Happy Halloween!

There are few who'd deny, at what I do I am the best,

For my talents are renowned far and wide,

When it comes to surprises in the moonlit night,

I excel without ever even trying.

With the slightest little effort of my ghostlike charms

I have seen grown men give out a shriek,

With the wave of my hand and a well placed moan

I have swept the very bravest off their feet!

~Jack, the Pumpkin King

One of the only non-scary Halloween costumes I've ever had, made from scratch! In High school. I made all of those beads from white flour dough baked in the oven and painted. It weighed a tonne! I didn't win this costume contest because I refused to walk like an Egyptian. I was too shy. (Which is pretty funny, considering!)

Yes, I know I'm a week late, but that's just the way these two months have been.

Halloween is by far my favourite holiday, and since I don't usually spend Halloween in Canada, I decided that I would go all out celebrating my favourite holiday with style. Usually, I am a witch year after year, which is pretty boring for a creative type like me, I know. However, I only seem to have fun when I'm really really unrecognizably ugly. And this year, I felt like I wanted to switch things up and be some kind of nameless zombie.

My first attempt at being a ghoul with big help from my sis, the queen of ghouls. Together we transformed my friend Kevin from a Blues Brother (Lame!) to the beauty he is here. Kevin recently admitted hehad the best time being scary. (He was Captain Kirk this year. I tried to talk him into dead Captain Kirk, but he didn't go for it.)

So I eschewed the homework and went to Value Village sometime in Early October. I don't know Vancouver very well, but I know there is a Value Village out on infamous East Hastings. So off I went, trucking from ritzy Kits to Value Village East Hastings. The staff were in costumes, the customers too tired of waiting for dressing rooms donned costumes over their clothes. I was in search of a cheap white nightie that I could rip up and roll in the dirt. But sadly, there were none to be had.

My sister Rene cutting my head off many years ago! But don't worry, I'm immortal. It's hard to kill me.

I started looking at old crappy stained wedding dresses, but all the dresses were too expensive for my tastes or strapless, and since I would be going to high school in this, I figured I'd better cover the boobage up. I did find a hot pink merangue dress though, which was so hideous I decided I could do something with it, but it wasn't really what I wanted. But the price was right and I didn't have time to keep looking.

Considering this was Halloween in Taiwan, I think we pulled together some great Costumes. Rene was te Queen of death with her Skull crown. We made kids cry! And we loved it! (One of the secretaries kept my black tooth goo for me and gave it to me a few days after Halloween becuase she was afraid would use it all up on Halloween, hence the clean teeth here. I still don't understand her logic of not giving it to me on Halloween!)

As I stood in line, I saw a man with stringy long hair wearing a big frilly wedding dress over his clothes. He was tall and skinny and the dress actually fit him quite well. What a costume! He looked absolutely ridiculous in it. He saw me admiring the dress so I gave him a thumbs up.

"I totally want your dress!" I called over the tills at him.

"Really?" He shouted back. "I found it in the alley in a box. I'm trying to trade it in for some warm clothes over the winter."

The UBC costume contest labelled me, Old Zombie crow bride. I don't like the bride bit, I don't think it looks like a wedding dress anymore. I took it in myself with some real Sally Nightmare before Christmas stitches!

Before I knew it, I was in negotiations over this dress. The guy was happy to sell it to me if I bought him some warm clothes. Our deal was almost made until the Value VIllage people stepped in. They wanted the dress. It had beautiful beading and lace sleeves. "This one won't go for cheap," The employee told me as she unzipped the dress down the homeless man's back.

I met this guy on the bus! He says he knit the helmet and beard himself.

Man after my own heart!

But honestly, the dress stank, and was ripped up one of the seams, and was missing a few beads. So for shits and giggles, I asked her to ask what the dress would cost as is. Ten minutes later, I'd bought my first and only wedding dress for 40 bucks with tax. Before I left the store, I found the homeless man searching through the coat section.

Japanese girls in the boat bathroom! We had good times.

"I just paid forty bucks for your dress," I told him. "Make sure you get your money's worth!"

I took the dress home, threw it in the wash machine and once it was clean, I dirtied it up again. By the way, Coffee grounds stain up a dress to make it look dirty quite nicely! Though you need to keep the dress out of your bedroom for the first week if you have any plans to sleep.

The whole Enchilada!

I wore this dress once to my practicum high school, once to a boat cruise with the language school I worked at this summer, and again to UBC where I tied for first place in the Education department's Halloween Costume contest! (I won a twenty dollar gift card! Woo hoo! Thanks, ESA!) When it was time to put the dress away, I was kind of sad not to have a reason to wear it again till next Halloween. (Or unless I get married this year! I've already got a dress!)

I'm Jack! The Pumpkin King! And I just can't wait until next Halloween,

I've got some new ideas that will really make them SCREAM!

And I carved probably one of the scariest pumpkins I've ever made. So sad to see them rot over the next few days. My Jack-o-lantern was so scary my roommate said he had to turn the face away while he ate dinner. Yes! Success.

One of my favourite pictures! Mainly because my friend here has no eyes.

I'm not sure where I'll be next Halloween. But you can be sure that if I am still in Canada, the old Zombie with the crow will be out haunting the streets of some town, this time next year.

And I just can't wait until next Halloween,

Cause I've got some new ideas that will really make them SCREAM!

Happy Halloween!

xxMelanie

Kitsilano Yarnbomb Spotted!

As you know, though I am a pathetic knitter, I love a good yarn bombing. And I especially love yarn bombers who yarn bomb trees across the street from my house, in the yard of Kitsilano Community house!

Happy Thanksgiving~!

Melanie

Post Wanderlust: Where to now?

Melanie Mehrer: Wanderlust!

September 16- November 6th, 20011,

Penticton Art Gallery

It's fall and it feels like a turning point.

The closest thing to having my name in lights!

But the question is, What's next?

Quick recap: This weekend I attended the opening of my first public art gallery show at the Penticton Art Gallery alongside an artist I would list as one of my inspirations, Nick Bantock, whose retrospective took up residence in the Main Gallery. We had an extremely successful opening, And Director-Curator Paul Crawford said it was the second biggest turnout ever in his history of working at the gallery.

My Travel journals on display: The first time they've seen by the public.

"The only opening to beat you were the Tibetan Monks." He informed us over dinner.

Nick, Joyce (Nick's wife) and I decided we were okay with being beaten by Tibetan Monks. (Which if you think about it literally, is a pretty funny visual.)

The Wanderlust exhibition in the Toni Onley Gallery:

Nick's retrospective is behind the right wall in the main room.

Sometimes when I find myself in bizarre situations, I like to stop and take a mental photograph of where I am and thing of all of the experiences, moments, turn of events that brought me to these moments. Sitting with the Bantocks, at my favourite restaurant in Penticton, talking about art and yarn bombing and Tibetan Monks seems all absurdly natural. I told NIck that when I went to University in Victoria I worked in a tourist gallery that sold his stationery sets. Even though I barely had two nickels to jingle in my pocket, I bought myself a set and poured over the images. When the letters were written and the postcards sent, I put all of my important letters and postcards in that Griffin & Sabine box. If you told me back then that one day I'd be breaking bread with the Bantocks I would think you were absolutely bonkers.

Artist Melanie meets Nick Bantock. Oodles of fun! Nick and Joyce are super. If I had money to burn and knew where I'd be next September, I'd jump on their artist's retreat in Spain. (Link at bottom of the page)

Anyway, at the dinner table Nick and I chatted a lot about his alter egos, the characters in the books he writes, Griffin and Sabine and the new WasNick Blog he's been writing. He is like an animated version of his own books, slipping in and out of character as he retold stories, and shared his insights with me.

High school art student Melanie tracked down my high school art teacher and invited him to the opening. It was great to see him after all these years. I'm now four years older than he was when he was my teacher. When I was in his class, my goal in life, oddly enough, was to be a high school art teacher and have a show at the Penticton Art Gallery.

So over the course of the next few days, I started thinking about myself and my alter egos. We all have them, and truthfully, I've never given them much thought. But the opening on Friday night for me was very much a time where I slipped into a very old character- one I haven't seen in years, as I had my old classmates, my parents, my relatives and my high school art teacher all in attendance- I was the 38 year-old version of my 18 year-old self.

Cousin Melanie, Niece Melanie, and Daughter Melanie with my family.

And then there is my exhibition itself, hanging on two parallel walls, facing each other like dance partners waiting for the music to begin. Someone told my mother that if you stood in the middle and looked at both walls, the left with linocuts of Taiwan comics and the other side with paintings of Turkey and Canada, you might think there were two different artists, yet they are both me at different times of my life when different things were important and parts of my character and understanding of the world were different too.

Abu Dhabi Melanie was represented! My good friends and former coworkers Maureen and Rachel happened to be in the right hemisphere at the right time. These two were an amazing support team for me when I was really down in the Emirates and I will never forget their willingness to put up with me at that time. Cheers to you both!

It's hard to put words to it but looking at the art there on the walls made me realise that what I do is interesting and appealing, but it's also very safe. I don't usually start anything until I've thought it al the way through to it's successful state. What was that? Safe? Not usually an adjective you would associate with someone who has travelled the world over like me.

Taiwan Melanie was also at the Opening with Taiwan friend/roommate Scott and his wife Ou. Scott had to gingerly step over most of the Taiwan prints which were drying in rows on the floor of our living room for weeks. He said it was really cool to see the same images hanging on the gallery walls 12 years later.

But if one were to look closely at my art, you'd notice that there is quite a bit missing from the UAE chapter in my life. What never made the artist's talk is that I left the Emirates at the lowest point of my life and safety and contentment is what I needed at the time. And Turkey handed that to me on a big Turkish tea platter complete with tea and sugar. And so my Turkish paintings were painted out of that necessity for safety and security. The Canadian paintings have been a big part of that healing process. It didn't really hit me until I was in the middle of my artist's talk.

My high school classmates! Not only was it an opening, it was a reunion!

Very cool to see everyone and strange that twenty years have passed since I have seen some of these people. Once zitty teenagers, we are now teachers, artists, designers, wine industrineers, mature university students, scientists and computer software engineers. New versions of our past-selves.

A friend of my mother's filmed the artist's talk I gave on Saturday, and in trying to edit it I have had time to watch myself answer on-the-spot questions in the gallery without too much thought and I've had time to think about some things. If I had to answer some of those questions again, a few days later, I'm not sure I'd be so quick to answer. I still don't have answers, if fact, I'm not even sure I have questions! But something is a changing. I feel like I'm going in a new direction, and I'm not sure if it's up, down or sideways, but it certainly isn't the linear left and right path I have been on lately.

I can't categorize which Melanie I am around Paul- He knows them all. Paul Crawford, Director-Curator at the Penticton Art Gallery is also a close and personal friend who has infiltrated my university days, my Taiwan days, and is an honorary member of my family. We haven't always gotten along, and because of that, I think we have a really strong friendship. As Rumi Says, if you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?"

And then there is the present fractioning of who I am which really gets to the heart of my recent feeling of Schitzophrenia: Me as an artist, Me as a teacher, and me as a prospective Art teacher Candidate in the UBC education programme. I've been trying to imagine myself as this future art teacher, opening up students to different ideas, to be open, explore their creativity and get them moving in new directions they never thought possible.

The wall of Canada!

The wall of Taiwan!

Lucky for me, (The Grand Poobah of "Me"s,) knows that I've got time to figure out which path I'm going down next while I take this programme. Where I'll be this time next year is a giant question mark for me. Maybe I'll be teaching, maybe I'll be back living in my parent's backyard. Maybe I'll have spun off in a new direction I never anticipated. (I'm kind of liking that last idea.)

Until then, I think I'm going to put the paints away for a bit, focus on school, draw inward, and see what happens when I stop being all the "Me"s I think I need to be.

Hibernation is a covert preparation for a more overt action.

~Ralph Ellison

Links to Wanderlust! Videos on Youtube:

Paul Crawford introduces Nick and I to the public at the Opening at the Penticton Art Gallery

Wanderlust Artist's Talk:

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Links to Nick Bantock:

The Spain Workshop: The Trickster's Hat- A Cocktail of Art, Intuition and Mischief..

The WasNick Blog

Nick's Website

xxMelanie

Publish Post

MyNaramata: World Travels in Gallery Exhibit!

Thanks yet again to MyNaramata & Craig Henderson for their article on my upcoming exhibit,

Wanderlust! At the Penticton Art Gallery.

You can see the article in its original form here:

MyNaramata: World Travels in Gallery Exhibit!

Here is the article below.

Thanks, Craig! The show opens next week! See you there.

xxMelanie

10th September 2011

World Travels in Gallery Exhibit

Editor

A Naramata artist is celebrating her first exhibit at a public art gallery.

Melanie Mehrer’s Wanderlust exhibit opens Friday evening September 16th ( 7 – 9 PM) and an artist’s talk has been scheduled for Saturday, September 17 at 1 PM at the Penticton Art Gallery.Currently, Melanie divides her time between Naramata and Vancouver, where she is completing an education degree at UBC. Upon graduation she hopes to find placement as a high school art teacher.
In the past, Melanie attended Okanagan College as a visual arts student and later transferred to the University of Victoria where she completed an honours degree in art history with a focus on Islamic art history.

Before and after her formal education, she has been a consummate traveller and artist.Melanie describes the upcoming exhibit:“This will be an overview of the work I have done over the past fourteen years. You will see LinoCut collages from Taiwan, Blankets from Shanghai, My travel journals from the Middle East, Thailand, Cambodia, Cuba, Dominican Republic and a few from India, mosques from the United Arab Emirates and my paintings from Turkey and Canada.”Read more about her background and upcoming exhibit:

Melanie Mehrer: Wanderlust

In recent years, her art has been featured frequently at Café Nevermatters, and at the Naramata Christmas Craft Fair. MyNaramata.com has featured several past articles on her Naramata scenes:

Naramata Peacock fowl make Faire Debut

Bears inspire artist

Chasing Geese captures Naramata moment

Cafe Nevermatters Art Exhibition, July 2011

Recently, Melanie wrote on her blog about her curiousity of ancient paint mediums, perhaps inspired by some of the First Nations pictographs found in Naramata:

In the beginning there was Ochre

Wanderlust! Exhibition opening at the Penticton Art Gallery

Penticton Art Gallery (Toni Onley Gallery)

Melanie Mehrer: Wanderlust

Artist talk Saturday, September 17 at 1 p.m.

Opening September 16th

I'm very excited to announce my upcoming show at the Penticton Art Gallery! The Press release came out this morning and somehow it's all very surreal and real and exciting.

You can see the press release/ artist statement from the

Penticton Art Gallery Website here.

I will be showing in the gallery next to Nick Bantock, who is the creator of the Griffin and Sabine Trilogy. I have owned all of his books and stationery sets and poured over his images in the past. I even have all of my special papers and postcards in a Griffin and Sabine box Somewhere in my boxes of things packed away for literally decades now. My travel journals, which were largely inspired by Griffin and Sabine will be on display as well. I never though tin a million years Nick Bantock would actually see them one day!

This will be an overview of the work I have done over the past fourteen years. You will see LinoCut collages from Taiwan, Blankets from Shanghai, My travel journals from the Middle East, Thailand, Cambodia, Cuba, Dominican Republic and a few from India, Mosques from the UAE and my paintings from Turkey and Canada.

So with that, I invite you to come to the opening

at the Penticton Art Gallery on

Friday, September 16th,

7-9 pm. See you there!

xxMelanie

Little Bow-Wow Series: The Crying Girl of Kyoto!

There really is a perception that if you know the ballet studies, you know Degas. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Like Picasso, Degas was a relentless innovator in everything he did -- in drawing, in printmaking, in photography.

~Edward Saywell

I'm gearing up for the big show at the Penticton Art Gallery in September. (More info to follow) but in the meantime, a month of cutting paper has finally come to an end for the "Little Crying Girl of Kyoto." It's a run of 20 artist proofs, 19 of them will hit the public soon.

(I have to keep one for myself, don't I?)

Here's how she was created:

First, I carved this block in Taiwan about ten years ago, but never had the time to print it properly. I even brought this block to Shanghai where it sat in my shelf for a few years, then in a box in Canada for a few years. When I was offered a show at the Penticton Art gallery, I went to the Okanagan, went through my boxes, and found the plates I had never printed. (More to follow! She's not the only one I haven't finished!)

So I printed her, and began collaging coloured acid-free paper over her. The pieces will be printed over one more time so it's best the colours bump up against each other instead of overlapping, because the ink has more of a change of getting where it needs to go.

Prints ready to be glued on!

This is pretty much how it's done. Yes, it's tedious.

Some pieces are reallly small!

I made twenty four collages, so to get to this stage took me about a month. Still, I have no idea how it's going to really look until I print it.

Time to bring the plate out again!

The plate itself took me a few weeks to carve out.

A non printed and a printed version.

Twenty four prints later, I have twenty nice ones and lost four.

This is to be expected with printing!

I love pulling prints off the plate. It's like Christmas!

After such a long wait Did it work? How does it look?

Yay! I like it!

Only three plates to go! But I assure you, I won't be printing 20 this time!

The Penticton Art Gallery opening is September 15th.

I hope to see you there!

Previous Blog Post on Linocuts...Click here!

xxMelanie

Most Fascinating People of Naramata, 2010!

Home is the place where,

when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

~Robert Frost

I just realised today that I had never properly blogged to thank Craig Henderson and MyNaramata for voting me one of Naramata's most fascinating people of 2010! I once made the joke that it's not hard to make the list of most fascinating of your hometown when only 20 people live there. But it's just a joke, Naramata is full of really interesting, eccentric wonderful people, and I am honoured to be part of such a list of such a community.

On a recent trip back to the Okanagan, I was walking home from the coffee shop and ran into my old classmate from Naramata Elementary school, Josh Wood. He was parked in the middle of the intersection of Ritchie and Third, chatting away with an old gentleman, a relative newcomer to our little town. I suppose I found it amusing to see him parked in the middle of the road like that, chatting away. Such a Naramata thing to do, and as a kid I remember riding my bike around similar discussions happening on the pavement.

"This is John, He's my uncle." Josh introduced his friend as I wandered up doorside.

"Uncle-uncle or Naramata-uncle?" I asked.

"Naramata uncle." He grinned.

And that is the great thing about being local from our little town. No matter how far I go or how long I stay away, I'm always a part of the Naramata family and they will always be a part of me. And I'm proud to be part of a list with such interesting people! (I used to babysit #7 on the list, Alyson Jones, and I can confirm she's been awesome since she was eight!)

Thanks again, Craig (Who also happened to be voted citizen of the year!)!!

(see the original article at MyNaramata here, with working links!)

27th December 2010

Most Fascinating People, 2010

Editor

~ THE YEAR IN REVIEW ~

Here’s a rundown of some fascinating local folks who made our news during 2010.
Their contribution to the rich mosaic of the community helped make Naramata a special place to live. Or, in some cases, their upbringing in Naramata has influenced their lives in the world beyond our local boundaries.

In no particular order:

Melanie Mehrer
She travels and works abroad and then returns home with a global view. Naramata seems to ground Melanie, and she pays it back to the community through the whimsy of her art. Whether its peafowl, dogs at Manitou, bears in trees or pruning orchardists, she has captured it all over the past year.
http://is.gd/jx8ww
http://is.gd/jx8HF
Melanie is a prize-winning photographer too:http://is.gd/jx8Y0


Taylor Cook
Naramata’s favourite saxophone player took a break from his classes at the University of Toronto in February to embark on a BC tour with his quartet:
http://is.gd/jx9o6
He was back in Naramata this month and performed at the Naramata Christmas Concert:
http://is.gd/jx9Oq


Russell Cannings
Throughout 2010, we followed the adventures of former Naramata resident Russell Cannings as he set out to break a bird watching record. By early October, he had done it!
http://is.gd/jx9ZG


Wayne Holland
With Naramata’s most varied vineyard, Wayne is a winemaking artist: http://is.gd/jxavV


Kevin Rudolph
With the completion of a commercial kitchen, Kevin was full steam ahead with making his famous BBQ sauce:
http://is.gd/jxaLQ
We checked in with Kevin later in the year:http://is.gd/jxb8I


Marlene Moloney
A gifted artist in glass, working from a creek side studio, and the first western Canadian member of a prestigious guild of glass engravers:
http://is.gd/jxbiz


Alyson Jones
Interviewing Alyson made me comfortable with the term ‘baby catcher.’ She and partners Marijke and Christy operate Willow Community Midwives:http://is.gd/jxchH
Marijke and Alyson recalled a working adventure in Africa in an article we posted last March:http://is.gd/jxcxm


Rob Van Westen
In July, Rob was amid cherry season when he heard that His Honour BC Lieutentant Governor Steven Point wanted to give him a wine award. Rob invited the LG and his diplomatic delegation of two dozen to the cherry orchard. Rob and Tammie were gracious hosts, and Rob even had a chance to slip in a suggestion that the vice regal consider making an award to honor family farms:
http://is.gd/jxcKa


Oscar Lopez
Oscar with wife Kathi and son Nikolas settled into Naramata in 2010. The two time Juno Award winner would like to compose a Naramata theme one day in future. In the meantime, they are enjoying the tranquility of their new hometown:
http://is.gd/jxdFK

Jan Vozenilek
They moved from Naramata last summer, but this cinematographer and his family added much to community and to school life in the two years they were here.
Jan made a second trip to Midway Atoll in 2010 to make the world aware of a growing plastic crisis in the Pacific Ocean:
http://is.gd/jx4Ao

The Vozenilek family were invited to give an inspirational talk in Penticton last January:http://is.gd/jx58R
Many people enjoyed reading about Jan’s work during the Olympics with the Czech media team:http://is.gd/jx5sQ
And, some of his video work of a laid back summer day in Naramata was shortlisted in an international documentary effort:http://is.gd/jx5J6


RCMP Corporal Dan Moskaluk
A devastating earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010. Naramata resident DanMoskaluk, the RCMP media liaison for the southern interior, has strong emotional ties to Haiti, after two United Nations tours of duty there:
http://is.gd/jx68X


Chris Cornett
In January 2010, local photographer Chris Cornett was nominated in the Business Excellence Awards. It was a great honor for this photo veteran:
http://is.gd/jx6CH


Ashley Hughes
This former Naramata resident was thrilled to be in the Olympic torch relay, and so close to home was a bonus!
http://is.gd/jx7h5


The Cast and Crew of My American Cousin
Sandy Wilson’s classic movie filmed inNaramata celebrated its silver anniversary in September. Our hats off to all local people involved: Sandy, Guy, Jake, Nikos, Jacquie, Alexis, and others:
http://is.gd/jx7KK

Happy New Year, and we look forward to introducing you to more fascinating Naramata people in 2011!