Having a Ball in Tainan!

Off to tour Tainan City! Here are some photos of the incredible experience so far - making wonderful friends and eating amazing food. You don't need descriptions, right? If a picture is worth a thousand words, here is an essay on my stay so far! You will think I've done nothing but dine in fabulous restaurants, but that has been the only time I had to stop and take photos!



Arrival at the stunning airport



Who knew I was about to make a fantastic new friend? My driver was Pei, Hsin-Chen's daughter. I want to bring her home with me - she is tons of fun!

Location:Tainan City, Taiwan

Taiwan International Quilt Exhibition

I leave in ten days for an amazing adventure.  I will be one of the featured artists and am teaching two cheesecloth workshops in Tainan City in Taiwan.  It will be exciting to visit Taiwan again and I am thrilled to be able to get together with the other featured artists, friends from SAQA: Sue Dennis, Pat Gould and Misik Kim.  The organizer of this outstanding event is Hsin-Chen Lin, and I am excited to be able to see her beautiful work in person.

I have two pieces in the exhibition, one of them Nereids, which the purchaser generously agreed to ship overseas for me. This means he will be without the work in his home for many months - and he would not allow me to reimburse him for the shipping costs.  I am so blessed to have such a kind friend and such an ardent supporter of the arts and artists.

The other piece is entitled Inuit Lament and is a commentary on the effects of pollution and global warming on the Arctic Ocean.  What a sad irony that the traditional livelihood of the Inuit peoples, based on respect for the natural ecosystems in their environment, should be threatened primarily by pollution caused by the rest of the world. Sensitive arctic marine ecosystems are at risk and I have depicted their fragility by attaching them only with some lines of stitching - they could easily be ripped from the quilt.  The cheesecloth portrait is from a photograph from the McCord Museum by Bob Stewart entitled "Inuit man, Port Harrison, QC, 1920-21."  

IOU!

Oh my goodness - for those of you who have been following my adventures (and especially for those of you who have been teasing me about not finding anything on my blog recently), I owe a huge apology and know I have a big IOU to make good on.  Only lack of time would prevent me from keeping this blog up to date.  I have been keeping very busy since Sarajevo and it's time to show you some of what has been occupying me!

Let's get the first IOU out of the way - I've even had emails asking about my daughter's prom dress. Did it end up looking like Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy dress?  I'll let you decide:

We were quite taken with the back, which her boyfriend's "Nonna" altered, turning the neck from a rounded edge into a V-neck and adding a beautiful dupioni silk bow.  So all that searching in vintage stores in Toronto paid off. We finally lucked out at 69 Vintage on Queen St W if you are ever hunting for something cool like this.  The owner, Kealan, helped us out and I hope she likes what we ended up with.  My daughter looked very elegant and now has a lovely summer dress.  Happy ending.

Around the same time, sadly, we lost our beloved golden retriever, Wilson, who was suffering with Cushing's Disease.  It didn't take my daughter long to pay a visit to his breeder and lo and behold, didn't he have some puppies ready to come home!  :)  So puppy training has taken over our home and who has time to grieve when dealing with the energy levels of a puppy!

Next post, I'll catch you up on my creative adventures!