Collaborations and a DIY culture are at the heart of the maker's movement sweeping across North America. Artisans, hand-crafters, farmers and small independent businesses are celebrating creativity in their local marketplace, producing handmade and homegrown goods in a social environment that thrives on networking. In this new sharing culture, co-producing is a concept inspired by the idea connecting with another's creative energies and inspirations results in a bigger, better idea.
Winnipeg is a hub of start-up DIY collaborations. Rachel Baerg, head of education at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, says that the WAG is embracing this creative force and bringing together independent local crafters, makers and artisans to launch an exciting new series, MakerLabs. Traditionally the WAG studio, Canada's oldest art school affiliated with a civic art gallery, has focused on creative disciplines such as drawing, sculpture, painting, and ceramics. WAG MakerLabs, says Baerg, are designed not only to bring people together for hands-on exploration of the creative process, but also provide a platform to encourage and support local makers, many of whom are sought after by consumers on e-commerce sites such as Etsy and Society6 or at pop-up stores.
The first maker event, held this past October, sold out in five days after being advertised through social media, says Baerg. The next maker event, called Let your love grow, is scheduled for Tuesday, February 11. Candace Fempel, owner of Department of Floristry, will teach a terrarium workshop using cacti and succulents. Participants will learn how to design individualistic terrariums by layering an assortment of natural materials and plantings.
Fempel, who completed her master of architecture at the University of Manitoba, works at a local architecture firm and says that her goal in terrarium making is to create well-designed, accessible, small-scale greenspaces that connect people to plants and enhance the features of one's living or working environment. "Plants have this ability," says Fempel.
Fempel devotes most of her spare time to Department of Floristry, a business she created about five years ago. Combining her love of plants and florals with her passion for design, Fempel's creations can be seen on her website, www.deptof.ca, Instagram and at pop-up events at businesses such as Tiny Feast, 217 McDermot Ave., in the Exchange District.
"The process of creating and making is not always clean and beautiful," says Fempel, "but the outcome each time is unique and continually changes and evolves." Working with organic materials, says Fempel, teaches you that even if you thought you had a perfect plan, the nature of the material is to change. It does so with or without your permission, she says. With that in mind, Fempel's aim is to always respect and accentuate a flower or plant's natural beauty, its texture, colour, and components.
On the way to growing her startup business, Fempel has connected with artisans in the local economy who dabble in a variety of diverse mediums. One such collaboration is with Blair Helgason, a graphic designer at a local design studio who specializes in custom woodworking. Fempel wanted to display tillandsia (air plants) in geometric wooden shapes. She met with Helgason, produced her sketches, and together they bounced some ideas around about proportions for a series of freestanding, wooden forms in geometrical shapes that would serve as a sculptural vessel for the tillandsia. Since the versatile air plant does not grow in soil (just mist it every four to five days or submerge it in water two to three hours every two weeks), Helgason created a prototype with a crevice carved out in each wooden shape large enough to hold one air plant without any pressure.
Crafted from elm, cherry, walnut, fir and maple, each geometrically shaped component has been designed to have similar dimensions, approximately 12 centimetres tall and wide. "In order to work together," says Helgason, "the pieces need a similar proportion." Called Block Party, the idea, says Helgason, is that the wooden shapes are infinitely interchangeable.
Danish oil, applied to the wood by hand then wiped off, won't harm the living plant. Unlike varnish which can chip off or yellow over time, the oil can be reapplied as needed. To learn more about Helgason, visit his facebook page, Blair Helgason Woodworking.
At one time Fempel taught letterpress and book binding classes and workshops at Martha Street Studio (Manitoba Printmakers Association). Letterpress printing utilizes wood and metal type and is undergoing a revival among artisans who are attracted to the visual definition of the type, particularly for uses such as invitations, prints and stationery. Fempel has plans for a line of stationery and greeting cards as well as botanical art prints that recall an earlier time when floral art adorned walls, furnishings and fashion but also served as a record of new plant discoveries. Today botanical motifs are everywhere - even showing up on wedding dresses.
Marcelle Lussier is the creative director at UrbanInk, a graphic design studio in the Exchange District (70 Arthur St.). Lussier also has a passion for typography, illustration, and the craft of printmaking. She has taught letterpress workshops and owns a Heidelberg Windmill letterpress. "What makes letterpress so unique," says Lussier, "is that it makes a tangible impression that lends a handcrafted feel but with precision nonetheless."
Lussier's co-worker is Evan Marnoch. Together Lussier and Marnoch are working with Fempel and experimenting with various types of paper including 100 percent cotton stock, some specialty blotter stock, and foil stamps. The process of creating the new line begins with fresh floral arrangements created by Fempel. Lussier's talent at drawing produces the illustrations while Marnoch is experimenting with making a repetitive pattern-like image that has an abstract feel.
The botanical prints will have a black background for high contrast and a more contemporary look. Both the art prints and line of greeting cards, called Objet, will be available through Fempel's website or at Tiny Feast.
Some plants in the garden, such as poppies, hollyhock, and sometimes clematis, are often described as having blooms with the texture of crepe paper. The art of making paper flowers dates far back into history and was especially popular in the early 1900s. Now millennials such as Fempel have fallen in love with this craft. Fempel sources online for specialty crepe paper that has just the right texture and thickness for the shape of the flowers that she wants, creates her own templates, then assembles the paper arrangements. Fempel dissects fresh flowers for botanically correct cut-paper flowers, then hand paints their centers.
Her attention to detail adds dimension to her creations, giving them life. Fempel has created paper flower bouquets for brides as well as exquisite hair accessories but also, more simple designs such as wire wreaths wrapped in twine that are decorated with flowers made from tissue paper.
There's a philosophy behind much of what Fempel does. Take her grab-and-go bouquets, for example. Recognizing that anything fresh is defined by certain parameters, Fempel tries to incorporate very long lasting flowers such as protea into fresh arrangements but also likes to juxtapose her fresh bouquets with displays that present an alternative medium to illustrate a different time frame.
Handmade, homegrown goods inspired by ideas and collaborations define the makers movement in Winnipeg and help to connect us not only to the natural world but also one another.
"Creativity is a force that is inherent in all of us," says Baerg.
For the full list of DIY programs at the WAG, including drop in community OpenMakes with WAG Studio artist Erika Hanneson, visit wag.ca/DIY.
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