As the sun went down, the Living Arts Centre lit up for Mississauga's first time hosting Art Battle Canada. Featuring three rounds of live competitive painting, each contestant gets 20 minutes to create their best work on canvas, and the winners of each round are voted in by the audience until a champion is crowned. All of the paintings created that night are also put up for auction making it a great way for art enthusiasts to start or add to their collection.
Here are some pics of the inaugural Mississauga event:
Living Arts Centre resident artist Natasha Gouveia prepares her painting station for round one.
After the surprising announcement that the next season of True Blood will be its last, I thought I'd round up some of my favourite southern-inspired finds to pay tribute to the show's mysterious mix of gothic southern charm...
It makes me infinitely sad that the talented musicians behind country/folk duo The Civil Wars are currently not on speaking terms. Joy Williams and John Paul White have been estranged since November 2012, but by moxie or miracle, they released a sophomore self-titled album (recorded last year while on tour) just this past month. My favourite track is called to 'Dust to Dust' and you can preview it for free over at NPR's All Songs Considered.
This stunning digital print by Korean artist Madame Lolina reminds me of Sookie Stackhouse's sleek black Diane von Frustenberg dress in the episode Dead Meat. Off to meet her potential faerie-vampire husband, Sookie's outfit encapsulates the sexy, dangerous, and supernatural energy that makes True Blood so deliciously watchable. Madame Lolina's 'Crow Hat' print shares a similarly alluring quality with the crow's glossy black feathers complementing the model's dramatically winged eyeliner and almost stiflingly ornate dress. Available in three print sizes over at The Working Proof.
Southern Tupelo Honey Favours from Pressed Cotton - Of all the different honeys I've tasted, Tupelo honey has got to be my favourite. Harvested from tupelo trees that only grow along four rivers in Florida and Georgia, this swampland honey is prized for its pure and slightly floral flavour that is perfect simply scooped out of the jar and savoured. Read more about the fascinatingly tricky process of producing tupelo honey here.
Southern Lights Electric Co. x Pennyweight Goods - It was love at first light when I first set my eyes upon this elegant lamp by Adam Gatchel of Southern Lights Electric Co. Designed to darken and age over time, this limited edition steel and brass swing arm wall lamp makes the rustic refined with its use of unfinished steel and raw brass. Sadly this edition is already sold out at Pennyweight, but you can view more of Adam's stunning fixtures (along with his commercial work) over on his website.
What will you miss most about True Blood when the TV series wraps up its run?
Tonight the Design Exchange hosts curator Juli Capella for a special tour of its newest show, Bravos. Showcasing product designs from 21 of Spain's most talented and successful young industrial designers, this travelling exhibition will be on display at DX for two weeks only from Thursday, August 9 - Thursday, August 23, 2012.
Tickets for tonight's event are available online or at the door for around $10.
Want a sneak peek at some of the groundbreaking work you might see? Click on the image below to preview the exhibition catalogue!
Thanks to my friend Catherine for alerting me about Tattly's 1st birthday sale for 50% off a slew of design-pretty temporary tattoos!
Conceived by Tina Roth Eisenberg (the wildly popular blogger and designer behind Swiss Miss) with the help of an all-star lineup of professional designers and illustrators, the collection features funny quotes, design geek jokes, and charming doodles from artists like Julia Rothman and Gemma Correll.
Tattly's birthday sale only lasts until this Sunday so be sure to scoop up your favourite designs before the party's over :)
PS - One more special note to bundle in with my "Special Pug Alert": Pug Island 2012 will take place next Sunday, July 22 from 11:30 am - 3:00 pm! So grab your pug and catch a ferry to Ward's Island for some fun in the sun and a very adorable sounding "Pug Beach Stroll".
This cheerful tea towel comes courtesy of Cheltenham-based printmaker and illustrator Laura Seaby. Screen printed in dark teal and pale turquoise ink on natural cotton, it would be a perfect addition to a kitchen with a modern and darker colour palette.
Prefer a more vintage look to decorate your favourite tea nook? Seaby also offers a paler art print at online retailer Keep Calm Gallery.
Which version do you like the most?
See more of Seaby's fun and eye-catching work here or read a quick interview with the talented artist on the illustre.com blog!
Even if you're camera shy, it's easy to smile for the camera when you're looking back at a cute and colourful softie from Etsy shop Yellow Heart Art!
Each "squishable art" piece is hand sewn and features a fun complementary patterned fabric on the back as well. With softies as low as USD$10.00 for a mini and USD$30.00 for a large, you'll want to snap up one of these retro cameras while you can!
Have I ever told you about The Working Proof? It's a wonderful art organization (conceived by Anna Corpron & Sean AuYeung in Brooklyn, NY) where independent illustrators design limited edition prints that are released for sale weekly on The Working Proof website and e-newsletter.
A considerable 15% from each print sale goes to a charity of the illustrator's choosing making it a win-win situation for anyone looking to support charitable causes and emerging artists.
Here are three of my favourite prints that have been featured on the site so far:
Luckily, great minds think alike as Judy Tan operates a similar venture in Portland, OR called tanQ where consumers can purchase limited edition t-shirts to support a different non-profit organization each month. With the motto of "1 tee, 1 month, 1 good deed", tanQ will donate 100% of the net profits from each sale for the first 12 months tanQ is in existence (est. Sept. 2010).
Featuring 12 classic yellow school pencils with various quirks and quarks (I'm the perfectionist!), each tee comes with a collector's greeting card and a mini button all in support of tanQ's December charity pick, Pencils of Promise.
What do you think of these start-ups connecting artists and national or global not-for-profits? Have you ever purchased anything from The Working Proof or tanQ?
Cute alphabet print by Mike Boon that would be great for a kid's room, but be prepared to answer lots of questions when your little one asks "A is for...who is this again?"
I only know the top billing characters: Animal, Beaker, Fozzie, Grover, Kermit, Miss Piggy, and last but never the least (and never speaking really in Swedish or English for that matter hehe) the Swedish Chef!
Can you name all those Muppets? In lieu of Jeopardy music, I'll point you to Jason Segel's Oscar nominated song instead ;)
Awesome art school tees by London-based illustrator Rose Blake.
Funny enough, I saw the Koons balloon puppy in electric blue at the LACMA last summer and absolutely loved it!
Each shirt retails for £22plus post and packaging :)
Which one would you wear to flaunt your art degree? I'm most drawn to the second shirt, but since my degree is in media studies, I'd also love to see someone illustrate a tee with famous theorists and writers like Roland Barthes and John Berger!
♥
Images by Rose Blake (t-shirts) & Lai Mai Ng (puppy)
Crafted by husband and wife duo Adam Maron and Quincy Pearson, their collection of handmade curiousities also includes ghost, balloon, and cloud factories. My favourite part of these mini sculptures is the cheery stripes that lead to a burst of colour or a touch of whimsy at the end.
Besides collecting them to hide in various nooks and crannies around the house, wouldn't it be fun if Monopoly got a crafty makeover and the real estate game pieces could be as imaginative and endearing as these ones? After all, I'd much rather build a cloud factory than a house or a hotel!
Simple but lovely black and white typography prints from Graphic Anthology:
(Oh English, why must you always be so plain vanilla?!)
To show some love for Valentine's Day, Etsy shop owner Gen Duncan will also be offering 10% off the entire store until February 15 with coupon code "HEARTU"
Well this week will be the very last chance to see it at the Living Arts Centre before it closes on January 22! Please stop by to check out all the amazing video game inspired artwork and you can also catch an interview with me and our curator Cole on The Electric Playground airing tonight on CityTV :)
In the meantime, here are some images to whet your appetite (but don't forget that you can only play with my Pixel Painter piece in person..!)
Can you spot the Green Lantern reference in the above photo? ;)
PS - Double milestone! This entry officially marks my 100th blog post...hooray!
As a new smartphone owner (thanks sis!) I'm on the hunt for a smart, well-designed, and protective case for my Samsung Galaxy S2 but all I keep finding are adorable iPhone ones:
Print...
Pattern...
Painterly...
Poultry?!
Hehe...any leads for me fellow gumshoes? :) Which case is your favourite?
Sorry for the long absence from the blog! I've been busy participating in my first group art show, Thank You for Playing, which is currently on display at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. The show is a love letter to the 8-bit video games we grew up with in the 80s, and it features a neat mix of painting, video, textile, and installation work. I highly recommend you check it out when the gallery reopens after winter break on January 3 :)
Although I've taken art classes intermittently throughout school, I don't consider myself a practicing artist and I never had the opportunity to show work in a formal gallery space. But when my best friend approached me with the idea for Thank You for Playing, the media studies grad in me couldn't resist taking this enormous encyclopedia of visual iconography and pop culture and running with it.
The experience was both rewarding and gruelling at times, and I learned a number of important things that should help the next time around:
1. Fight the urge to procrastinate. Even if deadlines seem really far away, it's best to get the troubleshooting part of your creative process out of the way early on, so you can give yourself better chances of coming out with a polished (and finished!) project.
2. Group management is a full-time job. Between chasing people for artist statements, process images, and finished work, it can feel like you're a full-time personal assistant with no time to devote to your own pieces. Make it easier on yourself by choosing reliable artists to work with - ones that will respect not only your group timelines, but also your personal time.
3. Consider the size, scale, and quantity of work.If your group is not collaborating in a mutual space or sharing progress shots regularly, you may be surprised to find a largely empty gallery when everyone shows up with their pieces on installation week. Encourage everyone to see the gallery space before starting to create so you can collectively gauge how many and how large your artworks should be to fill the space.
4. Ask for help. Especially for installation projects. Large-scale or highly detailed artwork can usually be parcelled out to heroic friends and family in the early building stages. Find a balance between 'no artist is an island' and 'too many cooks ruin the soup' and try to be clear in communicating your concept.
5. Eat a healthy diet. Between jobs, trips to the art store, friends/family, and life in general, it's simply too easy to pull into a drive-thru window looking for a quick, treat-based fix when meal time rolls around. Do yourself a favour and try to organize as many healthy meals and snacks as you can to properly fuel the fire for all of those late night art sessions :)
6. The simplest solutions are often the best ones. A small design flaw in my Pixel Painter installation piece (see video screen shot below) resulted in some 3 x 3 x 3 cubes getting stuck in a cubby space that was 3 x 3 x 4. Luckily, a little spray paint and some sticky tack transformed a regular foam brush handle into a handy box retriever that could be replicated and replaced when needed.
7.An excellent curator can cure (almost) all ills. Speaking of which,I can't speak highly enough about our talented curator Cole Swanson. He came up with the solution above and he also problem solved our initial lack of work by making helpful suggestions to frame and enlarge our giclee pieces and he used colour to build different environments to properly fill the space as well.
8. Start your social media campaign early. Twitter, Facebook, and listservs are all great ways of building an audience for your show before it even opens. Plus, many mainstream media outlets now have social media accounts too, so it's a smart way to connect with art writers and chase producers too.
9. When conducting broadcast interviews, be genuine but brief. I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Space Channel for their program innerSPACE, and I distinctly recall a couple of times when I got lost in my own answer and needed to backtrack out of the sentence in the most cohesive manner possible...keep it short and sweet and the editor looking for a good sound bite will thank you too.
10. Appreciate the independent/local media that come out and do awesome coverage like this fun feature from The Oddcast Show:
The show is on until January 22 and the Living Arts Centre Gallery is open from Tuesday - Saturday (10 am - 4 pm) and Sunday (1 pm - 4 pm).
