School of Fish at the Brockville Aquatarium

 

 

This clay mural was an outreach project with students, staff, and committed volunteers of schools in the Brockville area.

Krista Cameron did fish tile workshops with elementary school students, Mr. Sheridan's grade 12 classes produced the amazingly realistic fish, turtle, and frog tiles.

Tom Weagant had the lengthy and thankless job of making the perfectly plain tiles.

The project was complete by summer 2011.

 It was installed at the Aquatarium in March 2015, at which time my husband Victor Limbeek grouted his fingertips to the bone.

 

 

 

Tom Weagant emailed me this note when he read that I described his job as thankless:

"Thanks for the recognition but it was too much fun to be described as thankless;))"

        

 

 

           Yes, Tom, it was too much fun! The project consumed me for about one and one half years.



     Loved planning out the process, loved being in the classroom with the students, loved teaching Dave the technical stuff (Not sure he loved that, but we are still good friends!)  

 

 

    

 

 

      Loved seeing it sprawled all over my showroom for months, loved showing it off in pieces to anyone who happened to drop by...loved that Victor was so meticulous about grouting it, and loved all the enthusiasm that radiated out of those FISH!

 

 

Please enjoy my photographic trip down memory lane!

 

 

  

 

 

  

Krista Cameron

 

Dave Sheridan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neil Hobbs comment

Dr. Neil Hobbs recently commented on the completed mural:

"Have to say I was fascinated by the process and outcome of the ceramic mural with students - it is good to work with "arrows launched into the future" as Kahlil Gibran calls children..and students are in the same category, I guess. We may never see where they land but it's good to help draw the bow that sets them on their way...."

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 

 

Diana's Birds Fly Into the Present! 2016

 

I have found a family of my favourite students recently. When they graduated from high school, they went forward with their lives, and my fond memories of them grew a bit misty around the edges.

Actually, Patricia found me, on Face Book...I am so glad to reconnect with her and her brothers Bill and Greg.

Recently I posted an album called "Chameleon 2016", and described how my work is changing. Patti messaged that she wished she could have seen my earlier shapes. So, I have made a bird for her. It did not come easily, as my hands would not default to my old shapes. I raku- fired my old birds, and relied on its flashes of colour added by the fire.

Now, I am refining my lines, and creating an elegance to speak for the bird. The glazing is a mystery.  I'll figure that out later. These new birds will not be flashy. They will exhale...

Chameleon One, 2016

Chameleon     (January , 2016)

 

I am back to mindful meditation. Quiet time  in my studio.

I have been looking forward to playing with curves again. Last week, I started an old familiar form, one of my bird forms.

Those who have followed my clay for thirty odd years are very familiar with my birds. I always Smoke or Raku  fired them, enjoying the happy accidents of colour and smoke.

My biggest bird ("Birdsong") was over 3 feet high. I made her in my first sculpture course with Christina McEwen in 1992. She lived cheerfully in my garden  for several years, until a lovely lady decided she could not go home without her. "Thanksgiving" left my nest. 

My tiniest chicks are about 1/2 inch high. Their plump shapes, with tails in the air have trailed behind me  for decades. Last fall I experimented with them, new glazes of colour, and colour, and colour... They too have flown.

Last week I started out with the traditional rough form of a life-size bird. It came easily. BUT, my eye saw new shape in this very familiar form. Working on my Angel, Budform  and Dancer series' has changed my view. Elements of each form are involuntarily combining to create something new, yet old. It always surprises me when I look back at my old work, and see their essence following, creating my own, recognizable style.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

It is very interesting to be 'Diana' observing 'Diana the artist'.