12/16/10

Swag Update: Ceramics from Krystal Speck.

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The term swag is starting to feel wrong, actually it has for a while. Probably because I don't even know what it means.

But anyway, these beyond-swag ceramic marvels were generously donated to us by the incomparable Krystal Speck. Krystal is a lovely part of the City of Craft family and we miss her presence at the show since she moved on to bigger outlets and all-encompassing commissions. That's why it is extra-fantastic to have her there in vase form at the very least. These pieces are going to find their way into the raffle. Can you even believe it?

You want to know what else? There is more! I dropped that super-vessel off yesterday afternoon at Coriander Girl to be filled with a lovely and ethical floral arrangement and the whole shebang will be raffled off together. This marks our first sponsor collaboration and will be the last raffle item on Sunday.

Alison, the Coriander Girl herself, will be sharing images on the final arrangement with us on Friday. Flowers wilt, after all, and we want them fresh for the show! Amazing!

12/15/10

Vendor Hype: Meet Caitlyn Lemonade.


Guys, have you met Caitlyn yet or seen her work? If you have been to City of Craft before, you have almost definitely seen her work as she has had the daunting task of hand drawing our program every year since 2008. We have also used her artwork for vendor call flyers and a super popular run of t-shirts and totes we did in 2009 (there are still a very few totes and tees left that will be at the show...but, like, two tees).

On her own, Caitlyn draws, prints and makes under the moniker lemonade in a way that is dreamy and spacious. She is one of those increasingly rare craft fair makers that is not "in business". Not to say that she isn't professional, it's just that Caitlyn is more inclined to follow her aesthetic whims than to create "product". For that reason, you will find small-run prints and printed matter at her table as well as one-of-a-kind illustrations and, this year, faceted wooden jewellery that takes palette really seriously.

A quick jaunt through her flickr stream will reveal that Caitlyn is a daydreamer of no light dimension. As much of our programming this year would suggest, it is very nice to feel the dream alive in the craft scene nowadays. Miss lemonade brings crates of that to the City of Craft family and we're really thankful for it.



Love and Money Sneak Preview

Love and Money Sneak Preview

Love and Money Sneak Preview

Love and Money Sneak Preview

Love and Money Sneak Preview

That's all you're getting, folks! The show opens tomorrow! Come out and see it for yourself...

Love and Money
Thursday, December 16, 2010
6-9pm
at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery
990 Queen Street West

http://www.cityofcraft.com/2010/cityofcraft/loveandmoney/index.html

All Buttoned Up.

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I spent part of last night making these new 2010 buttons for our illustrious merch table (right by reception). They were all designed by Nicholas Kennedy to match the pinwheel fever of our entire year's design theme. To me, his designs look everything from playful to quilted to Southwestern. I love them!

In the process of making these, I went back and made a few more designs from years past. These include Amy Borkwood's architectural designs from last year (the first ones pictured below). Those pins never actually saw the light of day last year. They are like the lost buttons of the City of Craft - an underground city only unearthed years later.

Below that are Shannon Garard's designs from 2008 and the humble buttons I made for our first show in 2007. Were we ever so young?

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Paper Chain Party!

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While you are wandering around the Theatre Centre and Cream Tangerine cafe on the weekend, you may notice the space festooned with paper chains. These are all the result of an evening spent in my living room making chains and chatting with some of the 2010 staff (Jen, Sara, Michelle and Angelune). It was really nice to spend an evening just making in the midst of all the emailing, blogging and driving around that inevitably leads up to the show. In the end, I estimated that we made 80-100 feet of chains. We will see if my calculations hold water when we start to load in.

The garlands, by the way, are made from some incredible 100% cotton paper donated from the off-cuts stash of Kid Icarus. Noticing a theme here? They are heroes.

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Danijela Pruginic's Silhouette Cameos return to the Midway!

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A massive hit at our 2008 show, the silhouette cameo photo booth will be back on the upper mezzanine/balcony again for the 2010 show! We are very excited to welcome Danijela Pruginic back to fill the South West corner of the upper level with vintage-inspired joy. Dani is, after all, a very in-demand photographer about town. I keep seeing her work pop up everywhere from weddings to new-style product photography to editorial work to interpretative fine art photography (see For Keeps: a mending show for some great examples of the latter).

The cameos are available as flat magnets and, from personal experience, I can tell you that these items make great gifts for loved ones and/or proud parents who really just want a memento of you for the holidays. I also saw some super sweet couples cameos last time around which I sort of regret not getting. Don't you regret anything! Get on the silhouettes!

Read more here.

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Love and Money Artist Profiles: Stephanie Cormier and Steven Tippin
















Steven Tippin is a glass artist living and working in Toronto, Ontario. He is currently a board member and the Ontario representative for the Glass Art Association of Canada.

Tippin received his Undergraduate Bachelor degree in Printmaking and Sculpture from the University of Guelph in 2002. He returned to school in 2005 to study at the Glass Department of Sheridan College where he tried to incorporate the mindset of printmaker and sculptor. He has recently returned home to Toronto after studying for his Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology.


From his The LUX Artist Statement:

"...The LUX lounge had glassware made for them that featured the bar's logo on a sturdy and simple cup. The students of the two nearby universities often stole these cups to use in their homes. I thought that it was a strange type of ritual that I should probably experience while studying abroad. But I wanted to do it in a different way.
I began stealing the cups from the bar and modifying them by sandblasting imagery similar to the bar's decor into it. Once the cup was completed, I would smuggle it back into the LUX lounge and leave it unannounced on the bar or on a table. I used the same stealth returning the glassware as I did stealing it..."






















Stephanie Cormier was born in Montreal, Quebec, raised in Barbados in the Caribbean and is based in Toronto, Ontario. Her practice includes photography, video and sculpture installation. Cormier “sculpts, draws and paints” with everyday materials and uses objects that are either plentiful and recycled or conversely nostalgic or obsolete. She enjoys giving these humble objects a new and honorable context. Her work also often involves community intervention attempting to create a more nurturing communal public experience. Stephanie studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design where she completed her BFA. Her work has been exhibited across Canada as well as in London, England and New York City. She has earned several national grants and awards and her work can be found in the Carte Blanche Photographers Book.

"...This new work comprises three components and introduces an effigy representing one of the matriarchal gods of the Anti-Logo League Girls. The fabric used to create this effigy was purchased at a thrift store and specifically chosen because it still carries a label identifying its previous owner. For the Anti-Logo League Girls these are important clues to an identity of those who came before. They celebrate these “anonymous” names and create their inspired mythical deities. In the photograph, the deity takes on a wig-like form. The sculptural elements are made from this same fabric and created in the spirit of Victorian Mourning jewellery where decorative mementos were crafted out of a deceased loved ones hair. The smaller multiples will be sold to support “Reconceptualization”, a belief in reuse, repurpose and rediscovery.

At the end of this project I will do some detective work to find the “Christine Maila” who donated her used blanket to the thrift store. I will give her some documentation of the project and ask her to choose a charity to donate the money raised, thus completing a cyclical and altruistic gesture. Foundations exist today in what seems like an ego-based system of "who’s who" of the elite. My intention is to undermine this system by creating a foundation honouring benevolence and an everyday citizen whose donation of a blanket has inspired this project."

Love and Money opens at the Ontario Crafts Council TOMORROW from 6-9 pm, and runs from December 16-31, 2010.

Images, from top: Steven Tippin, The LUX, Stephanie Cormier, The Christine Maila Foundation medallion multiples