Christine Mockett Art

"Somebody's Office"
new artwork alert!
acrylic mixed media painting
Dimensions: 60" wide x 12" high x 1.34/4" deep

I am happy to start a series of posts of new artwork after a long hiatus for teaching community workshops. As always, artworks include repurposed materials and comment on life.

“Somebody’s Office” combines 10 gallery panel boards into one for a grown-up version of the principal’s office. But this is adult life. Rooms are contained and tastefully decorated with muted colour schemes. Silent metallic wall panels fill the space of art, taking no positions. Has person X done something wrong that only vast quantities of paperwork, time and money can solve? Will person X’s entire life course change shortly? Hope is creeping in as panels of bamboo fabric, a dangerous DIY book that could lead to self advocacy and in cases of extreme need, a plant that hasn’t been killed by neglect.

Houses, trees and buildings of all kinds emerge from our pile of wood off-cuts this week, in the “Catch” art workshop at Winthrop Court Community House PQCHC. This village is traveling to community houses in neighbourhoods around Ottawa. Some houses stay in new homes along the way and new houses join the neighbourhood in a fun community creative exchange. First stop is at Pinecrest Terrace Community House with houses from Winthrop Court and Foster Farm Family House. This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett.
Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

The “Butterfly Bench” was installed this week at Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre from the “Community Pieces” art workshop. This bench joins their meditative creative space outside year-round. Participants chose the theme of helping others, reflecting Amethyst’s mission and their enjoyment of working together creatively. The central butterfly was in Amethyst’s colours. Thank you to Value Village Cyrville Road for donating the glass, and artist Susan Roston and Euro Tile & Stone for donating tiles for repurposing. This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett.

Thank you to the residents who attended the Arts Workshop at Foster Farm Family House last Thursday. It was great to have you in our newly renovated backyard for a relaxing moment, coffee and beautiful art pieces.

There was grout, silicone adhesive and sunflower stepping stones in progress in the finishing class at Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre in the “Community Pieces” concrete workshop. The butterflies are set off beautifully with the surrounding white tile fragments, designed by the very creative participants. It all ended up smooth so it will be comfortable to sit on when placed under the trees in Amethyst’s meditative space in a few weeks. This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett.

We attached the mosaic pieces to the concrete bench top in the mortar class at Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre, in the “Community Pieces” concrete workshop. We transferred the pattern with a stencil and hand placed the pieces. With mosaic pieces of different thicknesses, we pressed a board over the pieces to level them and removed the extra mortar. This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett

Our gnomes workshop brings us Dr. Hook, Pine-eloppe, Twinkle Fire, Baby Gnome and whole lot of fun at Winthrop Court Community House PQCHC in the “Catch” art workshop series! Pinecones, repurposed yogurt bottles, scrap fabrics, sparkle and creative personalities came together in this class. I gnome, I gnome, no more gnome jokes… 😊 This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett.
Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

Waiting for the concrete bench to wet cure this week, in the “Community Pieces” concrete workshop, meant lots of time for mosaic planning for the bench top. Working together as a group the participants drew their design referencing the colours, amethyst purple, and theme of helping others at Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre. A great big thank you to Value Village and Susan Roston for donating the mosaic glass and tile for the bench top. This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett.

In the happiness clocks workshop, tiny hand made objects replaced numbers at Winthrop Court Community House PQCHC for the “Catch” art program. These are daily reminders of the things we most like to do with our time. Favourite activities included hole saw cutouts silhouetting tiny brass planes for travel, groups of flowers for gardening, tiny handmade shoes for fitness or a stroll with a friend and mini books with real pages for time to relax and read under a tree. Participants created their own working clocks with themed hands and shared ideas on their favourite activities. This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett.

This week it was time to try out different concrete mixing methods and embellishment ideas in the “Community Pieces” concrete workshop at Amethyst Women's Addiction Centre. This brought out the trowels and buckets, a drill mixer with paddle and an icing piping bag with textured tips that we only use for concrete. Wait a minute, icing concrete? We pigmented fine aggregate concrete mixes in 6-colours and piped them onto stepping stones, adding to our collection of creative embellishment techniques. Coasting along with coasters, we added intentional tiny holes to look like foam and strengthened them with acrylic fortifier. This project is funded by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation and facilitated by artist Christine Mockett.