Ninety Five Winters
Trembling Aspen | Series 04_My Life Here | Issue_08
Due to a technical snafu, this issue didn't go out January 24th as intended. Apologies. The opening and artist talk have already happened. It was amazing. I'll tell you all about it, shortly.
"My Mom is 95." I've said that to a lot of people since being in Japan. It usually comes after saying how healthy she is (mecha-genki), that she walks to the grocery store most days, shops and cooks, keeps up with family on the internet and the family app (which is WhatsApp on her iPhone). Oh, yeah, she has an iPhone. Did I mention she's 95? All of that is usually followed by me noting that she is always reading, has projects on the go, and is learning, learning, learning. Maybe most importantly, she is still growing, changing, and becoming herself. She is willing to changing her mind about deeply held beliefs, for the sake of love. All at the age of 95. For all these reasons, I continually forget she's 95. She certainly doesn't look it. I want to say she doesn't act like she's 95, but she does. She's 95, so she's one of the few people who get to define what acting like you're 95 means. From where I stand, it looks pretty impressive.
Sometime in the fall last year, Mom tried abstract painting for the first time in her life. The paintings were good, I liked them. I'm her son an all, but I'm also an artist, and unbiased-as-possible-artist-me could see they were good. Two days before leaving for Vancouver I learned I'd be able to open up KocoGarden again. That sparked an idea. I'd curate an exhibition of Mom's work, and show it in KocoGarden. Mom painted diligently over the month of November, and I flew back to Yokohama with 7 original abstract water colours.
This Friday, January 26 at 12:00 noon (PST) is the opening and artist talk for Ninety Five Winters, featuring the work of Loreen Frost. This is her first solo exhibition.
If you're near Yokohama, by all means, stop by. Otherwise, the artist talk will happen over zoom. Theo, Dan and Rin came by to install the TV today, and we're all ready to go.
Click the button below for a Google calendar invite to the artist talk, including Zoom link information. The calendar should take care of all the time zone shenanigans.
The QR code on the poster will take you to the exhibition's feature page on the KAMC website, the English contents of which I include below. You're welcome. (But go check out the website, it's pretty cool seeing everything in Japanese too. Thank you Natsuko and Haruka!)
KocoGarden Project: Ninety Five Winters
KocoGarden announces a solo exhibition for Loreen Frost.
Artist statement
I was looking on the internet for ideas to create greeting cards and came across a woman who was doing abstract watercolours, using salt and crushed saran wrap to manipulate colour variations and texture.
It was so fascinating that I decided to try it. My style of painting has always been realistic and very controlled, and sometimes miniature. This was a new experience for me to just let things happen, with something appearing that is one-of-a-kind and can’t be duplicated.
I like the anticipation and excitement of waiting for the paint to dry to see what has formed. The possibilities are endless, using different colour combinations and one of the techniques, or both on one painting. It feels like opening a gift!
When I look at them, I am amazed and feel so blessed and grateful to be still using my hands at 95 years of age to make/create things.
●Outline
KocoGarden Project
Ninety Five Winters
Dates｜Jan 26 – Feb 2, 2024
Opening hours｜11:00 – 17:00
Venue｜KocoGarden (Hatusne Wing A 1 Chome-21 Hatsune, Koganecho, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa)
●Mini-opening + Artist talk
Date and time｜Jan 26 12:00 pm-
Venue｜KocoGarden (Hatusne Wing A 1 Chome-21 Hatsune, Koganecho, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa)
Artist profile
Year and month of Birth: September,1928
Place of Birth: At home on my parent’s farm, six miles from the town of Southey, Saskatchewan, Canada
Where you currently live: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Family history: Married 63 years. Five children, 9 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren
How long you have been engaged in craft projects and the various types of projects: Since childhood on the farm – carding wool, embroidery, rug hooking, quilting, knitting, crocheting, sewing clothes, dough art, pressed flowers arranged and framed as pictures, macrame, wheat weaving, watercoloring painting, making greeting cards, paper cutting, cooking, baking, flower and vegetable gardening and making jams, jellies, pickles and canning fruit.
Group Exhibitions: Six exhibitions as an Art Guild member and a curated exhibition in Regina, Saskatchewan
Solo Exhibitions: This is my first!
Hey, I’m Steve, an artist-in-residence in Yokohama, Japan. I make collaborative art, participatory art, interactive new media installations, and abstract visual art. I explore themes of home, identity, belonging and how to live your life like a work of art. I write about it all in this very newsletter, Trembling Aspen.
I’m learning out loud so we can learn together.
If you would like to support me, my residency, my work, and this newsletter, or if you are interested in crowd-funding interdependent art-making in Yokohama, Japan, please consider subscribing.