Happy New Year!

As 2009 prepares to leave, making room for 2010
may there be
Peace on Earth and Happiness for All!

Dream Catchers

We spent a good part of this summer on the road again. Ever some often, our travel bugs bite and we will head out to see the world. This time we head out, just the two of us, with the final destination as the Upper Peninsular of Michigan State, Houton to be exact. Clement attended a Math conference and did some work with Tonchev. I tagged alone and visited some friends on the way. We visited Algonquin Park, Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsular. These are Ojibwa country. On this trip, I really feel the presence of the Great Spirit. There are many small things that touched my senses, but I was most pulled by seeing the hand made dream catchers in one of the few shops I visited.

So back home I had to complete the circle by making my own dream catchers. I took branches from my kiwi vine that has been growing for years in the back yard. I wove with last year's silk threads that I dyed and spun. Each of them features a white swan feather that I picked up by the lagoon of the Victoria Park in Kitchener where we went to see this year's Grand National Post Card collections on the very last morning before we came home. Here is where you can see the rest of the dream catchers.

Home sweet home! Sweet Dreams!

Les nomades

Recently I was given an opportunity to do something special with and for groups of school children from 10 different inner city schools in and around the City of Montreal. It was an experience I looked forward to, somehow knowing that it will come to me and that I should take up the challenge. The challenge came as a request from the McCord Museum to participate in their project "Les adventuriers nomades".

It involved my effort to develop and conduct a series of ten 2-hour workshops; during each of which a group of up to 50 Cycle 2 students undertook a creative adventure to put together a personal quilt block using colourful fabric. The creations express their thoughts on the theme of "nomad".

The sets of quilt blocks were assembled into 19 separate quilts - traveler's blankets. It was a considerable amount of work, but I marvel at the spontaneous creativity of these children and the results are quite wonderful to look at.

To see the quilts, go to

http://picasaweb.google.ca/MoonGlowStudio/LesAdventuriersNomadesAtTheMcCordMuseum#

Throughout this week, the 19 quilts - traveler's blankets - were exhibited at the McCord Museum. The children came to the museum for the final visit of the project. They saw all the quilts displayed together and each school gave a performance based on their story. It was such a wonderful experience.

Imagine - the talents in Hong Kong

The current exhibition at the HKCL Gallery features the young artist Johnson Tsang entitled "Imagine". My gallery visit was a unique experience. It points to one reason why Hong Kong is such a special place - so rich, so predictable, yet ever-changing. I am impressed.

The New Face of Central

Yessterday, life started to pick up pace. With a late start in the morning, we headed out to Quarry Bay Park. Passed by Tai Koo Estate and saw the Wan Fung Art Gallery and spent a good hour there. Quite impressive to see the work of the new generation of Chinese painters, mastery of traditional technique with a modern sensibility. Mr. Kwok, the owner was being interviewed for a tv program so I listened in for a bit. The work of a Mr. Suen Jianlin with his "colourful manifestation of lines & curves" combining western modern technique with traditional Chinese folk art is especially inspirational. I'm very tempted to buy the catalogue of his work.

Back to the park, I found a quiet place to do my taichi routine, first time since over a week, felt much better after.

Salted chicken lunch at Tai Gar Lok, then took the West Central Tram to the end. That's where the Western Market has been converted into a tourist point. I discovered that what remained of Fa Bo Gei has been moved to it's 2nd floor - great browsing but not really with any intention to shop, not for now at least. There was a French lady there buying up yard after yard of Thai silk. Must felt like great bargain.



I didn't really have any objective in mind. So since I saw the harbour looking our the window on the top floor of the Western Market and was pulled by it, we headed out and got onto the skywalk. The extensive skywalk system connects us all the way to East Central so we started strolling east. I like strolling along the skywalks for many reasons. It is away from the hassel and bussel of the city; it affords great views; we can sit and rest from time to time; the interconnecting shopping areas break up the monotony.

At the HK/Macau/China terminus I looked at the holiday packages advertised by the travel agents. They were also selling cheap last minute boat fare to Macau, shouting at the top of their voices. Outside the Four Season Hotel, the landscaping is modern and tasteful. Between the 4-Seasons and the IFC is the new Lane Crawford, high style as usual. In the mall is City Shop, the fancy grocer that will satisfy any international craves and desires on an unlimited budget.

As the office workers started to pour out in all directions, we hurriedly made our way to the MTR which took us home in a jiffy.
For more photos, go to
http://picasaweb.google.ca/MoonGlowStudio/HK20081102#

Collective Visions - Opened at the McClure Gallery November 5, 2008

It's as if I'm trying to make up for lost time this morning. This will be my fourth post in a row. I decided that, while I'm at it, I might as well do my best to fill in the blanks.

What I am showing here is my "Juxtaposition I" (the purplish textile piece) on the bright green wall of the McClure Gallery of the Visual Arts Centre in Westmount, part of this year's Collection Visions Art Exhibition and Gala event.

Collective Visions took place on November 5-15, 2008. Yesterday, I received a nicely written acknowledgement from Victoria LeBlanc thanking me for my participation; mentioning that the exhibition and gala opening party were successful on every count.

I felt happy about participating. I am also happy to play my role in providing exposure, for my work in particular, and textile art in general, to the public eye.

L'or du Bleu - Live Smart Livie Green, October 25 2008

Following the heel of my Open Studio event was the weekend of Live Smart Live Green in Westmount. October 25 2008. This was a public awareness event organized by the local community group, Healthy City, to raise awareness about living our life ecologically and responsibly.

As part of this Healthy City project, back in the summer, the local association invited submission to participate in a special exhibition of works made from or about recycled materials. Well, I talked myself into pursuing a spark of an idea and talked Edmund, my son, into cooperating with me and submitted a proposal: "Techno-Obliviation". Well our submission was selected so we went to work. The following is a direct quote of our statement for the piece that we completed. It was one of a collection of 18 accepted entries shown at the Victoria Hall Gallery October 22-25, 2008.

Techno-Obliviation – L’or du bleu
by Lily Lam and Edmund Lam
October 2008

Modern technology pushes the current of change ever forward. In recent decades, the speed of flow is especially remarkable. Successive waves of techno-oblivation leave recognizable ripple marks in landfill sites everywhere. Yet, many time-honoured textile skills persist, serving as the common thread that links ancient and modern cultures; holding together our social fabric and daily life. We only have to pay a little more attention to become aware of these ever-present influences.
This mural uses the discards from notable generations of digital technology to mark off areas of contiguous space defined by the ever-expanding Fibonacci series. Through this space the three spirals of natural, cultural and technological progression march forward. Although the project plan was drafted using computer-aided-design, its construction falls back on the use of time-honoured manual techniques of spinning, weaving, stitching and knotting. Structurally reminiscent of conventional quilt making, the materials used are anything but typical.

This is the second time this mother and son team collaborates to complete a “quilting” project together. In each case, the project involved using discarded materials that are no longer considered valuable or desirable to express a thoughtful idea in an aesthetically pleasing manner. In completing this project, we obliviated techno junk from our home, as well as built up a stash of enticing components for creative play.


To have a virtual visit to the exhibition of L'or du bleu, visit my web album at http://picasaweb.google.ca/MoonGlowStudio/LOrBleuOct2008##