These Gray Days

We are so happy to have the collective brightness of 'These Gray Days' back at SFM! Their work is simultaneously whimsical and poignant, cleverly using humor to bring their audience's attention to the beautiful subtleties in daily life that can easily be overlooked. In the past few years Jasna and Noel have been participants in a number of prestigious artist's residencies including one at the Banff Centre and most recently the Medalta International Artist's in Residence Program in Medicine Hat's Historic Clay District. Earlier this year also marked another success - a commission for the new Anthropologie store in Vancouver. Come and see their lovely work for yourself!

 

These Gray Days is the collective name of artists Jasna Sokolovic and Noel O’Connell. The name These Gray Days represents the source of their inspiration—a constant reminder of the ongoing battle against monotony and complacency. They strive to be an unexpected brightness in these tedious gray days, wherever it may be needed. Whether it is objects for everyday use or large-scale outdoor installations, they approach each new project with a tender defiance to the expected and a goal of inspiring sudden joy in those who are trapped in the doldrums.

Sandpiper Studio

We are looking forward to Sandpiper Studio's debut appearance at SFM this year. Pushing the traditional boundaries of the aesthetics of handblown glass the artist applies images to the surface of her unique and often opaque forms that have nostalgic and narrative qualities coupled with a modern minimalism. We love them! Truly functional art. 

Julie Gibb was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1974. She graduated from the H.B. Beal Art Program in 1995 and later from the School of Crafts and Design at Sheridan College in 2002. Julie is the recipient of several awards and honours including the Aaron Milrad Award for best decorative arts at the 2003 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and a residency at the studio of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY. Her work has been included in several publications such as 500 Glass Objects and 25 Years of New Glass Review. Julie recently completed a three year artist in residency program at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. She has since moved to the Columbia Valley in British Columbia, where she operates Sandpiper Studio with her partner, Gordon Webster. Located in Windermere B.C., Sandpiper Studio is a small scale production/design studio specializing in hand blown functional glass and strives to create exceptionally crafted objects with modern aesthetics and sensibilities.

SFM 12 is coming up!

So far its been a busting-at-the-seams-busy year for the SFM members with international residencies, new lines being launched, babies being had and growing up! As October winds down we are all busy with our delegated tasks of organizing our upcoming show, which we are so excited about! We have a stellar line up of Canadian talent (see side bar for list of SFM12 artists and links to websites) that we can't wait to host at this years event!

Year after year we hear the same responses from artists and visitors alike - that SFM is the best show around for its quality of work, cozy atmosphere which includes drinks, food and great (non-Christmas) music and room to move. While many other events at Heritage Hall host a lot more vendors we host only 25 artists each year. Be assured that this is all designed with intention. For our artists we want them to have the opportunity to showcase their work in a relevant, sophisticated venue that allows their work to breathe and be seen. For our patrons we want to provide an environment that is relaxed, authentic and offers the highest quality independently designed and crafted artworks.

The icing on top of this is that admission is free! So, on the weekend of Dec 10 + 11 come and visit us and bring all your friends! Until then keep checking back here for more detailed information about our artists + join our facebook page for visual updates. We'll leave you for now with some images from last years SFM 11 Show.