joelewis Weaver & Writer

Saturday, July 02, 2016

Introducing Print on Demand T-Shirts

ting to get a photo of myself wearing the #MudFlapBoy #Beefcake T -shirt

Speaking of Foot Long Hot Dogs.

Introducing the first in a series of Print On Demand T-Shirts from ‪#‎AkaMudFlapBoy‬

‪#‎MudFlapBoy‬ ‪#‎Beefcake‬ ‪#‎Tshrits‬ now available.

my first #MudFlapBoy BeefcakeT-Shirt printed at Toronto Tees

527 Yonge Street

Toronto, ON

Order Now $60.

T-shirt is available in all sizes and in T-shirt or Muscle Shirt, colour image on white only.

Printing will be done within 3 days of receiving payment (paypal or e-transfer)

It will be shipped via Purolator or UPS depending on your location or preference.

Order today using velevethighway@gmail.com for transaction.
(beefcake should be the answer you provide)

Please include shipping details in message.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

2016 Mud Flap Boy Beefcake Calander

now on sale

You have heard of Print on Demand well now $10.00 gets you the "Print Your Own" I have done the design now you can do the rest.

now that you have purchased and downloaded the Print Your Own" 2016 Mud Flap Boy Calendar the next step is up to you

No doubt you will have to take this to your favorite print shop to choose the 11" X 17" paper to print this "Beyond Sexy" calendar on and the kind of binding you want, (with Hanging hook or get a hole punched)

if you want to print more then one please think about paying me for them.

thanks and enjoy marking of the days.

View Calendar page here or go directly to my Velvet Highway Ink shopping page where you can by the 2016 MudFlapBoy BeefCake Calander and or my E-poetry Book "And I Do Sing" both are PDF Downloads

Sunday, August 30, 2015

and now a song

does this work

Monday, August 24, 2015

the barbie papers

coming soon

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Itinerant weaver on the road. Joe Lewis East Cost Pop Up

Joe Lewis Itinerant Weaver

With 10 jacquard woven wall hangings in a suitcase and picking up sticks and yarn to make a back strap loom to string up in a near by tree, or lamppost I will be wondering around the east cost of Canada in August into the fall. With a PowerPoint and the gift of gab (a genetic trait of my Scottish via the east coast roots).i am looking for invitations to hang my work, give a talk and meet guilds and other textile artisans. ( a couch to sleep on, a cup of coffee and ride to the next town perhaps.

Itinerary bookings as of April 26 2015

Bonavista, NL, Church St. Festival, July 27th to August 02. Location Rayns Premises National Historic Site with the Art Walk taking place Friday July 31 2015

Reality as of August 2 2015. My first east coast Pop Up exhibtion has come to an end and if likes and shares facebook and Twitter are to be interpreted in a positive light the show or at least my presence in Bonavista was noted. The location in which I exhibited was rather amazing. Like the former Joseph Simpson Knitting Mills. (1861 – 1947) on Berkeley Street in Toronto and the Canadian National Railway Station in Brantford Ontario (built 1905) it has a history of industrial/ mercantile use and as such has a high ceiling and a large amount of floor space with windows enough to let in adaquite quit light in a per-electric era.

Rayns Premises National Historic Site, Bonavista NFLD


This a photo of me by Bonavista based photographer Loretta Landres at the Fish Store

The rough hew whitewashed in interior of the Fish Store did set of my work

While my exhibition was a Pop Up the interpretative presentation of the processes involved in catching and processing cod is foremost in this space. While unmanned unless a tour group is coming through or a talk or some other presentation is being made I did have the chance to speak with visitors on the days before the official Art Walk event that was scheduled for the Friday evening of the week long Bonavista Church Street Festival. I sat in on one talk giving by a Parks Canada employee for a group of American tourist. She spoke from first had experience of how the moratorium on cod fishing and closing of the Cod Fishery in 1992 effect the local economy, her own her husbands job loss and subsequent leaving to find employment in Ontario and eventual return and becoming an employee of Parks Canada. The audience was extremely receptive and while there was a lot of personal information it was the "workers" voice inserted into the longer history of the Newfoundland and Labrador industry and the specific of the Ryans family business.

I need to thank a bunch of people for making my trip to the Bonavista Church Street Festival possible and the first would be Ruth Weller-Malchow of Bonavista Living & Bonavista Creative for inviting to participate in the Art Walk in the Town of Bonavista and these individuals without who's continuing support of my art it wouldn't have been possible for me to go. Mary Alton David Bateman Doubledee Barnes Lou Ann DeLong Mary French-Pace Kris Lewis Becky Kelley Julie Kirkpatrick Piers Knight and Lana Rottenberg Barb Mcilquham Elaine MacNeill Jeremy Podeswa Michelle Walker and i know I am missing many others who have subscribed to the concept that buying art keeps artist alive and making.Next for me is "Strata-graphic Evidence::the textile work of Joe Lewis” interactive exhibition tour,, catalogue with on-line only component. Cheers until the next time I Pop Up..

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While curated exhibitions in professional galleries add to ones resume the spontaneity of a Pop Up show is an equally viable way of building a reputation. Having been a painter who has become a weaver the portability of textiles makes this approach much easier if truth be told. With a one week exhibition scheduled in Bonavista NL the end of July beginning of August and friends scattered through out the maritime I thought I might as well see if I can arrange other exhibition opportunities.

Piecework , Gladstone Hotel on Queen Street West in Toronto Ontario, October 11 - 14, 200f

I have shown in bars, cafes, restaurants, beauty parlours , libraries, train stations, church halls, empty storefronts, old factories, summer kitchens, garages, a former Orange Man's Hall a Quonset Hut, (Guild Hall, Whitehorse) in other artist studios, peoples living rooms and on a clothesline in a back yard.

3Hangings on backyard clothes line Brantford ON

The "Joe Lewis Itinerant Weaver" trunk show consist of 10 jacquard works woven at the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles between 2003 -2011, it is 34 running feet/(10.3 meters) and easily hung. While my PowerPoint ramblings are as much story telling as "lecture" they have a thread of 5000 years of technical developments in weaving, a wide look at contemporary fibre arts or a an up close look at weavers / artist working with Jacquard looms to make their work'

Lia, Cook, (california) Kathy Schicker London England and me (Toronto) in front of Kathy's "Sisters" piece at the opening of "Telling Tales: Narrative Woven Textiles by Joe Lewis and Kathy Schicker" Berkeley Castle, Toronto (tin the former Joseph Simpsons Knitting Mill 1861 – 1945.
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Schedule TBA

I f you are interested in inviting me to show contact me via e-mail.

fibre_quarterly@yahoo.ca put "Joe Lewis Pop UP in the subject line

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Joe Lewis Press:

Joe Lewis rides the Jacquard Wave by Christoffer Jones, Live With Culture April 8 2010

Telling Tales, Textile Forum 2/2010 June pg.10

"Beyond the Studio, Joe Lewis: Holding the Torch High". by Graham McCracken pg. 29 Fibre Focus Autumn 2010, Volume 53, Number 3

'Joe Lewis Jacquard Weaver' by Graham McCracken: http://www.ohs.on.ca/members/fibre-focus-magazine/ is a download from the website,

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

#JoeLewisArtWork

Post by Joe Lewis.

.

SOLD

Join the exclusive club of international collectors of Joe Lewis which began in 1985 and has continued through the changes in media from painting and drawing through quilting and applique to weaving. (some collectors have posted photos of pieces they own on facebook) In this Facebook (mock) Store smaller readily affordable Items will be posted with a set price If you want to purchase an item at the set price leave a comment or if you are bashful e-mail it to me at velvethighway@gmail.com and I will update the item as on hold and you have a 24 time period to make payment arrangements. If not the item becomes available again, (you are welcome to offer more then the set price and compete with others to have your very own #JoeLewisArtWork) Payments can be made through PayPal, money order or if with in Canada via bank e-transfer

View from deserted mine site in Northern BC. Dunwell Mines includes 32 Crown-granted claims (Dunwell, Lot 4286; Ben Hur (Silver Arrow Lot 870; George E, Lot 872, etc.) on Glacier Creek about 4 miles north of Stewart.
http://www.stewartbc.com/dunwell.htm —

you can see images from my first trip to the Yukon on Facebook.

"the first trip on the Velvet Highway (the Yukon)

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Works on Hold

“Lee Ryder’s Pick up Truck” quilt with varnish transfer, Tufted and embellished with embroidery and buttons, 10” X 7” Joe Lewis© 2002, with peel off Fig Leaf.

The above two works did have what I assumed were firm offers made on them but no payment has been forth coming. If they have not been paid for by the end of January they will be for sale again
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you can keep with new works coming on sale here

An on-line market for #JoeLewisArtWork

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Paintings for Days and Days and some quilts an on-line auction of a selection of my early works

#JoeLewisArt you might want to know ...On the other hand I am / my work is in one of the two competing art collections (father and son's) in Canada's richest family.

"Wanted Not: portrait of a Timothy Findley Biography" mixed media on canvas 24" X 18" 1994 . Private Collection. Sold at Middlemarch, Arts and Letters Club, Toronto, On. Organized by the Literary Press Group April 1994 photo provided by the Literary Press Group.

SOLD

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In an attempt to my attending the European Textile Networks next conference in May 2015 I have started to have spur of the moment on line auctions on facebook. The first "8 Paintings in 8 Days" was organized by David Bateman and featured Landscape Sketches and Paintings from / inspired by Water Valley Alberta and Gore’s Landing Ontario done in early 1990s . It took place from October 24 until November 2, five of the eight paintings met the opening bids some exceeded them. three are still available as of November 11 2014

SOLD

Small Islands in Rice Lake in Gore's Landing, watercolour 11” X 15” ©1995 - SOLD

Update January 19 2015. Sold on Facebook

'Approaching Drumheller and some Hoodoos,'

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Works on Hold

The above two works did have what I assumed were firm offers made on them but no payment has been forth coming. If they have not been paid for by the end of January they will be for sale again

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Works for Sale

The three remaining paintings are available and more small pieces (including textile works will be coming on sale over the next few weeks.

Gore’s Landing Storm 2,

$ 125.
If you would like purchase this please cut and paste this title into an e-mail to velvethighway@gmail.com

$ 100
If you would like purchase this please cut and paste this title into an e-mail to velvethighway@gmail.com

If you would like purchase this please cut and paste this title into an e-mail to velvethighway@gmail.com

Double Landscapes College
Six more landscape works now available as December 10th 2014

Payments can be through PayPal or money order, if you are in Canada an e-transfer can be used

If you are not in the market for a small Painting Sketch or Quilt you think about buying a copy of my e-poerty book: And I Do Sing for $10.00

To purchase And I Do Sing through PayPal follow this link

What others are saying about And I Do Sing..

“Reflecting on the rage of having a lover torn away, Lewis envisions all tomorrow’s parties ended. A personal snapshot of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, And I Do Sing expresses the visceral intensity evoked by the loss of a lover, journeying forward to re-embrace life and memory. “

Catherine Jenkins

Catherine Jenkins has written two books, a poetry collection blood, love &; boomerangs and a novel Swimming in the Ocean, both published by Insomniac Press.

“Like the very best rock songs that refuse to stop playing in your mind, the poems in And I Do Sing are powerfully musical and fiercely intelligent. They are helpless, tender, sometimes funny and lit by a rage akin to prayer. Lewis sings not just for himself but for all who have lost someone important for all the wrong reasons.”

Ursula Pflug

Ursula Pflug is author of the novel Green Music and the story collection After The Fires http://ursulapflug.ca/index.htm

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About : David Bateman is a poet/ play write/ painter and cultural worker, he wrote the introduction to the E-edition of And I Do Sing, as well as organizing the first 8 Paintings in 8 Days event on facebook.

You can read his latest reviews on his Blog here http://batemanreviews.blogspot.ca/

Saturday, August 16, 2014

artist does stripe tease, not really I just gave a talk at the Hastings Fibre Festival

well I thought I saw just going to embed the facebook album of the talk but I don't seem to be able to do that today so I just putting a link to the album instead. (if you want to see the pictures)

Hasting’s Founders Fifth Annual Fibre Festival
Friday, August 15, 2014,
Hastings Civic Centre, 6 Albert Street, East,
Hastings ON

After having attended this event since its beginning 5 years ago I was invited by its organizer Dr. Skye Morrison PhD to give a talk at this years event.

the premise was:

Textile Talk: A look at 10 years of editing an on-line magazine covering Textiles Crafts, Arts and history in Canada while being a maker, jacquard weaver and traveller to Textile conferences in the Canada, Europe and the US,

Imagine me sitting in your living room on a big comfy couch with a bottle of bourbon beside me and a bucket of ice. now sit back and listen. 45 minutes later I stop to take a breath.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154505596165311.1073741848.890860310&type=1&l=3fc535b82c

The End

take a look at the album its easier or invite me over to sit on your big comfy couch

Saturday, June 14, 2014

But I can sing This in response to not being able to play a musical instrument.

I have been known to break into song at the drop of a hat. this hat was dropped during my "The Nancy Ward" residency at Artspace in Peterborough Ontario July/August 1990 during the weekly "Synk Cabaret" that I hosted through out that summer.

Thursday, January 09, 2014

Crochet A Story Line Or Things My Father Taught Me

a story in many parts

Part 1

a ball of crocheted yarn.

Crochet A Story Line Or Things My Father Taught Me

a story in many parts

Part 2

Crochet A Story Line Or Things My Father Taught Me

a story in many parts

Part 3

is really part one or at least the beginning of this story

January 19 2014:
first it was yarn, then a single crocheted line now has been doubled and further along tripled. all done in a home with two cats and a small cat size dog #aCrochetLine

September 13 2014:
it has been 8 months since last worked on this now the crocheting continues this is the second level of crochet being done with the first strand. I has gone from 1470 inches long to 330 inches long #aCrochetLine

this is the third level. it has now gone from 330 inches long to 66 inches long #aCrochetLine

this shows the yarn. the single crocheted strand, doubled, tripled and quadrupled #aCrochetLine

January 23 2015

#aCrochetLine At 4 levels it was ½ “ high , 1” wide and 18” long without front and end single string/ yarn

January 23 2015:
#aCrochetLine At 5 levels it is 2” high, 4 “ wide 2 loops and 4.5 “ long

January 23 2015:

#aCrochetLine At 5 levels it is 2” high, 4 “ wide 2 loops and 4.5 “ long . This is now complete in terms of crocheting a solid cube, it is more of a lump then a cube but it is all interlaced crochet it is not folded as some people suggested.

a Facebook conversation took place on January 23 2015 it went as follows

Facebook Comment: forget about the finished product...I think the photos of the process are much more interesting.

Joe Lewis: from concept through process to prototype (useful or useless) documenting it was part of the process. the performance so to speak is the #JoeLewisArtWork which is one of the reasons I made the videos not as an after though but as another component. Just as posting on line, in facebook, on YouTube and in my blog becomes the artwork along with /rather then the object alone.

Facebook Comment: Joe what role does the viewer play, if any?

Joe Lewis:: the viewer completes the process by turning the whole into what it is. as vegetables, fruits, grain and animals when processed through agriculture it becomes food when its eaten, not when it is cooked

After Thoughts

If I didn't value an audience why would I put my work on line to be seen making things may have many steps, but unless or until it is seen it is just something i made, once seen it is "art".