Career Day/Student Night at the Power Plant

On Wednesday evening, The Power Plant hosted an evening (Career Day/Student Night) for students to get to know artists and to begin thinking about next/alternate steps they may take on the way toward becoming artists professionally. The artists who came, all of whom were represented in the Micah Lexier show I wrote about recently, were at different stages in their careers but were all willing to hear out students and answer questions about their practices.
I wasn't sure what the format of the night would take and much to my chagrin, it was set up like speed-dating. There were two concentric circles set up with artists sitting in one circle and students rotating around the circle of facing chairs. Each conversation was to last three minutes.
I skipped the first round because as soon as the prospect of sitting and speaking to these people came up, my heart began to race and my stomach churned. I need to learn to stop having such visceral reactions to meeting new people. I reminded myself that the artists who volunteered to do this knew what they were in for, and many probably felt just as "on the spot" as I did. I also knew that this may be a once in a lifetime experience and it would be foolish to pass it by.

I came up with a question to pose to each one. Since I'm studying curatorial practice in school, I wanted to get a better understanding of the curator-artist relationship. I asked each one about that and got quite varying answers. I got a few negative reactions: an artist to told me he hated "being told what to do". Most answers, however, were quite positive. I got a good understanding of how collaborative the artist-curator relationship needs to be, and how most artists just wanted a curator who speaks to them and respects them. That sounds reasonable - isn't that what everyone wants?

All in all, I'm glad I took the chance. It wasn't easy, but if working with artists is part of the career I'm working toward, what better way than to jump in with both feet?

image taken from @ThePowerPlantTO

#snbTO

This was the first year that I participated in Nuit Blanche here in Toronto. In the past, I've generally avoided the night because much like Halloween and New Years, it's generally an excuse for people to get drunk and make a spectacle of themselves. At the end of the day, I'm an introvert through and through so it's hard for me to venture out into the drunken art school masses to view art projects. In theory, however, Nuit Blanche is a beautiful concept: from dusk 'til dawn, the city is transformed and taken over by art installations, all of which encourage interaction with the people who come to see it.

This year, I decided to volunteer. One of the most important decisions I made when returning to school is that I would get involved in any way I could. This is the only way to meet people and start forming connections so it was crucial for me to branch out. What better way than being part of a Nuit Blanche installation? This is the project I helped out with. There was a camper van set up with a projection about the project, called Carl Wagan, in the window. It was created by artist Shannon Gerard. My level of involvement was to dress in a scout uniform and hand out "participant" badges and information about the project. There was also a campfire with marshmallows to roast.

This is where I spent the evening! 

My "uniform" (I chose the sash that had this badge on it specifically)

The badges we were handing out to the people who stopped by. 

I was there helping out from six until midnight, after working seven until four at my day job. It was a long day, but I still wanted to walk home so that I could see a few things on the way. I was, however, physically and mentally drained from the day and just wanted to curl up in bed. This sign on the ground pointing to nothing wrapped up my night perfectly.

Ancestry & Artistry (at the Textile Museum of Canada)

I love the Textile Museum of Canada. It's very close to where I work and they have an amazing permanent collection in addition to their exhibitions. I have a fascination with artifacts and I love looking at one of a kind objects from the past. My dream job would probably be a conservator or other such career that would allow me to interact with museum objects. 

The other week I made a point of stopping by the Textile Museum and I checked out their current exhibition, Ancestry and Artistry. The exhibit features traditional dress from Guatemala's indigenous communities. The description on the website does a much better job of explaining context of the displayed items than I can, but I can talk the impact the show had on me. 

The first thing to strike me was the colours. The intricately woven and embroidered garments were thick with threads of many different colours and it was incredibly tempting to reach out and touch every item (I didn't, of course). Everything was beautifully displayed and descriptions were given for each item, providing information about how the fabrics were crucial to religious ceremony, political statements, and the tourism industry.  

Some examples of masterful embroidery stood out in their simplicity. The image below also shows the loom still attached, giving insight into the simple process that yields such beautiful fabrics. I used to study textiles, a long time ago, before starting university (the first time). I was lucky to be part of a very hands-on textile program and so I'll always have a soft spot for craft. Natural materials, the smell of wool, and the methodic process of hand weaving are things that I'll always feel lucky to have learned about.

Finally, this image was of a pair of child's pants - look at that embroidery! Is it wrong for me to geek out a little bit about that blue jay? These were beautiful. 

As I said above, I have a real love for objects and artifacts from the past. Even when I go running through neighbourhoods with old homes I get distracted looking at details like the brickwork and stained glass windows. I delight in looking at hundreds year old mundane objects like combs and pens. My mind wanders to the people who may have used them and the journey that object had to go through to get to a place where I could view it. None of the textiles in the Ancestry and Artistry exhibit are quite that old (all twentieth century, and even some more recent) but they still have the same appeal of being hand made and of having a history that led them from the maker's hands to Toronto (and me).  

Some Recent Work

While I haven't been making new work as often lately, I wanted to do a quick post about a series of two I did during the summer. I found the patterned paper at The Paper Place and really like them both so I decided to do something with them. It helped that I had two empty 16" x 20" frames just sitting in my closet waiting to be filled. 

I'm still doing a lot with text, and I took a summer class in which I made a zine (post on that soon). These I did for myself. I'm not too crazy about them, to be honest. I like the patterns and I like the text, but something about them falls flat for me. Oh well, the most important thing to me is that I make new work when I'm inspired to, and see the results as developments toward something rather than always trying to produce perfectly finished work all the time. Anyway, that's all for now. 

One, Two, and More Than Two

One of my goals related to going back to school has been to go to more shows, openings, and art-related events and then writing about them. I figure that if I'm trying to get into a career doing this stuff, I should practice now. I need to get into the habit of seeing and thinking about the Toronto art scene (hopefully that doesn't sound as pretentious as I think it does) so here I am, writing about one of the bigger openings to happen this fall. 

The Power Plant and Micah Lexier certainly don't need my amateur voice speaking about them, but I'm really doing this for myself. Here are my thoughts on One, Two, and More Than Two - a survey of work by Micah Lexier. 

Image source

It was not easy for me to go to this show, which opened on September 20th. Show openings are crowded and are just as much (or more) of a social event than they are about viewing art. I'm always anxious in social situations and I tend to become extremely introverted and "in my own head" at these types of things. I asked myself about a thousand times as I put on my makeup, adjusted my belt, and drank a few glasses of wine whether I should go. Of course I knew I had to (this is a huge part of my dream job, right?) so I went. There were tonnes of people, and they were all there to catch up with one another. Luckily though, there was also a lot of beautiful art to see. And by a lot, I mean a lot. 

The premise of the show is that "One" is personal projects by the artist that makeup a pseudo self-portrait of him at various stages in his career. This included the installation Self Portrait as a Wall Text, which is a floor-to-ceiling descriptive work in which the black text represents his life lived so far and the white wall is for things that have yet to happen (it's much more simple in person than it sounds). I was also pleasantly surprised by the video work This One, That One.  I'm normally not much of a fan of video based work, but this one spoke to minimalist in me, with a stark white background and hand rendered drawings on cardboard. The tableaus made by the artist's hands were repetitive and almost calming. They were careful, delicate, and almost whimsical. It spoke to the nature of collecting and building and ended up being my favourite aspect of the show. 

"Two" was made up of two-person collaborations between the artist and various writers. Equal Texts is shown below, though not exactly as it appeared in the gallery. This collaboration with Christian Bök was striking in its simplicity and in the way the two have completely abandoned image in this artwork in favour of text and language. 

Image Source

This brings me to "More Than Two" - a curatorial project in which Lexier brought together the work of 101 Toronto artists at varying stages in their careers. The works, varying in size and media, were placed delicately in vitrines and each item was numbered. The numbers corresponded to a list of each artist, title, and media information. Though the room was crowded, I was able to lose myself among the displays. I took in every single piece that was put under the glass, some of which was beautiful, some intriguing, and some quite inspiring. I watched as people pointed to items under glass that they liked, discussed the different pieces with their friends, and excitedly circled the numbers they liked on their lists. It was a joy to look at the tiny artworks on display and I may even say it was just as fun to watch people as they experienced the show. 

Image source

When I left and began the walk home I felt foolish for having been so nervous, but also overwhelmed and even a little intimidated by all the people there, casually breezing through the crowds, kissing cheeks, and showing off their avant-garde haircuts. I turned my thoughts to the work I'd seen and asked myself what story I thought the artist and curator were trying to tell. What was the common thread linking the vast show and curatorial project? The work showed spanned several decades and brought together over one hundred artists and yet felt extremely cohesive, even minimalistic at times. The work was all quite intimate and delicate, even personal and much of it autobiographical. Much of it demanded close-up viewing and it was this feeling of closeness that brought the show together for me. Even though the world of artists, art shows, and crowds seems huge, it's coming up close and letting it all get drowned out by the art that makes it bearable. This show, a culmination of the work of a successful Canadian artist, may have been the perfect way for me to wet my feet in this whole art institution thing. 

Sneak Peak

 Here's a small preview of my planned upcoming posts. I'll be back before too long.

Cheers!

I'm Back - and Here's What I Want to Do.

It's been a long time since I've been here. It's not for lack of doing work, or for lack of focus. If anything, I've been quite busy working on a lot of new things. The main of those things is that I'm back in school. I'm working on a second BFA, this time at OCADU in Art Criticism and Curatorial Practice.

I've still been making new work, but much less of it lately. I've been working on some other goals (excluding school) - I've been eating way better and blogging about that. I've also been working on getting myself in shape for a half marathon, which I run in about three weeks.

And that's it. It's quite shocking sometimes how fast time goes and here I am, with a birthday looming around the corner, goals being made and met, and some more goals adding up. I'm back because I need to write for myself, my education, and I need a creative outlet.

Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more of me here (again).