push, pull and playgirl.

pictured above is a custom order placed by damon erickson, a local fellow who got these buttons made for the may installment of the octopus project (not the famous band, the bi-monthly toronto art attack). he plans to cover a whole blazer in these buttons which i am very much looking forward to seeing some pictures of. i'm always so happy to make buttons for such interesting projects.

speaking of pushing a pulling (i apologize in advance), emma segal's love porn button set has been featured on playgirl magazine's blog. i have such confused issues with pornography (well, i have confusions over almost all big-button issues), so i was not entirely sure how i felt about this whole playgirl thing when i was approached. i have to say, though, that my communication with the folks involved and their treatment of the craft scene and its erotic content all seemed pretty lovely. and i'm always flattered to be asked to be a part of anything. thanks, playgirl. emma and i are blushing all over.

oh, and in case i seem extra bland today, i am recovering from a crazy flu and think i lost some brain cells. a word to the wise: don't bother getting sick, it's not as much fun as you think.

nose to the grindstone, balls to the wall.

did you know that the root of the idiom 'balls to the wall' has to do with the working of an over-exerted steam engine and does not describe the weird classroom punishment i had always imagined it to reference as a child? so, it's not rude; it's historic.

but all blather aside, i'm really busy and making lots of buttons. for some reason i have had a crud load of last-minute button orders come in before my departure. there are some pretty neat ones in the mix, too. but more on those projects as i complete the orders.

pictured above are some posters delivered to me by local screen print (and animated gif) artist, jesjit gill. he takes somewhat damaged, surplus, proof and/or irregular posters from his shop, circles some good parts of them and i make them into his $$ button sets. the first series he did for me were all from copies of the same posters but this batch features eight different posters. putting these sets together is going to feel like an infinite puzzle. i also have to say that, damaged or not, i feel a pang at the moment i bring my scissors to his lovely work. it's the same hang-up i have about cutting into vintage clothes or (worst of all) ripping apart typewriters. i have never ripped apart a typewriter. i'd be more inclined to bring a sledgehammer to a piano but i can't really justify this hierarchy. actually, no, i can. it's because i can't play the piano and so it is my enemy. typewriters are on my side.

but i am getting sidetracked. jesjit's new button sets are going to be awesome and i'm a total bad ass for cutting up his prints.

toronto vs. nagoya.

pictured here is my submission for the toronto vs. nagoya show that my pal saddle kobayashi is putting togeter in conjunction with city of craft.

it's pretty exciting. saddle and i settled on the idea that everyone should submit artwork that was 4" square (and not too deep) to save on wall space and shipping charges.

when i embarked on this whole journey, i thought i was going to do something that combined my newfound love of quilting hexagons with paper and ink. in the end, everything i made looked totally terrible so i just stripped down the idea, and came up with these ink and thread illustrations that satisfied my eyes. it was all kind of manic and strange but in the end my deadline panic seemed to result in something new that made me happy. how could i forget the most repeated lesson from theatre school? keep it simple, stupid.

oh, and this is aitor's submission:



why is he forever better than me?

trampoline hall brings families together.

well, the show is all done and it really blew me away. i owe huge thanks to all the lecturers - carl wilson, emily halfon and michael balazo - and to my family for the collective willingness it took to make this show.

and also to michal grajewski and katherine foster for making the sildeshow possible.

reflections on an evening of lectures about my family? there is a lot i could say but i think my gratitude is the most important.

so one last thank you to all the attendees.

and these guys:

trampoline hall.

artwork by margaux williamson.

for some reason, i have neglected to mention that i am curating monday's installment of trampoline hall. maybe it's because i am so stressed out (really, it's bad). all my technology is failing, the postal service has been letting me down endlessly and people i am supposed to converge with are disappearing left and right.

but that's a digression. i should be stressed about monday's trampoline hall (a non-expert toronto-based lecture series, for those who don't know). usually, people lecture on whatever they like. but for this installment, i have invited specific people (carl wilson, emily halfon & michael balazo) to research and lecture on the members of my immediate family. from the contact i've had with them, i think everyone is doing interesting work and i am really interested to find out what my family is all about.

also, i hinted earlier that i might do a ticket give-away via this blog. well, i kind of will. i am alotted a few "reserves" which i will give away. this means that you still have to pay $5 but your tickets will be waiting at the door (this is quite a miracle considering that getting tickets to trampoline hall is the biggest challenge of the process). i think i only have six reserves to distribute, so no more than two per person (if anyone reads this).

and now, back to my blind panic and chest pains.

merry christmas.

last night saw a late visit to my favorite local letterpress shop, the trip print press. it's always fun to visit nicholas and all the big crazy machines he keeps company with there. on top of being an operating shop, his space is also an absorbing museum of both his past works and of arcane devices/stuff. nicholas is the dude who made the backing cards for the sweetie pie press commissioned artist sets (and helped me engineer the packaging), and he also does a lot of work in toronto's music scene (i spy a poster for leah's band).



but i was visiting with a purpose last night; i had commissioned some business cards and calling cards for both aitor and his collective, the misanthrope specialty company, and was going to pick them up. they were supposed to be aitor's christmas gift but with nicholas and i being the busy folks we are, the cards came into being now. i think our faithful compositor did an incredible job with the design (all his own doing) and even went to the trouble of laminating a bunch of them - this involves putting the cards through a machine that coats them in glue and then applying another sheet of paper to the back (minty green, in this case). they are fantastic, nicholas.

in the photo below, the business cards are also resting in a holder made by mike kennedy of two toques design. it is pretty keen to have such skilled friends.

frozen mitten #3.

frozen mitten

found april 30, 2008
spadina & lowther
toronto

in spite of the lack of snow, frozen mittens are still surfacing. this ones comes to me via daryl who found it on his travels through the city on an unusually cold april evening.

as a side note, i will be away from june through november and won't be able to collect mittens during that time. i am planning to really ramp the project up upon my return and through next spring. if you find them between now and then, however, do feel free to keep track and get in touch. remember, though, that the goal of this project is mitten reunion. for that reason, i would like to discourage secret hoarding (as if you kind citizens would do that).