Kyla Organ Advanced Studio Spring 2022

  Learning to Bead: My mother taught me to bead once a long time ago, however since she was never properly trained in it and is not versed in the craft, I decided to expand my knowledge on the techniques and materials used to bead. After searching I learned that I know less then I thought on the practice. This is what I learned: I learned about two different types of stitches. - 1 needle flat stitch (my mother taught me this one) - 2 needle flat stitch      -more precise and less likely to buckle      -learned about what thickness of threads to use and how to fill in the holes      -tension and flatness are the two most important things to look out for while beading      - always try to bead in swirls      - turning the flat or warped side of the bead towards the front gives it a shinier finish      - use a more stiff type of felt      - wax the thread so it is less likely to ta...

 Feathers: eagles are endangered species, so obtaining feathers is pretty difficult because of all the procedures one needs to follow and the laws that accompany having one.  killing eagles for any reason is illegal in North America because of its endangered status it is illegal to sell any part of an eagle including it's feathers, therefore many eagle feathers are donated or gifted to communities or individuals that wish to have one for ceremonial purposes eagle feathers usually represent insight, and spiritual connections because of its ability to fly closest to the Creator and see farther than any other animal. if an eagle is found dead by natural causes or an accident, it is illegal to keep it. It must be reported to Fish and Wildlife officers to be dealt with in a respectful and legal way.  because of government regulations, it is more difficult to obtain eagle feathers so faux feathers have become popular for Indigenous regalia.  there is importance to each par...

Since I will be working with a feather motif for all of this semester, I thought it would be a good idea to create different iterations of feathers in different compositions, sizes and paper shape. As my main focus is solely on the feather as a subject, having different options of how to place them within my pieces will be important.  

Project 1: Story of the Feather Charcoal on paper - 1 large piece I want to start with a project that focuses solely on the story of the feather. It will be a large-scale drawing of feathers focusing on anatomy. I will be conducting some research through iteration to determine the composition, positions and number of feathers that will be included in the drawing. This piece is to kickstart a series of feather piece’s I wish to work with.  Project 2: Family Representations Acrylic, and glass beadwork on fabric - 6 small pieces Since feathers are a representation of life, I want to create a feather for each person in my family that expresses their life through colour and composition. Each feather will have a different ratio of the feather beaded showing what stage of life they are at, and each will have a different colour scheme based on their personality and how I view them. Not only will they show their life but since I will be the one creating them, they will also reflect how I vi...

  This piece is a starting point of what I am hoping to focus on this semester. The eagle feather is very significant to me. Each feather is a life; it is the life of a person, community, relationship. This work references these lives and the source of life, or the Creator. It is also a nod to the topic of which I want to focus on this semester, which is the story of the feather. "The eagle feather is a picture of life. Each part of the feather is synonymous with different aspects of an individual’s journey. It starts at the stem. The tip of the feather represents the beginning of life. The stem leads into the afterfeather. The afterfeather, like youth, is wild, unpredictable, and messy. It is hard to navigate and even harder to tame. The main feather represents adulthood. Each bard is reminiscent of an experience. The fat side is the happy, positive life experiences. Alternatively, the slim side is the difficult times. Oftentimes the main feather will break. While this damage may...