst

beige-white-black silence.

More feathers, an egg, a branch.

Contrasts of movement, stillness.

Scissors, hearts, nails, shadows of wolves.

A memorable animal making

& sharing memories.

by Si Transken 2014 (used with permission - thanks Si!)

These words are from the show Ekphrasis II, at the Groop Gallery, Prince George, BC, in May 2014, where local poets shared their words inspired by artworks in the gallery.

I am beginning a new body of work titled ' Fix Something Broken'. Check out my new gallery of the same name, on this website. There's two drawings up--'Old Coyote Trick (messages in bottles)' and ' Fix Something Broken'-- and right now I am in the midst of creating the next one titled 'Crowgirl Words'. The two drawings that are up in the website gallery will be showing in the exhibit 'Earthly' at the Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George, BC, April to July 2014. The image in this post is 'Fix Something Broken'.

If you have checked the events page, you will know I have a solo show coming up February 7th through March 1, 2014, at the Station House Gallery in Williams Lake, BC, www.stationhousegallery.com. More details under Events.

Here's a preview, my Artist Statement for the show.

Artist Statement

Coyotes, Cheshires, Angels, and Other Complications

I am an artist, and that means I have an oversized imagination. A professional-basketball-player-sized actually, eight feet tall and size thirty-four runners. Yes, that is actually me. Also note the coyote tail wagging occasionally, the useful ability to fade away leaving only a smile, and the slightly battered halo.

I’ve said it before. Most artists I know (and love) are Tricksters, which means chances are good you are now talking with a Trickster. Welcome!

So the thing about having a size-thirty-four-shoe imagination is that things in life can get very interesting. The reason being that all the other Tricksters decide to get into action and play with me whenever I get the idea for something new to create. This is good. This is fun. We like to play together.

Sometimes this can be crazymaking. Kind of hold-onto-my-socks-and-hat crazymaking. Colours, marks, shapes, words, images all come dancing in, whether I am in my studio or not at the time. My Trickster friends don’t believe in schedules. Lately, they seem especially fond of 3:00 a.m. Despite what this sounds like, I let them go for it. Creating just is what it is, paying attention and playing, and seeing what comes of all that playing, even at 3:00 a.m. I can always nap later.

Most of the time what comes is a joyful, loving, healing drawing. What do I do with the help of the other Tricksters to get this happening? There is a question I ask—What do I love? And another question—What delights me, makes me smile, makes me laugh?

That’s where I start. Not just when I am creating my drawings. That is where I begin with anything I want to create in my life. Love and delight equals joy. When I get joyful, the experiences and people around me get joyful too.

Albert Einstein, a wise man (not just a smart man) and one of my heroes, asked if we live in a friendly universe or a hostile universe. When you think about it, that question opens up everything. It goes to the root of what I believe fundamentally about my life.

What kind of a universe do I live in? Well, I believe in Coyote Tricksters (fun), Cheshire Cats (wise play), Angels (love and spirit). Yes, I believe in a friendly universe. Not only believe it. I choose it. I choose fun, wisdom, play, love, spirit. That’s my Trickster recipe for life.

What’s yours?

Image below is 'Old Coyote Trick (joy)' -- The coyotes decided to take ballet lessons and then go visit Venice. Sounds like fun! Think I'll go visit Venice with them.

Hey all! This time the coyotes are building and burning fences. Take a look in my gallery 'Garudas, Cheshire Cats and Other Complications'. I love my coyotes. They are wise and eternal children out for fun, usually doing both things at the same time. Tricksters, of course! What else could they be?

See my work 'Angels in a Small Crowd' at Fine Arts 2013 in Sooke, BC. And see my creation process on August 1st, Thursday at the show. I will be there from 11am to 1pm and again from 2pm to 4pm, creating a new drawing from start to finish. Come and enjoy, ask questions, and cheer me on! The show's website is www.sookefinearts.com.

A new coyote drawing. Find it in the Garudas, Cheshire Cats And Other Complications gallery. It is titled 'Old Coyote Trick (joy)'. The coyotes have their ballet toe shoes on, and they are dancing in Venice!

I am teaching a weekend workshop at the Station House Gallery in Williams Lake, BC. Contact the Station House to register at 250-392-6113 or email manager@stationhousegallery.com.

PASTELS--DRAWING WITH THE RAINBOW!

June 1 and 2, 2013, Saturday and Sunday
10am to 5pm each day (includes 1 hour break for lunch)
In the Station House Gallery upstairs art room

A two-day introduction to the materials and methods of creating artwork with soft pastels. This workshop is hands-on, with short lectures and discussion. You will learn about the types of pastels and papers, pastel application methods, and combining pastels with other drawing materials. Books and artworks will be available as reference materials during the workshop. Workshop is limited to 8 participants to allow time for both individual and group instruction. Previous drawing experience helpful, but not essential. NOTE: Soft pastels (also called dry pastel or chalk pastel) are not oil pastels.

FEE: $130, plus $19 for package of pastel art papers provided by the instructor at start of the workshop. Supply list available at registration.

I will be teaching a two-day weekend workshop at the Station House Gallery in Williams Lake, BC. Contact the Station House to register at 250-392-6113 or manager@stationhousegallery.com. Here's the blurb---

PASTELS--DRAWING WITH THE RAINBOW!

April 13 and 14, Saturday and Sunday
10am to 5pm each day (includes 1 hour break for lunch)
In the Station House Gallery upstairs art room

A two-day introduction to the materials and methods of creating artwork with
soft pastels. This workshop is hands-on, with short lectures and
discussion. You will learn about the various types of soft pastels and
pastel papers, pastel application methods, and combining pastels with other
drawing materials. Books on pastels and finished pastel artworks will be
available as reference materials for use during the workshop. Workshop is
limited to 8 participants to allow time for both individual and group
instruction. Previous drawing experience is helpful but not essential.
NOTE: Soft pastels (also called dry pastel and chalk pastel) are NOT oil
pastels which require an entirely different method of working than will be
taught in this workshop.

Cost--$130 plus $19 for package of specialty pastel art papers supplied by
the instructor. A supply list will be handed out upon registration.

About the instructor--Cat Fink is a local artist with fourteen years
professional experience. Cat creates large narrative still life drawings
using a mix of pastel, charcoal, graphite, coloured pencil, and acrylic on
paper. Her work has received both juror's and purchase awards, and has been
published as illustration and magazine cover. Cat's website is at
www.walkingowlstudio.ca.

New drawing! In the Garudas and Cheshires Cats gallery, look for Angels in a Small Crowd.

''angels in a small crowd

face worn through by tears

holding up an empty sky

holding down the earth

lost found

hidden revealed

to keep the demons at bay

open both your eyes

do not look back''

in compassion for the 84 (at the time I began the drawing) Tibetans who have burned themselves

a Christmas season offering written many years ago.....Happy Christmas!

Everything I Know About the Human Heart

What do I know about the human heart? It’s far too fragile and much too big and it gets too heavy sometimes. It knows how to sing the sweetest songs, and it knows how to be black and hard.

The human heart. I’ve read it in books, so slowly in words that my heart almost stops. I’ve heard it in music, fast and joyous, quiet, graceful, full and empty.

The human heart. We all have one, though for some people I know I’d dispute that fact.

The human heart. Cupid sends arrows and we fall and we bleed and out of that comes love and sometimes sorrow and sometimes only fear.

The human heart. I know that it loves sunny days at the end of September and cold nights in February. I know that it cosies round other hearts and looks for the half of itself that it knows someone has. My husband carries half my heart and I carry his. We’ve traded you see, so that I can feel what he feels and he knows what I know, and we get mad sometimes because the other is holding a little too tight or got careless and left our heart somewhere for a while.

What I know about the human heart. I gave part of mine to my son at his birth, no, even before when I saw him move across the skin of my belly. I gave him part, or he took it perhaps, but when he was born it went with him. And he holds it with him everywhere and he doesn’t always know that, but I know and he’ll be safe with it.

What do I know about the human heart? I know that it rises and falls as the sun. I know that each one I love will take a piece of mine when they leave. And I’ll cry and I’ll ache and I’ll dream and I’ll bring out the glue pot and the red paper and cut myself a bigger heart this time, so there’s more of it left when another one leaves.

I know that my heart lies open some days when I see all the world huge like beauty. I know that my heart gets small and leaves me some days, when I anger and rage and leave hard footprints on the floor. And I know my heart weeps sometimes in my sleep because my pillow lies wet in the morning.

September 14, 2001

Written at Natalie Goldberg's workshop at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, BC