Wendy Walgate - New Work

New Website Design for www.walgate.com

2009-08-07T21:29:00.002-04:00

Allison Woo has designed a new website for me and I will be posting all my news on it myself now. It's great fun to be able to add images and information to the site. The archived entries for this blogsite will be available through the website and you can subscribe through RSS on my website www.walgate.com

If you have any questions, please contact me at info@walgate.com

LOVEMELOVEME: Art/ Not Art

2009-07-21T18:01:00.000-04:00

LOVEMELOVEME: Art/ Not Art

July exhibition at The Beverly Owens Project

2009-06-30T09:13:00.002-04:00

Pop! Pop! Goes the Culture! is a three person exhibition at a very "hip" Queen Street West gallery in Toronto. It's just steps from the Drake Hotel and runs from July 2 - August 2, 2009. I have 4 pieces in the show and one is my particular favourite. It was finished right before the delivery date, so no photos yet. But it is a metal "Prairie" wagon with my signature collection of accumulated animals and a little girl riding on top of a horse. She is wearing clothing made from fabric cut from my own doll's clothes and a mini-skirt I sewed for myself when I was sixteen - if you can imagine! Here is the quote that is decaled on the side of a house-like form on the piece:

An unlessoned girl, unschooled, unpractised;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn’ happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn

It's from Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare and the character Portia is speaking about herself in a self-depreciating way. But she musters enough spirit to dress as a man and save her husband from death. So she is much smarter than she lets on. My little girl on top of the horse is at the moment of being told to become more "lessoned" - but probably won't do it!

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2009

2009-06-03T07:14:00.003-04:00

More summer fun! I will be at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition at Nathan Phillips Square on July 10, 11 & 12, 2009. My booth number is 674 in the "yellow" area, so please come to visit.

My piece "Sleigh Ride" (shown here) has been accepted for the Unity and Diversity exhibition at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale (CICB). The exhibition runs from September 23 to November 1, 2009.

Orange

2009-05-26T19:31:00.004-04:00

Orange combines the bliss of yellow with the heat of red. It is joy, enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction and success.

I spot the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs

And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o’-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.

Carl Sandburg, Theme in Yellow, 1916

Studies on Czechoslovakian Milk Pitchers

2009-03-07T08:13:00.002-05:00

Since I am always drawn to brightly coloured objects (maybe it is a result of being very near-sighted!), Czechoslovakian ceramics fit that criteria. I have a large collection of functional work with Art Deco stripes, patterning and decals. Here are a few of the milk pitchers, filled with corresponding animals.

Artists' Project, Toronto March 5 - 8, 2009

2009-01-22T16:43:00.002-05:00

I will be participating for the first time in the Artists' Project at the Liberty Grand at Exhibition Place, Toronto from March 5 - 8, 2009. I've also been invited to exhibit at the Masters Exhibition at World Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition, 'Adventures of the Fire' for the 5th World Ceramic Biennale 2009 Korea. I hope to send the ladder, toybox and carriage.

SOFA Chicago with Ferrin Gallery

2008-10-11T22:48:00.006-04:00

For this series, I found inspiration from antique porcelain and earthenware vases from the early 20th century. The delicacy of form and decoration on the vases influenced each new study. Groups of animals were interspersed with tiny porcelain cups and saucers, shells, garlic globes, and embossed ribbons. The range of white and off-white hues was achieved by using white earthenware, porcelain and mother-of-pearl luster, along with glossy, textured, satin and crackle glazes. These studies lead to a new understanding of the old and an old understanding of the new.

2 New Works

2008-08-26T23:17:00.002-04:00

Here are 2 more new works that have multi-coloured animals and vintage toys as containers - a metal stroller and a drum.

Turquoise Ark

2008-08-26T23:09:00.002-04:00

At the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition I met a couple who wanted to commission a "vertical" turquoise piece. After some searching, I found this beautiful, c. 1960s Japanese vase with character markings inside the base. With the height and wide bowl, striated surface and soft, satin turquoise glaze - it was perfect. I filled it with slipcast animals, glazed in a range of turquoise glazes that matched the colour of the vase. Tucked inside the animals were 2 press-moulded ceramic knives and rectangles of clay that were moulded from an Indian printing block that I originally used when I was at Cranbrook Academy of Art. It felt great to re-introduce this texture (with so much personal history) into the work. The couple were thrilled with the piece and it is residing on their mantle.

Trojan Horses

2008-08-18T07:54:00.004-04:00

I found these really cool 1950's ceramic horse containers, very similar to the kind of ceramics that were around my parents' house when I was young. The horse could be used as planters and /or bookends and suggested an entirely black piece to me. I framed the piece with the black ceramic horses on the bottom and a large "Clydesdale" horse on the top - with a golden pig on his back. When it was finished it seemed as if the contents of the horse bookends were spilling upward, similar to the surprise of the contents of the famous Trojan Horse.

I Am Not Greedy

2008-07-04T23:20:00.002-04:00

This wonderful vintage cup has the slogan "I am not greedy, but I want enough". How incredibly apt for these times and particularly the need to have enough meat on our plates. The centre of all our meals - the meat. How about everything else we can eat that doesn't involve confinement, torture and killing? How about being creative with our food and using all those fresh, brilliantly coloured foods that don't involve death?

Go vegetarian and try hard for vegan. It's the inevitable way of the future.

Absence of Colour (yes I spell colour the Canadian way!)

2008-07-04T23:02:00.002-04:00

I've been working on a black, grey and white series and it is more difficult than my colour work. The punch of red, the sea sound of turquoise, grassy greens and citrus rush of yellow -inspire me when I glaze my multi-coloured works and unpack them after firing. It is such a gift to see these vibrant colours on the table in front of me. After glazing each individual piece, the placement within a work depends on how each colour reacts with its neighbour and the repetition or echoing of colours back forth.

When I use all white, all black or a graduation of white to black (as in Horizon Mantle), I almost have to squint at the pieces to see how the progression of colour is working. It is a more subtle arrangement of shades rather than a joyous relationship of vibrant colours. The seemingly mute character of black, grey and white is a learning experience for me and this entire series of 10 works will speak of "control" rather than "abandonment". Still, I just love colour! (spelled the Canadian way).

White Crib

2008-05-21T17:21:00.000-04:00

When I found this battered, used toy white bed I wanted to fill it up with glowing white animals that exuded hope - in order to give the crib and its owner another chance. Below is a beautiful verse by Anne Sexton that I would love to relate to this piece.

Child, the current of your breath is six days long.

You lie, a small knuckle on my white bed;

lie, fisted like a snail, so small and strong at my breast.

Your lips are animals; you are fed with love.

Anne Sexton (1928–1974), U.S. poet. “Unknown Girl in the Maternity Ward.”

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, 2008

2008-05-14T19:16:00.000-04:00

Come and visit me at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition at Nathan Phillips Square in the heart of downtown Toronto, Canada. The dates are:

Friday, July 11 from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, July 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, July 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Look for my booth in the Yellow section, no. 681

Let the sun shine all weekend!!

Play at Being 2007

2008-05-14T18:29:00.000-04:00

I created this work in white earthenware clay by slipcasting and glazing approximately 50 animals and assembling after firing them. The base is a vintage wooden cheesebox and the illustrations and text are from poem by Rudyard Kipling.

Before the High and Far-Off Times,
O my Best Beloved,
came the Time of the Very Beginnings:
and that was in the days when the Eldest Magician
was getting Things ready.

First he got the Sea ready;
and then he told all the Animals that
they could come out and play.
And the Animals said,
'O Eldest Magician,
what shall we play at?'

And he said, 'I will show you.'

He took the Elephant -
All-the-Elephant-there-was
and said, 'Play at being an Elephant,' and
All-the-Elephant-there-was played.

He took the Beaver -
All-the-Beaver-there-was
and said, 'Play at being a Beaver,'
and All-the-Beaver-there-was played.

He took the Cow -
All-the-Cow-there-was
and said 'Play at being a Cow,'
and All-the-Cow-there-was played.

He took the Turtle -
All-the-Turtle-there-was
and said, 'Play at being a Turtle,' and
All-the-Turtle-there-was played.
One by one he took all the beasts and birds and fishes and told them what to play at.

Just So Stories
Rudyard Kipling