Blogging, Bragging, Boasting, Coercing, Informing, and just simply Posting an Update

I am currently involved in an online voting competition. 

Having created an artwork, I now have to promote it online and coerce/entice/invite my readers, whoever they may be, to click a link and cast a vote for me.  I will do this everyday for the next 32 days.

“Without promotion something terrible happens—nothing.” - PT Barnum

I've done this for others, voted on their links or commented on their posts,  all to let that person know that I support them. In person, we can have that conversation, the sharing of the burden, or triumph, or anticipation, but we are limited as to how many people we are in contact with in Real Time/Real Life. I'm just stating the obvious here. 

tips-for-tooting-your-own-horn-without-being-that-guy-who-always-toots-his-own-horn/

What I want my readers to know is all the artists worked on their murals. They didn't exist before we made them. The organization gave us an opportunity by choosing us, by jury, as the 20 to depict our idea of The Perfect City. Our works are as varied as we are. 

Our material was difficult, and new to most of us: dibond. An aluminum coated with a plastic, which did take the acrylic paint but also had a surface where paint peeled easily and could be scratched off by a fingernail. Our 10' x 8' sheet was given to us in two pieces, having been sliced horizontally through the center, so most of us never saw our work, or worked on it, with the top and bottom as a unit, unless the were laying flat on the ground.

We worked outdoors, or in a tent, or both. It was 42C with the heat on one end of the week, 10C and driving rain as the week ended. We had project time constraints: 9-5 Mon - Fri. Some of us had other obligations: jobs, family obligations, prior committments further eating into our creative time.

This is not a complaint or a woe-is-me, but I just want you, dear reader, to know that art IS work. Whoever wins deserves it.

my self-made shameless self-promotion-- go vote!

And in the Perfect City... CITIZENS VOTE. (Vote for ME!)

CITIZENS! 

Visit www.downtownmarkham.ca/publicart 

and vote Katie Argyle to win a public art commission.

Are We There Yet? Downtown Markham Perfect City artwork installed

It's all done and the artwork, mine + the other 19, have all been installed. In their environment the giant boards look small. 

This was my first sighting of our work. The corner of Enterprise and Birchmount in Markham is a real live construction zone.

Looking for somewhere to park the car we drove by this on the opposite side of the street

And here we were headed toward the first panels which extend onto Birchmount

First four were here ...

then going this way....

we came to mine around the corner on Enterprise-- here it is in the center

my map legend

a few mascots

a few thoughts on what could make a perfect city

the artist and her work entitled  Are We There Yet?

Voting begins September 24th, 2013 to November 1st, 2013.

More on that to come.

20min to spare. Day #5 of 5 of Downtown Markham project

I arrived on site at 9:20am and finished at 4:38pm, with 20 min to spare. I'm satisfied with what I created for this project. 

All day long the work of the artists who didn't work on site filtered in while about six of us continued to push through the day to complete our work. The variety, and the depth of the work, is really amazing. What a great cross-section of style and concept. I am looking forward to seeing them all tomorrow when they are installed in their permanent construction-zone location. This is the corner of Birchmount Road and Enterprise Boulevard in Markham. Depending on how they fare in our climate, the boards could be up for a year! 

And with that, here's  my last day on this job, in pictures.

arrived early, but others were already working. cold this morning 11C and drizzle too

Ladies, when was the last time you felt safe sitting in a park at night by yourself?

started Scenic and it ended up looking like this

proceeded to Civil

look! drivers! signalling! yielding! how very civil!

hand heart 

I pulled the boards outside for touching up, and embellishing

and tried to get a full image of both boards together by standing on a chair

you get the idea here

I left my panels for the installers to take after my 2nd coat of sealant dried. 

Can't wait to see all 20 of us tomorrow!

Voting for your favorite work starts Sept 26th and runs to Nov 1st. I'll post more on that when I find out the details. 

I, of course, ask for your support!

Day #4 - one day left - feels like not enough

 I got to the site and prepared to make great progress on my piece today.

 As usual, I got comfortable, always preferring to work bare feet if at all possible. 

I had a full coffee on hand

 a vague idea

a favorite 6B pencil to refine those ideas as I sat on my stool in front of my work in progress.

Today I moved back to my original spot by the fence at the back. They have some kind of lawn irrigation system at the front where I was yesterday. Since it was hot, it was ok to have damp feet all  day, but today was cooler, and overcast, so it was tolerable back there. Plus I discovered I could prop my boards up off the grass using rocks from the rock pile, so I was feeling pretty smug about today's set-up.

I finished one medallion: Diverse

worked on Safe (not ready for publication--needs work) and began Efficient

when the skies opened up. I dragged my boards into the big tent and spent the rest of the day learning how to paint when your dibond aluminum boards are propped up on bricks so they don't get flooded from the rain and the wind, all the while 

ducking as the tent's loose sides fly in over your head. The sides need to be open cause otherwise it is too dark.

After I went for coffee, I completed Efficient

Then added this guy

beside the Affordable medallion, which was also completed.

Tomorrow is the last day. I need to finish all of the outer border, add details to the interior map, do touch-ups and the remaining 4 medallions, including this one, which was a personal challenge for me today.