“Mausoleum” by Erin Hamilton
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“Topography” by Erin Hamilton
“Olo’s Aura” by Erin Hamilton
“Wishing is meant to be secret. It never comes true if you say it out loud, blowing the candles out on your birthday cake or catching the first star in the night sky. I build a vessel, a castle something sturdy and impassable to house desire, what we hope for most. Because perhaps wishing has always just been a way for us to send our desire out of our head and into the universe. Releasing them from ourselves and allowing them to be. To come true. To deliver.”
–Erin Hamilton (from her artist statement for “Moving Space, Holding Energy”
Erin is a fibre artist, weaver and basket-maker.
(Above: Painting on silk panel, by Amber Friedman)
- Treva, in her new rainbow dancing suit by Amber Friedman
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gorgeousness by Amber Friedman
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“…gorgeous silks and cottons. HUM? sounds like a lot of fun and excitement to me.
… custom orders? yeah i do. i hate them- but i really love them. they are so challenging! today i made a shirt for my friend paul who is a farming music man. i stamped a whole bunch of roosters and birds, fish and goats on his shirt and drew a picture of his p retty lady and flint his 2 year old. i wrote with wax…5:00 am
goats & chickens
and flint
oh my!i think he’s going to like it.”
… custom orders? yeah i do. i hate them- but i really love them. they are so challenging! today i made a shirt for my friend paul who is a farming music man. i stamped a whole bunch of roosters and birds, fish and goats on his shirt and drew a picture of his p retty lady and flint his 2 year old. i wrote with wax…5:00 am
goats & chickens
and flint
oh my!i think he’s going to like it.”
–Amber Friedman
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As many of you may know, I am an artist as well as a mother, birth worker, etc. And I want to take this space to acknowledge and celebrate two of my beloved friends who are also Mums and artists-extraordinaire.
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Erin and Amber are both from New Brunswick, and I love them, and I love their work. They have both taught me a lot about peaceful parenting, and about art, and about working as an artist and craftsperson while taking care of little ones.
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Erin is one of the most dignified, loyal, gentle, caring people I know. She is not at all melodramatic, but rather has an oceanic steadiness, deep delicacy, a slower, more unfolding expressiveness, an immense heart, and is intensely real and beautiful. And this is how I see her gorgeous baskets, too: dignified, oceanic, immense, gentle, delicate, unfolding, real, beautiful.
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Amber is one of the most radical, open, honest, delightful people I know. She is wild, and passionate, and perfectly, gorgeously strange, and she makes me laugh *so* hard without trying to be funny, which is the most hilarious thing in the world. I don’t know anyone on earth who is as weird as Amber without being affected or self-conscious in any way. Her energy is effervescent, and she is one of my favourite singers. Amber’s gorgeous paintings on silk are swirling masses of energy, with colours from the earth and potent with magic.
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I have in my possession (lucky me!!) pieces by both Erin and Amber, and these works enrich my existence and bring me joy every day. I feel honoured to have these amazing women in my life. They are bringing up beautiful kind boys, making art, and making it all happen.
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Last week, we received a package in the mail, with the most beautiful selection of gorgeous items made by Amber. Amber’s primary art-form is painting on silk panels, but she also makes the most sweet and lovely clothes for kids and adults. (Check out her etsy shop here). As soon as Horus and Treva saw their rainbow outfits, they stripped, put on their new gear, and Treva announced, “These are my dancing pants!”, and they danced. Magic!
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Erin and Amber are both exhibiting their works on BC’s Sunshine Coast (my old home!) in the coming weeks, at the Fibreworks gallery. So please go and see the show out for me, if you can!
Love,
Yo