Gillian King

And the Winner is...

2011-05-27T15:19:00.001-05:00

Time to announce our Bolo Neck Tie Give Away Winner....

Drumroll.....

Tamara and I have been following eachother's blogs for a few years now. She is an awesome textile artist from Vancouver with an incredibly quirky and fun blog. I love reading about the processes of the work she does as well as amusing day to day activities.

So congrats Tamara!

(Tamara if you're able to email me your address I'll have the bolo sent out to you asap! a.gillian.king@gmail.com)

[source]

Tamara, is this what you drink? I know I'm more of a coffee drinker...

It was so great reading all of your responses - thanks friends :) Your comments made my heart warm which helps on cold and rainy days like today.

If you're still wanting a Bolo Neck Tie they are currently available at Lune Vintage and as of this week, Urban Waves in Winnipeg! If you're from out of town and want to get your hands on one just shoot me an email!

I dressed this mannequin at Lune Vintage today - featuring a handmade purse by local designer, Snootsie, a bolo by myself, and vintage skirt and shirt.

Wishing everyone a happy weekend!

'Everything Good is Bad'

2011-05-24T23:47:00.001-05:00

There has been a serious influx of amazing new music and art this past week that I feel is necessary to share. As it keeps piling up I'm becoming more concerned that I've had blinders on or have been living under a rock! Anyways, it feels good to now be in the know and have some new favourite artists and musicians :)

First! Fastwurms! A crazy Canadian art collective who currently have three large mixed media pieces in the Bestial Encounters show at the WAG. I am so attracted to the colours and symbolism in their work - I just find their work so overwhelming and powerful to look at. Even crazier is that they are practicing witches! I would love to see one of their performances as they stock up on dollarstore goods and in one performance gave participants haircuts with these dollarstore wigs to use the hair in spells. These are apparently good spells - not that I know much on the topic but it sounds fascinating!

Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse with their cat companions

Stigmata Otter from the series Six-Pitch-Otter-Slide by Fastwurms

Paper, pigment, varnish, copper, birch bark, encaustic, fungi, epoxy resin on plywood

Spotti Fang, photo by Fastwurms

Then there's Nicola Tyson, a New York based artist whose minimal figuartive abstractions focus on the psyche and physical body. I just can't get enough of them. It makes me want to do minimal abstracts!

Nude by Nicola Tyson

Figure Running by Nicola Tyson

Arm in Arm by Nicola Tyson

Self Portrait Laying Egg by Nicola Tyson

And since Kaja has come home she has introduced me to both Sharon Jones and JJ Grey & Mofro.

Hope you all enjoyed those newbies - kind of a mash up!

Also a reminder that the bolo give away ends this Thursday afternoon so if you haven't entered yet there's still time - hope you guys are having a wonderful week

'Singing Condition' and Bolo Give Away

2011-05-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

Currently sitting on Darrin's porch drinking coffee and guarding the basket on my bike.

Darrin's on the second floor so I can watch my bike like a hawk...

It's been so great to finally have nice weather in the peg and be able to bike around, catch some sun and watch the tulips open.

Tulips outside my old house ('Oakwood')

It's also been an interesting shift from an intensive studio thesis year to being in writing courses for first time again in over a year. I enjoy studio courses the most so I have left all the writing to the end of my degree. My first assignment for my 'Writing About Art' course involved us doing an object/subject analysis of a piece currently in the Winnipeg Art Gallery and we were told to 'put ourselves in it'. I got quite excited about this as the most writing I have tackled in the past year has been artist statements and blog posts. Being an avid blogger on an art/personal blog I have gotten used to relating my own personal experiences to what I see so I was quite excited to have written a more 'formal' piece on contemporary art with a personal spin on it. I was a bit disenchanted upon getting my paper back and was told I may have gotten a bit too personal. For the next assignment I made sure to take myself out of it but have decided that this would be the perfect venue to share my potentially too personal writing assignment - hooray for blogs! So here is my piece on Erika Lincoln's piece the 'Singing Condition'. The show will be on at the WAG until June 12 and I highly recommend you go check it out!

Birds of a Feather:

A Look Into Erika Lincoln’s Sound Art Installation in The WAG’s Bestial Encounters Exhibit

[source]

Winnipeg based artist, Erika Lincoln, set out to make a sound art installation with ‘Singing Condition’, that focuses on the adaptability of urban birds in Winnipeg but I think the figures in this piece also draw connections to the tight knit community of musicians and artists who have adapted and made a home here. Lincoln lives in Wolseley and noticed that the birds in her back lane had started to mimic the sounds of car alarms, almost like budgees or parrots mimicking their surroundings.

Entering the Bestial Encounters exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery you instantly sense Lincoln’s installation from the echoes of what sounds like electronic birds chirping. By following these sounds I was led around a corner to twenty bird like creatures standing at eye level interacting with one another while standing in groups of four or five. Each ‘bird’ is made up of a microphone stand equipped with a copper plate, etched with stylized, feather-like designs, a speaker that emits electronic bird sounds, and a mechanical ‘beak’ made of wood similar to drum sticks that opens and closes as its ‘voice box’ sings. The placement of these birds standing and interacting like people, rather than hanging or ‘flying’ from the ceiling, reinforces my view of these sculptures as figures or musicians.

The first thing I thought of when experiencing this piece was the old house I used to live in South Osborne where I too had a backlane and could hear the birds chirping amongst the broken down snowmobiles and cars when I went outside. My roommate at the time was a musician and used our house as a jam space five nights of the week. This was a constant source of amusement as well as annoyance when I was trying to sleep, but made me so aware of the incredibly close knit and supportive music scene in Winnipeg as I am not a musician but a visual artist. Experiencing Lincoln’s piece brings me back to that house we call ‘Oakwood’ (as it resides on Oakwood Avenue) and I imagine Lincoln living there, having these same experiences and these ‘birds’ scattered around the house as she’s building them, mingling and singing as if mimicking the artists and musicians around them.

The curator of the exhibit, Mary Reid, made the same observation about Winnipeg’s collaborative arts community saying in her interview on local radioshow ‘Eat Your Arts and Vegetables’, “I love the way that the artists here are incredibly connected to one another… In Winnipeg I find that people are extremely collaborative, excited about what each other’s doing, [and] wanting to share… I’m also interested in the interdisciplinary nature where you have artists working with dancers, working with composers, working with video artists.”

I feel connected to Erika Lincoln’s ‘Singing Condition’ as the piece makes me think of the incredibly creative home I resided in for my early university years and the little things I will miss about Winnipeg when I move to Montreal in the fall.

My bff Kaja and I checking out the exhibit the other day

I don't think I've mentioned that I'm moving to Montreal yet! That may have been the first debut - I had been holding off until things were more solidified and until I found an apartment but it's been decided for a few months now that I'm moving! I'm moving with the lovely Kaja (featured above) who is an amazing contemporary/jazz dancer. And Darrin got into grad school at Carleton in Ottowa so we can be an hour away from eachother via train and have TWO cities to hang out in!

Darrin playing with my parent's dogs

All very exciting :) I've never lived in a different city before and with graduation at the end of summer I thought what better time to move to my favourite city? It also helps that the place is busting at the seams with art! Kaja and I are heading out mid summer to look for places and the plan is to move in the fall. I'm really looking forward to all the new experiences and keeping an ongoing log of it here.

Keeping on with new things - I realized the other day I have never done a Give Away before! I've decided to give away one of my favourite bolo neck ties - it features a close up of the innards of an electronic device which I think is a pretty fun contrast with the idea of a traditional western bolo tie.

Oh right! I've dyed my hair blue! My dad calls it "Robin's Egg Blue" and he shockingly likes it?

I also am so curious to know all about you guys so to enter the give away you must answer the following questions in the comments section of this post!

Questions:

1. Where are you from and what makes it special to you?

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?

3. What sort of things do you enjoying seeing/reading about most on 'Gillian Giggs'?

* Be sure to leave your name and email or blog at the end of the post so I can contact you to let you know if you've won!

The giveaway will end in exactly one week so by 3pm (Winnipeg time) next Thursday May 26th. I will be drawing out of a hat and announcing the winner later that day - I will then contact you for your shipping address :)

And lastly, Kara and I just finished taking down the GORGE show at the Edge last night so I just wanted to share our interview with Derek Brueckner and Aleem Khan from the radioshow Eat Your Arts and Vegetables last week - to listen click here.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and I can't wait to hear the responses for the give away!

Full French Presses

2011-05-09T17:13:00.004-05:00

Whew! It's been a while! This has been due to life madness and potentially the busiest week of my life that ended yesterday... It feels so good to finally be able to sleep in, have a full french press of coffee (vs. barely time for one cup), make some tofu bacon, and sit here catching up while listening to Derek Brueckner and Aleem Khan interview Mary Reid (the WAG curator and the instructor to the new art class I'm taking 'Writing About Art') on Eat Your Arts and Vegetables.

Speaking of Eat Your Arts and Vegetables, Kara Passey and I will be on it this Thursday May 12th at 5:30pm on 95.9FM to talk about our current show, GORGE, at the Edge Gallery. If you're not able to listen this coming Thursday the interview will be available to download or stream for the next 10 weeks off their site.

So onto the GORGE show - Kara and I had our opening night this past Friday and it was amazing! We held a vegan potluck - not that there was a lot there - but so many great people came and there were great vibes all night. We both enjoy making crafty things so we even have a craft wall full of Kara's cat pillows, 'pussy pins' (buttons with cats on them), small watercolour studies, and my bolo ties. The show will be on until May 18th Monday through Friday 12-4pm so if you're in the city check it out!

And the one of a kind bolo neck ties! I've been making them like a crazy person lately and am currently selling them at Lune Vintage, the GORGE show, and soon Urban Waves. My lovely artist/photographer friend, Ashley Gillanders, and my old roommate/musician friend Alex Campbell and I got together last week and did a hilarious shoot in the art barn bathroom. The art barn is actually an old dairy cattle barn that was transformed into the University of Manitoba Fine Arts Painting building in the sixties, so due to heavy art use, the building is now quite a dive but is very close to my heart. One of the upstairs bathrooms has an amazing blue wall so we decided to use it as the backdrop for our shoot. I couldn't stop laughing at Campbell because when I picked him up to go to the shoot I asked him what sort of shirts he had and he whipped out A DOZEN western shirts! Talk about a prepared model! Campbell has played in and with a plethora of local bands including Jicah, Imaginary Cities, Bad Country, The JD Edwards Band, Retro Rhythm Review, and The Freaky Circles, to name a few and has acquired a large collection of these shirts because of it.

Here's Campbell playing keys with Imaginary Cities on tour last year.

And here are some of the shots that came out of our shoot!

* Click to enlarge *

Along with our upcoming interview on Eat Your Arts and Vegetables, Kara and I also sat down for an interview with Taylor Burgess of Stylus to talk about our work. Check out the article here!

And on another fun note I was featured this past Saturday in Dani Finch's 'My Stuff' column in the Winnipeg Free Press. When getting to the photo part after having given my answers I was a little embarrassed to be holding a stuffed animal... at least I was honest with my selections...

To top off the week, it was Lauren McPhaden's wedding social on Saturday night, which was by far the best social I have ever been to and Day of the Dead themed - photos to come!

Off to another crazy week - if you get a chance go check out the U of M Photography Thesis show (featuring my brilliant bolo photographer, Ashley Gillanders) at PLATFORM Gallery Friday night!

Sharing is Caring

2011-04-19T00:57:00.000-05:00

So the FLUX IN FLUX U of M painting, drawing, and sculpture thesis opening on Saturday was a great success! Such a nice way to cap off the thesis year with friends. It was fantastically curated by current Gallery Ingenue artist, Gen Levasseur, so if you didn't get a chance to see it the show will be on until April 30th.

Here are some photos Gen took at the opening...

Left to right: Jen Adams, Rachel Schappert, myself, and Lauren McPhaden choosing remnant keepsakes of Gen's Manitoba made ceramics which she burnt at Open House

Left to Right: Chris Miller, Derek Brueckner, Jen Adams

Left to right: Rachel Schappert, Jill Peters, Steve Basham, and myself

Next on the show roster is my duo show at the Edge Gallery with Kara Passey, GORGE, with the Opening night May 6th. I'm really excited for this show as Kara and I's work have overlapping themes including food, sexuality, fertility, and feminism. And along with our art we will have a craft wall so you can own a piece of our work if you can't afford a large scale oil painting or sculpture.

Kara also has a new blog you can check out for her latest and greatest! She also reposted a great blog post today by Austin Kleon, which I had to share, called 'How to Steal Like an Artist (and 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me)'. I found the post so interesting because I've been telling my painting students to always reference other artists and to borrow ways that they paint because that's how the old masters learnt. I think this post is helpful for any artist.

With my thesis year being over (this really hasn't sunk in yet) life is still jam packed. This week will be full of making new bolo neck ties (photos to come), experimenting with spray insulator to make sculptures and wearable art, a big painting thesis potluck tomorrow night, a ladies night with Leo (DiCaprio) movies, a bus trip to Brandon with my friend and upcoming May Gallery Ingenue artist, Megan Driedger, Diana Thorneycroft and a busload of other people to see Michael Boss's show. Darrin's also heading to New York where I'm hoping he goes to the George Condo show and takes sneaky photos from his iphone for me... I'm so jealous...

And if you haven't seen, Gallery Ingenue just got a makeover by the talented Kyla Roma of Freckled Nest! With the makeover also came a new widget so you can share the Gallery Ingenue blog and support Winnipeg artists on your blog! Copy and paste the link below to get your hands on the new widget.

Hope everyone has a great week ahead!

FLUX

2011-04-12T16:00:00.002-05:00

With the past few weeks being a whirlwind of activity prepping for the Annual Fine Arts Open House held last Sunday, I woke up Monday morning not knowing what to do with myself. After making coffee and sitting down at my computer, reality struck, and I realized I in fact still have a lot to do - I still have my final thesis crit this Thursday, I've started teaching another adult's abstract painting class and a children's mixed media class last week, and I've got four more shows in the next two months including the FLUX IN FLUX show which starts this Saturday...

With the amount of things to do it's hard to settle into the fact that I'm two days away from being finished my thesis year and once I'm finished my final art history and studio courses this summer I will be finished my undergrad... But life is great and being busy with things you love to do is the way to go!

So let's recap! Last Friday was the final installment of the TOMS Shoe design contest held by Segue and the Students of Fine Arts Association. We held a Style Your Sole Event in Conjunction with A Day Without Shoes. All the winning artists from the contest were sitting in University Center throughout the day painting shoes. Here's Julie Coss, also a current Gallery Ingenue artist, painting our friend Tammy's daughter's shoes. We did a little collaboration of umbrellas and rain :)

And then The Open House on Sunday! SOFA organized a pretty big event this year with five local bands; Girth, The Upsides, Fists In, Mise En Scene, and Cannon Bros. as well as a beer garden and art auction. Here's Kara Passey and Dany Pickeret's band Fists In...

and a video of the lovely ladies of Mise En Scene...

Fun fact: Jodi Dunlop, Stefanie Johnson, and Helga Jakobson of Mise en Scene are all Fine Arts students!

There was also a surprise performance from performance artist, Rachel Scahppert's, Anarchist Marching Band! Rachel is the self proclaimed hula-hoop enthusiast in red.

Now for some shots of the art!

My studio, shockingly clean with my paintings, sculptures, and breast milk fountain. Please ignore my awkward pose.

Standing beside my Goddess of the Hunt painting

My partner in crime, Lauren McPhaden's thesis space

Lauren's Extinction Series

Lauren McPhaden - One of my faves - to be shown in the 'Primitive' show this June at Gallery Ingenue!

Lauren McPhaden - a self-portrait based off a photo she found when she was young

Mixed Media Installation by Rachel Schappert

Rachel Schappert

Peeled Paint Paintings by Julie Coss

Made in Manitoba by Gen Levasseur

A House Within A House series by Ryan Trudeau

Ryan Trudeau

Jen Adams

Rebecca Blue

Unknown artist

Ladies of Mise en Scene by Unknown artist

Installation and Painting by Kara Passey

Bones painting by Megan Driedger

Jill McGillvray's Hunting series

Jill McGillvray

Paintings by Dee Barsy

Sadly the Open House is a one day event but if you'd like to see work by the 2011 Fine Arts thesis students you can visit the FLUX IN FLUX show I have listed above or head down to Gallery 111 in the Fitzgerald Building at the University of Manitoba and see selected works until April 20th.

I also had a chance to get together with, Ashley Gillanders, photographer extraordinaire to take some photos of my new work and here are the results!

The cooked chicken human aka 'Poultry'

My bronze, One of the Same, overseen by Mexican Sculptor, Octavio Gonzalez

In other exciting news, I start my job at Lune Vintage this week! I can't wait to work in the same room as the ladies creative of Freckled Nest and soak up the loveliness of the shop. If you haven't been there yet you HAVE to go! And if you're from out of town, no need to fret, there is an online store!

Kyla Roma of Freckled Nest also just finished an amazing new design for the Gallery Ingenue blog! Check it out here and be sure to add the new Gallery Ingenue widget to your blog!

Ok signing off for now - more to come this week!

Ripe

2011-03-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

Well it's Friday and no I'm not going to play the Rebecca Black song... Instead I'm drinking my coffee, eating avocado on toast

(Perfect avocado)

and listening to Jian Ghomeshi talking Canadian elections and Juno awards. Here is a new video I discovered by Caribou who is nominated for electronic album of the year.

And in painting land - here is the latest on my big girl/diana and the hunting dogs beside kill painting... Lots of editing going on. I'm happy to have so much mapped out because of the time constraint I'm on. It's funny - when the canvas was blank it seemed so huge but now that there's a scene on it it seems a lot smaller. More work to be done today.

And last night I wasn't able to go to the opening so this weekend I'm going to be sure to go to to Melanie Rocan's new show at La Maison Des Artistes and highly recommend you do too! Melanie is a lovely person and current painting instructor at the U of M. She graduated from the U of M with her undergrad in Fine Arts and went on to Concordia to do her MFA.

For more of Melanie's work you can visit her website here.

Bolo Neck Ties

2011-03-23T10:35:00.001-05:00

During my sick day yesterday I decided to take on an at home project and make my first bolo neck tie! I used some broken ceramics I had left over from the crash for the inner decoration and hand braided that bad boy!

I found the most amazing vintage bolo neck tie when I was on my third year Fine Arts field trip to Chicago in the fall. We had stopped off in Minneapolis for a few days and a friend and I discovered Black List Vintage where I found an old flight attendant bolo featuring an airplane - I have been in love with them ever since! So this is the first of many bolo neck ties I will be making. I'm going to be making some featuring my paintings soon so stay tuned!

Gallery Hopping

2011-03-22T13:20:00.003-05:00

All of a sudden yesterday I started to sneeze.... uncontrollably... Overnight, this sneezing has started to threaten a full on head cold so I'm spending today laying low, getting caught up on emails, re-writing artist statements, and bios, and later, once I'm full of vitamin C and have had my fill of chamomile tea I will venture to the studio to work on 'The Big Girl'. Since I am trying to recharge at home I thought it would be a great time to fill you in on the eventful and productive weekend I had gallery hopping with my friend Leslie!

Around noon on Saturday we started at the Plug In and checked out the current show Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years which was wonderfully put together and included Kent Monkman who I always enjoy seeing.

Louis Vitton Quiver by Kent Monkman

Then after heading to Mondragon (a local vegan restaurant/bookstore) for papusas and caesar salad lunch we hit up several galleries in the Exchange district starting with Ace Art. Ace Art has a great show on right now featuring work by Kristin Nelson called My Life with Pamela Anderson.

Two main themes of Kristin's work include gender identity and urban sprawl. Kristin 's show consisted of incredibly impressive cross stitched portraits of Pamela, herself, and photoshopped images of the two of them hanging out. Here are some photos, the first with Leslie admiring the scale and intricacy of the cross stitching...

In the smaller section of the gallery Kristin had drawings of Winnipeg's downtown entirely as parking lots. As a Winnipegger this is quite funny/concerning as Winnipeg's downtown is filled with parking lots but people still complain there aren't enough... In the corner of the room was a knitted mock hay bale with a sign out sheet and no one had signed it out yet! So Leslie and I proceeded to sign it out, stuff it through tiny hallways and stairwells and bring it on a photoshoot in Old Market Square in the Exchange district. It was lots of fun and such a great idea - here we are posing and running around like little idiots with the hay bale...

Avid knitters or lovers of the knitted - do not fret - the knitting is not sitting directly on the snow - there is a hidden tarp beneath it

While we were walking out of Ace Art after dropping off the hay bale we bumped into some friends of mine from school and went into the Outworks gallery to see their third year painting majors show. It was awesome seeing such promising work in the show and I can't wait to see what they do in their thesis years!

Later that night we checked out my old drawing instructor, Derek Brueckner's show at the Semai Gallery. Quite a cool space as it is making use of a basement hallway as a gallery and it's always nice to see Derek's work!

After a big day on Saturday Darrin made breakfast Sunday morning that included tempeh bacon, tofu scramble, and avocado on poppy seed bagels - pretty awesome :)

Signing off with a local band I enjoy - here are The Liptonians...

Having cake and eating it

2011-03-18T12:43:00.001-05:00

The past week has been jam packed (whats new) and great! Last weekend was my 24th birthday which was so much fun! Saturday night I got together with friends and went to the Lo Pub which is a local hostel/bar/restaurant that serves all vegetarian and vegan food. It was a great night and it gave me a chance to wear my new headpiece I traded local designer, Melanie Wesley, for.

Then on Sunday I went to my parents house for a family dinner where my mom made tempeh and veggie pot pies from my new cookbook The Vegan Table. Then she veganized her red velvet cake for dessert and even my brother (the epitomy of vegan skeptic) said it was even better than the usual (dairy) red velvet cake. Needless to say I was very happy because if it hadn't gone over it probably would've meant no more red velvet cake for gill...

They were so good that for the abstract painting class I teach I made them into cupcakes for our last class/potluck this week.

These aren't mine but they sure are pretty
[source]

It was sad to have the class end as it was such a great learning experience for both me and the students but I am excited for the next session starting in a few weeks! I will be teaching the same abstract painting class as well as a children's class this spring.

And more on red velvet goodies, a local art magazine I contribute to, Chesterfield, had a recent call for submissions so I used photoshop for the first time and combined the image of my bullfight painting with an art based spin on my red velvet cupcake recipe. You'll be able to pick up a copy of the upcoming issue April 4th at the University and scattered around local coffee shops and galleries!

click to enlarge

In other news, Ben Miller, the arts editor for the University of Manitoba's newspaper, The Manitoban, wrote a nice article about Gallery Ingenue based on an interview I did with him a few weeks back. Check it out here!

With one month left before the end of thesis, everything seems to be coming to a head. I've been surprised at the progress I've managed to make on 'the big girl' - here is where I'm at as of today...

I've also got four big shows coming up in the next few months - here is the info on the first of the four...

Fine Arts Open House - April 10th 1-5pm at the University of Manitoba in the art barn

This the annual show where every student from Fine Arts shows atleast one of their pieces. The show is free and open to the public!

Hope you all have a nice weekend and if you're looking for something awesome and art-related to do check out any of the following shows/openings - I will be!

Today...

Projected Intimacy live streamed performance 1-4pm Gallery 111

Every Line Every Other Line Opening at PLATFORM Gallery 7pm

Tomorrow...

My Life With Pamela Anderson at Ace Art

MAWA Over the Top annual Fundraiser (there will be cupcakes here too!) 2-5pm

Painting of Performance featuring works by Derek Brueckner at Semai Gallery 7pm

Projected Intimacy

2011-03-12T12:58:00.003-06:00

There's a really cool show starting next week that two friends of mine, Helga Jakobson and Dean Robinson, are curating. I wanted to bring it to everyones attention! Because of its nature we will all be able to tune into the happenings in the gallery via Ustream starting this coming Monday.

Photo taken during Helga and Dean's radio interview on Eat Your Arts and Vegetables

Here is a description of the intent of Projected Intimacy in the words of Helga and Dean as well as a schedule of events for the week!

Projected Intimacy is an exploration of our intimate existence online through cyberformance. This exhibit, which features work from Winnipeg artists and from a few international artists, has been curated by U of M Fine Arts students Helga Jakobson and Dean Robinson. Works vary from live performance to digital collage.

Projected Intimacy seeks to see more fully the extent of our online interactions as they have become so pervasive in our everyday life. The questions at the core of this is exhibit are: now that we can be instantly connected with anyone, anywhere; how has our intimate experience of another individual been effected? Are we really sure who we are displaying ourselves to and how authentic can we be when we don't know who may be watching? Are these connections real, or in the age of ultimate connectivity is there an inherent disconnect?

So please feel free to come to the gallery, there will be work in the gallery at all times, and join us in this exploration.

We will be streaming live from the gallery through uSTREAM here is our channel: http://www.ustream.tv/user

/PROJECTEDintimacy

We will be live feeding online from 3pm-6pm on Monday March 14th, Wednesday March 16th from 7.30pm-8.30pm, and then on Friday March 18th from 1pm-4pm.

So if you are unable to come into the gallery at those times to watch with us live, you can watch live from your own homes!

As a blogger and avid online social networker and presumably talking to many other people of the same description, I think the questions Helga and Dean wish to confront in Projected Intimacy are so relevant to the side of ourselves we choose to show online. In the area of blogging, we all blog for different reasons. Some bloggers are comfortable divulging a lot of personal information on their blogs and others keep it all business. I think the questions being raised in this show such as "Are we really sure who we are displaying ourselves to and how authentic can we be when we don't know who maybe watching?" is something everyone with an online presence asks themselves.

I'm really looking forward to this week long show and I will be both at the gallery and watching online throughout the week - hope to 'see' you there!

The Big Girl

2011-03-11T11:41:00.002-06:00

Fueling up on coffee for another big day at the studio then to the Canadiana Opening at Gallery Ingenue tonight! I had quite a productive day in the studio yesterday and was having fun playing with paint rollers and colour. This is a photo I snapped of the big guy - I'm actually going to start calling it the 'big girl' since it is such a feminine painting - at the end of the day yesterday. I'll be sure to take another photo at the end of the day today to track the progress.

*Click photo to enlarge

Currently untitled, acrylic and oil on canvas, 9x12ft

And here's a new video by my friends Alexa Dirks and Ariel Posen from The New Lightweights for their show this Saturday at the Grant and Wilton Coffee house in Winnipeg! Alexa's other band Chic Gamine has been nominated for another Juno in the Best Roots and Traditional category this year so you can catch them on the Juno's in a few weeks time!

If you're in Winnipeg head down to Gallery Ingenue tonight from 7-10pm for some great food and art!

My Top Five Female Artists for International Women's Day

2011-03-08T11:46:00.000-06:00

So today is International Women's Day and in celebration I thought I'd feature my top five inspirational female artists.

Janine Antoni

___________________________________________

Dana Schutz

_____________________________________

Louise Bourgeois

_____________________________________

Jenny Saville

_____________________________________

Kiki Smith

New sculptures, and paintings, and jobs oh my!

2011-03-07T22:51:00.001-06:00

The past month has been a whirlwind and I'm happy to finally have a chance to blog about it all! To start, I just got back from a family vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last week! I was invited on the annual girls trip this year so my cousin Kim and I flew out to a condo in the Zona Romanticas to meet my mom and two aunts for a week. I've been to 'PV' a few times as it is my family's favourite vacation place but this trip was definitely unique. Rather than sleeping in and drinking margaritas on the beach (I did do this but not daily like my family) I found myself getting up at 6:30am to be picked up by local sculptor, Octavio Gonzalez, to go to his foundry to create a bronze sculpture. Octavio is a family friend who creates a lot of the big sculptures on the malacon in PV. He offered to show me how to make a bronze when I was down here so I had the most amazing week spending the day working in his foundry and coming back to the condo at night to hang with the fam.

The beach by our condo

Chili covered mangos on the beach - the best

Octavio Gonzalez with his work

Octavio's daughter Fabiola, who is a jewelry maker, with my cousin Kim in front of some of Octavio's sculptures in his studio

Sculptures in the studio

I kept pinching myself while I was working in Octavio's foundry. It was located in a REAL neighbourhood which was so great to see because often on vacations you often get stuck in touristy areas. The foundry was right across the street from a local fajita stand and beside a house with a chicken coup. There was also a circus in town so we'd constantly hear a car driving around shouting in spanish about the circus. I would be sitting working on my sculpture and find a chicken pecking around near my feet and be hearing these spanish circus advertisements. It's such a different experience compared to the indoor studios I'm used to in Winnipeg.

The kilns - one working, one not - and see if you can find the wandering chicken!

One of Octavio's sculptures waiting to be finished

Step 1 of the bronzing process: Sculpt from styrofoam

Continuing with the theme from my thesis - the relationship between animal consumption and how women are viewed I decided to create a woman whose torso was modelled off a hanging cow carcass.

Usually when preparing a sculpture to be cast and then bronzed you would create an armature and use chicken wire/insulation to make the foundation but Octavio has simplified the process by sculpting directly from styrofoam. This was a very interesting process and quite funny because of the language barrier. I took two years of Spanish in high school so I can get by but talking about sculpting in another language is very different than talking about the weather. Octavio was quite busy during the day with delivering sculptures and having meetings around town so I would often be hanging out with his studio assistants who did not speak any english and we would jointly attempt to solve my sculpting dilemmas. For instance, because of the nature of styrofoam, when I was trying to model the arm I kept accidently breaking it off and needing to mix a glue (essentially spray foam insulator without the spray gun), to fix it. It took a lot of pointing and silent demonstrations to communicate what my problem was and find the solution.

Sanding away...

Juanita, one of Octavio's studio assistants and main secretary, modeling for me

modeling for myself - stryofoam EVERYWHERE

I had to disassemble my woman to sculpt away at the ribs

Crockpots filled with wax

Step 2: Pour wax over piece

First layer of wax on

Positioned on a pole with several layers of wax and ready for Step 3: Scultping away at the wax

Front view

Back view sculpted and ready for Step 4: Casting

Front view

Unfortunately my stay in Mexico was so short that I didn't have time to finish the rest of the process. Octavio has offered to finish casting and put the patina on it and send it to me so it should arrive in the next few weeks. I would have loved to be apart of the rest of the bronze pouring process but I guess I'll have to wait for another trip - I'll be sure to post pictures when the piece arrives!

The TOMS shoe display was also going on in the Gallery of Student Art at the University of Manitoba all last week! Here are the shoes I designed for that event...

And Friday night at Gallery Ingenue, the March artists, Julie Coss, Lauren McPhaden, Jill Peters, and Leanne Roed and I were busy setting up for their show Canadiana.

Jill and I hanging her painting - Oh yes and I got a haircut - nice and short :)

Leanne's drawings

Leanne and Ben hanging her work

Ben and Lauren

Since getting back form Mexico I've also become heavily engrossed in my 9x12ft painting! My fellow thesis friend,Ryan Trudeau, is the best and helped me stretch it, then I used a house painting roller to gesso it and the past few days painting on it has been bliss. I love a big canvas.

My thesis advisors told me to do studies (something I never do) before my big painting so the painting below is a smaller study of an earlier idea.

I've gotten used to painting on a large scale to the point where I feel uncomfortable painting smaller and find it quite restricting - so I stopped - changed my idea - decided to toss aside the idea of studies and just got going on the big guy.

I've been working off an image of the classical painting by 17th century Flemish Baroque animal painter, Jan Fyt, entitled Diana and Her Hunting Dogs Beside Kill.

Diana is a figure of Roman mythology and was the feminist goddess of the hunt. Originally, I was solely looking at the image but I think it's meaning is becoming more and more apparent. My thesis work this year has evolved into my interest in the idea there are relationships between the inhumane treatment of animals and how women are viewed and treated. I am also interested in how we view animals, such as which ones we have domesticated and deem as our companions and others that we are used to killing or eating. There is no way I would be painting the classical painting in a realistic manner as I am an abstract painter so i began painting the animals in flesh colours to relate them more to humans. I also made the decision today to start painting a stylized/abstracted vagina over Diana as she is such a powerful female goddess. I also wanted her to relate more to the dead and hanging swan she has killed on the left side of the canvas. I'm excited to see what happens in the next few weeks as I love painting intuitively on such a big scale. I will be sure to take photos as I go and I have been setting up a video camera every time I paint so I'm hoping to put the footage together in a video of how the piece was painted afterwards.

And to add to this all this excitement I got a new job! I don't start until April (thank goodness because thesis is crazy right now) but I will be working at LUNE Vintage!

I originally met Jill Monroe, the owner, when the shop was located on Rathgar (it is now on Broadway & Balmoral) and I began selling some of my jewelry at the shop. Lune Vintage is actually sharing a space with Freckled Nest designs which should be quite cool as Leigh Ann from Freckled Nest designed my blog and I have also known Kyla Roma, now one of their main designers since we were little. It's going to be the best and another great perk is my friend Cara Mason was hired too! It's going to be a great summer :)

Some things I can't wait to get my grubby little fingers on are one of Jill's Ojo de Dios necklaces

and one of Moorea Seal's amethyst rings....

Looking for something to do this weekend? Join the March Gallery Ingenue artists Friday night for the Canadiana Opening from 7-10pm at 166 Osborne Street! I'll be there :)

Six Confessions + Six Discoveries

2011-02-14T12:55:00.000-06:00

In following with the chain of six confessions by bloggers Kyla Roma and Leigh-Ann of Freckled Nest, here are my six confessions on Valentines Day...

1. I youtube the pottery scene from ghost a little too much.

2. Sometimes I don't shower after hot yoga and just keep going about my day.

3. I have full conversations with my cats a lot and I let them do whatever they want. This includes sharing meals with me (Toulouse likes vegetables?).

4. My dreams are very vivid. When I was little I would have reoccurring lucid dreams. They would often be nightmares and while still dreaming I would be able to recognize I was just dreaming and either start controlling the dream or clap my hands in the dream so I could wake up. Recently I've been having a hard time decifering whether something happened in a dream or real life.

5. I will set my alarm clock for 2-3 hours before I have to get up in the morning and let the alarm ring every ten minutes for several hours before actually getting up. And sometimes there is more than one alarm set.

6. I have a really bad/selective memory and often forget conversations I've had with people/if I've met someone/if I've leant something to someone. People who know me well know this and thankfully love me anyways.

And now my own addition to six confessions... Six things I discovered last week.

1. Sometimes I don't have full control over clay and it starts telling me what to do. (My sculpture tried to collapse but luckily was saved)

2. When agave syrup ferments it turns into tequila

3. This photograph by Diana Thorneycroft

4. A new song 'Vanity' by Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers

5. Women who are not pregnant can lactate and in fact induce lactation.

6. This video by local artist, Chantel Mierau.

Hope you all have a great valentines day! Make your own 'six confessions/six discoveries' post and share it in the comments section!

Learning new tricks

2011-02-09T00:06:00.001-06:00

Today was great. As I said earlier I met up with Melanie Wesley at her studio/home to make the shawl this afternoon. First off, Melanie's place is amazing - filled with colour, art, and the smell of sweetgrass - it was a pleasure to be in her little realm. And talk about a cool studio! My studio is a disaster zone compared to her organized and beautiful space filled with mannequins adorned in her creations. Case in point - here are some of the latest creations from her studio:

Ok so here's what I'm most excited about. I've never used a sewing machine by myself before and look what Mel helped me create - my shawl!

I will hopefully be able to recreate more of these bad boys by myself now with fabric I make from the new workshop I signed up for. I'm really excited because I know a fair amount of people in the class already - Mel, my friend Wanda June, and her husband Jim! It's going to be great.

I've got to get to bed now though because I've got an impromptu studio visit with Neil Wedman, a visiting artist who teaches at Emily Carr tomorrow.

Oh and here's my cat Toulouse sitting like a person again...

Trying to be slow while spinning

2011-02-08T11:05:00.002-06:00

Whew! My apologies for the lack of blogging last week - my schedule was so jam packed I could barely breathe! Here are some of the highlights...

My guest author stint on Arden Hill's blog, Four For the Day, finished on Sunday. Here are some of groupings of four I shared - check out his blog here to see all seven of my additions. Arden is also taking submissions for future blog authors. Follow this link for submission information.

Here is my progress on the breast milk fountain. After these pictures were taken I started to hollow it out so it now looks like it has been destroyed but it will be rebuilt soon enough!

Photos from the FLESH: Featuring works by Megan Driedger, Leslie Roos, and Rachel Schappert at Gallery Ingenue. The opening was this week but if you missed it the work will be up until March 4th!

Rachel Schappert

Works by Leslie Roos and Megan Driedger

There was also an article in today's paper about Dominique Rey's Slowness project that you can check out here. I was talking to Dominique about her project when she came to the Gallery Ingenue opening last Friday and we were talking about how hard it is to slow down and the stressful urge to be ahead of the game and productive as possible. I've definitely been feeling this lately but have been finding that going to yoga helps. Which is interesting because in this article, Dominique talks about how she spent years being high strung and stressed and realized that she had to change something so she started to meditate. Meditation and yoga kind of go hand in hand so maybe meditation is something I should try out... I've been vaguely familiar with meditation after my friend Lana's mom (also Kyla Roma's mom) had a meditation room in their house growing up. I remember 'the meditation room', with candles, incense, pillows, and next to no furniture. It was always a very mysterious room and I enjoyed its presence. It looked a little something like this...

This week I also started the process of restocking my cupboards after the cupboard falling fiasco a few weeks ago. I decided to check out an antique store in my neighbourhood that I had never been into before - Antiques in the Village - and I am in love. The owner is so sweet and sympathized with my loss of vintage dishes and I found an arm full of new treasures. My favourite is my new set of 6 vintage plates...

And today I am off to the studio of local textile aficionado, Melanie Wesley, to receive sewing lessons on how to make a shawl like this:

I will be using these fabrics today

(green faux fur & wilderness print) to make a template for a series of shawls that commemorate different events where animal rights have been violated. I've signed up for a workshop at Martha Street Studio that teaches you to print your own designs on fabric so I'm hoping to make a series of faux fur shawls lined with fabric I've illustrated to commemorate events such as the slaughter of 100 sled dogs in Canmore. I'm hoping to somehow tie in these pieces with my body of thesis work so we'll see what happens!

The Tom's show Design contest I'm helping to organize is also coming to a head as our show in GOSA starts February 28th. The artists selected have been given TOMS shoes to design and they will be featured in The Gallery of Student Art from February 28th - March 4th along with other works by the artists. I will be designing my shoes after my big crit this Friday but here's a sneak peek of Lauren McPhaden's design.

My head is already spinning with trying to list everything on the go right now - I'm going to make more coffee and a tofu scramble, try to think of slowness then just focus on today's activity - shawl making.

Four For the Day Starts Today

2011-01-31T10:42:00.002-06:00

Today is my first day as guest author/curator of artist, Arden Hill's, blog Four for the Day. Here's the low down on Four For the Day:

'four for the day

a daily collection of 4 things

In our lives we have things. Various things. Things we need. Things we don’t. Things we obsess over. Things we collect. Things we use. Things we eat. Things that are us. Things that used to be us. Things we want to be us.

Sometimes we order these things in collections based on colour, material, use, temporal significance, value, importance, and design. Sometimes we order them to be discovered by guests, to be forgotten, to be given away, and sometimes without order.

four for the day is a thematic daily collection of 4 things. The theme is determined by various possible attributes, i.e, quality of lead (day 1), material (day 8), creator (12)…

four for the day highlights those unique collections we have that fill our spaces and brings them into the light to be appreciated by others.'

My first post is an hommage to four of my favourite ceramic dishware lost in last week's 'crash'. Check it out here.

Slowing down

2011-01-28T12:27:00.000-06:00

Had the strangest day on Wednesday... Definitely a memorable day. I started the day by teaching my abstract landscape class which was great. It makes me feel so happy to be giving advice that I really feel helps students to further develop ideas and get excited about what they're creating. I can really see myself teaching for a long time to come.

After class, I came home to gather my things, feed the cats, and head off to yoga but as I was answering emails I started to hear what sounded like glasses breaking and thought the cats must've knocked something over. But I looked up and the cats were sitting in front of me just as surprised as I was. The crash continued and got louder and louder about probably lasted about ten seconds. I ran to the kitchen to where the noise was coming from and saw that my ENTIRE cupboard unit had come off the wall breaking everything inside.

My first thought was to get the cats into my room so they wouldn't step on the glass that was scattered everywhere and then I ran and grabbed my landlord. Turns out the old carpenter who put it together did a really shotty job and someone (including my cats) could have been crushed because of it. I'm just so glad my cats weren't in there or I would have flipped out. Anyways, there is now a new trustworthy carpenter working on a new set up cupboards so I'm happy about that!

On the same day I went to the Children of the World Art Auction Project launch, which is something I have been involved with for three years now and my friend Megan Driedger was also accepted and will also be a participating artist this year. The art auction is one part of a group of artist events that all happen on one night in June called Jazz for Humanity. The other arts event include culinary arts, dance, and music. The event raises money for Umbuntu which is an organization based out of Edmonton and Kimironko, a small village in Rwanda to help children and women still suffering through the after effects of the Rwandan genoocide in 1994. The night has really grown in the few years it has been happening. Rayannah, one of the main organizers of the project brought a speaker this year, Dan, who is from Sudan and grew up as a child soldier. His story of how he got out of that life and wound up here in Winnipeg studying engineering at the the University of Manitoba was so inspiring and I'm pretty sure almost everyone in the room was on the verge of tears by the end. His story was so inspiring that I think I will try and approach the theme of the auction "the world through a child's eyes" around him. It's hard to put into words how humbling Dan's talk was and it really put the 'crazy' day beforehand into perspective and made me realize how lucky I am.

So yesterday was spent dealing with kitchen stuff, working in the studio, yoga-ing and witnessing a performance by another thesis student, Jen Orr. I was quite taken by Jen's performance/installation. She had transformed one of the thesis spaces into this tranquil/mesmorizing space. She invited people into the room onto a floor covered in cds which mimicked the circular video projected on the wall. The combination of the music and this vortex video sucking you in made for a very meditative atmosphere so that's what Jen and Rachel (Schappert) began doing.

Jen in her performance

Rachel Schappert at the performance

I started to loose track of time in the space and must've sat there staring at this thing for almost 45 minutes. I think another reason I was so taken by it is because of all the yoga I've been doing lately. I've come to really appreciate thinking about nothing and being still.

Speaking of being still - have you heard about Dominique Rey's Slowness project?

Dominique Rey is a very inspiring Winnipeg performance artist, photographer, painter, and video artist who was just named Winnipeg's Arts Embassador for Visual Arts. To learn more about the slowness project, check out the blog here.

Darrin and I are also going to try the vegan food at the Lo Pub for the first time this weekend!

Lo Pub
[Source]

We've been discovering more and more little places with vegan options in Winnipeg recently which is really exciting because we used to have 'our' restaurants to go to but we're slowly finding new gems that can be 'ours'. I'll be sure to keep you posted on our food reviews!

Big Stretchers and stuff

2011-01-25T12:07:00.001-06:00

Today is another busy day filled with FLESH posters to print, calls to make, sculptures to build, class prep for the class I teach tomorrow, AND one of my thesis advisors, Cliff Eyland, has organized a visit between a few of the painting thesis students and some architecture masters students for today! Apparently the architecture students are interested in seeing our work so I'm hoping the visit turns into a crit of sorts with an architecture perspective. It should be interesting! Of course I'll have to clean my studio first - right now no one but me can find their way through the space past all the 'palettes' (actually just wax paper), brushes,and art books all over the floor...

Speaking of books! I'm reading the greats book right now - How To Survive and Prosper As an Artist.

I would recommend it to anyone who plans on making a living or atleast part of a living from creating. It's the first book since Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut I can't seem to put down. Caroll Michels gives great advice on everything ranging from marketing to pricing to how to prepare for a studio visit. I know all parts of this book will apply to me at some point in my life so I'm busying trying to soak it all in.

And I briefly touched on it yesterday but I found out my submission was accepted for the Gallery of Student Art (GOSA) and I will be having a show there in the spring! The exact date is TBA but I will announce it and it will be posted in the 'news' section of my website shortly. Fun fact about GOSA: the Gallery of Student art receives the most traffic in the entire city! Once you think about it, it becomes less surprising because it is located in the middle of University Center at the U of M - the hub of all activity at the university. The April/May sections in my agenda are filling up scary-fast. I've got three shows to prepare for aswell as my final crit... woah...

Lauren's dad also helped me set up the 9x12ft stretcher in the art barn last night!

Lauren and her dad with my stretcher

It is a monster... but luckily it is built so it can be taken apart into four 'smaller' stretchers, 4.5x6ft each. I've told myself I can't start on it until after my next crit mid-february because I have a habit of getting really excited about new ideas and starting new things before fully completing previous projects. So on my list of things to do before starting 'the monster' I will finish all my paintings from the beginning of the year, glaze and fire my remaining ceramic pieces, and figure out a pump system for my new breast milk fountain.

And here's the latest progress on the breast milk fountain - I've decided to give the women four breasts each to reference cow's teats and I am currently sculpting heads for the figures.

I also bought a pair of earrings off my friend Cara, aka MidKid, who is a first year school of art student and our newest member of student council. Check em out! She custom made them with maps of Manhattan and Osborne village in Winnipeg - two places very close to my heart :)

And check out tales of her adventures with her new hubby and art school on her blog!

And song of the day by the band Abby from Berlin...

Oh happy day

2011-01-24T08:22:00.003-06:00

Today's going to be a great day! Here's a list of things that are great about today...

- I just got an email that my submission was accepted for a show (more details on that later)

- I'm making kicking horse coffee with chocolate soy milk in my new one cup french press

- My bestie Kaja was featured in a the blog 'Fashion Recycled' - Kaja is a stylish lady and a dancer in Calgary

- My other bestie Leslie and thesis friends Megan and Rachel will be setting up in Gallery Ingenue next week for their show FLESH - it's going to be so great! Their work is going to go beautifully together and for those of you who want to beautify your home or need a unique Valentines day gift, their work will be available for sale and work can be taken home the same day it is bought!

- I'm heading to yoga in a few hours

- I'll be working on my breast milk sculpture all day and hopefully starting on the water fountain part of it (photos to be posted later)

- We have our first student council meeting of the year - yes I'm a nerd and excited for this...

- Lauren's dad has made a 9x12ft stretcher for me and we're going to be assembling it at the studio today (can't wait - this will be my biggest canvas yet)

- and my friend Lana is coming to pick up my Sheep in a Street + Worms painting

from my apartment tonight so she can babysit it for me - I'm happy to have it going to a good home because I know Lana appreciates the finer things :)

And here's a fun video I found yesterday...

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Having a hard time thinking of a bad pun... 'Udderly unrelated'?

2011-01-21T00:37:00.000-06:00

Today was a better day in the studio. I often use studio time as time to listen to local bands on myspace and today was filled with Imaginary Cities - a local band filled with fun local people. I've attached this video because my friend and old roommate Alex Campbell (the guy in the plaid shirt walking down the hall in the beginning) plays keys in it. Also while I was checking out their band photos I noticed that they did a photoshoot in front of my old sculpture prof, Gordan Reeve's, Agassiz Ice sculpture at Assinaboine Park!

[Source]

Ahh... Winnipeg is small :) Enjoy this little diddy filmed in a bathroom!

And here are before/after photos I promised of the painting I sabotaged earlier this week. One of my thesis advisors came into my studio today and told me he liked where it was going which was a confidence boost considering the last time I touched it and covered 3/4 of it with cotton candy pink/blue, I had that "What am I doing - is my hand possessed?" feeling.

Before sabotage

After sabotage - still very much in progress

I am simultaneously working on a new idea I had yesterday based on the breast milk cheese that has been all over CBC, The National Post, and the Globe and Mail the past couple of days. Mirium Simun who is a Harvard student in New York has been making human cheese from a combination of breast milk from consenting women in the New York area and goat's milk. Although using breast milk for consumption is unusual, it is not a new concept. I think most people's initial reactions to the thought of cheese made from breast milk is disgust but I believe this is because society chooses to see breasts as primarily sexual and secondarily functional - and only functional for infants. A mother's milk is full of necessary nutrients for their offspring but is not actually natural for grown animals or humans to consume as adults because we don't need these nutrients anymore. Hence why so many people are lactose intolerant. We've been consuming another specie's milk that was meant for their offspring for so long that we have forced animals such as cows into domestication and often unfavorable living environments, while destroying our environment at the same time. The main reason why I was initially intrigued by these articles was as a vegan, I thought about my reasons for being vegan, and if the human cheese were not mixed with goat's milk, and was completely comprised of human milk, in theory I would be ok eating it. There is consent from the human's providing it and it is a readily available resource. Imagine if we had done this years ago - there would be less of an 'ick' factor when thinking of breasts as functional, maybe breasts would become less sexualized, we wouldn't be in such an environmental predicament, and these animals wouldn't be injected with chemicals and kept in tiny stalls to spend their lives producing milk for us. Imagine that. I realize I went on a bit of a rant there but I feel it's necessary to explain the concept of my new piece. I am making a 'water' fountain that will supply breast milk. I feel that by creating something that connects to the wall like a water fountain will give the idea that this substance is readily available and by sculpting the women as reclining nudes it blurs the line between sexual/functional. Here is the first nude I sculpted out of clay today - the milk will be coming out of her breast and will trickle into the 'trough' (for lack of a better word) between her arm and her torso. This is probably one of the weirdest things I've ever thought of to make but I'm really excited about it!

And in other completely unrelated news, I took some photos during the painting class I taught yesterday.

The class is 'Abstract Landscapes in Acrylic' so for the first assignment I have everyone combining images of landscapes (for example, a country setting combined with penguins and glaciers) while referencing a contemporary abstract landscape painter. Some of the painters being referenced include...

Melanie Authier

and Robert Josiah Bingaman

be sure to check out this awesome video of Robert painting 'Nevada'.

It's Sabotage

2011-01-18T13:45:00.001-06:00

Had a frantic day in the studio yesterday. I spent a fair amount of the day in transition covering 3/4 of the work I did on the Turducken painting last week in a bubblegum pink. I decided I didn't like where the Turducken painting was going and it would be best to cover it in pink (??) and create windows. In one of the windows I will be painting this new image I found on flickr. I'll be sure to take photos of the transition and post them so this description makes more sense.

I think it's a good thing to go on instincts and to not be afraid of sabotaging work in order to create something that feels right but it certainly makes for a creative rollercoaster of a day. It was funny because I started off the day with this scene of American Beauty in mind - so determined - not to sell a house but to be productive with the painting...

But by the end of the day I felt slightly crazy, out of body, confused, and frantic like Gael Garcia Bernal in this scene of The Science of Sleep.

To get today going I've decided to compile a list of random links that things have been influencing and interesting me lately - in no particular order and with no particular connections.

This animal rights tattoo featured on the blog Sometimes Sweet.

The FLESH show at Gallery Ingenue.

This video by Kitty Kittie advertising for the poetry slam Jan. 27 at the King's Head Pub.

This Dead Prez video.

Angie Johnson's new blog.

Human Cheese. Possible new art direction.

Dinners...

2011-01-15T12:44:00.001-06:00

Last night was Darrin's 25th birthday and we went to a new Mexican restaurant called La Bamba to celebrate. The 'guak' and refried beans were amazing but as for vegan meals I would probably go for the nachos over the enchiladas next time. And as expected, the lime margaritas and homemade chocolate vegan ice cream were amazing. I brought some candles and Darrin blew them out a few times over the photoshoot - hopefully that doesn't disqualify his wish!

In other news, I taught my first 'Abstract Landscapes in Acrylic' class last week! It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the assignments, crits, visiting artists, and field trips to come. I even have a potluck planned for the last day of class because I think potlucks are great. I've confirmed my friends Lauren McPhaden and Megan Driedger to be visiting artists so the students can get varied opinions and advice on their work.

Megan Driedger will also be apart of next month's show, FLESH, at Gallery Ingenue. Check out the line up here.

And in studio news, this is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre painting I've started. This is just the beginning but I thought I'd post the progress.

And breaking news: If you have a serious amount of cash (currently $15,100+) and would like to know the identity of Banksy you can apparently purchase this from a person who is either lying, of very low character, or Banksy himself on ebay... Check it out here...

Banksy

And another neat discovery...

Have a great weekend!

Reflection

2011-01-11T00:58:00.005-06:00

Had a great day today - sometimes you need those slower more reflective days. I spent this morning sending out applications for shows (already making good headway with that resolution) and I ordered some fancy new business cards. Then I headed to the studio where other than brief visits with Lauren and Megan I was alone for most of the day listening to local music and painting my Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Turducken painting. I had an epiphany today and decided that instead of painting the Turducken into the painting I would build a warped extension of the table which would sit in front of the painting with a Turducken sculpture sitting on the table. I'm hoping that by extending the painting into sculpture the viewer will feel a bit more repulsed and apart of the dinner. I also plan on displaying my other ceramics on pedestals, one in front of each painting so they can work with and inform the paintings. Here are the following images I'm working off of...

Now that I've probably scared you a little - onto the rest of my day... I went to yoga again tonight - so far I've been four times in the past seven days and am loving it. It makes me feel in control and calm and I like that in hot yoga, because of the heat and sweat, you go into a bit of a trance during the class. It was an intense combination to be in my head all day painting and then going to a class. Then when I was all sweaty and leaving the studio, I got into my car the perfect song was on the radio...

I also had a nice time documenting my work with the talented Ashley Gillanders yesterday. Here are the photos that came out of it.

Lambs to the Slaughter, oil on canvas, 5x6ft

Lambs to the Slaughter detail

And just for interest sake I've added the image I abstracted this painting from - I should warn you it's pretty gruesome...

Bullfight, oil on canvas, 2x3ft

Birch Trees, oil on canvas, 4x5ft

Sheep in a Street + Worms, oil on canvas, 4x5ft

Sheep in a Street + Worms detail

Sheep in a Street +Worms detail

Sheep in a Street + Worms and Birch Trees are paintings I did in Sharon Alward's class last year but I didn't have proper photos of them so I'm happy to have finally gotten around to it.

Friday was also Ashley and Tim's opening for 'Interiors/Exteriors' at Gallery Ingenue. The night was a great success and it makes me happy to see everyone attending having such a great time. I think the fact that the openings are in a restaurant gives people a reason to stay longer and sit and visit. It really makes for a great night. I can confirm other people feel this way too because my friend Alesha, who is a new blogger, blogged about it. Here are some photos from the opening...

Timothy Dyck and the lovely Kerri Pries

Anyways, it's late and I'm off to bed - tomorrow will be a big day in the studio, prepping for my first class teaching painting Wednesday morning, and more yoga.

"... highly creative feverishness."

2011-01-07T01:12:00.001-06:00

I just came back from my first hot yoga class all by myself and I am still quite 'buzzed' and can't get to sleep. After being unimpressed with the last place I went to I tried another studio today and it was a success! I feel great and plan on making this a regular part of my routine.

I'm also excited because it was just confirmed today that enough people signed up for my Abstract Landscapes in Acrylic class and I will start teaching a weekly adult class next week! I've been creating a syllabus for the class and have been scouring the internet for artists to introduce my class to who deal with abstract landscapes. I've decided to keep the definition of landscape loose as to not stifle creativity and these are a handful of the contemporary painters I will be showing the class. Scouring the internet for artists is really a great exercise - I should do this more often!

Melanie Authier

Thomas Sheibitz

Hernan Baas

I feel like this could be a stretch on a 'landscape' but it's pretty great...

Ricky Allman

And a great quote I found that my painting prof, Sharon Alward, had sent us last year...

“The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It is not like a drug; it is a particular state when everything happens very quickly, a mixture of consciousness and unconsciousness, of fear and pleasure; it’s a little like making love. It can be as violent as f*cking, like an orgasm or an ejaculation. The result is often disappointing, but the process is highly exciting.” Francis Bacon

And don't forget! If you're in the city tonight, be sure to pop by Gallery Ingenue for the opening of Interiors/Exteriors: Selected Works by Ashley Gillanders and Timothy Dyck!

Four For the Day

2011-01-05T09:52:00.001-06:00

My friend Arden Hill has started a blog called Four For the Day where through a submission process he has a weekly guest author who posts four things every day for a week. It can be any four things and those four things provide an insight into that person. I will be the guest author the week of January 31st - February 6th so I'll be blogging on both his blog and my blog that week!

Arden in his series of Movember photos

One of Arden's Four for the Day posts: Four mini sculptures made from dried up mediums

And here's a little peek into one of Arden's latest artist books: The Architecture of Memory

This week's guest author is Brooklyn-based artist, Allison Sommers.

And one of her first posts: Four useful dogs

The Starving Time by Allison Sommers

Got Me One by Allison Sommers

Hope you all have a wonderful week! I'm off to the studio to paint Turducken then to another hot yoga class with my bestie Kaja. We're going to a different yoga studio today - hoping to have a less pukey feeling.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T13:55:00.002-06:00

So I know I'm late on wishing everyone a happy new year but I just came from an hour and a half hot yoga class (not something I normally do) so you've gotta give me some credit. I'm sitting here soaking in cold sweat and making it my mission to fill you in on the holidays and my goals for the New Year.

First, I thought I'd just share some highlights from the holidays. Last week Dee Barsy and I were featured on Eat Your Arts and Vegetables hosted by Derek Brueckner and Aleem Khan. We chatted about the art that we're making and Gallery Ingenue. Dee and I made a last minute decision to bring vegetables as presents for the hosts - Dee looks at lot more natural posing with her squash than I do with my carrot...

It will be online to listen to for about 9 more weeks so if you were able to catch it follow the link at the bottom of Derek's post!

It's also January so we've switched over to Ashley and Tim's photography show Interiors/Exteriors at Gallery Ingenue! We set up last weekend and the opening is this Friday January 7th from 7-10pm. Come down to meet the artists and like lat month if you bring two non-perishable food items for Winnipeg Harvest you'll receive 10% off your Stella's meal! And stay tuned for a drink special - we're in the midst of thinking up another hot bevvie to warm people up!

Ashley and Tim hanging Ashley's photographs

Hanging Tim's photographs

I made Ashley pose like this :)

Tim's Regina series

Tim's Pinawa series

Christmas was also great. Lots of family time and Darrin and I made our very first all vegan Christmas dinner: Lentil loaf, gara masala cornmeal crusted brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, gravy, and chocolate bread pudding for dessert! The rest f my family ate their regular Christmas meal but were trying bits of Darrin and I's and were very impressed :)

I also took time to dress Frankie and Toulouse up in dollarstore Christmas outfits - very important...

And since it's safe to share them now I wanted to give a run down on my handmade Christmas presents. I managed to do about 75% of my Christmas shopping second hand and handmade by me.

Clocks... I got the idea from 'La Dolce Vegan' - but instead of buying clock parts from a craft store (the only craft store we have in Winnipeg is Michaels and it's so expensive it should be illegal) I bought clocks from the dollarstore and took them apart so now I have perfect circular pieces of glass for another project.

I strolled through the movie section of Value Village for the old VHS tapes and the chocolate box is actually my Grandma Hil's. My 'Gammy Hil' died in the fall and I inherited a lot of her crafting materials. I decided it would be nice to make use of them for family christmas presents so everyone in my family could have something to remind them of her.

I made this clock out of a chocolate box she kept her needles and thread in and I gessoed on a two of her cross stitch patterns. The Mexican one is very special because my mom, my aunts, and my grandma have been going on a girls trip to Mexico every year for the past fifteen years. I'll be going joining them on my reading week this year for some sun.

I also came across these light switchplates in my endless drawers of craft stuff so I collaged pieces of my grandma's cross stitch patterns, writing, and bits of her little odds and ends onto them.

These other two are for my roommate Kate, and Darrin. Kate's is the floral one - she has a very classic aesthetic so I thought it would be nice and Darrin's is the buildings and the little couple.

I also hosted an All-Vegan New Years potluck brunch! It was AWESOME and I would recommend everyone have one! It's a really great way to get people excited about vegan food and to get friends together... even if your best friends happen to show up in fur... life is full of contradictions right?

Everyone chatting and enjoy the food...

Me peeling ginger for rhubarb ginger loaf

Kara Passey

My dear and long time friend Katie Boyd

Ryan Trudeau and Kara Passey

In preparation for mimosa's

Kara Passey and Dayna Danger! This was Dayna's last day in Winnipeg before returning to her job at the Banff Center for the Arts. But then she's back next week and we're having a play date in my studio!

Lauren McPhaden and her fiance Andre - they just moved into their first apartment sooo close to my place :)

And this is my 1x1ft Secret Santa painting! Everyone seems to have gotten a little behind and we're all still working on the finishing touches so I'll be dropping this off at the studio for my person tonight. I decided to paint something completely different than my thesis theme so I painted a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

And it's been delayed but this is the bull painting I was talking about in my previous Botero post.

And last but not least my Goals For 2011!

(in no particular order)

1. Floss twice a day

2. Be in the studio at least 6/7 days per week

3. Stay active - right now I'm trying this hot yoga thing again, I'm trying to wrap my head around why people would want to do something daily that makes them dizzy and want to puke so we'll see how it goes

4. Apply for as many art shows as possible

5. Graduate!

6. Move to another city after graduation - I plan on taking at least a year off between my undergrad and grad school and I've never lived in another city before so I'm on the lookout for art-related opportunities in Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto

7. Research wool and how it is taken from animals - decide how I feel about this

8. Find the right artist and get my graduation tattoo. I promised my parents I wouldn't get anymore until I graduate - but guess what - graduation is fast approaching! I'm planning on getting a juicy pomegranate on my arm. It will be a reminder of my years in my art school undergrad and my thesis year. I love pomegranates because they remind me of femininity, fertility, the human body, and the way the juice oozes out reminds me of blood. Being forced to wait has already made this my longest planned tattoo. I'm very impulsive so the wait has been eating away at me.

9. Visit the animal farms on campus - I feel it is necessary for my work to see firsthand how animals are treated when farmed to make animal products.

10. Paint a 9x12ft painting

11. Have a solo show

12. Learn how to bake my own bread (my roommate works in a bakery so I'll have her as a resource)

13. Make vegan ice cream - I received a food processor for Christmas from Santa (mom) and a vegan ice cream cookbook from my roommate so now I just have to track down an ice cream maker and I'm in business!

14. Go to Mexico! (will be there in 1 month)

15. Teach art classes (I have two classes starting next week!)

16. Give the Gallery Ingenue blog a facelift with the help from KylaRoma at Freckled Nest

17. Learn to sew

18. Go to as many art openings as possible

19. Make a wiki page on the Ace Art website

20. Go into the U of M's archives and find photos and information about the Art Barn before it was the art barn and when it was the dairy barn.

21. Nerd out and read the book Robert's Rules of Order - this is an assignment for the entire student council

22. Give more gifts and have more visits with family and friends - just because

I'll probably think of more to add later but I think that's a pretty good list for now. Anyways time to get ready and meet my studio quota!

Better than Cream Cheese

2010-12-18T00:08:00.001-06:00

Just sitting eating tofutti on toast with tomatoes and Frank's hot sauce. It's really the best breakfast and snack ever - tofu based cream cheese is the bomb.

And I've been listening to Ghostkeeper after hearing them on the latest 'Eat Your Arts and Vegetables' show with Jenny Western. Sooo good - check them out.

Gallery Ingenue has also just secured Timothy Dyck to be in the upcoming January show with Ashley Gillanders! I'm very excited - in contrast to Ashley's work consisting of interiors, Tim's work focuses on exteriors and the human hand interrupting natures natural processes and the strength of nature to continue on living through this destruction.

There are some great artists lined up for Gallery Ingenue in the next couple months - check them out under 'Upcoming shows' on the new blog!

I also went and checked out the Fernando Botero exhibit with my mom at the Winnipeg Art Gallery today. My mom loves his huge bronze sculptures and I was particularly interested in these two paintings.

Picador was interesting to me because Botero was trying to depict the shame of the position of the picador (the person in the bull fight who weakens the bull so the matador can finish the job). I went to Spain with my family when I was in highschool and while we were there my dad was particularly interested in bull fights so we would watch the 'highlights' of the local bullfights on tv when we were there. I guess I was numb to it at the time but now I think back on the fact that I was watching them so unaffected and it disturbs me. In the fall I found an image on google of a dead bull after a bull fight lying in someone's driveway with kids running around and one stepping on the bull as if it was his great conquest. I had been struggling with the series of small paintings this painting was in but during my crit my thesis advisors said that the bull painting was finished. The painting is really nothing like my other paintings - it's very literal and I don't know how I feel about it but I will take a photo when I'm at the studio tomorrow and post it here.

Melancholy also caught my eye. A man dressing up as a woman by himself, something socially unacceptable at the time, melancholic because the world won't accept him. I was attracted both to the subject matter and the way Botero paints men. Women are often depicted as these voluptuous creatures but I haven't seen very many portraits of men treated the same way. The way Botero paints a man's body and facial hair is hilarious to me - as if the man hasn't grown into it yet - I found it very endearing.

I made a point of writing down a Botero quote I thought would be helpful in the art classes I'll be teaching starting January. It may be obvious but I think it would help to hear in order for students to begin developing their own voices through their art.

"When an orange is painted by a master, it is no longer a round simple form; it is clearly an orange painted by Goya, Cezanne, Picasso."

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

'Eat Your Arts and Vegetables'

2010-12-15T14:56:00.001-06:00

So many new things to share as usual! First - you have to see this - Cooper the photographer cat. He's making me want cameras for Frankie and Toulouse!

In other news, I have made Gallery Ingenue it's own blog! It will act as official page rather than people having to sift through my ramblings on this blog but will still provide fun updates and going ons here :) Check out the new blog here and click 'follow' on the right hand side of the blog to be her friend.

Also, I've just secured an artist for January, Ashley Gillanders! Ashley is in the same thesis year as I am and we met in our thesis seminar! She recently had a show in the Gallery of Student Art (GOSA) on campus and takes beautiful photographs of things that are over-looked by most people. She has recently been photographing carefully composed office spaces and home interiors whose shapes start to take on a different life. I think showing her photographs in Stella's rustic interior will create an interesting comparison with the bright and clean interiors she's depicting. Here's a sneakpeek of her work and you can check out her flickr here.

In other exciting news, current Gallery Ingenue artist, Dee Barsy, and I will be guests on my old drawing prof, Derek Brueckner's, radioshow 'Eat Your Arts and Vegetables' Thursday Dec.30th! Tune in from 5:30-6pm on 95.9FM CKUW or listen to the podcast up to six weeks afterwards on their blog.

The TOMS shoe design contest submission deadline has also now been extended to Januray 5th! That gives all U of M students more time during the holidays to perfect their submissions. When finished submissions can either be emailed to me a.gillian.king@gmail.com or dropped off at the UMSU office at the U of M.

Onto my newest update from my lambs painting which I have decided to title Lambs to the Slaughter after Roald Dahl's Lamb the Slaughter. These are just some quick shots taken with Darrin's iphone - the lighting in the first one has made me think more pink would be better so I'm going to go into the big 'oozing orb' and left hand side today with more pink. Is it weird that the Hipstamatic app is influencing my colour choices? Probably...

I've also decided to start making art about how horrible the 'Turducken' is. If you don't know what a Turducken is it's a good thing because as Darrin put it it epitomizes all that is wrong with the mass production of animals for human consumption and the sheer gluttony.

Anyways I'm off to paint now - hope everyone's holidays are grand!

Holidaze

2010-12-08T20:42:00.020-06:00

Since the only real classroom class I had this term was my thesis seminar I am now technically done class. But since it's the holidays I will have additional fun things on my to do list...

Paint - I'm currently pretty close to finishing my hanging lamb painting so I think I can be close to finishing in the next week and then I will be starting on a mammoth of a project. Lauren's dad s making a 9 x 12ft canvas for me that can be easily disassembled so I hope to be starting on that in the next few weeks. I will have to do some shopping at Canadian Tire for some REALLY big brushes!

Thesis Secret Santa - I mentioned in a previous post that we're doing a secret santa with a group of painting thesis people at school. We're all so excited to find presents in our studios from eachother for Christmas! The artists participating are...

Rachel Schappert

Lauren McPhaden

Megan Driedger

Ryan Trudeau

Kristie-Marie

and myself.

Snow shoeing - I haven't done this since I was in grade school! I went to an all girl's school and we would always be so excited for gym class in the winter because our school was located on the river so we'd strap on these really old snow shoes (I'm talking the original, hardwood frame and rawhide lacing) and set out on the river.

This year, Darrin is dead set on snow shoeing so we're going to head to Fort Whyte with our friends to rent those new fancy snowshoes. Here are some photos I stole from Leslie on her day snow shoeing at Fort Whyte with my friends Britt and Pascale last year - sadly I wasn't able to attend but this year will be the year!

Toboganning - another winter activity! In my opinion the most fun! When I was little we would always go to the park by my parents house and shoot down the icy tobogan slide screaming. Looking at the slide now it's quite small so I think we'll have to do some research for bigger hills since we have grown too... And maybe have some warm adult bevvies in hand :) Below I've reviewed the most common forms of toboggan transportation:

The classic toboggan:

Definitely has that vintage appeal but lacks speed. The fun thing about these guys is when you were little you could pile four kids on to one. Now, as adults, two is a more likely number - and if you're all petite maaaaybe three.

The GT Racer:

My brother's favourite. I don't know if these are still popular but I remember seeing a lot of these around the slopes in the 90's. I think there's a better chance of flying off this thing since your seat is raised from the ground.

The Crazy Carpet:

My favourite! Depending on what length you get there is possibly for more than one rider and this is by far the fastest of the sleds. It is also lightweight so you're not dragging something cumbersome back up the hill. Just beware letting go and gusts of wind!

Try a hot toddy - My friend Jo from Scotland always talks about having hot toddies when she was sick but I've never been into whiskey so I've never tried one! Anyways I think this winter is the time to try one - here's he recipe if you're curious!

* 1 oz (2 tablespoons) bourbon (whiskey)
* 1 tablespoon mild honey
* 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
* 1/4 cup boiling-hot water
* Cinnamon stick for garnish (optional)

Handmade Christmas Presents - I've decided to be more economical this year with Christmas presents so I'm going to attempt to make them all! I can't divulge what I am making by I can tell you were the ideas are coming from!

Make Christmas Cards of the Cats - Frankie and Toulouse are very photogenic and the dollarstore is selling Santa outfits for pets... enough said.

(Frankie and Toulouse last Christmas - Toulouse was much smaller then...)

Organize a holiday brunch with friends - There have been a lot of dinner parties with friends lately but no brunches! I also love potlucks so I think a holiday brunch/potluck is in order - I will definitely be using this cookbook!

Vegan Chrsitmas Dinner - This will be Darrin's 2nd Christmas ever (his family doesn't celebrate Christmas and he was in South Africa over Christmas last year) so we're going to go all out and make our own vegan Christmas meal to eat with my family's traditional Christmas meal - we're still deciding on what dishes to make so stay tuned for our recipe selections!

Make Salty Caramel - I recently saw a recipe in VegNews for salty caramel! This is one of the presents I will divulge...

Watch Bored to Death -

See the Botero exhibit - my mom has always been into Fernando Botero's work and his work is coming to the Winnipeg Art Gallery this week - We're going to have a day date to check it out!

And to top this long post off I thought I'd share some new holiday music...

Courier News - download their new and FREE Christmas song 'Power of Red Lights' here

Chic Gamine

Check them out tomorrow night!

And of course a few reminders for events this weekend:

Gallery Ingenue's very first opening of 'Faces of the City - Selected Works by Dee Barsy and Rick Rosario' tomorrow night

and

New Money/Nouveau Riche - the SOFA (Students of Fine Arts) Fundraiser this Saturday!

What are your holiday plans?

Upcoming Events and Inspiration

2010-12-04T15:45:00.010-06:00

I'm just about to drop off my Eggs and Legs functional ceramic sculpture to be shown in the Gallery of Student Art (GOSA) this coming week in commemoration of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (Dec. 6). "December 6th was declared by Canada's Parliament as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women following the murder of 14 women at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal on this day in 1989. Remembering this horrific event has become the basis of recognizing and supporting action against widespread violence committed against women in our society." So if you're at the U of M this week stop by GOSA in University Center to see the art!

Eggs and Legs

I'm also heading to Chutney Mayhem tonight, a fundraiser put on by the head of painting at the U of M, Kevin Kelly. I have recently added a painting to be auctioned off for the cause.

"Chutney Mayhem is a an art-based fundraiser for the Jagruthi Orpahanage in Bangalore, India. This institution houses 96 children, all are children of sex workers and 1/3 are living with HIV & AIDS. The money raised last year wen to help to feed, house, provide medications and a few of the teens went on to college.

I had the opportunity to visit the orphanage in 2007 and saw the need for greatly needed funds to help keep this children safe and from exploitation. I have first hand knowledge that the money sent is being used wisely and know Renu Appachu, the head of the orphanage, who takes great care of the children.

Featured performances by Andrew Harwood, Rachael Schappart, Miss Lyndsay Ladobruk, Michael Dudeck, Arlene Chelsey Spanish Dancing Group and many more.

Featured Visual Art will be auctioned by Geoffrey Hendricks, David MacMillan, Aganetha Dyck, Kevin Fredrick, Kevin Kelly, Karen Hibbard, Andrew Harwood, Cliff Eyland and many more please check here as we update our artist list." - Kevin Kelly

In other news, Gallery Ingenue will have its very first opening of 'Faces of the City - Selected works by Dee Barsy and Rick Rosario' this Friday Dec.10 from 7-10pm at Stella's Cafe and Bakery 166 Osborne Street. I'm really looking forward to the big debut and it will be a great introduction to the gallery and a chance to meet the artists! If you're able to make it that would be grand and if not the work will be up til January 1st!

Another show on that night is my friends is 'Samsara: Selected works by Helga Jakobson and Deanna Bogaski' at The Edge Gallery.

I am on student council with both of these wonderful ladies and their area of focus is sculpture so expect BIG, magical things! If I can I'm going to try to make it but I have a feeling I'll have to catch their work later in the week since I'll have my hands full (in a good way) at Gallery Ingenue!

And the next night is our winter SOFA fundraiser! It's called Nouveau Riche (aka New Money) so the idea is to dress in over the top attire of someone who has just stumbled across an enormous amount of money and doesn't know what to do with it. Think lots and lots of glitter and jewels...

There will also be a silent art auction including works by myself, Fred Fandard, Kara Passey, Lauren McPhaden, and Cliff Eyland - and this list will be growing over the week!

Along with that we will be selling our SOFA t-shirts at a discounted price! Think Christmas presents!

Some other things I wanted to share with you are where I'm getting my inspiration nowadays. The art is in quite a different realm than the art I was looking at last year. I am now very engrossed in the animal rights theme and exploring different facets of feminism, sexuality, and animal consumption so the work I'm looking at reflects that. Here are a handful of artists who I've been looking at...

Beth Cavener-Stichter - "I rely on animal body language in my work as a metaphor for these underlying patterns, transforming the animal subjects into human psychological portraits."

Roxanne Jackson - "I am concerned with confronting the shadows of the unconscious, having a dialogue with the grotesque and, therein, discovering beauty. The tenor of my work is macabre and emotional as I deal with extreme axioms to dramatize the dualities of our nature; these polar aspects reside within us and include vulnerability and strength, the light and the dark, the human and the inhuman."

Sue Coe - "Sue Coe is one of the most important politically oriented artists living in the U.S. today. From the outset of her career working as an illustrator for such publications as the New York Times andTime Magazine, Coe was committed to reaching a broad audience through the print media. Later, she began creating extended visual discourses on subjects (such as racial discrimination or animal rights) that she felt were not being adequately addressed by conventional news organizations. Widely written about and exhibited, Coe has appeared on the cover of Art News and been the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. Her work is in the collections of many major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York."

I've found that my blog posts have turned into marathon blog posts lately. I hope you don't mind - I just don't seem to think one topic is sufficient for a post so I've jam packed this one aswell.

That brings us to a new site I've stumbled across - The Selby. I've always been very into how people decorate their living spaces so this site is a winner in my books. It was also very strange because when I was scrolling through I hit something familiar - my thesis advisor, Kevin Kelly's friend, hrafnhildur arnardottir aka shoplifter. Kevin just finished showing us his hundreds of photos from his recent trip to New York where he stayed with her and this photo was especially recognizable because Kevin had a picture of himself in this hair monster!

hrafnhildur arnardottir is a visual artist who works with hair and is known for doing Bjork's hair. The world is very small...

And here are some images from different living spaces in The Selby that tickle my fancy. In general I have a very busy colourful aestheic so that's what I'm drawn to

and this last one's for Darrin because I know it would be his dream living space - clean and crisp with wall to wall bookshelves and a little sleeping loft

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

Back in the saddle again

2010-11-30T22:05:00.006-06:00

I had such a great painting day today - I haven't had one of those in a while! I felt I made so much progress on my lamb painting I thought I would post photos of it yesterday compared to when I left today... What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday

Today

Now I'm just hanging with the kittens, eating tofu scramble, and about to watch the latest Dexter episode. Toulouse often sits as if he's a person and was doing it while falling asleep just now so I had to catch him in action...

Life's the best

2010-11-28T20:18:00.016-06:00

So last week was an exciting week for me. I was offered a job teaching adult painting and ceramics classes at a local art center and Dee, Rick and I set up the first show at Gallery Ingenue (the new gallery I've started). It has actually just hit me that in the upcoming month I will be starting my first two art related jobs! With a lot of art degrees people joke that there are no jobs afterwards but I disagree - the jobs are there if you make them! So yes - just a warning that you'll be hearing a lot more about Gallery Ingenue and the art classes in upcoming posts...

For now I thought I'd share with you photos from setting up the first show at G.I!

Rick and I setting up Melanie (a painting of Rick's fiance), Prosperity in the Prairies, and Dee's 16 Selkirk #3 (from L to R)

Dee with 72 Richmond West

59 South St. Annes by Dee Barsy

Hanging Kyle #2 by Rick Rosario

Their opening, 'Faces of the City - selected works by Rick Rosario and Dee Barsy' will be Dec.10 from 7-10pm and the gallery is located in Stella's Cafe and Bakery on Osborne so stop by that night if you have a chance otherwise the work is up from now until January!

This week is another big week - our final week of school. I had a presentation at 8:30 this morning and had to do an artist talk for my thesis seminar requirement and on Friday I have my big thesis crit with my advisors.

I was actually so happy with how my presentation went this morning though - we had to give a 10-15 minute talk about our own work so kind of an overview since we started making art to what we're doing now in our thesis year. I've had a phobia of standing in front of a classroom and talking since high school when I would basically just stand up and shake with nerves. I know its a psychological thing because I have no problem teaching, critting, or talking about my work in my studio but it's as soon as I'm in that formal classroom atmosphere when I'm the student that I can't handle myself - it's as if my brain won't stop saying things like "Gill your voice is wavering - don't loose your train of thought - everyones watching you!" Which is really hard to think over top of. So for this presentation I practiced with Darrin at home (which wasn't the same as being in front of a classroom of people) and wrote out some point form notes on cue cards. I got to school early with Lauren so I could set up my computer and be the first to go to get it over with. I stood in front of the class chatting with people as they came in so I could try to make myself mentally used to standing there with people watching me and then we all started joking that Lauren should come stand with me up there. Anyways it was a joke at first but then Cliff Eyland (one of my thesis advisors) said he didnt care if she did! Anyways, just having someone I trust physically closer to me helped so much and the presentation went so well! No voice quivering, friendly banter - I couldn't believe it! People who came in late were probably confused as to why she was standing up there not doing anything but I'm thinking of it like training wheels so hopefully next time I have to give a presentation in a classroom I'll be fine.

Something I hope to implement in my classes - being a person who has trouble in a formal classroom atmosphere is to implement sitting and working in a circular formation. Rachel Schappert (my neighbouring thesis friend/performance artist/painter) who is a big advocate of circles thinks that the circle is a very powerful shape and if every classroom people were in a circle it would create a much more comfortable/open atmosphere. So hopefully by taking a page from Rachel's book I will be helping people like me!

Rachel is a hula hoop enthusiast and this is her performing as a mystic alien creature at the SOFA 'Pickle Party' we had in the fall at the art barn

Another performance piece where Rachel played the role of a blank circular canvas and people were invited to draw or write something that makes them feel good.

After the presentation today I was walking through University Center and remembered that the annual Ceramics club sale was on! So I bought a new mug made by the head of ceramics - Steve Grimmer. Aparently it was just one of his test mugs but I think it's great and it reminds me of the circus and feels great in my hands :)

The ceramics sale is on all this week so if you're around the university pop by and support ceramic artists!

Other things I have planned for this week include...

- working on my newest painting of slaughtered sheep - it was good to take a break from painting and do ceramics for a while so now I'm straddling both mediums

- start a new ceramic sculpture that involves my chicken humans in a formation based off of an ancient Indian erotic relief sculpture

- listening to Darrin's radio show tomorrow afternoon - it's called Soul Patch Radio and plays on UMFM (101.5 fm) at 1-2pm every Tuesday. He plays a lot of acid jazz and funk and if you're not from Winnipeg you can always listen to it here!

- attending Darrin's screening of 'The Weather Underground' for his student group DOC's - Wednesday afternoon from 2-4pm in the GSA lounge in UC

- have a dinner party at Leslie's house with friends - I'm making a new vegan bread pudding she found for me on "Yeah That Vegan Shit.com" - I made it on the weekend and almost ate the whole pan to myself!

- set up for Lauren's upcoming show at the SOFA Gallery at Edna Fedya

- submit my 8 1/2 x 11" work for the TOMS shoe design contest (submissions are this Wednesday btw so if you still have time to submit!)

- attend and possibly submit a painting for the art auction Chutney Mayhem - a fundraiser put on by the head of painting and my thesis advisor, Kevin Kelly, for the Jagruthi Orphanage in Bangalore,India!

- BIG THESIS CRIT Friday - Dun dun dun....

Another thing I'm excited about is a group of us in painting thesis have decided to do a secret santa but all our presents have to be 1x1ft paintings for eachother - I'm really excited about who I got but can't tell unless they read this... So statring next week I'll be wokring on that little diddy aswell!

Anyways there's so much to do I have to get started! Hope you guys have a great week!

Exciting news Part II: Gallery Ingenue

2010-11-23T10:30:00.004-06:00

I'm now able to share the exciting news Part II!

I am starting a gallery in Stella's Cafe and Bakery on Osborne called Gallery Ingenue! Stella's is a Winnipeg staple breakfast place with four locations. The osborne location where Gallery Ingenue will be is the original. I have been curating the Students of Fine Arts Gallery at their sister restaurant Edna Fedya for almost a year now and they were looking to make their walls more exciting at their Osborne location so Gallery Ingenue was conceived. Like the SOFA Gallery at Edna Fedya I will be curating monthly shows to showcase local artists. But the difference between the submission process at the Edna's Gallery and Gallery Ingenue is that G.I. will be accepting all artists instead of strictly U of M Fine Arts students. If you are interested in submitting check out the submission requirements below:

Submission Information

We are always looking for submissions. To submit for a solo or group show email the following information to a.gillian.king@gmail.com to be considered.

Artist Name(s)

Bio(s)

Artist Statement(s)

Images, dimensions, and materials of all works to be shown

I am so excited for the first show that will start on Thursday this week! We will be featuring work from two of my Fine Arts friends Rick Rosario and Dee Barsy.

Rick Rosario

"Born and raised in Manitoba, Rick Rosario is currently completing his Art History degree with a studio component focusing on painting at the University of Manitoba. Prior to this venture he has devoted over 10 years as a Graphic Designer and Art Director for various magazines throughout Canada.

[He] continue[s] to focus on portraiture and figurative paintings to explore the human condition. [He] hopes to capture an aesthetic that creates psychological tension between the viewer and the subject. There is a mirror experience when people are experiencing portrait and figurative paintings... hopefully the observer connects with the work and provoked by questions of self, absurdity of existence and the irony and beauty of life experiences.

Most works are oil on canvas, however aerosol and acrylic paint can be found integrated in his work. The choice medium, dimension and subject matter focus on connecting the observer to communal states of consciousness and the collective unconscious."

Mel by Rick Rosario, oil on canvas, 4x5ft

Dee Barsy

"As a young, emerging artist, Dee Barsy is currently preparing for her thesis year of the Fine Arts ‘Honours Degree Program’ at the University of Manitoba. Inspired by the young people she instructs, Dee finds community involvement integral to her creative practice. Over the past four years, her experience as an ‘Instructor’ at Graffiti Art Programming has served as a valuable entry into visual art and the arts community in Winnipeg.

At the onset of her practice, Dee is focused on oil painting, seeing it as a means to engage her thoughts and process her surroundings. With the use of complex geometric patterns, her paintings form a flux of streetscapes. To secure these often overwhelming spaces, specific personalities are placed in the center of the compositions. These paintings become records of her commute through a city that bustles with energy, where the only static image found, is a familiar face. She titles her paintings after bus routes that she regularly commutes on.

Dee makes use of a small palette, limiting herself to mixing one colour at a time. Intrigued by the idea that a given mixture can never be sincerely replicated, and that no two people will experience a colour in the same way, she finds optimism in the possibilities of paint. Through both building up and veiling layers, Dee invests her canvases with histories of colour. Her paintings become maps; often inspired by personal routine, particularly by the paths she regularly takes throughout the city. While these experiences concerning Winnipeg’s unique cityscape are transient, paint affords her the possibility of fixing such impressions. In developing receding and advancing forms, Dee finds a language to convey mobility, communicating her daily patterns and activity of the city."

16 Selkirk #3 by Dee Barsy, oil on canvas, 4x5ft

If you are in Winnipeg or visiting Rick and Dee's work will be up for the next month and their show will start late this week. Stay tuned for news about their opening night so you can head down to Stella's to meet the artists!

New Website!

2010-11-20T13:52:00.003-06:00

So this is just 1/2 of the exciting news I was talking about in my last post! I have a new website! My friend Cam from Prairie Giant built it for me as a professional artist webpage. I am so happy with it and he even put a link to my blog on it - check it out at www.gillianking.com! And stay tuned for exciting news Part 2!