Goodbye week 1, hello week 2!

I can't believe my first week at The Banff Centre has already come to a close...time is flying by!  

Week 1 at The Banff Centre was super-productive.  I have several small sculptures in-progress.  Most of the pieces I am working on are about 3 inches tall or smaller and are landscape abstractions based on my surroundings.  Outside of my studio window I have views of both Mount Cascade and Stoney Squaw... and the occasional mule deer (picture below)!  This little female spent about an hour grazing outside my window on Saturday morning.  

Working at this scale has really allowed me to be much more playful and experimental in my approach.  My hope is to make 50+ sculptures and then finish at least a handful while I am here in Banff.  I have a lot of ideas for surface and finishing the works.  

Week 2 began with the BAIR's (Banff Artist in Resident's) giving a short slide talk about our work and a brief agenda for our time at The Banff Centre.  This week is pretty much devoted to the studio, with a few breaks to see some of the amazing performances and lectures offered. 

Over the weekend I did take some time out to explore a few 

local sites including the Cave and Basin National Historic Site.  This thermal spring is the birthplace of Canada's National Parks system.  

Above ground the site offers a boardwalk trail through the marshlands where, if you look closely, you may see the endangered Banff Springs Snail...they are very small, with larger snails only measuring about a centimeter in length.  

I didn't see a snail, but I did see two small garter snakes while there!