Feather and flower pounding attracts attention at art show


Dot Craine looks at the picture made from the art of flower pounding at the Spring Tea and Art Sale on Sunday afternoon. The two-day show was held at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre and featured the work of 15 artists from the Morinville Art Club.

By Lucie Roy

Morinville – Morinville – Visitors to the Morinville Art Club’s Spring Tea and Art Sale held Saturday and Sunday at the Morinville community Cultural Centre, had an opportunity to see some traditional as well as unusual art styles.

Morinville Art Club member and artist Valerie Loehde spoke of the experience she had with using a feather as her canvas. The real feather was found outside and she decided to paint it. As she was doing so a breeze blew the feather away and she had to find it and the feather was so small it was easy to dislocate. To paint the feather she had to be careful that the inner vane did not separate. It is much different from other types of painting. There is limited painting area and apart from this the surface of the feather is not easy to paint. She now has people collecting feathers and will create more feather art. Loehde said she has many ideas of what she would like to create. Also on display were the acrylic Pansy and Dancing Princess prints that she created. This was the first feather painting at the Morinville Art Show.

Another first was the art of Flower Pounding by Val Weir. The picture on display was created from the flowers she had in the garden. The fabric she used is plain muslin. “The fabric must be natural or the flower colors will not bleed through onto the fabric,” Weir said. The flowers are taped down then she gently pounds them with a hammer. The middle flower she used was an aster and she also used a marigold in the print. Not all flowers are suitable for pounding. Tulips do not work well as they tend to smear. Roses need to be taken apart to pound the petals individually. White flowers do not work because they have no pigment to leave on the fabric. When it is dry she outlines the design with a pen and quilts it by hand. Weir said the craft was used long ago when they made quilts for family and gifts for newlyweds and for the hope chest.

Artist Rob McIntyre had five pieces of art on display. The one titled Lori’s Dogs was an archival giclee. Giclee prints are created using professional printers with archival quality inks onto various materials including canvas. His oil on canvas painting titled “Tom Patterson Footbridge Stafford, Ontario”, caught the eye of Vera Neveu. She is familiar with that area and a conversation was struck between her and the artist. The painting and the artist each tell a story. Artist Cheryl Lamoureux had some of her art on display. She has been painting for ten years she said, all self-taught, then decided to join the Club. Acrylic and water are her favourite medium and landscapes and seascapes and roses her favourite topics. She said she is attempting to paint an animal picture right now and giving it her best shot.

The Morinville Art Club sponsored the Spring and Art Sale with free admission to all and tea, coffee, juice and dessert for a small cost of $4.


Artist Valerie Loehde was explaining the work and the technique involved into painting her first feather.

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1 Comment

  1. What amazing talent we have in Morinville. Each and every piece definately works of art. I especially was blown away by the feather painted. And as a quilter, very intrigued by the flower pounding. Thank you to all participants for sharing your works and I hope your sale was a success.Fantastic show. 🙂

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