SATURNA CAFE ART SHOW - Interview with Donna-Fay Digance

 

 

Saturna Dreamscapes - March 10 - April 15, 2021
Interview with Donna-Fay Digance
by Monica Morten

Tell me about yourself and your art. 

I have a B.Ed. in Art Education from the University of Alberta and a M.Ed. in Art Education from the University of British Columbia. I have also taken summer courses at Emily Carr in viscosity etching and paper-making. Maiwa courses were a great resource for learning to dye fabric, silk painting and batik. I taught for three years and then moved to London, England to do an extra year’s study at Goldsmith’s College, University of London where I met my husband, Leonard We opened a pottery studio in an historic coach house across from Greenwich Park. Our son, Avrom was born two years later. When he was 11 months old, my mother had moved to Vancouver and persuaded us to return to Canada, because of all the ‘opportunities for artists.’ Hah!  So I began teaching again and had absolutely no time or energy for my art. Twelve years later I enrolled in an art class at UBC with a wonderful  artist, Dick Bond, and those early skills came back, better than ever.

Now I exhibit with professional fibre art organizations: Studio Art Quilts Association, Fibre Art Network, Surface Design Association and Vancouver Island Surface Design Association.

How did you come to Saturna?

When I took early retirement, we wanted to open a B&B on the Gulf Islands as Len had completed his chef’s training and hospitality courses. That way we could also have our art studios to use in the off-season. Saturna was the island that resonated most. We planned to find a fixer-upper but nothing was available, so instead of following sage advice to downsize, we built our six bedroom, five bathroom B&B home. Now really being retired, we wondered what on earth we were thinking.

What's the best thing about living here?

The best things about living here are of course the people, the incredible scenery, the peace and quiet, and now in the midst of a pandemic, the safety.

Where do you get your inspiration?  What inspires you?

My early work always featured the human figure as I had attended my first life drawing class when I was in high school. I did a series of etchings, “Masked Dancers”, which used a theme of transformation juxtaposing combinations of animal and human forms which I called “Dreamscapes.”

Since we moved to Saturna full time in 1996, the pristine environment has me now creating landscapes from my imagination, but the iconic Arbutus trees now move and sway like my early dancers.

How did you become an artist?

I was raised by a single mother, at least between two marriages, who always bought me quality art materials because she knew I’d keep myself busy for hours. We returned from San Francisco, after many moves, to Vegreville, Alberta so my step-father could manage my grandfather’s hotel. I enrolled in an adult art class, at age 11, where, Laura Reid, a well-known Alberta artist, encouraged my foray into art creating watercolour landscapes. 

Why did you choose fabric for your art?

My early training was in drawing and painting. I then explored etching, and intaglio printing using different grounds, zinc plates, solvent and nitric acid. I used to work towards a summer show each year, of my etchings, at Dundarave Print Co-op on Granville Island. I certainly didn’t want to use those toxic materials on Saturna, so when an opportunity to learn quilting with Lynne Piper arose, it seemed a perfect opportunity to explore fabric. I was terrible at trying to do precise piecing so it was more rewarding to transition to my own images. There are so many processes to use with fabric: appliqué, dyeing, piecing, batik, painting, hand embroidery and endless variations of machine stitching. I especially like the freedom from rules so one can keep experimenting and exploring possibilities. I still have my etching press though, so maybe someday I’ll use it with fabric.

What projects are you working on/looking forward to?

I look forward to working on larger original art quilts based on themes set by juried shows.

Tell me about a piece that you are really happy with and why. 

I’m pleased with my latest painted silk art quilt, 20” x 34,” that has three layers: a painted top, batting and a silk design backing. I used free motion machine stitching through the three layers which adds to the depth and texture of this Saturna inspired landscape.

Tell me about your show and one piece in particular. 

For my March Saturna Cafe Show, “Saturna Dreamscapes”,  textile pieces  are mounted on black stretched canvas. I’m really pleased with the small version of the Parks Canada Saturna Field Office Triptych. The original is three art quilts, each 27’’x 60”, but this new piece has all three images reduced in size to 20”x 16.”  I’ve been experimenting with having my original designs professionally printed on different types of fabric, and in different sizes, modifying with paint and stitch to create new pieces.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I miss the opportunities to sell my work directly at the summer and Christmas markets and directly in my studio but my Facebook page, Saturna Dreamscapes Studio and my new website: www.donnafaydigance.com, designed by web242.com , Avrom Digance, have provided some new opportunities.

Excerpts from ‘Art in Stitches’ by Cherie Thiessen,  Aqua, Gulf Islands Living, Volume 12

“When you take a classically and extensively trained artist with a sense of adventure and a zest for experimentation and put her on a small island where there are few distractions but copious natural beauty and serenity maybe this is what you get: riveting fabric multi-media collages that look remarkably like traditional canvases but are three dimensional and tactile.  To bring her canvases to life, the artist uses a variety of  fabrics combined with drawing, painting, batik and textile dyeing, … enhanced with machine and hand embroidery”

Fibre Art Show at the Café - Interview with Robyn Quaintance

Robyn's show runs until March 10th.  Please stop by and have a look and put a comment in the book!

Your new show just started a few days ago, how do you feel about that?

As my very first solo show, I was terrified and yet afterwards, really pleased with myself for having put my artwork and name out there. It is a big job to get ready for a show including planning and hanging it. Because I was exhibiting more than just prints on a wall, I had to work carefully with Priscilla and her staff and they allowed me to use the table for more displays.  Staging a show is a challenge in a working café, and am grateful for the help of Nettie, Joyce and Carol.

Why fibre arts?

I love working with textures, I love the feel when I spin wool, and it makes me feel good manipulating wool into felt. Bright colours and combining unlikely textures are always fun to work with.  I enjoyed learning about the different kinds of sheep and their coats.  My favourite wool to spin is Lincoln and it comes naturally in lovely silver and grey tones.  It also takes dyes very nicely. My beginning spun wool had plenty of lumps and bumps, which I always appreciated because of the texture.  I have since developed great skill in spinning and have taken up knitting as well.  I have woven lots of ‘rag’ rugs and also very fine, precise pieces, like the vest hanging in the show.  At university, I even had an opportunity to work with a computerized loom, and a large-scale production machine for handmade paper fibre.  I also experimented with dyeing silk with paper fibres and saw how the dye was taken up much stronger (and brighter) by the silk fibres.  It made a really lovely contrast that worked well together.

Why fish?

I have always enjoyed the ocean, and I kayak regularly and look for fish beneath the water.

I wanted to make something different, something whimsical, something playful, something bright with their own personalities. The mobile fish continue to intrigue me when hanging in my own space.  They always seem to have a bit of movement with the air currents and it changes the physical space where they hang because of the movement.  Some people have hung the fish from the rafters with long fishing lines, others on a short leash and still others have hung them from a triangular frame as a larger mobile and they look great in all three ways.  They are one-of-a-kind and all have fish names, which makes it more fun to view them.  

How has your use of fibre as a media progressed over time?

I spun and wove for well over 30 years, and then added making hand-made paper and felting when I went to art school.  I find fibre arts have endured a bad rap and not given the respect the art form deserves. For many years, people thought framed paintings were the most important of the art world, but fortunately, fibre arts have finally gained respect even here on Saturna!

Your art work sounds like it is taking new directions, talk about that.

I have always appreciated the character of wood grains, natural colours and love the smell of working with wood by cutting and sanding it.  All new skills take learning and experimentation, and so it is with painting on raw wood and sitting back to watch what would happen in each stage of sealing.  I find a new piece of wood has its own personality and actually suggests to me what to paint.  The preparation is quite extensive.  I have also been experimenting with water pencil crayons to create a series of large marina/boat scenes.  I have painted 3 large scale murals in my own back and front yards and looking forward to painting more external murals.  One of my neighbours has approached me to paint a mural on her garage.   

Final Thoughts?

It takes a village to raise a child and Saturna clearly demonstrates it has the resilience to roll with the punches.  But we need to remain aware and discuss the bigger issues around us.  This is my role as an artist and yet the whimsical theme of this show contradicts that, like life.      

I am challenged to think about how art interfaces with what is going on around us right now.  Rather than this period being lost to COVID ambiance, as artists, how can we interact and express the dynamic changes that are occurring outside of our little island of Saturna?  I think about how privileged I am to be healthy and living on Saturna.  I believe art needs to give clarity on the social issues of our time and stir up thoughts and difficult conversations. 

Regardless of the world problems, we always need to love and respect each other, including everyone on our island.  Thanks for giving me a voice among my fellow artists here.

 

 

 

Art Saturna Artist Interview: Nettie Adams

Nettie Adams is a photographer who lives and works (mostly) on Saturna Island. I met her at her lovely forest home on East Point Road on a sunny, summer afternoon where we talked about her passions, art, Saturna, bamboo and hardy cacti…

Tell me a little about yourself and your art.

As a photographer, I rarely set out to shoot a specific image. Photographs just happen. They are fragments of timelessness captured in time. I know this to be true because of the way I feel. Excitement, complete fascination, a sense of connection, even rapture at times. Something in my visual world just “speaks” to me and I am hooked. This “timelessness” is a miracle to me. I am so human, so bound by norms, expectations and judgments that to be caught in a moment, of creative exhilaration, is pure joy.

How did you come to live on Saturna?

I first came to Saturna in 1985 to attend a friend’s wedding. I was busy with the wedding and taking photographs and didn’t see much of the island. Five years later, when Charles and I were looking for somewhere in the Southern Gulf Islands to get married, I remembered Saturna.  We were married in St. Christopher’s Church in 1990. We were living and working in Vancouver, so we went back home afterwards, smitten by Saturna, hoping to one day be able to buy property there. In 1996 an opportunity arose to buy property and then we camped for another 20 years until we bought this house. We are regular part-timers; we spend about two-thirds of our time here. 

How did you become a photographer?

I have always been a photographer. I think I had a Brownie camera when I was five years old and took pictures of my pet bunny. I have a degree from UBC in Fine Arts with a specialty in photography. I was fortunate enough to be taught and mentored by the now world-famous photographer, Fred Herzog. He was actually a Biomedical professor at UBC and, at that time, there was no one to teach photography in the Fine Arts Department, so they hired Fred to do that. It was a very special opportunity. A group of us tripped around with Fred in the mid 70’s. Fred taught me that if you get one or two good shots out of a roll of 36 (back in the days of film) you were doing awesome. Of course, every shot that he took was amazing. He also helped me to develop an eye – to look for things that other people didn’t see. When I finished my degree I didn’t show any of my work for thirty years. I’ve always had a camera and I continued to take family photos but any other photos that I took, I just kept to myself. I also worked for Lens and Shutter for many years and saw a lot of other people’s photos (laughs).

How did you start showing your work again?

Jean-Francois Renaud was curating the art exhibitions at the Saturna Café and he said, “I can offer you a show.” Saturna had rekindled my interest in artistic photography and so I said ‘yes.’ There was a lot of nervousness and trepidation, but I agreed. There’s nothing like a show to motivate you (laughs). That first show was in 2012 and was called “Sagacious” and I’ve had several other shows since. I once covered the inside of the Café with panoramic shots of tree bark that totaled 21 feet in length. It was called “Enfoldment.”

Ethereal Egg

              

What inspires you?

Saturna inspires me. It has been a very photographic summer. I often photograph community events and I did the Lamb Barbecue, again this year. This time I focused on all the work bees and volunteers. It was amazing. It’s important, to me, to document that event because the record says so much about community. There are so many people, who do so much, that it is almost impossible to describe to someone who hasn’t seen it. In many ways, I’m like a voyeur when I’m behind my camera but when I photographed the BBQ this year, I got to see how I fit into the community. That was an important moment for me.

How do you fit into the community?

I saw that everything that people do is important – building the tables, making the rice, cleaning the site – and I saw that what I do is important too. By taking photos I help others to see the community. I am a connector and making connections through my photographs builds and unites the community.  I help to broaden the view; to provide a window to each other and to life. 

Tell me about a piece of work that you are really happy with and why?

(Nettie took me inside her house to see two photographs that she has mounted and framed on her wall. Both photos portray intimate moments of young people in Thailand.  One is titled “Boys” and the other “Painted.”  As she shows them to me and speaks about them she has tears in her eyes).  Sometimes it is a privilege to take a photo.  There is a moment when I see something and I am smitten.  It’s the movement of the light and I lose all sense of time and space; time stops and I am in awe.  I live in that moment.  Photography is a means to capture the magical wonder in nature and the world. 

What projects are you working on or looking forward to?

This weekend I have a show opening at the Café called ‘3 x 3 – In Plain View.’  Two others photographers, Maureen Welton and Nancy Angermeyer and I are showing together.  I feel honoured to be sharing the space with these two women. The show will be up during the Art Saturna Tour on the BC Day weekend, August 3^rd and 4^th when other artists on the island also have their studios open. I’m also very excited about an event I’ll be having at the Sunset Talks at East Point on August 30^th. It’s called ‘Night de Light’ and my images will be projected large-scale onto the side of the Fog Alarm Building.  Having my images presented in such a grand scale is something I’ve dreamed of for a long time.  Bring a blanket and come see!

You can see more of Nettie’s work at:  nettieadams.ca

-By Monica Morten

An Exhibition of Photography: 3 X 3 - In Plain View

Photographers Nettie Adams, Nancy Angermeyer and Maureen Welton are featuring their work at the Saturna Cafe with an opening reception this Saturday, July 27, 2019 from 4-6 pm.  Come down and meet the artists and experience the world 'In Plain View' in a way that you may have never seen before! 

Energia

Opening this afternoon at the Saturna Café, Saturna Island, BC, and showing through to March 3rd.

New work at ArtSaturna Gallery

June Art Show on Saturna Island

Come and take a look at the latest work of Saturna artists. 
Opening reception: Sunday, June 21, from 2 - 4 pm.
Light refreshments and artists present.

The gallery is located right by the ferry dock, Lyall Harbour, Saturna Island.

Our featured artist for this show is Janet Strayer, whose paintings are also are currently on display at the Saturna Café  (until July 9) in a solo show entitled Of Fables and Myths. You can see Janet's current work online (click here). 

May Art Show on Saturna Island

It's spring time, and time for a new show at the Saturna Point Store Gallery! 

Come and take a look at the latest work of Saturna artists. 
Opening reception: Sunday, May 3rd, from 2 - 4 pm.
Light refreshments and artists present.

Right by the ferry dock, Lyall Harbour, Saturna Island.

Being Part of Art Saturna

by Janet Strayer

This is the painting that identifies me on the poster that introduced Art Saturna in the very first posting of this blog. Entitled Riders of Dawn, it's an acrylic painting that includes some gold metallic paint and mixed media on wood panel. For me, it is evocative of the natural world that surrounds us and enters into our sense of being alive. I'm more aware of living in nature on Saturna than occurs in other locations, partly because of being surrounded by the sea and trees and birds and animal life. It's important to me because I was raised as a  city girl with little experience of nature back on the eastcoast. Yet, here on Saturna, nature has always been inviting and, thankfully, kind.
  
Where in the world does one find a small, still sparsely populated island inhabited by so many inspired artists? Saturna, indeed. It’s a pleasure to be in the company of Saturna artists, some of whom have already introduced themselves on this blog.

I’m a painter, mostly of imaginative figurative works, but also of abstracts. I came to Saturna years ago, living in a large, renewable tent on a permanent platform for more than a decade until we built a house overlooking the water. Up a small hill from this haven on the unspellable (and almost undriveable) Houghquie Wynd road is my beautiful studio. Magic… all of it .

I’ve travelled through many parts of the world and am still amazed to come home to this place. It’s timeless and fresh all at once. It’s also the perfect setting for me to work. This is where I officially launched myself as a painter. I’d been drawing, print-making, and painting for years, in and out of accredited fine art establishments in Canada and Europe, It was here on Saturna, though, when I first realized it was time to come out and show my work. It’s the showing that now completes the creative process for me: generating the idea, giving myself over to it, doing it with all the concentrated internal-external communications of that “making” process , then letting it go out into the world to complete itself in the viewer’s involved reaction.

Though I have just this fall opened a studio/gallery in Vancouver, it is here in Saturna that I find the solace, inspiration, and clarity of vision to do what I do. I love it here. It’s that simple.

Being part of the Saturna artists’ show this Thanksgiving is a welcome example of the creative energy that abounds in this small and wondrous place. It will be a pleasure to have you come see and be part of it.

Here is one of the paintings that I'll have on display at the Art Saturna show. Entitled Fox & Foxy, it is part of my Animal Lovers series. You can see more on my website (click here). This collection of works blends a fascination with the human-animal form in all its varieties and moods with my longstanding interest in fable and in the inner-outer worlds we humans inhabit. I hope it tickles your fancy (or whatever else may need tickling). And I hope to see you at the show.

 www.janetstrayerart.com

My blog on creative living (art, travels, photos, tips): www.janetstrayer.blogspot.ca

New Vancouver Studio:    

1000 Parker Street, Studio #202 (near Venables and Clark Drive)