the sub-national portrait gallery.

in my new mission to clean, clear and make sense of my collections, i have started to pool up portraits on the little shelf in our kitchen nook. i have actually been collecting these paintings of fictional people for a while now, considering them a new, non-existent family to seek out and assemble. in this current mix, i can see work by annie galvin, marlena zuber, sandi falconer, sandy davis, erin dollar, marilyne blais, emily martin & jessica sowles. there is much more to discover in the hidden corners of my home and office.

i found these little shrinky dinks i made as experiments a few years back, too, and decided that the portrait collection was the best place for them. this is the first time they are seeing the light of anything and i am glad i found a good place for them.

the reverend and i have actually made some agreements about creating a series of 'shows' in our apartment. the gathering portrait gallery is going to be the kitchen show until january 22, 2011. whether or not these shows will evolve into remotely public shows is still up in the air.

for more thoughts on collecting, i recommend this post by meags.

cyber-wunder.

just a quick note to let everyone know that the wunderkabinet has just opened their jars and drawers to the internet and launched their online shop. this is your source for the sweetie pie gold toofs buttons, my only european online seller and is chock full of other amazing work. there are some real favourites in the mix at all sorts of price points and from places as far flung as nagoya, new york and queen street west. what's more? they are having a give-away to celebrate. read more here.

renewal notice.

photo by garth johnson

i was offline so long that i neglected to mention my involvement in renewal notice, a group show curated by garth johnson on the topic of reuse. the exhibition runs in conjunction with this year's american conservation film festival in shepherdstown, west virginia.

the show (and garth's presence at the festival) are related to his book, 1000 ideas for creative reuse. i have to admit that none of my work is in the book. i considered submitting some work when the call was out but was feeling gunshy after an entirely unrelated and strange experience with another publication. i now regret my hermit-like reticence as garth has become a good friend who i consider to be exceptionally thoughtful when it comes to art, craft and intellectual pursuit. he is a veritable bridge of a man, linking various worlds that tend to misunderstand one another (art, craft, academia).

my contributions to the exhibition are a small sampling of plastic bag models from the toronto hyperbolic crochet coral reef (pictured above, right) and a selection of buttons from the security envelope project (not pictured). i could not be happier to be involved. thank you, garth.

renewal notice has a brief run from yesterday (november 4) through november 7, 2010. if you re in the area, you might want to go check it out.

model citizen redux (or something i'd like to tell you)

hey! i am back in toronto!

just popping back into the ether to mention that unspent love (or things i wish i told you), the multi-faceted story/moment project that my brilliant friend shannon started over two years ago has grown into yet another arena (and, as the model for chapter one, my face gets to go with it). tonight will see the opening of a combination installation/mural and new compiled bookwork at open studio in toronto. the opening reception will be preceded by artist talks. i love listening to shannon talk so i am particularly excited about this. just like it plays out in her books and art, shannon's way of looking at the world is both poetic and pragmatic. conversations with shan always make me think in new ways. so does her work. i consider this to be an extremely rare feat - to change the way another thinks.

the first eleven chapters of upsent love can be found online here. me, i want to save my pennies for a fetishistic hand-bound hard copy. but i'm funny like that.