Focus Group @ MONTRÉAL NUIT BLANCHE / ALL-NIGHTER

Focus Group presented it's multi-media quilt project on February 28, 2009 from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. at the Gare Centrale - Bonaventure metro. The showing was a success and the (tired) artists all enjoyed themselves. Here are a few photos of this event...

Click here to view a 360 of the “Survival Blanket for an Underground City”quilt project. (Click on the 7th image from the top)

Other photos:
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“Survival Blanket for an Underground City” will be presented in Ottawa starting May 31th on display at "Project Window" which is located at 185 Somerset Street West in downtown Ottawa. Come see!

Work in Progress - Montréal Nuit Blanche

Despite the fact that we are based in Ottawa, Focus Group is one of the featured artists in the Montréal All-Nighter (aka Nuit Blanche).

“Survival Blanket for an Underground City” is an installation created specifically for Montreal’s “Art Souterrain.” The artists’ aim was to make a quilt that would function as a cozy resting place for the many visitors throughout the evening. Since it is located in Montreal’s underground city, the quilt reflects the history of the space. It combines maps and drawings in a variety of mediums to illustrate the underground city and encourages the visitors to reflect on the space around them.

The idea also makes reference to the history of quilting. Quilting has been a collective “female’’ activity in the past, and that is important to Focus Group because their goal is to make engaging art together as emerging female artists.

Here is a few images of the patches created for this contemporary quilt:

Focus Groups Exibits 2008

Since the recent conception of Focus Group, we have worked together to manage and participate in two exhibits. Here is a little description of our past exhibits in 2008...

August 30 - Sept 4, 2008
"Never Have I Ever" / Group Art Exhibit
Curated by Isabelle Carrier
La Petite Mort Gallery, Ottawa

Artists: Becky Armstrong, Ariane Beauchamp, Isabelle Melancon, Kristin Stoesz, Georgia Mathewson, Mariel Kelly, Brittany Shannon & Isabelle Carrier

"As artists, we feel the constant need to reinvent ourselves. Whether it be through or physical appearance, our approach of the world or the mediums we use, we are always asking ourselves `What have I never done before?` For some people, this need to perpetually reinvent yourself is a conceptual luxury. But in this exhibit, we decided to push our boundaries and give a voice to this little part of ourselves that wants to do extravagant things, but that is always pushed aside. In this show, eight artists dare to take the leap while giving you their take on the sentence `Never Have I Ever, sharing with you their experiences-that-may-never-be, their hopes, their crazy imaginations and their Happily Never After".




























April 2008 "Exhibit A" / Group Art Exhibit
Curated by the graduating class of 2008
University of Ottawa Visual Arts Department, Ottawa

Artists: Becky Armstrong, Ariane Beauchamp, Isabelle Melancon, Jen Cook, Kristin Stoesz, Georgia Mathewson, Mariel Kelly, Brittany Shannon, Isabelle Carrier and many, many others (total of almost 40 artists)

This was for many of us our first major exhibition. It also marked the end of our bachelor studies at the University. Many of us worked on the managing committees for this exhibit. Exhibit A was an interesting title for us, since Exhibit is a word that can designate an art event as well as a piece of evidence. The A in the title could mean many things; first, art, one...

Focus Group - Presenting the artists

Focus Group is a group composed of young, emerging artists. All of these artists have their own personal practice that they "pause" to contribute their creative energy to a common project. As a result, the group's structure can change and some artists can leave for a while and return suddenly to participate in a specific project, depending on where our lives and our artistic evolution takes us! However, the artistic influence we propose to each other's work remains.

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Honorable mentions - Artists who have participated in past Focus Group projects:
- Brittany Shannon

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Current artists

Becky Armstrong

"I am interested in art which actively engages with the icons and discourses of contemporary art. In my work, through the manipulation and appropriation of cultural icons, I invite the viewer to consider the role of the artist and the status of the art object in the larger social context. In my work, I explore these discourses and the exciting possibilities of art!"

Website - Sample of artwork

Ariane Beauchamp

"I was once upon a time in love with the medium of paint. Painting was to me the ultimate method of representation. Now i have discovered a new love, a love for the creation of objects. A new found freedom of expression made itself available to me, a liberty unobtainable in painting."

Website - Resume - Sample of Artwork 1 2

Isabelle Carrier

"Memory is a funny thing. Often fleeting, often deceiving, often distorted. For me, feelings stay, images slowly fade away. Photography often being the closest thing we have to having a flawless memory, I use it in my paintings and videos to not only try to recreate my memories, adding and omitting details, but to also create memories I don’t have, memories of events I’ve never witnessed or lived."

Website - Resume - Sample of artwork

Jen Cook

"I believe in the potential of art. I do not want art to be sterile. I do not want art to be stagnant. I do not want art to be separate. Transformation. Growth. Change. Life. Death. Accumulation. Cycles. Growth. Connection.

I want to be a socially and environmentally responsible creature and creator. My work examines and aspires to do and be this -earth-art, non-toxic art, living/growing-art work, sustainable art work, that challenges the divide of art and life…I am interested in building practical/functional/empowering objects and systems that address connection, sustainability and self-sufficiency. I use re-claimed materials that have been found/salvaged from the dumpster/trash pile/recycling combined with natural non-toxic and living materials. The end.

p.s. I also design clothing using re-claimed materials with my company re-claimed"

Website - Resume - Sample of artwork

Mariel Kelly

"My work is largely an effort to combine different aspects of visual life into a single piece and to find a balance between them to create meaning. I use photography largely as a record and as a reference for my painted work. Much of my photographic experience is journalistic so the influence of documentary on my other work, both painting and photo, is fairly strong. Although I began working in photography with constructed and mise-en-scène subject matter, the construction aspect of my work is now more relevant to my painting and my photographic practice generally focuses more on documentation."

Resume - Website

Georgia Mathewson

"I am an Ottawa based artist working in the fields of painting, drawing, sewing and installation. Often my work explores concepts of the mundane, landscape, travel, time and memory. Working from a very slow and meticulous process, my method is built on both intuitive and rational ways of thinking. I do not believe that any one way of working is correct, but feel that both of these ways/modes of thinking and creating are imperative to the process. One allows for ambiguous and fantastical imagery to take shape, while the other requires decisions to be made according to the boundaries and specifications of the materials I use. My most recent collaboration with Focus Group, Survival Blanket For An Underground City, furthers this exploration of boundaries and specifications in the form of quilt patches."

Resume - Sample of artwork 1 2 3

Isabelle Melançon

"In my opinion, the story and the image are two inseparable concepts. One always is always omnipresent in the other and if indeed an image is worth a thousand words, clearly these words do well to assemble and create a story for the viewer. Now, whether this story is abstract, narrative, seen by all or personal to a viewer or an artist, this story is truly present and researched. It is due to my fascination for the link present between the story and art that I show great interest in sources of inspiration such as myths, art history, pop culture, literature, cinema, comic books and fairy tales. Most of the works I create are simply windows through which I seek to explore the possibilities of my imagination while studying the links that inherent symbols may have with the history of the culture that surrounds me."

Resume - Website - Sample of artwork

Kristin Stoesz

Storytelling and narration play an important role in my work. I take inspiration from the world around me and combine everyday situations with elements of fantasy taken from my childhood dreams and imagination. Often, these light-hearted scenes are set in external environments or empty spaces that bring attention to the primary objects in the painting.
My work is influenced by a number of visual sources, such as film, computer and television imagery. I combine paint with a variety of media, usually fabric and thread, which adds a tangible, three-dimensional effect to the flat plane of the canvas and reflects my love for crafting. I prefer to handle my subject matter in a childlike or naïve way to take the edge off everyday life and to create a feeling of nostalgia.

Website