Tuesday 26 November 2013

this is november

monica lacey 2009
Winter.  Blargh.  Nothing to do but keep busy until there's enough snow to get out and play in it.  I've been keeping busy listening to mixtapes by DJ pals, enjoying fun DIY projects, and building some sliding barn doors for my studio.  I've also been successful in keeping a pledge I made to myself about a month ago:  to dance every week, one way or another.  It is working wonders in helping me to feel great about life on a continuous basis - I highly recommend it!

I recently found out I was successful in a proposal I submitted to create an artwork for the PEI Sesquicentennial Art Program, which is commissioning 23 artists to produce work for a collection celebrating the 150 year anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference.  It's a great commission and I am excited to get started.

Last weekend I spoke at an entrepreneurship forum hosted by the Falls Brook Centre and it was a great chance to speak about my work and talk with other folks running their own business or wanting to start one.

Currently I'm working on those barn doors (wait till you see them!), putting together a profile for Saatchi Online, a submission for Gallery Connexion, and for the PEI Art Bank. Lots to do! What dreary grey day?  I didn't even notice.

My inspirations du jour are taking many different forms:

Monday 4 November 2013

devour the harvest

when she got there the cupboards were bare - monica lacey 2013
I'm just discovering the work of Anna Williams, a brilliant photographer, whose super-interesting project, The Voracity, drew me to her. It explores themes of hunger, consumption, and beauty in a gorgeously-laid out online magazine-type-thing. It has me feeling excited again about photography, which seems to happen to me when the leaves fall and the temperature drops - something about the quiet of winter makes me want to notice small things, small changes, the light.

It's also the time to gather the harvest and integrate the stores - lately I've been integrating skills I wasn't sure I'd use again into my daily life/work, and I'm delighted by the fulfilling sensation of wholeness. For instance, I worked for many years in the film industry, but have been out of the game since about 2001. Last week I got asked to work on a music video shoot for the band English Words, under the direction of the filmmaking genius that is Millefiore Clarkes. Today I'll be working on the shoot for a short infofilm for the Holland College Green Machine. Coming back to this work has been just like riding a bicycle - and I hadn't even realized how much I missed it - the teamwork on set can be so magical and satisfying.

I've also been dancing more, and it feels wonderful - something I spent the first half of my life absorbed in, and something I've found endlessly interesting. And slowly there are starting to be more opportunities on PEI for viewing contemporary dance work!  The 605 collective is coming -  I've seen perform and they are great:  http://www.harbourfronttheatre.com/newanimal.html

This time of year really is special - a chance to assess, collect, integrate, and focus for the long snows ahead.  [It's a great time for discovering weird new things, like this site. ]

Tuesday 15 October 2013

updates

cattails - monica lacey 2013
Well, here's a long-overdue update:

Let's see...I began teaching 3 courses in September for my artist-in-residence position with the Town of Stratford, and they're going really well...I'm working on some new pieces in my studio, as well as working on getting my studio set up to match my workflow - it's an ongoing process of course! - and puttering around my new house decorating, building, and enjoying the space.

For Culture Days this year my husband Devon and I offered a dance workshop to promote Charlottetown Dance Collective, and I've started up my writing group again for the PEI Writers Guild.

Last week I took a trip to New Orleans, and got some great inspiration from community-based interactive projects, and from the amazing live music.




Other than that, I've joined the Board of Directors for this town is small and IMAC, so it's been a busy Fall so far!  And it's submission season too...wish me luck :)










Monday 26 August 2013

Curiosity: a love letter to abandoned houses

Wow. Two whole days later and I'm still bone-tired, as my fellow artist Donnalee put it in her post about Saturday's Art in the Open Festival in Charlottetown. Bone-tired, but also satisfied, blissed-out, and kinda speechless.

When I initially conceived of my piece for Art in the Open, I imagined it would appeal perhaps only to a certain audience, or that not everyone would feel something or have a reaction to it, but I am totally delighted with how my installation went! First of all, we had a smooth install - my amazing husband, and two great friends and I worked for 8 hours to get everything ready. The weather could not have been more perfect, and Victoria Park is a gorgeous place to spend the day.

Curiosity: a love letter to abandoned houses - monica lacey 2013

Once it was up, the reactions were so positive:  I had viewers of all ages tell me it moved them in some way, and many people, kids and adults alike, were heard to say, "this is MY house.  I'm going to just stay here." I had elderly folks say they recognized a lot of items from their childhood, kids say they thought it was the best fort ever. A friend told me they saw someone crying. People poked around, read the magazines, sat at the kitchen table, and someone even stole the salt shaker (but returned it later in the mailbox). A dog came in and laid down on the rug. There was a door at either end of the 'house' and one of the most interesting things was watching how many viewers used the doors (which worked & opened & even creaked!), and how many went around, or 'through the walls'.  Often the wall-walkers could be heard to refer to themselves as ghosts, or as having powers. I hope to hear more stories about the experiences people had in the piece as time goes on.

Curiosity: a love letter to abandoned houses - monica lacey 2013
One of my favourite stories of the night:  my friend Todd came to see the installation, and he asked me where I'd gotten the mailbox as he thought it was familiar. Turns out it was his great-grandfather's, as were several of the windows in the 'house'! After teardown I was able to give him the windows so he has a little piece of his family history.

Curiosity: a love letter to abandoned houses - monica lacey 2013

When night fell, I was a bit nervous that my lighting wouldn't be sufficient, but the lamps I'd picked up from the ReStore did the trick perfectly, and the atmosphere was wonderful at night. In fact, just before the end of the festival (midnight), a house party even broke out in the installation. I even had to kick a group of teens out so I could tear down. All-around awesomesauce :)  I loved working at this scale, and outside - what a treat! I can't wait for next year!

While I had to mostly stay with my work, I did get a bit of a chance to see some of the other projects, and while I didn't catch all of them, I did see some gloriously beautiful pieces & felt in excellent company. Huge congratulations to all of the artists, organizers & volunteers for a fantastic festival!

Thursday 8 August 2013

Arts East interview

PS I recently did an interview with a great blog called Arts East - the links are below so have a look!  We talked about upcoming projects, inspiration, process, community engagement - all the good things :)

part 1
part 2

Tuesday 6 August 2013

nesting

Human nests by Jayson Fann
My husband and I just bought a house. It was, as it seems to be for everyone buying their first home, a whirlwind experience, full of excitement, anxiety, and tons of team decision-making. Luckily, we love it. Absolutely adore it. I'm amazed at how much I love my shed, my yard, the 5 maple trees that shade my deck, how much I love my cupboards, floors, all of it. I can't seem to stop happily decorating and customizing. And, because I have a wonderfully supportive partner who believes in my work, I have the biggest, brightest room as my new studio!

Right now I'm working away on my installation project for this year's Art in the Open here in Charlottetown, PEI. It's going to be a wonderful festival this year with a great lineup of talented artists from PEI and beyond - August 24th, mark your calendars!

I'm also preparing for a series of courses I'll be teaching this fall as Artist-in-Residence for the Town of Stratford.  I'll be teaching adults and seniors, and I'm really looking forward to getting started. In the meantime there is still lots of unpacking to be done :)

Thursday 11 July 2013

what I am trying to say is there is spirit in everything it is trying to reach you

screenprint on cotton, monica lacey 2009
I think one of the reasons I don't post on my blog very often is that I feel a certain amount of pressure to keep it light and positive & friendly & so on. However, if you've taken even a glance at my work you can guess that I have some deep dark heavy thoughts and a tendency to melancholy & nostalgia. So today, in honour of PEI's Pride Week, and generally accepting & celebrating who we are no matter what, and also, in case there's one person who reads this and feels even a tiny bit less alone as a result, I thought I'd say, the heck with it, and share some really personal stuff.  A bit about my own story. Here goes.

I've had an awareness of my own soul as long as I can remember.  I was a shy, sensitive, serious child, I had recurring, terrible nightmares and was often very self-conscious, to the point of having a sense of watching myself as I played, even at a young age. I imagined no one else felt like I did, and I envied people who were able to just let go & take life - and themselves- lightly. I got angry, I got jealous, I had urges to manipulate others, to be mean or controlling, and of course, I turned all that energy onto myself in the form of self-destruction and low self-esteem. All this time what I really wanted were some tools for dealing with life.

As a teenager I was pretty depressed, so naturally I read tons of poetry, I listened to music that seemed to speak to the dark place I was in, and I slept a lot. At 13 I picked up some Carlos Castenada , and that was the beginning of a) realizing I was not alone in how I felt as a human being, and b) having some tools and techniques for managing my human life and starting to realize my actual potential.

Anyway, I read more, I traveled, I tried things, I explored the heck out of my own mind, I met wonderful teachers who helped me along the way, and then, finally, in 2004 I discovered Kundalini Yoga. I had been practicing yoga for many years, but had never tried this particular style. I was trying to figure out what to do with my life and thought, hey, I'll become a yoga teacher, why not. I looked for the longest teacher training I could find (the prices were all around the same, so I wanted the most bang for my buck), and it turned out to be a Kundalini teacher training program in Toronto.

This one
what can we do to be free - cyanotype, monica lacey 2010
decision completely changed my life - both inner and outer. Now, everyone is different, for sure, and I'm not trying to sell you a yoga practice here, but I can tell you I have been doing a daily Kundalini Yoga & Meditation practice now for almost 10 years and it continues to blow me away with its potency and the power it has to transform the human instrument. I have never found another technique that so effectively can lasso the mind and tame it.

For instance, today I got involved in a discussion that got my blood pressure up, and I wasn't feeling great about the world or humanity in general, plus it was humid and hot, and I was grumpy, so I rolled out my mat, and then I did this practice. It totally changed my day. I came out of it with a new perspective, more energy, and a sense of peace and connectedness.

In summary, whatever your situation, however you identify, whatever hand you've been dealt, I hope that you are finding the tools you need to manage your human experience, befriend your own soul, and realize your potential. If you haven't found those tools yet, keep looking - paths are made by walking after all.





Tuesday 18 June 2013

back to the drawing board

So I'm just coming out of a creative slump. I have slumps like everyone does, and making one's way out of a creative slump can be particularly grueling. It's usually a good time to get my camera out and start noticing colours again. I like to go out into nature and pick a flower or plant to look at as closely as possible, try to see every last little detail in it. And then if I find one that is totally fascinating, I'll take it home and paint it. Painting flowers brings me a lot of joy and calmness, so that's usually a good place to start. It's amazing how just activating your senses, and looking closely, can awaken inspiration.

the bulb garden - monica lacey 2013


Thursday 6 June 2013

where you stand in the struggle

I always thought of myself as a bit of a lone wolf especially when it came to creative work. I thought I needed to be alone to concentrate. But then when I went to art school, and when I started to do residencies, I realized that I love working around other artists; I love dialoguing about our work and ideas, I love getting feedback, I love sharing inspiration, and I feel so energized and enthusiastic about my practice. Having spent the month of April in residence, living and working with about 20 people at Elsewhere, coming back to my home studio, where I work all day alone, has been pretty depressing. Recently in the art course I teach to senior citizens, a gentleman who was a bit tired that day said of the project we were starting, "what's even the point of making art?" and sometimes when I'm faced with a long day of isolation and solitude, working in a vacuum save for the stimuli the internet provides, I feel that way too. I feel a bit reassured to know that even hilarious people I admire get horribly depressed.

It's hard to know what the solution is when I live in a city that has a thriving arts community, yet no art education institution, and an economy such that barely anyone can afford studio space outside their own home. Anyway, not to complain...all that to say that if you're reading this, and you'd like to come over and make some art together, I'd love to work together :)

the champion - monica lacey 2013

Tuesday 28 May 2013

long, as in length, as in time, as in to long for

grow a new skin - monica lacey 2013
I just finished reading White Noise by Don Delilo, and there is an amazing & bizarre character in it who is trying to break the world record for sitting in a cage with poisonous snakes. Turns out that fictional character has his own blog. Who knew?

In other news, there have been some great announcements about local arts funding here in PEI - inspires one to keep on keeping on. Especially excited about the continuing adventures of Art in the Open, which I'll be participating in this year with an outdoor installation!

See Arlene's photo here & Sam's photo here.

Monday 27 May 2013

routine check-in

With summer right around the corner I'm working on getting a hold of my daily routine because there is nothing like beach weather to throw all of your routines & discipline right out the window, right? 

"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." ~ Aristotle

take the next train outta town - monica lacey 2013
I'm starting to implement a strict studio schedule for myself (something I've wanted to do for months!) and to seek out collaborations more often. Collaborating gets me so excited & joyful about making art - I love to hear different perspectives, ideas, solutions, strengths. My time at Elsewhere last month also really inspired me toward collaboration.

Last night was the final night of the Island Media Arts Festival, a wonderful gem of a small film festival, and they screened my film, ...for the body, whose heart lives in a cage. It was pretty exciting to see it on the big screen & an honour to be screened in the company of some brilliant filmmakers whose work I really admire. I'm hoping to do more video work in the near future & to sink my teeth into the magic of the moving image for a while.

I've been slacking on the photo-a-day project, but you can enjoy some great photography here on Arlene Giddings' site - she's been shooting like mad!


Friday 24 May 2013

indulge

The wind today is signalling some big changes, you can almost smell it. The full moon is coming. It'll be time soon to swim. I can hardly wait!  And that's the real reason I live on an island:  there is a beach in every direction.

stand in the sea - monica lacey 2013
See Sam's photo here & Arlene's here. Arlene totally gets the photo-a-day prize for shooting so much and keeping up with her posts!

Wednesday 15 May 2013

thought

If you're ever wondering, I do all my shooting with my trusty Canon 60D, process in Lightroom & Photoshop. See Arlene's photo here & Sam's here.

the middle distance - monica lacey 2013

Monday 13 May 2013

calm

in your sleep, next to the one you love - monica lacey 2013
See Arlene's photo here & Sam's here.

Sunday 12 May 2013

sentiment

When I was a kid it used to upset me greatly if I had to put my stuffed animals in boxes or leave them at home when we traveled. I was very sentimental and would anthropomorphize anything that had even the suggestion of a face. It's exhausting though, and makes it tricky to let anything go. Some things still get me - this guy I met in Montreal, for instance. I mean just look at those eyes!

i bring you hugs - monica lacey 2013
Check out Arlene's photo here & Sam's photo here!

Thursday 9 May 2013

wood

Home again. I had a fantastic residency at Elsewhere, where I met some great new friends and colleagues - among them Suzy Kopf of NYC, Colin Bliss of Rhode Island, April Bartlett of Dawson City, and Lucia Carroll and Paul Howe, who are both staff at Elsewhere.  Here is a link to the project I created while in residence, The Elsewhere Oracle.

I also had really great visits with old friends doing interesting things in Montreal and North Carolina.

Getting back from a month-long trip it's best to hit the ground running - so I'm jumping straight into the photo-a-day project with two photographer friends, Arlene Giddings, based in PEI, and Samantha Christensen, based in Manitoba.  

Today's theme is wood, and my photo is a promo shot I took for a dear sculptor friend in Black Mountain, NC.

the woodcarver - monica lacey 2013

Monday 15 April 2013

beginning elsewhere

one of the elsewhere unicorns - monica lacey 2013
Well, I'm almost a week into my residency in one of those places in the world that is very difficult to describe. Elsewhere is definitely a place that needs to be experienced to be understood. Imagine taking a time machine to the past but then the past is an abandoned place that artists and time have had they way with...I'm still not doing it justice. An easier thing might be to read about the history of it here. Let's just say that all the horses here are unicorns.

I'm in the early stages of my project at Elsewhere and part of that involves investigating artists who have done similar projects in the past, or things that I might reference, like a lineage my project will join. The first of those I've found is Claire Cronin and her project love songs for lost objects. Her use of psychometry was really inspiring, as were her songs as I listened along, arranging found collection objects and trying to sense their significance.

My project involves fortune telling using objects. It's a fascinating thing, infusing random things with meaning...we spend so much of our lives with stuff. But what life do things have on their own? In so many ways they wouldn't exist without us. Down the rabbit hole of man-made objects and what they mean to us...much more to come :)

Monday 1 April 2013

dream big, you don't know yet how good you are

flood season - monica lacey 2009
As I prepare this week for my upcoming residency at Elsewhere, I'm letting my creative mind dream big; letting it think up massive installations, projects that would take years and years and teams of people to complete, if they were ever completed. It's a wonderful practice, to let your mind & heart just imagine  the biggest ideas they can, and see where those ideas lead. 

In the meantime I'm really enjoying the projects I have in my studio right now, creating artwork for specific people who have contributed to my crowdfunding campaign. It's one of my favorite ways to work - with a certain person in mind - and I appreciate having the opportunity to infuse the piece with the gratitude I feel for that person, much like you might put love as an 'ingredient' in something you cook. I like to think that energy then becomes a part of the artwork, and a part of the person's home where they display the work. There are many ways to put our energy out into the world, and it's important to remember that it has an effect - often a stronger one than we may realize. This is a wonderful story about such an effect.

Looking, making, thinking, experiencing are our starting point. Art opens worlds, lets us see invisible things, creates new models for thinking, engages in cryptic rituals in public, invents cosmologies, explores consciousness, makes mental maps and taxonomies others can see, and isn’t only something to look at but is something that does things and sometimes makes the mysterious magic of the world palpable. 
~ Jerry Saltz, from this essay.


Friday 29 March 2013

look up

So I've made a decision about this photo-a-day project, as my residency looms closer:  I'll be taking a hiatus from the project for a month, and returning to it May 8th. It's important to me, but it's more important to really focus on the work at hand during the residency. I'll miss it during the break, but stay tuned here during April for posts & pics about my project at Elsewhere!

For today's theme, continuing on with my affection for using vintage wallpaper in composites...
prairieskies - monica lacey 2013


Monday 25 March 2013

trees

Today's shot is a composite I made using 5 different photographs - the main one of the trees is taken about 4 years ago in one of my favorite spots on the riverbank in Fredericton, NB, where I went to school. If you love this image, get yourself a print of it here!

sunset on the river trail - monica lacey 2013

Sunday 24 March 2013

smile

I smile a lot. Generally I have trouble keeping a straight face when asked. So does my dad - I always admired his 'laughter lines,' and now as I'm getting older, I've got them too. I think it's a good sign. Today's photo is actually an older selfie that I took for this project. I shot a few new ones today, but this is still my fave because I was so genuinely smiling at myself - something we rarely do but that feels great! Don't forget to check this out!

smile with your eyes - monica lacey 2013
If your spirit needs uplifting today, watch this. If you need a laugh over something ridiculous, watch this. And if you just need an infusion of visual beauty, have a look here. PS My co-photographers are taking some time off, and I'll be posting an update on the future of the photo-a-day project soon.

Friday 22 March 2013

light + magic = transparent

Well it's been a few days since I took my daily photo, but it's rare I take time off, so I'm going to skip the guilt and get on with it :)

First, a few wonderful things for you to check out:  on themes of perseverance, the beauty of the ordinary/how one person's trash is another's treasure, and pushing the limits of one's comfort zone.

Also, I'm going to put in another suggestion you check out my crowdfunding page and get yourself some artwork!

see through this - monica lacey 2013
magic is inside you - monica lacey 2013

just a drop of light - monica lacey 2013

Thursday 21 March 2013

apologies

self-portrait feeling sheepish - monica lacey 2013
Yup, I'm aware I haven't posted in a few days!  Basically there has been too much happening this week, and I feel like these guys.  Stay tuned though, I'll be back tomorrow!

Monday 18 March 2013

structure

I've been lusting after my own orchid for a while, and finally one day, my amazing husband, who had been observing my orchid-desire, brought one home. They have a fascinating and beautiful structure, as do most plants, and are the subject of my shot for the day - in full colour & in black & white. I'm working on a painting of my orchid and have been staring at it closely for a couple of hours. You can get a beautiful print of either of today's shots (or any other from this project) by contributing here!

orchid in colour - monica lacey 2013
orchid in black - monica lacey 2013
See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

Sunday 17 March 2013

thankful

give thanks and praise - monica lacey 2013
Gratitude is an important daily practice for me. When we sit down to eat together, my husband and I will each say 3 things we're thankful for that day. Before we go to sleep, we tell each other 3 things we're specifically thankful for about each other that day. When I do my daily yoga practice, I give thanks at the beginning and again at the end, to the teachings of yoga, the lineage of which I am a part as a yoga teacher and yogini, and to my own highest self.

Being thankful is a way of taking the time to pause, to absorb your life, your breath, the people around you, the nature around you, your path, your body, your heart, and to witness the abundant blessings all around you, both large and small. It uplifts the heart and spirit, automatically, and has great power to shift one's perspective and open the mind. You know the stillness of floating on your back with your ears underwater? That's what gratitude does for the soul.

In that spirit, today here are just a few things I am thankful for:
my snuggly cat who lays on my yoga mat while I practice
the sunshine on the snow when I went x-country skiing this morning 
the blooms on my orchid
my husband 
the vinyl cafe & their musical guest today, Joel Plaskett
the generous folks who are helping me realize a dream in my career
getting excited about planting my garden this spring
the fact that my internet was down today & the resulting letter-writing afternoon I had 

If you need some inspiration to find your own sense of gratitude, watch this.

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

Saturday 16 March 2013

essential + eerie

This first image is actually from yesterday's theme, Essential. It represents two things that are essential for me, in both my personal life and my studio practice: collecting, and nature.

collection: shoreline - monica lacey 2013
The photo below is for today's theme of Eerie, and it's of a piece of wood I've used for testing encaustic techniques. It always fascinates me how entranced by/afraid of our own skeletons we are as humans. Memento mori I suppose.
skull & cloth - monica lacey 2013
Remember, if you're enjoying this project, you can get yourself a print from the series by contributing here! See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

Thursday 14 March 2013

inspired

spring bloom - monica lacey 2013
Today's image is of a felted flower that I made, inspired by the recent shift of seasons toward Spring here on PEI. I'm making them with the Senior Citizen's groups that I teach every week. They began by making the stems, thinking "what is this green stick for?" So this week when I brought them this completed flower as an example, they were excited to finish their own and became really inspired - it was great to see.

As I slowly prepare for my upcoming residency in North Carolina, I've been looking through past residents and their projects, and getting almost overwhelmed with inspiration! I'm feeling ready to move my studio practice to the next level, and shift toward doing larger work, and more installation work.  The last project I did that got me excited like this was comprised of video, photography, and sculpture, and was shown at the UNB Art Centre in 2012 - you can see the video portion of it here, and read my post about it here.

If you don't already know, I'm having an art sale/fundraising campaign to help with the cost of this residency.  If you've been really enjoying this photo-a-day project, contribute a mere 25$ and choose any photo from January 2013 to the present and I will send you a signed 8x10 print of it, gorgeously printed on 100% cotton archival fine art paper. It's an amazing deal! 

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. Also, check out this great photo project by Gabriele Galimberti.  Inspiring!

Wednesday 13 March 2013

age

play it one more time - monica lacey 2013
For today's theme I shot an old player piano roll from my collection. Despite its age, it's still pretty amazing technology. See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

night

nightfall - monica lacey 2013
I missed my shoot yesterday as it was a jam-packed day for me, so I took an older photo and altered it for the theme of Night.

Monday 11 March 2013

emotion

emotion as a place you used to live - monica lacey 2013
I created today's image using a page from a magazine that had, on one side, a gelatin silver print by Fred C. Wurtele in 1904, and on the other, an albumen silver print taken by Eugène Atget in 1921. I coated the page in wax to make it transparent, and placed it in my window so you could see both images. 

Speaking of emotion, have a look at this.

See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. If you haven't already, have a look at this too!

Sunday 10 March 2013

dark + fire

Well, I missed yesterday's shot so today is a double post on the themes of Dark and Fire, which, I have to say, compliment each other quite nicely!

the outer light - monica lacey 2013
the inner light - monica lacey 2013
See Minka's photo here & Juliana's here.

Friday 8 March 2013

body parts

how i get there - monica lacey 2013
Long one of my favorite parts of the human body (not in a fetish way, just in an appreciation kind of way). I even took a course in foot reflexology years ago. I especially love my own feet & appreciate very much all they do for me. See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

Thursday 7 March 2013

food

a glimpse into my diet - monica lacey 2013
I often feel pretty darn lucky to have access to such abundance when it comes to food. Even with this much food in the fridge I'm thinking it's time to get groceries. It's all relative of course. I'm looking forward to summer when I can get back to growing some of what I eat! See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. Don't forget to check out my fundraising page & contribute if you can - there are some great perks!

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Tuesday 5 March 2013

black & white

So I have some news to share:  I got accepted as artist-in-residence at Elsewhere in Greensboro, North Carolina! It is a 'living museum' housed in a former thrift store, and the artists who go there (6 at a time) get to create work on-site using all the crazy materials that remain from the owner of the thrift store (who was a hoarder in the best possible way!). It's a huge honour to be accepted (it's highly competitive) and I am so excited to go there and get inspired! I'm sure I will live on that fuel for a good long while. The thing is, I can't really afford it. This artist gig doesn't pay that well (yet!), so I created a crowd-funding page in the hopes of raising some money to help with the trip & cost of the program. If you feel moved to contribute, which you can do here, I am offering some great perks - including prints from this photo-a-day project! And then when I get really famous (which I will, mark my words!), you'll be able to say you helped with that success.

My image for today is a close-up of a sculpture I made by knitting reed together using broom handles.

tangled dreaming - monica lacey 2013
See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here. Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow!

Monday 4 March 2013

spring

Spring? Let's just say that here in PEI, we're not quite there yet. Hence my response to today's theme.
See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

spring? - monica lacey 2013

Sunday 3 March 2013

art

If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself - soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all. Why should it? It can wait. It can stay silent a lifetime. Who knows anyway what it is, the wild, silky part of ourselves without which no poem can live? 
- Mary Oliver on inspiration & creativity

In my brief & humble experience so far, I've found that being an artist full-time means a couple of things for me:  a) I'm working constantly, all the time. I go for a walk and I see things that become ideas for projects. A random conversation becomes fodder for a new piece. I can't really turn it off. b) the actual inspiration, a.k.a. the fuel to create a physical piece, comes in great spurts and waves and can only be summoned by showing up regularly to the studio and leaving a few 'crumbs' around, like bits of things that are interesting to me and may lead somewhere.

This is what happens when I 'show up' and get to work.
my work table, march - monica lacey 2013
See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

Saturday 2 March 2013

shenanigans

Since we got a kitten, there are plenty of shenanigans around our apartment. Johnny the cat provides us with endless entertainment. In the mornings when I do my yoga practice, he likes to sneak onto the mat while I'm in downward dog, casually lies down and waits for me to lower down on top of him before he runs away. Sometimes he likes to attack my hair when I'm lying down. This is a shot of him playing with the elastic I use to tie up my yoga mat. He loves it. See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.

johnny, sunday morning - monica lacey 2013

Friday 1 March 2013

colour

tulips for the grey days - monica lacey 2013
Around this time of year I like to keep my house stocked with fresh flowers, must keep hopes up after all.  March now though, we're in the home stretch of winter. If you need a little pick-me-up & don't have any tulips, watch this. And this. Minka Bartels is our guest photographer for the month of March - welcome Minka! See Juliana's photo here & Minka's here.  Big thanks to Lee Clarke for joining our project in February!

Thursday 28 February 2013

monochromatic

dancing shoes - monica lacey 2013
See Juliana's photo here & Lee's here.  Tomorrow we launch into March's photo-a-day with Colour as our first theme!

Wednesday 27 February 2013

congruence

find a little house in the country somewhere - monica lacey 2013
"But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?"-Albert Camus

Not much else to say - working with teenagers this week is wearing me out!  I don't know how Junior High teachers do it, I really don't.  See Juliana's photo here & Lee's here. Tomorrow is Monochromatic, our last day with guest photographer Lee Clarke.  For March, Minka Bartels will be joining us on our photo-a-day adventure.  

find

they didn't go south, they went to Vernon River - monica lacey 2013
This is the scene I find each morning and afternoon when I cross the Vernon River on my way to teach an ArtSmarts program in Belfast, PEI this week.  All the Canada Geese - every day they're there, in the little patch of open water, all day long.  See Juliana's photo here & Lee's here.