Category archives: Artwork

A mosaic of stones, coins, and jewellery had been growing in our front garden box since May, but it wasn’t until late August that the idea for a heart border took root. Heart-shattered by the hatred in Charlottesville that led to death of Heather Heyer on August 12th, gathering these shards and bits of ephemera into […]

Windwork and timework / have spun gossamer threads from / discarded old bags. Beyond the limits / of material concerns / a dream-sky opens.

This photo of an autumnal scene inspired a collage that emerged in spring.

In this collage series inspired by sea and river voyages, shipwrecks tilt on the ice, abstract shapes go swimming, and an arctic hare chews on a twig. Meanwhile, a famous Norwegian explorer inhabits a turnip-shaped kayak, and a tapir chooses a canoe for his journey downstream. (This collage has a poem to accompany it!)

From the depths of keepsake piles in my mother’s house emerged a Father’s Day card and a birthday gift that I made in the 1970’s. The inside of the Father’s Day card contained a car and some of my thoughts. The Father’s Day message became the centerpiece for a recent collage in his honor. The […]

To make the floral river, I used handmade papers, fabric flowers, ink, and paint-pens. I hope the river is a cheering river!

Even though I never met David Oliver in person, his larger-than-life presence on Facebook made a deep impression on me. Through a hometown connection to his son Brad, I learned about David’s efforts to create a compassionate model of end-of-life care. I also discovered how much Brad and David loved Rush after a double-strength dose […]

As a mostly self-taught collage artist,  I had never studied the medium formally until I took an eight-week course this fall. I am so grateful I decided to attend Donnely Smallwood’s class at the Toronto School of Art, for it helped me look at collage through fresh eyes and taught me new techniques.    

Constructing and deconstructing this collage has given me the chance to play with ideas of aging, identity,  and the artifacts of external validation such as grade reports, standardized test scores, photographs, newspaper articles touting achievement, and even a badge from a 1987 teen pageant that I attended at age 18. It felt cathartic to glue […]