Serendipity
The gift of being able to make delightful discoveries by pure accident.
Coined by Horace Walpole after the “Three Princes of Serendip”
Hi I’m Helen Bushell and along with Will Bushell, my partner, we make up the artists of Summerhouse Art. Serendipity is definitely welcome as we explore various aspects of art. As the official blogger for Summer House Art blog I’d like to tell you a bit about us.
We’re both graduates of the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, both majoring in Painting. Will went on to take a year of Post Graduate studies at the University of Alberta as well. We made the move to our favorite holiday destination, Victoria, BC years ago and love it here. And although we both still paint, we also explore and work in other mediums as well.
The fact that we’re a couple of artists who happen to recycle, has had a way of working into our art forms. We create mosaics from old dishes and ornaments, collages from found objects and ephemera, and lately fabric collage with thrifted fabrics. Most of all, we believe that the world is an abundant place…as long as you like second hand.
Spring, summer and fall will find us happily spending our Saturdays garage sailing. And all year we’re rummaging in the Thrift shops.
We also enjoy beach combing and Will has been creating jewelry from beach glass, beach pottery and driftwood that we find. You can find that on our Etsy shop FoundMadeArt. Plus Will has rediscovered an old love, lino cut printmaking which he has, along with paintings, in his own Etsy shop, WillBushellFineArt.
And now for a bit about each of us individually….
Helen Bushell
I’m a graduate of the Alberta College of Art with a major in Painting. Although I’m presently getting back into painting, I’ve actually spent many years immersed in the art of mosaic, something I discovered after art college. My pique assiette mosaics incorporate lots of broken dishes and ornaments into a variety of themes and have even made their way to the garden as stepping stones.
My interests have varied, often following a serendipitous course with forays into all sorts of other creative art forms like paper collage and fabric collage done with free motion sewing. I’ve also enjoyed teaching mosaics and creativity to many students over the last quite a few years, although I have now stopped giving classes.
Since, of the two of us, I’m the one who enjoys writing, I tend to get into writing blog posts about all our meanderings. Please check out the blog for ideas about inspiration, getting creative, recycling, gardening, mosaics and whatever else that catches our fancy.
Will Bushell
As a graduate of the Alberta College of Art and with Post graduate education at the University of Alberta, I’m primarily a painter but I often involve other mediums on the surfaces of panels and drawings.
I’ve shown my work in Calgary and until recently at Fran Willis Gallery, here in Victoria. I spent many years working in Graphic design creating book covers for many authors and designing for corporations.
While my work is mainly abstract, I do incorporate the human face and figure as well as landscape. I often use photographs in my work, in part or whole, applied to the surface with various mediums. You can view more of my work on my website at http://marksonmarks.wordpress.com. featuring mainly paintings and lino cut prints and at imageonimage.wordpress.com for photography and poetry.
I’ve also enjoyed working in collage, mosaics and lately creating jewelry with driftwood and beach glass and pottery.
