Florida-bound

In three days I will be going to Florida with Victoria and Jana on a Geological Expedition with McMaster professor, Dr. Jack Rink.

(i took this photograph on our last night in Florida--no jokes here)

Read about the excavation here.

That's all she wrote...

CLIPS FROM THESIS 

(how boring, i know. i put it on this blog for my professors to grade me, but please feel free to SKIP, i would)

Silkscreen poster artist Leia Bell studied photography and printmaking at University of Utah, frequented rock shows at a local venue, fell in love with the owner, began making promotional posters for his shows, and gradually established her poster empire. It quite closely resembles a fantasy I once had. I met her in Austin at the biannual poster show titled Flatstock. I traded her one of my reduction prints for one of her silkscreen prints:

There are literally hundreds of artists at this show, but I was drawn to her booth for reasons uncertain. Perhaps it is her use of vibrant colours, simple composition, literality, quirky font, flat depth, or her stylization of the human figure. Many, if not all, of these traits are referenced in my body of posters. For example, in my reduction block Raising the Fawn, these traits are what make this poster successful.

Last year I shared with the class my fantasy of finding a partner to start a band, printmaking company, and family with. It was my way of wanting to echo the dream team that is Seripop, a printmaking company from Montreal made up of bandmates and spouses Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau. They have become infamous for creating stunning silk screens that are illegible, which is oxymoronic considering the purpose of a poster acts as a means of communication to spread information to its viewers. Despite their shitty band and their illegible posters, my thirst to emulate their lifestyle has not yet been quenched. My fantasy prompted me to run a personal ad in Hamilton’s Alternative Weekly, View.  Though hotmail caught on to my dating game and shut me down.

my first pepper jack's poster

Commissioned by Ken at PJC to do this poster for the Sandro Perri show last March.

Getting paid for a poster might just very well be the greatest feeling ever.

snow what?

despite the treacherous snowstorm, the launch of our show was excellent.

my poor aunt drove in from toronto.  the normally 45 minute drive took her over 4 hours.

she said it was worth it though.  not only did the show look amazing, it was also a fucking blast!

Leap Year Art Show

For mine, Victoria, and Jessica's joint art show, I made a lino-cut poster to promote it.

But with just a few days before the show, we decided that it wasn't enough and we needed some sort of video or commercial promotion. Which is why we decided to do this:

MAGIC

the nanc process

in my house we have this round coffee table that i took apart, flipped over and painted black.  i had significant plans for a circular piece of wood because up till this point, i was going steady with polygons.

i justified the destruction of the coffee table by carving a portrait of my late mother into it.

i wish i could say that i love it, but i don't. 

i documented the progress, now i just have to figure out where i went wrong.

phone sex

quick funny story about this carving.

i found an endearing photo of this girl on the internet and felt the need to carve her:

so i was carving her at work, like i usually would, and an old old friend walked by and paused:

"I KNOW THAT GIRL!" he said

-no you don't, i found this photo on the internet randomly.

-no i do, i totally do, let me show you...

[this old friend is from kindergarten and i don't see him that often so i don't really keep up with his sex life, until now...]

he whipped out his phone and showed me a photo of this naked woman who looks like this anonymous girl i carved.  it was so totally obvious that it wasn't her, i just think he wanted to prove to me that he was getting some.

all the terminators...

  .  .  . they should be running for governor:

...and you will come to live with me in california

ABSORB

2007 was the second year for the annual Absorb Event Art Show at Pepper Jack's in Hamilton.

For my submission, I sent in my carvings which apparently secured me a spot in the show.

Lynch Light

This creepy photograph of David Lynch inspired me to not only carve his face, but to add a tad more dynamic to the composition:

Nate the Great vs Helen Lenny

As the holiday season of 2007 approached, I began to think of ways I could give really great presents on a really low budget.

I found an old photo of my deceased grandfather and carved it for a Chanukah present for my grandmother, who I refer to as Buby.

Every Christmas we go to my Aunt Bink's farm to play snow football, ride snowmobiles & horses, drink rum & eggnog, and swap presents in a secret santa gift exchange.  This year I had Aunt Bink (my mother's sister) as my recipient which is why I decided to carve a portrait of her mother (my other grandmother) who passed away when my mother was 10.

Both carvings were very well received, however, Buby was quite critical of her husband's eyes: "something isn't right" she said. 

rank in

I found a clever photo of crime writer Ian Rankin that made him look like a jaggeresque mega babe.  

I decided to carve him, but rather than doing him justice, I interpreted the photo to make him a titch more weathered yet wise.

goo mosh

I looked frantically through my photos one day when I was desperate for a new face to carve.

I came across one I took of my friend Kevin (goomosh) that caught my immediate attention. Not only because I think he would look good in wood, but also it was just a poetically innocent photo of him--a side of Kevin not many people get to see.  

David Herman Dune

I found this shitty piece of particle board outside this car garage down the street.

Turns out, the shitty board wasn't so easy to carve.

But hey, it was free wood. Hard, but free.

Dun't Schloof

Particle Board

17"X17"

2007

I submitted this carving to Red Head Gallery in Toronto for an exhibition titled "Insomnia."

It was accepted and was on display over two weeks, including for NUIT BLANCHE.

mexican preteen

When I got back to school in September after the summer of 2007, my professors were really into the Gonzales carving.

I was motivated to make more and the search began for my next face.

My first carving

Last summer my ravishing lovers in Montreal invited me to be apart of an art show they were exhibiting at their gallery called My Hero.

The show was to be called "For the Disposal of Feminine products" 

It was exclusively for women, 40 of us to be exact.

We all received the same sized piece of square foot wood,

and we were all to do on it what we pleased.

Since my primary focus was printmaking at this point, I fumbled for a plan.

Then it dawned on me that I could make a woodcut block, and just not print it.

So I painted the shitty board black and got on a train to Montreal with my carving tools with a printed photo of the French musician Gonzales.

And then I began to carve...

I wasn't fully finished upon my arrival, but I managed to get it done in time for the vernissage the next night.

And what a night it was!

BLOGGY style

This blog is dedicated to my art.

For a while now, I've been wanting to give my work an online home.

so this is, this is going to be it.