March 4th - A Visit to The Artist Project

Sunday. I planned to go to The Artist Project months ago. My email told me today was the last day. I looked out and it was frosty. I wasn't sure I wanted to go and maybe I should just skip it.

a cold start to the day but it's sunny


I leafed through the 20 or so flyers we get every week to distract myself and instead found this ad that made me laugh

ukulele ad: Eddie Vedder has made the uke cool!

I wonder if connecting the ukulele to Eddie Vedder created a rush for this product?
After deciding I'd probably spend my day pondering these kinds of unknowables, I got my winter things on and headed out to the show.

I've done * a lot* of art and craft shows since I started making things in 1991. I haven't done many shows in the last couple of years due to moving and getting generally burnt out with them. The Artist Project is put on by the One of a Kind people and I was curious and also felt like I already knew what I would see. I thought I should go anyway.

I found the building

if I had more time I'd go to the bike show too

$14 entry ticket

neon columns in entryway

greetings as you enter

Big diagram of booth numbers and aisles

centre clearings had special focal point artist displays

lots of visitors

movers and shakers


Overall my impression was pretty positive. But after my recent experiences in Key West I have to say it's all pretty bland... however, we can't all be Key West now can we?
No.
So, to be fair, the show was clean and clear, wide aisles, easy to navigate, well marked. It looked like everyone had the hard wall displays provided by the exhibition people with white walls and the work on the walls. Only 1 or 2 exhibitors wavered from this format.

The vast majority of exhibitors were painters, then mixed media, then sculptors and print makers. I was consistently drawn to anything ceramic and to anything that was surreal or "fantastical" for lack of a better word.

As I surveyed the work, I noticed several red dots on things ranging from $200 to $14000. Most items were over $500 with $700 seeming to be a popular price point as well as $1350. Things did sell here, which is good news for artists.

Right now I am not at that place in my art. I am at the beginning of a new body of work so the selling part is not at the top of my brain. And it really has no place there right now either.

If I am going to have to sell things it'll be my commercial stuff at the local farmers' market if I am fortunate enough to be accepted as a vendor.

And so I left the Artist Project and walked back to where I would catch my ride.

Along the way, hot coffee in one hand, the other holding my coat closed and my hood up,
I saw this stuff

this bike fender made me put my coffee down

hmmm.. the scythe just doesn't cut it anymore

sidewalk graffiti

green sidewalls


Toronto's iconic CN Tower against a winter sky, sandwiched by condos

wondering about how often this gets bashed up and does it get replaced?

tree in planter


Prince's Gate with art(?) under arch - love whatever that is!


bye bye now

36 Chambers Studio: my new Toronto workspace

I thought I'd post some pictures of the art studio I'm working in.

my space: 8x10 = small and I'm struggling to keep it empty

There are at least 20 artists in here, maybe more. All the spaces upstairs in the main area are rented but there are more spaces being created downstairs.

washrooms downstairs, one level below me but one level above the other studios

My favorite things are the location: Queen St West, and the other artists that are working there, (though I have yet to meet them), and the access to the outdoors where I can work if I want to, plus all the events that Josh, the owner of the space and owner of Sleeping Giant Gallery, brings in to liven up the space. I am happy to be in an active artist space.

looking up to the door outside from my space

I found this studio space through the son of a friend and the friend of his friend.
It seemed meant to be. I wanted the space no matter what. I didn't even know where we would live for months, but I had my studio space. First things first.

picnic table outside with a view of Queen St West

So I've had the space since February but only actually got there to work on Wednesday.
I didn't even know how it would feel to be there.

artists and their stuff is everywhere

After being away from painting for so long now--it's probably been a good 6 months since I did any real Art work--it's tough to get started. My creative mind beat a hasty retreat when faced with packing/sorting/tossing and now on the other end unpacking/sorting/placing. I was not built for all this Organizing with a capital O.

doorway back inside

My studio space is 8x10 so I can't bring too many things there. My plan is to only have what I am actively working on. There will be some 2x4's up above my workspace so I can store some things. I need that. Last night some big canvases decided to fall on me in my sleep so I need to fix my storage situation. At least they are away from the bed. For now, they're in the kitchen.

*sigh*

But never mind that.

view from top of stairs of the shared studio space

My studio is a bus ride, a subway ride, and a bus ride away from me. About 1.5hrs if I go from my house and a nifty hour if I go with my new sculpting friend Doris. She has a sculpting studio downtown and is thrilled to have a second passenger in her car so we can use the commuter lanes.

Bathroom graffiti.
I can relate.

Spring Flowers For You, Faithful Reader.

lilacs picked today from the backyard

Hello. I've been meaning to post for months now. I send you these flowers as an apology for abandoning my blog for so long. Life just got in the way and while I have oodles and oodles of stuff to blog about it seemed I just never had the *oomph* to actually sit down and do it.

I've moved to Richmond Hill, Ontario, a mere 6 or 7 streets north of the Big City of Toronto.

I appropriately landed here on April Fool's Day, promptly twisting my ankle the same day. I was unable to walk for about a week.

I got better just in time to go on a whirlwind adventure to Florida because I won tickets to see the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on April 19th. We were there on the 29th, which was the first re-scheduling of the launch date and, sadly, not the last. I'll be posting about the trip we took later, so I'll save the details until then, but what's important is I came home and placed my suitcase and bag down at the front door and pulled my back. I was unable to sit up or move for about 36 hours, then I could move, but not really walk, then I could walk but it really really hurt and now I am back to normal, with a little reminder of my mishap now and again.

Starting in a new town is tough enough but adding the physical pain to it all is downright depressing. But I'm turning the corner on that and on EVERYTHING.

More soon.

PS. The flowers are lilacs. It's not even June and the lilacs will be done by June here. In Sudbury, my house had a fence of lilacs and they were just budding in early June. In Ottawa the lilacs weren't out until June either if I remember it right. So this is my first indication that yes, I am in a warmer, earlier, gardening zone. It's too bad I don't have a garden. I'll have to content myself with being a spectator this year.

My Year in Review 2010

Most of my year I was here, at home, waiting to find out what my future held. Due to Chris' new job there would be/could be/might be/should be/probably will be and then definitely was a move in the future for us.

All this home time would have been fine with me except my Chris' new job saw him travel to the Bahamas in January, Costa Rica in February, and the Isle of Man in October.

I was very jealous.

As consolation, I took a trip with family to my hometown of Sudbury in April, primarily to get a grave marker for my grandmother who'd been without one for over 10 years. It's finally there now.

I had to go all the way to Dynamic Earth in Sudbury to find some rocks that made me feel all warm and cuddly. I recall the Sudbury landscape as dark and brooding and barren. Like this:

But even this picture has too much green for me.

They've even cleaned up the Big Nickel and made it shiny and new.
You just can't go home again.

In the summer we went to North Bay and I found this delightful signage on an even more delightful property down by a lake. Oh Northern Ontario lakes how I *heart* you!

We stayed overnight in North Bay and then drove off to Parry Sound. It was at a resort there where I took my first jump off a dock into the water EVER.
Yes.
Ever.
I do believe my own personal "leap of faith" was in the top five things I did this year. It makes me smile even now.


Also this year The City Of Ottawa purchased an artwork from me: my giant handmade print about the bus strike. I was so honoured! I am now in the Fine Art Collection of the City of Ottawa and my work will rotate through city owned buildings. I don't think I can say how much this means to me. It's a fine way to cap off an art career in this city when I started as a street vendor in the Byward Market in 1991. The showing of all the work purchased by the city will be at City Hall in the Spring of 2011. I'll let you know when it is. The best place to get a good look at this piece in on the Ottawa Citizen Big Beat Blog by Peter Simpson. Click here to go to my interview done during our grad show preview ... it was so so hot!

A very spontaneous Santa Claus brought us a new car this year,

and big consumer debt to go with it (hohoho). I do love my car coloured "velocity red". Thanks Santa.

On the sadder side, my beloved Kitty X died this year. Colon cancer. Here she's being bothered by Caesar Cat as she's taken his special spot.

All year I waited to find out where I'd be moving to and now it's settled: Toronto.
I was really REALLY looking forward to a move overseas but it's not in the cards for now.

Beginnings and Endings. Looks like I'm going to be experiencing many of them in the coming months. I'm anxious to find out what Toronto has to offer and, actually, it's a lot. So much of everything there. We'll see what I can do with that.

Taking a Deep Breath

INHALE

Hello Faithful Readers and Picture-Lookers

I am going to start catching you up on what's been happening around here. Mostly I've been distracted by a year of wondering if I am moving away, and if so to where.


Two possibilities have been in the air all year:
London, England
and

Douglas, on the Isle of Man.
And right when I was all set to join the Basking Shark Watch on the Isle of Man,
to see and help conserve these fantastic creatures I found out, nope, instead it may be

Toronto.
So stay tuned. In the next 3 months things will get sorted out and I'll know whether I am moving 400 miles west or across the Atlantic.

This kind of stuff keeps me off center, even more than usual, and stuff drops off as I fret.
Life is taking on a new direction now and I feel like I can start to happily settle into the things that bring me joy... I feel like it's okay to breathe again.

EXHALE

Nuit Blanche in Toronto - October 4th, 2008.

Okay here is the last catch-up post, closing out 2008 on a good note. It's a doozy. Get some coffee and settle in. If you didn't get to Nuit Blanche you will probably want to go next year after you read this.

We went to Nuit Blanche in Toronto in early October. This is an all night art event. There were over 300 separate outdoor and indoor exhibits of all kinds of art. There were thick guidebooks and maps and you really had to think and plan where you wanted to go. It started at sundown and went until sunrise. we started at 9:30pm and finished at 4am. We walked all that time, except for a couple of extremely crowded streetcar and subway rides. When we emerged from the car park it was like Canada day here in Ottawa. That's the only other experience I have had with crowds that large. People everywhere and really fun, really happy and relaxed attitude. Everyone was out to discover things. They were curious and talking about art, and art was everywhere.
Just heading over to the info tent we came across Boxheads. Two people with boxes on their heads giving out flyers for a performance. They couldn't see anything. You just walked up to them and took the flyer. Kind of creepy and interesting. Simple and strangely effective.
Heading over to the subway to get to our first destination, the Distillery District, we walked through the Eaton Centre and saw this inflatable construct.
We had to stay focused to stay on track.

It was huge and had I known you could stand in it and walk around inside it we would have made the trek to go up and get in it but I am easily distracted

so we had to stick to the plan.


After the subway ride and a streetcar ride we walked a few blocks and found the Distillery group of buildings. Old brick building with brick or cobblestone streets, open only to walkers, no cars, it certainly gives a great first impression. I was looking for a specific building that had a print of mine on display that I made specifically for the Nuit Blanche Secrets Show at Proof Gallery.

Leading up to the building where Proof Gallery was, we walked through an alleyway full of constructions and projections. As you walked through the light you were part of the show.

We found Proof Studio Gallery and the wall of prints

(this one is mine) and after meeting the happy and busy owner we took a look around the rest of the building. In the lobby was an art installation called secrets. You could write a secret on a small piece of paper and tie it to a helium balloon and it floated up to the ceiling. As you walked through the balloons you could read the anonymous writings. I grabbed a few of the secrets laying on the ground cause the balloons had popped but I never felt more like a yellow-bellied thief than I did taking these secrets! In the end though, they inspired one of the handmade books I made for my own secret-themed apprenticeship. It was just a coincidence that they too were doing secrets. Guess it's in the air.

From here we covered the Distillery grounds and found a jazz band playing outside. It was such a beautiful evening. Like a summer night and not an October evening. It wouldn't have been half as much fun doing this in a cold rain.

We consulted the guidebook and it led us to Kensington market where they were having a pie eating contest.

I was more interested in the light-up hair thingies and the hat and wings of the two girls in front of us. We left there and entered a church across the street where there were some singers performing, with a big screen TV to show it to the crowd. The pews were super comfy and there was a very warm feeling being in this old church so full of life and love. It really was a magical atmosphere. I've never held a particular fondness for Toronto until this evening. It's made me think of moving there, except it's even more expensive than it is here. Still. It's not out of the question.

From here we headed out to see the waterfall. Everyone was talking about the waterfall. It was a streetcar ride west and then a walk of at least 6 or 7 blocks. By now it was around 1am and I was really losing steam. Still, as we got closer to the falls the people were talking about it even more so I was really spurred on by that. And then, all of a sudden we saw it.

Out of the third story of an abandoned buidling was a roaring waterfall. The water was landing in a jumble of childrens plastic toys. It was very impressive. I wondered how long they took to set this installation up and what kinds of city permits were involved. It was very impressive. We decided to follow this street and came across another installation that I just love.

These were glowing sound boxes as as you approached them you would hear the sounds of apartment life: cats, voices, doors, elevator doors etc. Not only was the sound interesting but the light they cast was so moody. My pictures of the installation make me want to paint to try to capture the feeling this light creates in me. As we left there I looked up to see a fake blazing fire in an old warehouse. I thought it was just the full corner but it continued down the whole block.

These were projections of a fire done from the inside of the building out onto the windows. They felt real but the lack of sound and heat and smoke made you do a doubletake. This whole street was a great find only to be equalled by what we found a block later. (By now it was well past 2am and I was full of energy, just anxious to see what else we'd find.) Walking past a packed (!) outdoor patio we saw a Yoko Ono installation. Hanging from a crane with stadium lights on it was this silk sign. It was surprisingly moving. I was surprised I felt that way.

Once past the sign you saw a street filled with trees with wishes written on white tags from their branches. Yoko encouraged people to write their wishes onto the tags and tie them to the trees. Actually everything was covered with wishes: trees, bushes, tall grass. I flipped a few around and read "anyone but Harper" (we were going into an election and this wish, alas, did not come true),

This one wished and wondered who would clean this mess up in the morning

And this person wished for the Iraq war to be over and to give peace a chance.

At the end of the wish tree street there was a fake snowstorm

and a sauna set up. Had it been colder this would have been a fantastic find. As it was we pressed on. Inside the building next to it they were showing Russian films and outside on the grass was a small sign telling us that

honesty is the best poetry. Other signs along the way were these No Bad Art posters stapled to telephone poles.

I looked forward to seeing them along the way. In addition there were 35 strategically placed signs talking about art. A bunch were clustered on the shoulder of a road in the grass. Two favorites were these

Choose one or two or more artists you've experienced tonight and decide to follow their work over the years... take a snapshot of this moment in time, and Focus On The Process The Product Will Follow
We walked to the streetcar, then took the subway over to the Gardiner Ceramic Museum which was free admission and open all night. Mexican artists were working on a Day of the Dead altar inside. Outside, at the bus stop, I saw this which was amusing

We hopped on the subway and then walked back to City Hall where the car was. It was 3:30am and the streets were as busy as when we started out at 9:30pm. There were still lineups at the food trucks. I wanted to take in the lights at City Hall for awhile before we left. So we found a bench and watched the show. Each floor was programmed to follow a pattern and I saw the lights play Tetris, and Pong, and count, and here is a figure dancing across.

Sitting there we wondered if we should stay to watch the sun come up, about 2 hours from then. We decided to call it a night and head back to where we were staying as we had to get back on the road the next day to get home.

We were blessed with fantastic, summerlike weather for the drive home and decided to make a small pitstop in Cobourg to go visit the water.

It never looked better. I can almost imagine a summer day looking at this photo and I need that cause we are going into my worst month, the one that depresses me the most: January.

So long 2008, you're in the rear view mirror now.

2009 step right in.