Crazed FUnNy BuNniEs!!!!!!

It's procrastination day today in Lala's studio!!! Instead of working on commissions, I decided to make some stuffed bunnies.....and it feels good. Got it all out of my system....and now I can concentrate on creating those divine pieces that my customers have patiently been waiting for.

These crazed creatures however, will make a presence at a local shop near YOU - so beware....heehee!!!!!

Article on Garnet McPhail by Elissa Barnard for the Chronicle Herald

Folk artist McPhail known for roosters, gentle spirit
By ELISSA BARNARD
Arts Reporter
Wed. Jan 16 - 6:58 AM

Annapolis Valley folk artist Garnet McPhail, who died Sunday, was well known for his roosters, as well as other carved animals and figures. His work is in collections throughout Canada and the United States. (Audrey Sandford)
Garnet McPhail, part of Nova Scotia’s first wave of folk artists, loved to make art and meet people.
The artist, who died Sunday at the age of 81, was a regular at the Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival since it started in Lunenburg 20 years ago.
"He was just a real down-to-earth kind of guy," says festival co-founder David Stephens. "It wasn’t so much he was making money as he was making friends.
"He was really happy with what he was doing. I think he was surprised people would take an interest in his work."
McPhail’s work is in collections throughout Canada and the United States including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. He was featured in the National Film Board documentary Folk Art Found Me and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s 1997 exhibit A Life of Its Own.
"He’s one of the first wave of folk artists, the people who were at the first festival like Sid Howard, Lorne Reid and David Stephens," says Audrey Sandford, owner of the Black Sheep Gallery in West Jeddore Village.
Born in the Magdelan Islands, McPhail worked as a farmer, a cook, a mason’s helper, a woodsman, a tower forest ranger and from 1978 to 1987 in custodial services at Acadia University. It was there he was inspired to carve an alligator, says Stephens, also a folk artist living in Sydney.
"I remember asking Garnet how he got into carving." At Acadia "he would mop the floors at night. He never looked up too often. Then one day he happened to look up from his work and noticed an alligator skeleton and a stuffed alligator in a display case.
"He was so intrigued by this alligator that he went to the library and looked up several books on alligators and then went home and carved his very first alligator."
Sandford loves McPhail’s roosters.
"He was best known for his roosters and I’m looking at two of them right now, very primitive," she said, in a phone interview from Toronto. "He was one of the more primitive Nova Scotia folk artists.
"He did wonderful art."
McPhail’s pieces, carved with a chainsaw and other tools and featuring found objects, included spotted dogs, life-sized figures and a horse and wagon with a small spotted dog sitting beside a man in the wagon. "At one point he did the Titanic and it was huge, he had it at his shop."
Sandford has exhibited McPhail’s work since she opened her summertime folk art gallery nine years ago. "He was just a very gentle man, a sweet man and I remember going up to visit with my son and his new wife and I introduced them and he gave them a rooster. That was Garnet. He was really sweet and generous and gentle."
This year the Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary. "There are not too many of us left that came that first year," says Stephens, who compares McPhail’s work to that of the late Sid Howard, of Albert Bridge, Cape Breton.
"On the surface Garnet’s carvings were very basic — no subliminal messages — nothing too deep beneath the surface. However, for me I saw something different. I saw a sense of humanity, a love for nature and a sense of wonder. Garnet was exploring. He was making contact."
McPhail, who lived in Melanson, Kings County, is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.

Remembering Garnet McPhail

Garnet McPhail was one of Nova Scotia's cherished Folk Artists. He was known for his whimsically carved creations - mostly animals. He was a kind soul, with a lot of character and charm. I once had the opportunity to visit him in his workshop, where he took me on a journey of each of his creations. I left his workshop that day with a piece of his delightful work....and a little bit of happiness. He has inspired myself, along with countless others to enjoy each day and to find happiness in everything that you do. Garnet, you and your whimsical creatures will be greatly missed!!!!

This is the handwriting of Garnet McPhail. He often included the date of when each piece was created.

Media Coverage of SEVEN

Some of the media coverage our group SEVEN has received over the past month. This exerpt is taken from the website www.carrieanddanielle.com.

Friday Focus from Carrie & Danielle
Why Friday? Most of us have more mental space as the week winds down. Let this idea stir within you over the weekend and work it into your intention for the new week...
Word up, up and away…
In January ‘07, we offered a Friday Focus that encouraged you to pick a few words to signify your intentions for the New Year. Here’s an excerpt:
Every New Year we choose words as the theme or experience we want for that year….
THIS NEW WEEK: Choose your words for the year – one or two audio gems to plug into your heart as an added bass beat. Sometimes you need to claim your word like a brass ring of promise, other times it will float into your mind and feel just right when it gets there.

Some women artists in Halifax took that seed of inspiration and ran with it in a big way. They grew it into an art gallery show entitled Seven, in which each of them offered up their own words and artwork. Their words and phrases were: Speak, Divine Trash, Earthen and Urban: Sitting on the Fence, Coin, Passing, Serendipity, and Blue Moon.
They joined together for creative companionship throughout the year and witnessed the creation of: felted crones, silver crocheted hyperbolic spaces, hand-spun wool transformed into tapestries, copper inlaid coins, photographic moments made universal in grids, texture-rich canvases and poems. As they did so, they were further influenced and inspired by each other, so that the complete collection of works is intimately interconnected.
They produced 49 pieces of art. The national press took notice. For many of them, this was their first art show.

THIS WEEK, take your pick:
Determine your word(s) for 2008.
Symbolize your words in visual or audio form. This can be as simple as making a collage, downloading an image to your computer desktop, or creating a playlist on your iPod that reminds you of your 2008 aspirations. You could also collect meaningful objects and create an altar or a vignette on a shelf or mantle.
Form a creative companion group. Meet monthly to make art together.
Pick up a copy of Julia Cameron’s The Artist's Way, and put creative exploration at the top of your priority list.
Make a secret or well-announced plan to show off your creativity this year. This could be as simple as enlarging your best digital shots and giving them choice placement in your home. Or you could plan an art show — in a local gallery or a small café. You could do a performance of any sort – muster the courage to sing some Joni Mitchell at a summer campfire, grab the Karaoke mic and give ‘er all you’ve got, do a striptease for your honey, or invite your friends to your Tango recital.
So much can come of a word. Like … Creativity (noun): the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships; to create meaningful new ideas and forms.