And…I’m back. Or trying to be.

Oh my ashcan, it has been far too long. After an almost full year hiatus, well let’s not mince words, it was an abandonment, I am making the attempt to delve back in the blog with new enthusiasm and goals. it’s best a hardship to try and find the voice I have needed to dedicate myself more fully to this, but I think I may be able to do it now.  I fear it will be more self indulgent than ever, but let’s face it, like everyone I love talking about myself and the things I like. Maybe you’ll like them too.
So on this delightfully sunny Sunday afternoon as I drink a nice pot of tea and croon along to Elvis I will jump back in.
The main focus of the historical ashcan school of thought was to see the world around you see the beauty that it contained, even if at first glance to grit and grim of everyday life covered it with drabness. I have taken that to heart and try to see the positive aesthetic qualities in the different parts of my world. This starts at home. I moved to Montreal about 8 years ago and have lived in the same building the whole time. The apartment has seen a few different room mates over the years but after the post secondary education years come to an end the room mates left and I took over the place and made it totally my own. I am a big proponent of creating your own space, this most likely stemming from the fact that I’m a pretty big home body. So I have worked to create the environment around me that reflects myself and what I love. Apparently that came through in knick knacks, particularly sets from a childhood salt and pepper collection I dug up on a trip back to my mother’s home in the country side.  This amused an ex-boyfriend to no end since I put salt and pepper on hardly anything.

Yes, those are Pittsburgh Steelers helmets next to my Buffalo Bills match box car.

The other thing in my apartment and life that I love to no end is my vinyl collection and growing it. I love vinyl. I love the sound quality, I love the ritual, the concepts that can be created around the limitations of times per side and I love love the covers. Record cover art can be brilliant. That’s a topic I do plan to jump many times over, but for the moment I just want to share that it is my favourite time of year, it’s time for the Montreal Spring Record Convention, April 28th. I’m giddy as all get out for this day. I’m getting a list put together on what to get. Any 60s garage I don’t already own and probably another girl group record or two will be in my bag at the end of the afternoon. If you’re in town do yourself a favour and stop by.

Il Biennale di Venezia

I got a heads up about a call for volunteers. Check it out if you’re interested, sounds like a decent little chunk of experience.

“The event, The Padiglione Italia Nel Mondo at the 2011 Biennale of Venice, will take place between the 6th of July until the end of October. The hours are Monday to Friday from 1pm to 5pm and Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm. The Casa d’Italia is located at 505, rue Jean-Talon est corner Berri. Closest metro is Jean-Talon through the north exit. The artists presenting are Leda Montereali Privacy, Luci Mastropasqua Matteo, and Mario Merola Triptyh of Seasons. This event in its 54th year also commemorates the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification.

The volunteer position is that of a gallery sitter who will be well-read on information regarding the event. The shifts are 4 hours each during the week Monday to Friday 1pm to 5pm and the the weekend 2pm to 6pm Saturday and  Sunday. Volunteers will also receive a Letter of Recognition for their hours worked during the event. For more information please contact Lauren Lopez, email: la_lopez@live.concordia.ca, Casa d’Italia phone number: 514-271-2524.”

I’d get in on this, but my fashion buyer duties call.

Infringment

The Fringe Festival offers people an opportunity to take in interesting, sometimes experimental shows. Of course general shows are available year round for a viewing public but the festival offers a concentration of events that allows for more of the public to go out and experience the pieces. The Fringe style of theater started in Scotland in the 40s as a reaction from local artists towards the strictness of the International Festival in Edinburgh. It spread across countries after that.

However, the Fringe Festival has been changing over the years and has taken on more corporate influence through sponsorship, rising entrance fees and restrictions placed on artists and shows by sponsors (think the 2001 show Car Stories being removed from the festival because of the wishes of sponsors). These changes can take away from the original ideas and intent of the Fringe concept. Following a few years later was the creation of the Infringement Festival, to reclaim the culture.

The Infringement Festival follows these 5 mandate points.

1.  The infringement festival is free for all artists and activists to participate in. The festival will never charge a registration fee and participants will keep 100% of their box office.

2.  The festival is open to all critical artists and will never discriminate, set entry criteria or censor.

3.  The festival is run as a non-hierarchical arts democracy.

4.  The festival will only accept ethical companies that pose no conflict of interest as sponsors, as the interests of the festival’s participants come before those of the sponsors.

5.  The festival will encourage, although not be limited to, progressive acts that encourage discussion and oppose oppressive structures.
More info on the Infringement Festival, the focus and the Montreal schedule can be found here

Montreal Fringe 2011

So it’s Fringe time in Montreal and the shows are stacking up. It’s the best time to get out there and see some theater, music, comedy and everything else it’s offering up. I have to say that when I general head out for shows they are of the musical variety and I’ll catch visual art exhibitions when I can but I don’t get out enough to plays and Fringe always allows me to correct that for a little bit. This year I’m delighted to know a few folks putting on shows that I can’t wait to see.

Opening on June 11^th and going to the 19^th at Petit Campus first up in my books is “Robby Hoffman: Autobiography (So what, you think you’re better than me?). I lifted below from the event page. It should be fabulous and delightful. Go. It’s 10$. I’ll be there.

“Meet the woman whose hilarity has tickled audiences all over Canada and the U.S!
Born in Brooklyn Robby moved to Montréal in 1990’s when plaid was the peak of fashion. She has since proven herself to be a fast rising star in the comedy world. She has been featured at Just for Laughs event for Auberge Shalom and the Meow Mix and regularly appears at the Comedyworks and Comedy Nest comedy clubs. Being the seventh child of a hearing impaired Jewish mother of ten, what was most important to her was ensuring that she didn’t become the biggest f*%k-up in the family. The odds were in her favour—her brother impregnated a toothless girl from Charlemagne (the birthplace of Celine Dion), which made Robby’s questionable sexual preference and career choice switch from accountant to comedian less of a blow to her mother.

So, instead of getting your autobiographical fix from something like “Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose” by Paris Hilton, come get that same fix live at Robby Hoffman’s very own Fringe show. Laugh out loud at her stand-up and video interviews with friends, family, neighbours, Source employees, local celebrities and comedians.”

So if you want some more info on Robby and her comedy check out her site.

Next up is another comedic one man show looking back at childhood. Dan Bingham’s Adopt This! Showing at the Portuguese Association 4170 St Urbain from June 11-19^th Bingham is taking a whack at the autobiography genre as well.

“Comedian Dan Bingham lays bare the emotional wreckage of his childhood for your amusement in this hilarious and reflective look at growing up adopted. Raised by a strict, Irish Catholic mother and her hoarding, abusive boyfriend, Dan’s one-man show takes us from his troubled childhood to his only slightly less troubled adulthood as he comes to terms with his past and reunites with his rowdy Scottish family, The Biologicals.”

Again tickets are going to be 10$ and having hung out some with Dan in the past, it should be pretty damn good. Check out his site for more of what he does.

Check out the Fringe site for more shows. Go see something and support the lovely talent.

Nightwood – Casa Del Popolo

My favourite of favourites, Nightwood is playing this Thursday at Casa Del Popolo. Haven’t seen them yet? Well it’s about time you do.

http://www.nightwoodband.com

Parisian Laundry Job Opportunity

Tomorrow is the application deadline for a full time position at Parisian Laundry. Could be a very interesting and fantastic position.

Lifted from the Parisian Laundry Website, Collision 7 exhibition

Application deadline: Monday April 4, 2010 at 5pm
Interviews April 5, 6 & 8

Parisian Laundry is a unique 3 storey commercial exhibition and project space that represents living Canadian and non-Canadian artists and rotates solo presentations of their current and actual practices permanently at the gallery as well as Internationally at Art Fairs.

Responsibilities to the Director:

·       Act as the primary gate-keeper for Director’s office, fielding all phone calls, email inquiries, and drafts correspondence for review and manages confidential assignments and client files

·       Attends staff meetings and provides strategic vision

·       Artist liaison

·       Attendance at openings

·       Hosting visitors

·       Travel
Gallery Development:

·       Sales

·       Prepares presentation portfolios for corporate and museum collections

·       Assist as press and media liaison; organize mailings and publicity associated with the gallery activities

·          Maintain media contact database and build ongoing communications with media to assure promotion of gallery activities and accurate representation of gallery activities

·       Researching potential grants

·       Maintains website and electronic mailing list

·       Periodically reviews and evaluates registration and catalog system to maintain applicability, consistency, and operation

·       Recommends changes in recordkeeping procedures to achieve maximum accessibility to and efficient retrieval of artworks

 

General Office administration:

·       Data base entry

·       Maintain, update and translate gallery’s office files, both electronic and paper

·       Composes concise description of artworks

·       Invoicing and cheque requesting

·       Reception (Telephone | gallery)

·       Mailings

·       Press releases

·       Customer service

Requirements:

·       Perfectly bilingual written/oral French/English (additional languages a plus)

·       Superior level Microsoft Office proficiency

·       Excellent writing and communication skills

·       Strong background in contemporary art (preferably a BFA or MFA)

·       Ability to work collectively and independently

·       Excellent interpersonal skills

·       Ability to work with VIPs

·       Handle confidential information with exceptional judgment and discretion –

·       Handle multiple assignments while working with diplomacy and efficacy in a highly pressurized environment

·       Ability to take initiative and follow up

·       Strong ability to organize

·       Demonstrated accuracy and strong ATTENTION TO DETAIL

·       Extremely organized.

Particulars:

·       Professional appearance

·       Permanent fulltime

·       40 hours per week including Saturdays but excluding some evenings

·       Available to travel with PASSPORT

Applications:

Please present a cover letter outlining your interest in the position, relevant background and a current resume.

Email only: jeanie.riddle@parisianlaundry.com

Art Souterrain

I received some information on positions preparing next year’s Art Souterrain. Could be a really great opportunity.

OFFRE DE STAGE – 4 postes disponibles

Art Souterrain est un OBNL dont le mandat est de promouvoir et diffuser l’ art
contemporain. Chaque année, nous transformons la ville souterraine de Montréal en y
exposant plus de 100 projets artistiques sur un parcours de plus de 6 km. Cette année,
l’ événement se tiendra du 25 février au 11 mars 2011.

Nous sommes présentement à la recherche de 4 personnes qui, sous la supervision
d’ Art Souterrain, aideront à remplir les mandats suivants. Le stage de 3 mois minimum
peut se dérouler à tout moment entre la mi-avril et la fin août, à raison de deux journées
par semaine minimum.

Programmation : recherche pour l’ édition 2012, envoyer des appels de dossier et
faire des suivis.
Organisation d’une levée de fond : Aider à planifier une soirée de levé de fond.
Subvention : Aider à monter les différentes demandes de subvention publique.
Repérage de nouveaux lieux d’exposition : Faire la cartographie d’ une nouvelle
zone qui s’ ajoute au parcours, mettre à jour et détailler la cartographie actuelle.

Les compétences et aptitudes suivantes sont recherchées :
– Motivation et implication dans le projet.
– Être très organisé, minutieux et autonome
– Être sociable et aimer le travail d’équipe.
– Avoir de l’expérience dans un poste similaire est un atout.
– Avoir autant de facilité a parlé et a écrit en français et en anglais.
– Avoir une bonne connaissance et le l’intérêt pour le milieu culturel et des arts
visuels.
– Niveau d’étude exigé : deuxième année de BAC minimum, avec préférablement
une concentration soit en histoire de l’art, arts visuels, communication, animation
et recherche culturelle, gestion ou autre milieu connexe.

Ce poste permet de vivre une expérience enrichissante et formatrice. Vous participerez
aux premières étapes de la mise en place d’un événement de grande envergure. Il vous
permettra également de rencontrer différents intervenants importants du milieu des Arts
visuels. En plus, d’obtenir une lettre de recommandation pour une recherche d’emploi
futur, ce poste peut-être crédité dans le cadre d’un stage pour les étudiants universitaires.

Pour plus d’information, vous pouvez visiter notre site internet : http://www.artsouterrain.com
Merci d’envoyer votre CV à info@artsouterrain.com

Cordialement

Karine-Michelle Dion

Boxed In

A box.

A bit of a strange beginning for an art exhibition, but there you go.

Stemming from a consideration of the size of a country like Canada and the difficulties in bringing together the works from across the country, the Boxed In! exhibition has been created. Small sculptural works that fit in a box  measuring 16 x 12 x 12 inches, the idea is the works must fit including the packaging  and be derived from a box itself. Since a box is a container, hiding the contents, obscuring them from the outside world plays into the intent behind the proposed works.

Deadline for works is June 30th. Here’s the rundown on the specifics. Proposed work should fit in a box no bigger than 16 x 12 x 12
inches, without altering the box. The proposal should be for a work of expression, functional or not, that pushes the limits of your practice within a conceptual approach.

Your application must include the attached completed form, a half to one page proposal, artist statement, drawings or sketches of the
proposed work and its technical information (medium, finished size,presentation), CV or resume (maximum of three pages), up to ten digital images of recent works (no earlier than 2005) and a list of images. For information on submission check out The Rooms or email box.exhibition@gmail.com.

Submissions should be sent to the following address:
Denis Longchamps, curator
Boxed in!  Exhibition Project
The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery
9 Bonaventure Avenue P.O. Box 1800, Station C St. John’s, NL, Canada
A1C 5P9

How about a sculpture of made of boxes?

AESTHETICA CREATIVE WORKS COMPETITION

It’s a call for submissions guys!

Asthetica Magazine, a British Arts & Culture journal,  is putting on their fourth Creative Works Competition. Looking for up and coming  artists  and has a focus on celebrating all works of arts, regardless of medium. This is a great opportunity to put forth your best work and get a little recognition. Welcoming student submissions, Aesthetica wants to encourage and nature the next generation of artists.

Here’s a little breakdown of the specifics of the competition.

• The Competition has three categories, Artwork & Photography, Poetry and Fiction.
• Winners and finalists are published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.
• Winners of each category receive £500 (apx. $790) prize money plus other prizes.
• Entry to the Creative Works Competition is £10 (apx. $16).
• The entry fee allows the submission of 2 images, 2 poems or 2 short stories.
• The deadline for submissions is the 31^st August 2011.
• More guidelines on how to submit can be found online at http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm

On shorter notice Aesthetica is also hosting a Short Film Competition. Deadline is earlier, on April 30th, but if you got something kicking around, why not? Winners will get their work featured in several festivals. Details can be found here.

Denis Gagnon, Fashion Art

I work in fashion. Well… that might be putting it strongly. I work for a sportswear brand buying and importing clothes all day. While it’s not high fashion and most of the time I crunch numbers thinking about profit and what would sell in our mainly sports store market, the job has helped rekindle an old interest in fashion, how clothes are made, what they mean to people and their place in social visual culture.

Fashion is an art form. It is. But in the years I spent studying Art History it barely ever made an appearance. Once in a while a certain styles of dress or hairstyle would come up in conversation to help underscore meanings in paintings, but it never became the focus. But why? Why did fashion not get a fair showing? Why am I still hearing from friends that clothing isn’t art? I think what it seems to come down to is the utilitarian nature of clothing, its abundance and is one of the top consumer goods. With clothing being such common place the artwork and at least craftsmanship is generally overlooked. Of course style, colour and other aspects are considered but for the most part the artistic value is less the highlighted.

In terms of fine arts and how objects are considered fashion seems to be on the same level of ceramics. Ceramic objects are some of the oldest pieces some collections boast, some dating back thousands of years. General collections of ceramic history, such as the one at the MBA, display works that cover the centuries and also the different levels of valued ceramics, from the functional bowls and carafes of earthenware to the high end decorative works of delicate bone china porcelain. These collections are often kept away from the main display rooms of museums, tucked into corners and basements, and it is their everyday nature that tends to keep them pushed aside. They are pieces made to use in everyday settings, some much finer than others, but all displaying and teaching about the aesthetics of times gone by and of the artisans who devoted their lives to creating them. This is the same role clothing has in the fine art setting, an everyday object that relates to a time and aesthetic, representing various techniques and craftsmanship and design, but basically still just everyday objects.

Some museum collection are expanding to include garments to help highlight aspects of people and times, think Napoleon pieces in the MBA permanent exhibit on the man, and the MBA had been delving into exhibitions on couture design. In 2008 this started with the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective staged in the wake of his sad passing in June of that year. A beautiful look into the stages of his designs from various collections, from the influence of exotic locales, as in the Russian collection to the pieces based on arts of works by artists such as Picasso and Braque and his iconic women’s tuxedo, the exhibition was a fine art setting for one of a kind pieces of high fashion artworks.

This coming June the museum will again give the focus to the work and world of a couturier, Jean Paul Gaultier and his work from ready to wear and couture collections. Described as avant garde in his design, the inclusion of multicultural influence, dance, music and cinematic images have helped create his surreal, beautiful and playful repertoire of garments.

More recently the free exhibit Denis Gagnon Shows All, which wrapped up this past Sunday, showcased Quebec’s own Denis Gagnon, the first Quebec couturier to have worked shown in the MBA.  One of the most recognizable and respectable Canadian designers.

His work predominately uses leather, metals and muted colour palates. Check out the Spring/Summer line to get a better idea about what he’s doing. The work can be very sculptural and architectural in design. It is incredibly interesting to see the pieces suspended on the mannequins from the ceiling so a proper 360 fitted view is achieved. In this way they take of the appearance of sculptures in a traditional space, but the combinations of the light a tough fabric along with metallic sheens give off the look of a composed and calm movement. The pieces are quite striking in their design and construction of each. The care and time devoted to each is apparent.

Addressed in this exhibit is major difference between fashion and many other art forms, it is a performance art. While other works can be enjoyed and appreciated as they are, standing on a pedestal or hanging on a wall, but with fashion the drapery and layering, the way it hangs from the body and importantly the way it moves with the body is necessary to understand and appreciate each piece. Without the motion there is something lost. Runway shows work better than catalogues. So in the center of the exhibition space hung a pyramid with looping video of the clothes moving, being modelled in real action.

They were beautiful and clever. They are works of art.