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contemporary Canadian folk art

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Suite 2, The Coal Shed,
402 William Street, Wiarton, Ontario

roguegoat@hotmail.ca

By Appointment Only.

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2 of 2. Show life is about celebrating each other’s successes. A big thank you to the effervescent @janicelutsenko for selling our largest tryptych for us and just being a lovely voice of support. I was so happy to hear that fellow Ontarian @fisheyesisters won the Gold Excellence Award this year. Jen is a sweetheart, it was her first year here and with the requisite anxieties. Being recognized by your peers for your craftsmanship, not merely your showmanship or saleability is so fulfilling. And Saturday night we bittersweetly celebrated Paul Yard’s retirement. For so many years he has stewarded this fantastic show and he’s just the nicest guy. Paul has been part of our real enjoyment in doing this show and a resource for growth & encouragement since we began five years ago, which is baby time in the great history of @circlecraft We also spent the later part of the night in the circle of new and old art carnie friends, trading work stories but also who we are. Spinning together a bigger and stronger web of connection. Big smooches to @wanderlust_faeriedust @splatandco & the cutest girl in the word, @mumbletease There’s, of course, you. A relationship of gratitude...you for the love of your piece and for us, our gratefulness for being included in the fabric of your life. Or your stories of where you first saw us, the piece you wanted or were able to purchase, your appreciation for my stories (😳), how you have watched us struggle and succeed. I’m writing this while laying on the couch after an overnight flight home to my family & beasties, the deep comfort of warm bodies cuddled close after absence and against the chill of an old house with snow outside its windows. And I’m writing this to tell you that while it may appear that we primarily sell things, what we really do, what all of you participate in, is a life wandering with love through stories and connection. Until next year, 😘.

1 of 2. Post show strike, not wanting to leave each other, vainly trying to take a flattering photo of all of us...we decided crawling towards the camera being tigers was likely to soften the haggardness of lighting, weariness and....being a lot older. It didn’t, but still...tigers! 😜 Dev @rawecojewelry & Nic and I have been friends for a long time now. That long enough and close enough that means that time and distance have often intervened (and sometimes wrongmindedness 😜), yet it is instantly the same as soon as we are together. The same meaning; heartfelt conversations, our deepest worries and hurts, but also reckless giggling, a lack of any conversational boundaries, impropriety (cider)...and love. Nic came with me from Ontario for this show and the three of us lived together for the week. Each night as the show closed, Dev & I would whine that we were tired and going right to bed. Every night we all stayed up talking into the wee hours. During the day we talk with our fellow vendors in stolen moments on the way to the bathroom or buying show treats. We are a community fascinated with our processes and desire to constantly get better. It’s not about becoming more efficient, although sometimes that happens too...but further into our creative integrity. Stronger in it. A great booth neighbour you connect with makes a lovely show even better...I was lucky enough be beside Clare from @themagpiesnestjewelry this year. It’s always affirming to have those conversations where another craft professional agrees with your instincts; more is not better, the necessity of making room to experiment, to make mistakes, how to handle influence as it shades to copying, the curious, consistent inequality of the length of to do lists and the hours of the day. Plus, I adore South African accents. 😍

@circlecraft starts today! So good to be back in Vancouver after missing last year.

Soft & quiet, intense and moody are my favourite everything; colours, people, animals, skies, water.

tbt...to little Thomas Hardy’s tail wagging appreciation for warm bottles & full bellies. 😍

I am an albino, weather predicting groundhog, Tip is a rabid llama, and Taryn is a Creeper. Taryn has asked that I be Zombie Willie, after the real Wiarton Willie, weather predicting marmot, whose habitat is attached to the studio. But I had a fit of magical thinking at the last minute and convinced myself that should I dress as dead Willie, real Willie with be jinx-ed into imminent death. Also....what the heck happened to homemade costumes & decorations?!!! It’s a sea of slick and banal out there. Bring back imaginative mediocrity!

Bunny butts and sunshine in the rabbit barn.

This piece of big Leaf Maple had a really unusual transition from left to right, with the right side being very spalted and porous & the left hand side being the typical grain and tone. It is quite dramatic, but by intensifying the left hand side painting colours, the overall effect is one of balance. Use of the elements and principles of design is largely intuitive, but I always find it intriguing to step back and analyze how a composition is technically working (or not!). 12/24/12 x36, big Leaf Maple, copper (peaking underneath the left and right hand panels). $2600. SOLD #circlecraft

Canmore seasons/day/night commission. I probably post about half the commissions we do. I started feeling like I didn’t want commissions to be references for other commissions...that they should be private for the owner. But some clients want to see it posted, sometimes I need to tweak the photo with the editor here to send to the client anyway, sometimes I feel like it’s time to post something but don’t have anything besides three bazillion photos of animals on my phone. Mostly that last one.😜

This morning at the studio, nothing felt right. Nothing looked right. I couldn’t settle into confidence in what I was doing, like my hands had forgotten everything they know. So I finished what I had assigned myself and headed home. Looked at old photos to see what went right before and saw the progress over the years. Proof that I was not, as it were, making crappier things, lol. Had a cup of tea. Got some fresh air and visited with the furry things. I’ll settle into sand for the afternoon, which is work without thought, watch something on Netflix ( last weeks sanding binge was the The Haunting of Hill House and, already a fairly shit sleeper, I managed to sleep even less and have exponentially worse night mares for days afterwards.). I am diligent about forcing myself to keep working, no caving to the paralysis of anxiety, but sometimes moving forwards means switching gears for the day.

About
Welcome
Art
Commissions
Where to Find Us
Care Instructions
Rogue Thoughts…

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