Kari Fisher: 44(H) X 50(Y)

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency Followup

On April 10th, 2025, one of the artists who took part in the Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency in 2024 held a one day Exhibit at the VENUE in Red Deer.
It was titled 44(H) X 50(Y). The numbers represent 44 homes in 50 years…

Kari Fisher, from Vancouver Island, stayed in the Buttermaker’s House last year to work on her project. After accepting a challenge of incorporating art into her daily life by her son Isaac, Kari has been on a journey exploring her roots by redrawing the floor plans of 44 houses that she has lived in since her birth and gathering flora connected to those homes. These floor plans were initially drawn in wax crayon, then, cyanotype ‘blueprints’ were created with each sheet having two exposures.

Stephan G. Stephansson Icelandic Society (SGSIS) was very honoured to have played a small part in Kari’s artistic journey and congratulate her on the wonderful, thought provoking exhibition. It gives one pause to think about our own journey in life and where it takes us and what memories we create.

Well done Kari and hopefully you will bring your exhibit to Markerville and the Fensala Hall one day.

— Submitted April 17, 2025 by d’arcy Gamble

Find more information on Historic Markerville’s Buttermaker’s House and how you can apply for an Artist Residency.

REST / REFLECT / CREATE / CONNECT
Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency in Markerville

View the VENUE’s Instagram Reel

Visit the Buttermaker’s House post of Kari’s visit

Karen Scarlett

The fall weather was warm enough for us to enjoy an outdoor art talk with Karen Scarlett during the coffee gathering at Kaffistofa on October 5th, 2024.

Karen is part way through her Artist Residency stay at the Buttermaker’s House and wanted to share some of her process and progress on the four art pieces she is working on that are tied to her stay in Markerville.

Karen touched on her early years growing up on the family farm near Innisfail, and of the artistic influence she received from her Mom, Dad, and Grandma Scarlett. Creativity is a lifelong adventure for her, and has always been a vital part of life.

After the morning coffee goodies were passed around by d’Arcy Gamble, Karen showed us various artwork she’s currently painting, as well as described her plans for works based on the Church and the Ice House (with ideas percolating for two more, one of which could be the Buttermaker’s House).

Karen finished her talk with a short demonstration of watercolour painting for some eager spectators, both adults and kids!

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, and the way Karen was able to discuss the process and concepts to be easily understood by the layman.

You can find out more about Karen’s artwork on her website: karenscarlett.com

Excerpt from Karen’s Proposal: “My practice centers around the prairie and the magic it provides. With a focus on vivid landscapes and structures that reflect the cultural essence of a place. I plan to use painting and drawing as a primary medium to capture the unique features of Markerville’s local spaces, such as the Creamery, the Fensala Hall, the Ice House, the bridge and river too. These structures/spaces not only serve as representations of Icelandic settlement but are also symbols of resilience, community, and the pioneering spirit of the Icelandic immigrants who helped build them. My hope is the pieces I create during my stay reflect these characteristics.”

Scarlett is a multidisciplinary artist. Besides fine art, Karen also instructs, consults and creates murals including leading community groups to create a vision for their unique space.

Karen lives in Innisfail, Alberta. You can find her work in private, corporate and public art collections around the world.

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html

Kari Fisher

KARI FISHER gave an informal presentation during Kaffistofa coffee hour on September 6, 2024 during her residency stay at the BUTTERMAKER’S HOUSE.

After accepting a challenge of incorporating art into her daily life by her son Isaac, Kari has been on a journey exploring her roots by redrawing the floor plans of 42 houses that she has lived in since her birth.

Beginning from playful wax crayon sketches, she then tapped into her architectural background to redraw the floor plans to scale using time-honoured drafting tools. Her goal is to create 11 x 14 blueprints using traditional cyanotype processing.

As she worked, Kari tapped into memories by playing music from the time period that she lived in those spaces, and was amazed by the details of the houses that she would remember, which also included plants, flowers and gardens associated with each place. She has started collecting botanical samples from the various areas she’s lived and then pressing the botany to use as a layer during the cyanotype floor plan development.

Her work is well under way, with 11 more floor plans to draft for that portion of the project. Collecting botanical samples is ongoing and she has several samples already in her press awaiting the next phase.

Kari has loved her stay at the cozy Buttermaker’s House where she has been able to escape the daily routine and focus on this journey. She joked that it hasn’t been all quiet contemplation since several family and friends have happened by throughout the week for quick visits!

Visit a follow-up post of Kari’s completed work
(at the VENUE, Red Deer, April 10, 2025)

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html

Claire Butler

Claire Butler, a recent resident artist staying at the Buttermaker’s House, held a Music Workshop for Kids at Fensala Hall on August 30th, 2024.

While parents visited outside, inside the hall Claire introduced a mix of song and play to 11 children and helped them relax and have some fun.

After they all took a break to enjoy the playground equipment and play with soap bubble kits they had received, everyone went back inside. The kids then demonstrated some of the sitting games, and the standing/running circle game called “Cut the Cake” to show the parents what they had learned.

Lots of fun and laughter, and a great little adventure on a Friday morning!

The MUSIC WORKSHOP FOR KIDS was a FREE event with no experience required. It was open to kids of all ages 4 years and up. A free fun hour of music games and songs with musician and educator Claire Butler!

For more information on Shine Music Camp in SW Calgary, including program details and pricing, visit https://shinemusiccamp.ca/

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html

Cliquot Trio

Clicquot Trio played Thursday night at the Creamery Courtyard for SUPPER AND SONG on August 29th, 2024. It’s worth mentioning that this was directly tied into the BUTTERMAKER’S HOUSE ARTIST RESIDENCY with Claire Butler, and we’re thrilled that Reuben Grendus and Stefano Valdo could join her on stage!

Since 2017 Clicquot Trio has been playing in Calgary with performances of classical/jazz fusion repertoire. Members Claire Butler, Stefano Valdo and Reuben Grendus are all professionally trained classical musicians and as a trio explore a variety of genres.

Past performances include ‘Bach to Brubeck’, Latin and Love Songs’ and ‘An Evening with Cole Porter’ at the Engineered Air Theatre. They have been guest performers in two of Heritage Park’s ‘Music in the Plaza’ concert series and are regularly invited to perform at private events. Come and enjoy a mix of jazz/classical fusion including music from Oscar Peterson’s Canadiana Suite.

  • Claire Butler on piano • Stefano Valdo on bass • Reuben Grendus on drums

From Claire’s artist bio: My name is Claire Butler and I am from Yorkshire, UK. I am a music specialist at Montessori School of Calgary and I am also a professional musician. I studied piano and violin at the Royal College of Music 1993-97. Since then, I have enjoyed a varied career as director, educator and musician living in London, Greece and Bermuda.
I have lived in Calgary since 2012 with my husband Jamie Parkinson who is a teacher and my daughter Nathalie who is now 12 years old.
As a musician I love how my life is always full of new people and experiences. I love to share my music and am excited to explore the historic hamlet of Markerville while bringing my love of music to it’s community.

Clicquot Trio also entertained at the SGSIS 50th Anniversary Gala September 2024

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html

Tomas Jonsson

Saturday, August 24th, 2024 was the last day of Tomas Jonsson’s residency stay at the Buttermaker’s House. He was heading to Calgary next but made time to have another visit with the locals and visitors during morning coffee, and to share a little bit on his project and his process.

Tomas had a box of items beside him on a small table. It contained his grandfather’s audio cassettes of family conversations, old photos of a family property in Sweden, along with legal documents and other items. “Following the passing of my father, in whose name the land is held, our relationship has adopted a different role as we untangle the personal and financial ties that bind us to the space.”

Tomas had written a letter just yesterday to a new acquaintance and decided to read it out to us, to hopefully provide insight into the unravelling of history and understanding he is working through. Here is a portion of that letter:

“I had a lot of help from my grandfather who recorded all our conversations over the phone, sometimes surreptitiously. That’s what I’ve been doing while I’ve been here is going through these materials and also reading books that are here in the community.

“I’ve had the pleasure of joining in on the daily coffee gatherings in the community. I’ve enjoyed listening to the stories and conversations while also being a bit apprehensive of what I should contribute. Most of my time here I’ve been absorbing, being in the Buttermaker’s House, occasional walks in the town and campground, and reading.

“I knew about the work of Stephan G. Stephenson and was pleased to encounter other writers such as his daughter Rosa and his grandson Stephan Benediktson. I was also glad to meet and read the accounts of Frank Sigurdson. At the same time I was digitizing and listening to the cassette archive which my family received from my grandfather.

“A few weeks ago my partner Jesse and I were on a road trip and started talking about the pending residency. Somehow it occurred to me to record the conversation and the seed of an idea to use it as a method to bring this work into some sort of shape. I started to make short videos mostly in and around the house and using the recorded tapes as soundtracks.

“This was intuitive but a system started to appear. I also channeled my grandfather and recorded, with permission, people here and friends which became soundtracks to other videos. I sent these around to get feedback and the general consensus is that I’m on a good path.”

Inside the Kaffistofa, Tomas had set up a presentation of videos he’d created so far, “In Whose Name the Land is Held.” Here is the link to his video presentation on Vimeo

Some photos from August 24th presentation and coffee gathering:

Here is a link to a blog post which was the result of his chance encounter and conversation with a couple visitors to Markerville on August 23, which had also inspired him to write the letter he read to us.

Tomas Jonsson is an artist, curator, and writer. He has curated, presented, and performed work in Canada and internationally. Tomas’ family came to Montreal from Denmark in 1969, living and travelling west until eventually deciding to stay in Calgary, where he was born in 1975. A large part of Tomas’ practice has been unraveling and understanding this trajectory, and his relation to a place he now also knows as Mohkinstsis, among other names. Tomas is currently living in oskana ka-asasteki, also known as Regina.

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html

Honey Jalali

d’Arcy Gamble was one of the attendees at Honey Jalali‘s presentation in the Creamery Parlour this past week. She captured some great photos during the art talk and workshop on August 17th, 2024 that Honey gave as a windup to her residency stay at the Buttermaker’s House.

Honey Jalali is an Iranian contemporary activist artist based in Calgary, Alberta. With a master’s degree in visual arts from the Art and Architecture Azad University of Tehran, she brings over 15 years of teaching experience in Visual Arts at the university level. With the art talk she shared some insights into her artistic journey and discussed her latest project on snails; exploring their unique self-care mechanisms and how they embody resilience in the face of environmental challenges.

The workshop was fun, and encouraged self-expression through the creation of snail-inspired art!

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html

Jyn-Ting Ying

Above: Artist Portrait by Jordon Hon provided by Jyn-Ting Ying

Jyn-Ting Ying is heading home to Edmonton tomorrow, and held a composition workshop at the historic Church in Markerville on August 2, 2024. This was rounding out a week spent in the Buttermaker’s House, part of the Artist Residency program, focusing on a first album release they have scheduled for the fall.

Inspiration for this music project has come from “Unearthings” by Wendy Chen, a poetry collection that’s “unafraid to confront the complexities of cultural, ancestral, and familial inheritance…[e]xploring her identity as an Asian American woman.” This is a personal topic dear to Jyn-Ting. They spent the week in our quiet hamlet working on one of the last songs for the album; even recording the sounds of the Buttermaker’s House, some of which will be incorporated into the music.

Jyn-Ting played some music live on piano that will be on the album, and also played partial recordings of the more complex pieces that have multiple instruments and vocals that couldn’t be performed during a one-person presentation.

The workshop portion of the presentation delved into examples of the role musical composition can play in affective experience; the important part it can play in conveying how an audience should feel.

This was an entertaining and thoughtful afternoon well spent!

About the Artist: Besides working on the album project, Jyn-Ting has also done sound and songs interpreting other people’s projects: movie soundtrack work, music for game apps, and a composition for a photography gallery display. They are also part of an improv group that will be performing at the Edmonton Fringe this summer.

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html

Jim Martin

Jim Martin and Blair Thorson booked the Buttermaker’s House for July 19 to 21, 2024 to display their artwork and perform demonstrations of cottonwood bark carving for the public.

Jim decided he would take the opportunity to present “Stories with a Smile”, introducing and promoting the art of oral storytelling for adults through his affiliation with Storytellingalberta.com which has Chapters throughout Canada. It’s existed for 40 years, is a nonprofit, and its goal is to promote the art of oral storytelling. There’s a chapter in Calgary, in Edmonton, another one in Strathcona, and just recently one was formed in Red Deer.

From Jim’s presentation, which took place over two days, July 20 & 21, 2024:

“And what is a story? Well… It can be anything you want it to be.

“Usually people start with personal stories, things in their life or events that other people might be interested in, and it gives an advantage in that you already know the story. You lived it; so you don’t have to study up on it much.

“It could also be a folktale. There’s a lot of folktales that’ve gone through hundreds of years and the poor ones have been edited out. They’re a great source of stories, and they really give you a message at the end as well.

“You can have an epic story about history; or a poem, which is just a story that rhymes. It could be a song, because songs are a story with music. A story can be anything you like, and you can either write it yourself, or you use an existing one from a book or online. Out of respect for the author, you usually acknowledge the author of the story. And if you’re telling for profit, you should really contact the author and get their permission to tell the story.

“So stories have three elements: The story, the teller, and the audience.

“The story has got to be relevant to the audience; have some meaning for them and be memorable.

“The story teller, if he hasn’t written that story himself or herself, can take that story and manipulate it and make it fit their presentation style. And they present it to the audience.

“The role of the audience is first to be attentive to the teller, because unlike music where there’s lots of noise, if somebody is talking over top of the teller or using cell phones or the like, it really disturbs him. The second roll is to give reactions to the story. A good story teller is always watching the audience to see how they’re reacting. He may find that they aren’t reacting the way he thought they would. So next time he tells the story a bit differently.”

Buttermaker’s House Artist Residency is supported by Red Deer County and Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An award is available to qualified applicants, sponsored by INLNA (Icelandic National League of North America).

https://www.historicmarkerville.com/buttermaker-house.html