West Queen West... an education

Yesterday, my husband and I played tourist in Toronto, and did the West Queen West Art tour with art writer and guide, Betty Ann Jordan. I worked at a graphics place in Parkdale many years ago... anyone familiar with Toronto will remember when that area was mostly low income rentals and filled with newcomers to the city. Not so anymore. From Liberty Village to West Queen West the area is being upscaled in a big way. Condos everywhere, cool little galleries and shops, trendy restaurants line the streets. As we drove to our designated meeting spot (I would normally have taken the TTC, but we were late and had to be home shortly after the tour was over) I wondered aloud how long this area would last as the city's artist haven... those condos would undoubtably cost way more than most artists could afford. And rents for the store fronts were surely climbing as the area gentrified... those small, independent boutiques and galleries would have their work cut out for them to stay afloat.

The Drake Hotel

Our first stop was the Gladstone Hotel, housed in a great old building from 1889 and features rotating exhibitions in the public spaces, along with artist designed rooms (which can be viewed on the website). Then it was down the road to the Drake, which I know as a live music venue and didn't realize that it was still functioning as a hotel. There was lots of interesting art here as well, including a mural on the rooftop patio that apparently changes every few months.

Sculptures in the stairway going up
to the patio

Out on the street we headed west, popping into a few smaller galleries close by. Katherine Mulherin has a couple galleries here, each featuring a different up and coming artist, one of which is "copy-cat" artist, Eric Doeringer. My husband was completely baffled by this work... basically he recreates projects by other artists and presents them as his "recreation". He had a wall of small sized canvases, basically knock-offs of well known works, like you would find knock-offs of designer handbags on a street corner in NY. This sparked a debate between the two of us on the nature of creativity, and what constitutes a creation... but nobody else on the tour seemed the slightest bit interested in participating.  We decided to hold off the discussion until we were done. 

Working west we hopped up Ossington a few blocks, noting that a couple stops on our tour were actually closed for the day. We did, however, stop in a fantastic shoe store, Gravity Pope, where I went back afterwards to buy a pair of brilliant orange sneakers. I'll take a picture of those later.  :)

Apparently there is an "artist flea market" in the area... it was on our list as a place we would visit, but we didn't actually stop and I don't even remember seeing it. At this point we were running pretty late... we had someone with mobility issues on the tour, which while easily accommodated, but meant we had to skip a few stops to meet our time deadline. 

Outside the gallery, Hubs spotted this
overlooking the courtyard. Can you see
him? Here's an enlargement...

Our final stop was at the MOCCA, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, where they are hosting an exhibit by Louise Bourgeois. Here's where things got a bit... interesting. My husband asked what I saw as a reasonable question... why was the Museum of Contemporary CANADIAN Art hosting an exhibit by a french woman who spent much of her life in the US, and what was her connection to Canada (there is none). The young man in the gallery got a bit defensive (hubs says more like snippy), stating we should be happy to have this exhibit ANYWHERE. While I enjoyed the art and can appreciate Ms. Bourgeois' place in art history, the conversation was a bit off-putting. 

overlooking the MOCCA... are they trying to say something?

The Summer Sizzler

Opening of the "Summer Sizzler" juried show in London.
My piece is hanging in the window at the back.

So this weekend required a trek out to London for the opening of the "Summer Sizzler" juried show, at the Art Gallery of Lambeth. I was there early to help out... Not the norm since I live so far away, but I had the day off and leaving early meant missing that awful rush hour traffic. When I went to unlock the door, I was caught a bit off guard to see that there were actually people waiting out in the parking lot! I usually get there about an hour after the doors open, so this was something I've never witnessed. But it was a lovely evening, and what better way to spend it than looking at art, listening to music and having a little wine.

I did the initial rounds to say hello to people I had met before, (the London arts community is very supportive and many attend whatever event is going on) before getting out my camera. I only got to snap a few pics before the batteries in my camera died. I didn't even get a shot of my 3 dancer paintings that were hanging directly in front of the door. I'll have to be a bit more prepared next time and make sure I have my back-up batteries fully charged.  I believe the gallery is going to be posting photos of works juried into the show on their Facebook page over the next couple weeks. Interested? Head over to Facebook and check it out. And be sure to "like" them... that way you won't miss anything!

The entertainment, Ben Brown, gave the gallery goers an evening of nice acoustic music. By the
end it was a bit of a sing-a-long... not something I've ever seen at an art gallery. Fun. 

Back at it

Room for both dogs and still a place for
me to stand. Amazing.

Finally!! Unpacked!

Well, kind of.

Mostly.

The main floor anyway, and most of the upper floor. Ok, the basement is still in boxes, but I used to have floor to ceiling, wall to wall built-in bookcases, which now I don't have, and I have a very large collection of books (I LOVE books) that I have nowhere to put. So they are still in boxes. And will be until I can figure out what to do with them.

Just the same, I am finally able to get back to work. My studio is organized... or as organized as it can be until I work in there for a while. I've been finding that even though I put things in what seemed to be a logical spot when I was unpacking, when I needed that particular item I had to hunt high and low for it. Still, for the most part I had a pretty productive day yesterday. Started a couple small canvases and one larger one. I had done a few journaling exercises last week to kind of get me back into the right space, and surprisingly it seemed to work. Having had issues with getting blocked after taking time off, it was nice to find things flowing somewhat easily. I did an exercise I've done before and quite enjoy from LK Ludwig's book "True Vision" called Found Poetry, and combined it with automatic writing. Here is my result:

I quite like the colour combinations here. I think I'll use this in a painting. 

Here

The view from my studio door. Just a bit overwhelming.

Well, I'm all moved into my new home. It's been a little chaotic... there are still boxes everywhere but we're slowly getting organized. I'm itching to get back to work. It's been well over a month and I'm really feeling it... I feel like I'm starting to sink. Strange way to describe it I guess, but it's the only word I can think of that really captures it. I've reserved the weekend to unpack and organize my studio, with the hopes of getting to work at least one evening next week. I think a few hours playing with my paint will do me a world of good.

Moving

So... I'm afraid I'm going to be an absentee blogger for the next few weeks. My life is in complete disarray right now. In less than a month my family and I will be moving house. The date has changed 3 times already, each time cutting a week off my prep time. I had initially thought I could pack somewhat leisurely, maybe taking an evening or two a week to keep working. That went right out the window with the latest change. Now I'm in the process of packing up my studio, and trying to let go of things I've kept for years... just in case. Bags of stuff have been passed on... books, my kid's toys, clothing I never wear, movies we don't watch... but when it comes to my art stuff...

This evening I tossed into the recycling 5 newsprint pads of life drawing, every sheet full on both sides. I have no idea why I hung onto them... most were just quick sketches, learning exercises rather than finished drawings. But there was some value in flipping through them and seeing how far I'd come in the past few years. I'm looking forward to getting back into  life drawing... my new house has a weekly drop-in session less than a 10 minute drive away. And with my commuting time cut down dramatically, I won't have to rush to get there. My life is about to get much easier... if I can manage to make it through the next few weeks....

The Toronto Art Expo, 2013

TAE, 2013 edition

This past weekend was the Toronto Art Expo, held at the convention centre downtown. I usually go to this event... it can be pretty inspiring to see so much art at the same place, and it gives me a chance to talk to the artists at the show. I had a friend exhibiting this year, so it gave me an added reason to make sure I made it to this event.

The show seemed a bit smaller than it had in past years. I seem to remember it being the entire floor, but this year it was blocked off about half way across. There was some really interesting work, some grabbing me more than others.  It seemed to be catering to all tastes. I was surprised that there weren't  more people there. I remember it being quite crowded last year, but it could be that I went in the afternoon of the final day... maybe the art lovers of the city had already been and gone. A few of the artists I talked to said their sales were not what they expected. That's unfortunate... a show like this usually attracts artists from all over, and if sales are poor many of them might not come back. It will be interesting to see what happens next year. There are other big art events in the city... maybe this one will be smaller and another one will be the next big thing.

The Big Switch Up

It was one of those weeks. Too busy by far to do anything relaxing or creative, just a lot of running around. The show at the Meadowvale theatre was extended for a few weeks, but as both galleries where I have work on a regular basis are changing up the shows, I had to go to all three venues and move things around. I also had a one day art event held at the Lakeshore Yacht Club (in west Toronto), where I had donated a painting to the silent auction for Sick Kids Hospital, and had a few other paintings on display. Seemed like it was one long social weekend, which while enjoyable, has left me longing for some creative down time.

"A Cappella"    12x12" Acrylic on Canvas
Now on display at the Art Gallery of Lambeth in London, Ontario