Lethbridge artist Annie Martin was inspired by how people and animals next to create homes in her new exhibit “flotilla,” which opens at CASA, Sept. 19 just in time for Arts Days
“It’s been a work in progress,” Martin said, noting a smaller version of the exhibit ran at the Pith Gallery in Calgary back in 2013.
She used some of those pieces and created several more “nests” hanging from the ceiling including a variety of found objects including leaves, branches,plastics, flowers and even flags which usually mark pipes in the ground.
“It’s the result of thinking about how people and animals turn a house into a home by decorating,” she said, adding she was influenced by how animals, particularly magpies pick up objects they find and incorporate them into their nests.
She will be holding a two part workshop in conjunction with Arts Day at CASA about crafting with found objects.
The first one is Sept. 26 from 1-4 p.m. at CASA. The second part will be Oct. 3 from 104 p.m. at CAS.
The resulting works may be part of a group exhibition. You must register for the workshop at CASA to attend. Materials will be provided for artists to “craft a suspended world space from a range of materials,” and discuss the process of collecting and making the idea of home and community.
“ I’ve got a studio full of this stuff,” Miller said.
“A home is not just a shelter. look at how magpies do it,” she observed.
“ It seems to be a basic animal instinct,” she continued.
“This is material I’ve found in the street. It’s part of the process,” she said.
“People don’t realize you can make pretty things you find into something beautiful if you have an eye for the beauty around you,” she said.
“There are monuments by the side of the road which people decorate with flowers. And in SouthEast Asia there are Buddhist shrines which everybody decorates with flowers. Everybody does it and they aren’t trained artists,” she said.
The opening reception is 7-9 p.m. Sept. 19 at CASA. There is no charge to attend. The exhibit runs until Oct. 30.
