Yvette Daou-Yacoub: The Beading Artist

When I started beading 13 years ago, all I wanted is to create jewelry and accessories. I love jewellery, I love fashion. To me, no outfit is complete without accessories. What got me started first and foremost was the fact that I could never find the proper pieces of jewellery or accessories when I went shopping for clothes. Yes, the market is flooded with accessories, but never the proper ones for me. And, when I found a piece that I like, either it was very expensive or not in line with current fashions. At that point, I made me decision: I had to start making and designing my own jewellery.

So, this is how my beading journey got started! I signed up for jewellery making courses, beading workshops and taking gemology courses. My first gemology class was the study of pearts at the Canadian Jewellers Institute. Pearls are the most amazing organic gemstones, and with the technology of today, they are produced in so many forms, shapes and colours, sometimes natural and other times cultivated or even artificially made.

The more I educated myself about beads, the more I fell in love with the trade. I started designing jewellery for myself, then for my sisters, then for my friends, then for neighbours and colleagues, and the circle started getting wider and wider…  I started showing my designs by having jewellery parties and open houses.  All the ladies kept admiring my pieces and complimenting me by saying: “Yvette, you are so talented, your work is a piece of art”, “Yvette, you are such an artist, I love your work. I have been receiving so many compliments on that necklace I bought from you last year”. Suddenly, it dawned on me; beading is a form of Art!

Few years later I started receiving orders for Bridal Parties, it was not just to make jewellery, but it was for centre pieces.  One bride needed crystals drops for her tree as a centre piece.  So I started creating and designing beaded items for decorations, and Holiday themes.  My beading journey took a different turn all of a sudden. I cannot call it just beaded jewellery anymore, I am designing and creating more than just that, I had to change the name to Beaded Art items, so I can include all the other decorative items, such as: Holiday items, Key Chains, Book marks, Sunglass holders, napkin rings, purse enhancers, Tiaras, hair combs, window Sun Catchers…

I am called the Beading Artist now, I am creating items with beads, and I am designing jewellery with all sorts of beads.  My horizon have widened so much, the sky is my limit.

The studio tour is during the weekend of October 15th and 16th. Please mark your calendar and plan on visiting some of our amazing artists. 

Introducing Maya Strelnikova

One of the wonderful aspects of the studio tour, that many visitors have commented on, is the diversity of arts and handiworks that are included in each tour. This year, Maya Strelnikova, a gifted knitter and designer of beautiful knit works is joining the tour.

This is Maya Strelnikova, modelling one of her original sweater designs.

This year, the Studio Tour will be taking place on the weekend of October 15th and 16th. Subscribe to our blog, to learn more about this year's artists!

Haleh Dehlavi: Just Be Present!

Our featured artists this week is Haleh Dehlavi. She kindly shares with us the meaning and inspiration behind her work.

Born in a family of musicians, poets, and visual artists, I’ve been deeply enriched with different forms of art. The most inspiring is my mother's talent in drawing and painting, which was in addition to her career as a professional musician. From a  very young age watching my mother's paintings enticed me toward finding my passion in visual art. Now my goal in creating artwork is exploring endless endless ways of creation, working with colours, motifs, shapes and textures.

My work is expressive and imaginative. By fostering a deep sense of connection to my inner world, I transform the energy of my thoughts and feelings to heartfelt lines of wires, shades of colours and textural surfaces. I consciously immerse in the sensation of "Being" and devote my presence to the momentum of creation. I simply improvise; I don't plan, I let my soul lead me to select materials, shapes, textures and colours until the entire composition unfolds.

As a mixed media contemporary/abstract artist, I enjoy working with different materials and textures; however, wire is my signature element. The idea for working with wire came to me as I visualized interesting shapes in my fallen strands of hair.

My education and work experience in Textile Design and Printing (BA) has enhanced my ability to employ various themes and techniques that create rhythmic and balanced compositions and  are instrumental to designing fabrics.

The title of my collection is “JustBe” and this phrase is imbedded as a hidden message in each piece of this collection. “JustBe” is an indication of “Being” as the essence of living and ascension of mindfulness. My motto is:  Just Be Present!  Pause, Feel, and Embrace the Moment You Are In to truly experience the Life Within!

 

This year's studio tour is on during the weekend of October 15th and 16th. Make sure you subscribe to our email list, on the right side of this post, so that you don't miss any of the featured artists!

Katie Argyle: It's All in Black and White, Prints and Pots

This week's featured artist is Katie Argyle. She is sharing with us her exciting prints and pottery, and some of the thinking and inspiration that leads to her wonderful work.

I love black and white. The challenge of communicating colourful, complicated images using only black and white is an exciting thing to me. For this year's studio tour I will be featuring relief prints as well as my hand built pots.

Self Portrait Wtih Door (woodblock print 11x14)

I am someone who thrives on the process involved in creating an object. I want to know my materials. I strive to master my process: from the tools I use (sharp gougers, ceramic carving loops, metal scribes, rubber rollers) to the materials I need to make the thing (clay, underglazes, glazes, wood blocks, linoleum, printing ink).

Upgrade (woodblock print, 18" x 40")

Kitchen Wizard (ceramic platter with black underglaze, sgraffito, approx 14" diameter)

Mastery takes time. It requires patience and diligence. It's a slow process. Neither of my preferred mediums, ceramics and printmaking, are about instant gratification. At every stage there is work that needs doing, to progress to the next state and then eventually to the end. Sometimes, the work doesn't make it there. Is it a loss? No! For me, the goal is never to hurry or to make something to sell. That does not motivate me at all. I am internally driven to learn something new, to challenge myself, and always to make the thing I have never seen before.

You Are Here (test: You Are Here - linocut - 4" x 6")

And sometimes, I just want to make myself laugh.

Come see my work at The Burr House stop of the studio tour. during the weekend of October 15th and 16th.  Until then, my work can also be found on my website, katieargyle.com and I blog at plasticmasters.blogspot.com. In person I can be found on the weekends at two local markets this summer. Check my website for locations and dates.

Happy Mother's Day from the Richmond Hill Studio Tour

Sharing art and culture with Richmond Hill and surrounding communities, is one of the purposes of the Richmond Hill Studio Tour. In honour of Moms and the special people in our lives who love and nurture us, today we are sharing some inspiring and beautiful artwork and some ideas for art related activities you can enjoy with your mom.

You can see some of Victor Molev's work at Reversion 2016 Superwonder Gallery at 876 Bloor Street Toronto.

Sue Forester is having a lovely exhibition this weekend, called "Strokes of Paint", check out this website for details.

If mom is busy brunching this weekend, then consider sharing art together, by participating in a floral inspired collage workshop on May 28th. This collage workshop is with studio tour artist Sharon Kirsh and is geared to all levels. You can read about it here, The course code is 563066. 

This year's studio tour will be on the weekend of October 15th and 16th. Make sure you are subscribed to this blog to learn more about the amazing artists participating this year. 
 

Mother's Day is Soon!

Need a gift or card for Mother's day? Our Richmond Hill Studio Tour artists have some wonderfully unique ideas.

Rubina Panjwani creates such beautiful jewellery that mothers would be delighted to receive.

 Ona Kingdon has several of her Ted series on soft velveteen pillow covers. This one is especially appropriate for Mother's day.

Katie Argyle has created some fun decorative plates. I am sure many Moms would love this one.

Komal Riz has made these beautiful butterfly earings

and of course, no Mother's day would be complete without a card. Vera Samarkina has created these wonderfully unique hand painted cards for Mother's day

If you would like find out more about any of the above items please click on the artists names above. To see some other current work by our Richmond Hill Studio Tour artists please visit our facebook page.

Elina Ten at Vancouver's Fashion Week

Love high fashion, but not able to be part of Vancouver or Western Canada Fashion Week? Don't worry! There's good news.  Elina Ten, who was a hit on the runway, will be participating in this year's Studio Tour. In the meantime, you can enjoy these photographs of her amazing designs.

You can learn more about Elina, by visiting her website.

This year, the Studio Tour will take place during the weekend of October 15th and 16th. Like our Facebook Page, for up-to-the minute information and inspiration about our Studio Tour Artists!

Introducing our 2016 Studio Tour Artists

A big congratulations to Ian Kochberg, Maya Strelnikova, Alexander Kastulin, Victor Molev, Alice Chic, Sherri Rossi, Maryam Ebrahimi, Valentine loppe, Sharon Kirsh, Karen Pasieka, Elina Ten, Mari Nicolson, Joanna Dabrowski, Wendy Emery, Ana Wood , Ona Kingdon, Phil Shepherd, Haleh Dehlavi, Anu Kalraa, Daniel Marlatt, Barbara Corbin, Lori-Dreyer Spendiff, Sarah Hall, Shiva Moghaddasi, Katie Argyle, Vera Samarkina, Helen Pokra, Marina Leyderman, Caterina Liberatore, Greg Chiykowski, John Nussbaum, Wendy Cho, Sue Foerster, Shoshana Lock, Maryam Sadrolhefazi, Laurel Douglas-Shugarman, Rubina Panjwani, Christine Jackson, Roger Potts, Raya Finkelson, Josephine Sherman, Irit Brodsky, Grace Tetelbaun, Yvette Daou-Yacoub and Komal Rizvi for being accepted into the 2016 Richmond Hill Studio Tour

Rubina Panjwani: Jewelry Artist

Rubina Panjwani will be at the Oak Ridges Community Center on the 17 and 18 of October for the Richmond Hill Studio Tour and this is her blog post.

I am a creative person and familiar with a variety of crafts. With respect to jewelry design, I am very interested in wire wrapping techniques, which is a technique that dates back thousands of years. Wire wrapping requires the use different kinds and shape of wires, cabochon, beads,and an array of tools.

This is a piece of jewelry as it is being created.

Here it is completed.

My motivations come from Mother Nature. A hoping frog, Fall colours, trees in the winter-time, colourful flowers, majestic birds, and beautiful butterflies - anyone of these sights can prove inspiring. When I make jewelry, I don't usually draw first. In the past I have tried that, but drawing a pre-set notion of what I want to create often feels restricting. When I just follow my train of thoughts and let my hands keep up, the wire-wrapping takes me in unique directions, and then I add-in beads or work on cabochon. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why I never repeat my designs. All my designs come from my heart and soul, and a place of freedom. In fact, I do my best work when I too am happy and at peace. Making jewelry is certainly not as easy as it may seem. You require imagination, yes - but it also needs patience, effort, hard-work and persistence. An important piece of advice for aspiring wire-wrappers is to remember that wire has a soft nature. When you stress wire, it becomes hard and stiff; it refuses to listen to you and bend to your whims and becomes difficult to work with. Be gentle in your approach.

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend. Please click here to see the brochure so that you can visit the Richmond Hill Studio Tour artists this weekend.

Studio Tour Featured Artist - Vera Samarkina

Vera Samarkina, a wonderful new to the studio tour this year shares her artwork and thoughts on her process in this week's post.

Born to an artistic family, I grew up surrounded by watercolors, brushes, stained glass and sculptures, but it wasn't until I started doodling - a passion that brings lines to life in a somewhat meditative process and naturally intertwines into animal and floral images, which are often finished with slight touches of color.

My inspiration comes from nature - vibrant flowers, green valleys, and peaceful lakes fill my canvas. Spending time outdoors with my family always puts me into a creative mode. My absolute favorite place is Algonquin park, where it seems I can stay forever and just paint. I love this feeling of freedom. My creative process is very spontaneous and each piece may take as little as 15 minutes or many weeks. Sometimes I keep painting for days on end, allowing the work to stay in a raw and quite state for weeks. However, whenever the urge appears, even if it is late at night or half way through my house chores, I pull out all my brushes, put up music and set the stage to paint, just as a rock star would, as they are about to perform.

Check out the brochure for Vera's location info, dates and times of the Studio Tour!   

Ona Kingdon - Watercolour artist

Ona Kingdon is an internationally award winning watercolour artist and will be in the front East room at Boynton House, 1300 Elgin Mills Rd on Richmond Green on the 16th, 17th and 18th October for the Studio Tour this year.

Ona loves being able to create a story or capture feeling through her art….  

“Every blank piece of paper I use feels full of hope and promise. Sometimes I am inspired by music I hear or a phrase or lyrics from a song and this sparks ideas. Other times it’s as simple as a feeling or emotion that inspires me. 

 Although I usually have a very clear idea in my mind from the onset what I want to create, the painting journey is full of times when I am unsure of how to proceed, times when I need to stop and think, or times when I make a mistake and have to decide whether to live with it and use it or to find a way to remove it.”

 From initial reference photo to the finished framed painting, this composite photo outlines the journey of the creation of Ona’s painting ‘Heart Strings’

“ As a fellow watercolourist said to me recently: Watercolour is such a delicate and unforgiving medium but the trials during each painting journey often seem to enhance that feeling of accomplishment at the finish line.... It’s this journey that I love the most.” 

  We wondered if Ona had a favourite painting that she had created…

 “There are a couple that I am attached to for sentimental reasons (usually those of my children) but generally my favourite changes with each painting I do because what I love most is the process of creation. There is nothing quite like taking an idea only I can clearly see in my mind and capturing the essence of it on paper so that others can share in the emotions or story attached to it.”

 In this photo Ona is painting the watercolour ‘Sugar sugar’ watched by one of the hummingbirds as she carefully paints each note of the song in the background.

During this year’s Studio Tour Ona will have many of her music series watercolours for us to see. She says:

 “I love how you can be having such a dismal day, you hear a piece of music and it can uplift you. Equally it can calm or energize you too, so in my music series I set about finding ways to capture visually the many different ways music touches us. For example, in Sognando I wanted to capture that almost dream like feeling when music transports you to another dimension" 
 

Both Zayn and Sarah, the musicians in the photos above will be playing live at Boynton House during this years Studio Tour. Several of Sarah’s fellow musicians from the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra will also be joining her. It promises to be a great event.

 "I am really excited that some of the musicians that helped inspire my paintings are going to be with me on the Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday afternoon of the Studio Tour playing live music for us all. They are also bringing some of their musician friends so not only will my visitors be able to see the art but also hear some of the music that inspired me to create it.”

Check out the brochure for location info, dates and times of the Studio Tour!  

Karen Pasieka - Polymer Clay Artist

This week, Karen Pasieka is sharing her inspiration and how one of her most beloved pieces was formed.

When I had made my first ranunculus flower brooch, I noticed that I had accidentally created a simple cane with the offcut.

I never discard any clay, and I saw an opportunity with these byproduct canes to make simple, graphic flowers when left in miniature.  For Pick Me! II, I filled a wide band of the polymer clay tile (which is a sheet of clay that I created, blended from soft teal blue to white to simulate the sky) with a cluster of these varied cane slices.  I create my composition by first placing in the flowers, then painstakingly fill in the stems from each and every flower head!

The final product is baked and then mounted in a shadow box frame.

Sometimes my inspiration comes from what I see in nature, and other times simply by the vibrant colours from my bins of clay.  When I'm working well and frequently, the designs and compositions run through my head and I simply cannot wait to get to creating them.  Very rarely do I ever sketch before I create.

I have always been a creative soul, and have been crafting and making art of various forms from various media since I was a little girl...polymer clay is the one that I always return to...I think it's the tactile nature of the medium that love so much!

Looking forward to sharing more of my work and inspiration with you during the Studio Tour! Check out the brochure for location info, dates and times!

Wendy Emery: Glass Artist

Wendy Emery is a glass artist who will be showing her work at her own studio at this years' studio tour on October 17th and 18th! Wendy wanted to share with us all the fun she has with glass...

As a child I was told to be wary of glass, I heard things like,  "Be careful it's glass!" or "Don't touch it you'll break it!" I guess I was a rebel, because I didn't listen. Now I play with glass all day long. I think it's because glass really fascinates me. I am intrigued by what happens when I break, cut, smash, grind, shape and sometimes polish my pieces of glass.

My favorite however, is when the glass is heated to extreme temperatures (sometimes over 1500 degrees F), and I am able to manipulate the glass, making it stretch, and watching it bend curl, and twist.

I love that glass has a liquid quality in it's solid state, and that not only depth but so many different textures can be achieved when fusing glass. 

So glad I was a rebel!!! Can't wait to see you during the tour! Check out my location details in the brochure.

Meet the Artists at Covernotes

On Thursday September 17th, between 5pm and 8:30, come and meet Richmond Hill Studio Tour Artists, have a delicious cup of tea. Please join us and see some of the lovely work they have hanging, and hang with some lovely people!

 Just a sampling of some of the lovely work.

And here is a sampling of a lovely artist.

Check out our brochure for the studio tour which will be held on the weekend of October 17th and 18th.