New Updates from In and Outside of Jill Price Studios
- Jill Price
- Jun 5
- 3 min read
I want to share some exciting updates about what I’ve been working on lately. As I have been really missing painting and drawing as part of my studio practice, I’m especially eager to talk about a new series of meditative drawings I have been developing as a result of my ongoing beach cleans and commitment to unmaking waste as part of my creative process.
Community Engagement and Public Projects
Outside the studio, I’ve been active in several community events that blend art with environmental action. One highlight was continuing to conduct individual and community beach cleans along Lake Ontario in preparation for my exhibition with Cathie Jamieson at the Art Gallery of Mississauga entitled I've Been Here Before. As before, these beach cleans continue to inform my archival installation entitled Wht-trSH, which has significantly grown in size since its inaugural presentation at the MacLaren Art Centre.
For anyone looking to get some extra steps in while helping to keep Lake Ontario clean, you can join me tomorrow Saturday, June 6th on Marie Curtis Beach East from 6-8 pm or the UN/making Network on Eventbrite for more upcoming beach cleans on:
Saturday, June 27, 5 - 7 pm, Richard Memorial Park Beach
Thursday, July 9, 11 - 1 pm, Lake Front Promenade Beach
Saturday, July 18, 5 - 7 pm, Jack Darling Memorial Park Beach
I also had the opportunity to collaborate with the Bradford West Gwillimbury Library on an art installation called We Are Forest. This project involved creating interactive pieces that encourage visitors to think about their connection to trees and forests. One feature of the installation was a retrofitted wine box carved with the words Tree Mail, that invited visitors to the Library to write their own messages or poems about trees and their forests on seed paper. Having now acquired over 100 letters, I will be working with the community to plant these in a garden just outside the inside installation on Monday, June 8th from 4 to 6 pm in hopes to increase the local biodiversity of wild flowers which helps to sustain the presence of pollinators and in turn the well being of flowering trees. Stay tuned on the UN/making Network Instagram page for postings of people's writing and documentation of the planting.
Exhibition / Competition
In addition, I’m thrilled to announce that some of my undoings were selected for the Art Comp 100 in London, Ontario. An interesting competition held at The Factory in the city's old Kellogg's Factory, the show provided me the perfect opportunity to revisit some of these soft sculptures, create some new ones, and see if I could get them to spin, fold, flop, shift and spin so as help reflect the title of the installation UNDOING GEOGRAPHY. Luckily, my husband were able to install some old motors behind a few them so that they rotate on the wall! Not sure how I feel about using an abundance of electricity for the work, but the animation of the canvases seems key to what I am trying to communicate. An interesting showcase of emerging and more developed work, feel free to visit the ART COMP 100 website and cast a vote for works that impress you.
Looking Ahead
Lately, my studio has been a hub of creativity as I dive into a new series of drawings that explore the relationship between my walking practice and mark making. Deeply influenced by my experiences moving up and down stretches of beaches to pick up trash, the meditative drawings use line to simply connect one side of a substrate to another. Working on top of both old works on paper as well as on old painting drop clothes sourced from family, friends and facebook marketplace, patterns, spaces and shapes emerge upon arriving at remnants of paint, glue, paper or plaster on the substrates' surfaces.
Currently working on a larger work atop board that may require some level of stitching to repair a larger hole that is impacting how the old canvas stretches over board, I am particularly excited about how this series aligns with my beach cleaning while still fulfilling my desire to lay pencil to paper. What I find really interesting is how I can find this very linear approach to connecting colour and shapes in older works, making it seem like I have had this series in me all along.
Also hoping to take this technique to the streets, follow me on the Instagram page called Drawing as Walking to see where my experiments take me next.
Really interesting how this connects studio practice with real-world action, especially the way walking, collecting, and making become part of the same creative loop. There is something very grounding about turning everyday movement into both art and environmental engagement at the same time. That focus on process over instant results reminds me of how other creative disciplines work as well, and even https://hairjunkieca.com/ reflects that same idea of intention, consistency, and craftsmanship behind the finished result.
The “drawing as walking” idea feels especially powerful, it blurs the line between process and outcome in a way that makes the work feel alive rather than fixed. It is also refreshing to see sustainability and material reuse woven directly into the creative process instead…