from city to city.

my friend serena has made an amazing book about her years in one of the most incredible places i have ever visited on this earth - bruno, saskatchewan. my encounter and subsequent relationship with bruno and her/tyler brett's then project there, all citizens, is definitely a highlight of all my years touring arts and crafts across this continent.

serena is launching the book in toronto on wednesday, december 12, 2012. i am really honoured to have been invited into the proceedings as a panel speaker.

wednesday, december 12, 2012
8:00pm
the gladstone hotel
1214 queen street west
toronto
$5 or free with book purchase

below are some of my favourite images from my visits to bruno, surrounding areas and all citizens. it was hard to choose.

wonderland.

last night, i went out to see marian bantjes talk at ocad is support of her new book, i wonder, and of her show at the onsite gallery and spent some precious birthday money on a copy of her book. at first glance (which is all i have had time for yet), the design is stunning. i can't wait to dig into its real meat. it isn't going to be easy for my magpie brain, either.

speaking of substance, i found the talk interesting but a little light on the elements of bantjes' work i find myself most compelled by - namely, the transition from design to art and the integration of personal expression into graphic design. instead, her talk focused on material and technique. maybe this is because it was a talk at a school.

as mentioned, the book is beautiful.

i did find a little manufacturing flaw in the back end papers. i saw a few more copies like this, too. i really want to accept it as the wabi-sabi that makes the book even more perfect because of its flaws. instead, the perfectionist in me feels guiltily cheated.

the nothingness of excess and possession.

i rarely buy books. it's kind of embarrassing. i wear glasses and look smart, but i generally tend toward comics, zines or (usually) making things when i could be reading. but when i saw faythe's mention of collections of nothing by william davies king, i felt a very strong pull to it. i would be lying if the fact that the cover hints at his security envelope collection of 800+ patterns didn't have a lot to do with it.

possession, acquisition, collection and material concerns have been very much on my mind this past year (or more) as i sift through the leftover materials of my father's life and absorb the important things that my grandparents left behind when they moved into their new assisted living home (which they love, by the way). there's a whole bunch of family and personal history that i don't really feel like getting into but suffice it to say that issues of hoarding and material are deeply interesting to me.

i can only write from personal opinion, so i'll say that i found the book pretty amazing, confusing, upsetting, exciting, annoying, indicting, and comforting. it basically lead me through a large swath of feelings and thoughts in relation to this stranger's life history, behaviours and deconstructions of both. as annoyances go, i had a hard time (as i usually do) with some hopefully involuntary trappings of academia that the writing dips into at times. i have a very deep-rooted knee-jerk hate-on for academic blather but then, it never really worked for me. mostly, though, these feelings probably stem from the permission king gives readers to come right inside his life. he has laid himself bare (awkwardness and neurosis included).

the more detached processing of the notion of collection and collector were what i really clung to in the book. i am still turning many of his ideas around in my head. king's collections (in a voyeuristic way) came into my life at the exact right time. i am currently wrestling with my own heaps of envelopes, jars of shredded money and crushed pop cans. reading the thoughts and struggles of this similar (yet very different) stuff-magnet felt really useful to me at this time. i was also strangely fascinated by how some of him collections seemed oppressive to me, some repulsive and some delightful even though they all occupy a very similar space of uselessness. food. for. thought.

leah, you should read it. actually, a bunch of people i know should.

update (march 24, 2010) - here is a video documenting some of his collections that professor king shared with me:

wordliness.

city of craft is over and it all seemed to just fly by. so much so, that i did not do the shopping and swapping that i was so looking forward to. well, i didn't get to do all of it. i did, however, end up with a wonderful new mushroom terrarium from holly procktor, some handspun yarn from pleasurecraft fibre studio and the entire wordly pamphlet series from the coldsnap bindery (pictured above). i also got to go home with one of leah's hand-embroidered spore buttons as payment for the use of my machine (and buttonary expertise). i have yet to muster the gall to take it off its lovely backing card but it will soon find a suitable sweater, i am sure.

i was particularly happy to curl up and convalesce from the rigours of the fair with these pamphlets. i found the tips on travelling while book buying to be luxuriously obsessive but most enjoyed the manifesto of warring matryoshkas. "the nest is not the mother; the mother is the nest." this stuff is serious.

i am not sure if/where these gems may be available online (i have been urging leah to open a shop with the blue house) but heartily hope that the pamphlets series grows into a huge catalogue of wordly wonder. you would do well to pick some up if you ever come across them.

zine on me.

pictured above is a little sampling of the amazing wares on offer at today's zine dream. i came home with alarmingly little - i was at my table most of the day and then chatting up city of craft to the screen printing youth of toronto.

i did mange to go home with some great comic/art zines from my table mate, mark connery, and a new zine by tara bursey. i know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the limited edition of punk rockers on creative survival & the survival of creativity sports a jaunty cover by nicholas kennedy of the trip print press. it's flashy and i like it.

the book itself is fascinating. some of the interviews make me irritated with their contradictions and/or sanctimony and some are quietly inspiring. this is the general range of feelings i have in relation to punk rock culture in general so i think tara's project has done its job. and discussion of diy ethos is always reassuring to read.

the zine fair in general made me feel like i was transported back in time to before craft shows were about big displays and slickness. i felt old and young all at once and it was not unpleasant.