Today is the final day to cast your vote in the Exposure Photography Festival, VISTEK Emerging Photographer Showcase!
If you enjoy my work, please vote for me. (Thank you in advance!)
The winner will be announced at the festival closing party at Endeavor Art Gallery from 7:00-9:00pm Thursday, February 28th in Calgary (Suite 200, 1209 First Street SW). All are welcome!
As February stretches onwards, I marvel that I am over a quarter of the way into my residency at Harcourt House Gallery and Artist Run Centre. To say time flies is an understatement; time tornados by! Yet, I make sure to slow myself to appreciate every precious moment of it.
I wanted to share some of my new work that has been my labor of love since November 2012. Really, I have too much to share here and will soon create a new category on my website in the portfolio section. Stay tuned.
Copyright Alexis Marie Chute
I have been working with wood, both sculpturally and on flat surfaces. Currently I am holding my breath waiting on a big order of cut wooden pieces to arrive – then I will be feverishly creating even more unique “city-like” designs (so I’ve been told they resemble by visitors to my studio). The long wait would be negated if anyone reading this is skilled with a _________ (insert word here that names a wood cutting tool with the precision to cut very small squares) – if you or someone you know is able to give me a hand, please get in touch!
At first I wasn’t quite sure how my paintings relate to my wood creations but when the Harcourt House Executive Director, Derek Brooks, popped in one day and explained to me the correlation – I finally got it. It’s true, apparently, that artists can be too close to their own work to notice connections sometimes.
I am in the groove working in my studio. It’s a romance with my materials and I am constantly exploring new ways of creating with them – truly a fun time.
Exposure is a photography festival in Calgary, Banff and Canmore Alberta running from the 1st to the 28th of February, 2013. Their catch phrase, “Photography is the Medium of Our Times,” is entirely true from my perspective. You just have to drive a main drag in the city to see billboard after billboard of images lining the street.
I was recently in Calgary to attend the opening of the group exhibition “The Artists Lens” put on by the Alberta Society of Artist’s. Three of my photographs stood on easels at the center of the room, bathed in the beautiful spot lights of Artpoint Gallery. It was a pleasure to rub shoulders with the local art crowd of Calgary and even if you missed the opening, you can still visit Artpoint Gallery until the end of the Festival to see “The Artists Lens.”
While in Calgary, I received word that one of my photographs was being displayed on a digital billboard, a perk of being a finalist in the 2013 VISTEK Emerging Photographer competition. Near the airport, my husband, kids and I found the billboard! My photograph of marbles shone brightly on the overcast winter day – it was surreal.
There is a People’s Choice Award to be had by one of the competition finalists – and it involves a quick online vote.
I will be walking in the footsteps of many great writers as I begin my Masters of Fine Art program in Cambridge Massachusetts. Just today I received the acceptance call from Lesley University to study creative non-fiction.
Being a multi-faceted artist is just who I am. I cannot be only a painter, or only a photographer, or only a writer. Every part of my creative expression serves to benefit and enrich the other parts. It has been my dream for so long to be a published writer. In the last year I have made huge headway with this dream by writing a memoir and two novels plus countless poems.
My acceptance into Lesley is a major milestone on my creative journey. This is a good day! A very, very good day!
Lesley’s campus is just footsteps from Harvard Square and minutes from Boston. It is my dream location of study! As a person who finds inspiration through travel and new locals, I am thrilled to continue my creative pursuits in this wonderful location! Lesley University has painted a beautiful picture of the culture in the city:
Boston is filled with fascinating nooks and crannies, some obvious and others that you will find for yourself. Think bookstores, used record stores, thrift shop nirvana. Newbury Street is lined with art galleries, European-style cafes, and boutiques. Additionally, there are many interesting and vibrant areas such as Chinatown, artsy Jamaica Plain and Brickbottom, and Portuguese and Brazilian neighborhoods found in Cambridge. Boston attracts some of the best, brightest, and most creative people in the world.
As a student of Creative Writing at Lesley University, I will:
– Receive guidance from prize winning writers
– Join the university’s accomplished alumni of published writers
– Participate in residencies on campus in Cambridge
– Be inspired in a major literary city and become a part-time citizen of that literary Mecca
My first memoir is about my pregnancy following the loss of my son Zachary. Now, in my MFA, I will embark on a new memoir which has been percolating in my mind and heart for the last year. I can’t wait!
Over the course of my MFA I will post about my experiences and keep you all up to date! This is an exciting chapter for me (yes, book pun intended).
I’d like to thank my amazing cheerleaders Daphne Read, Brenda Mann & Jody Stark. Thanks also to my family and friends for believing in me and my writing.
