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Exhibits

UNO show this Friday 13th April 9th, 2012

Lately I’ve been tethered to my drawing table working on a new book project so I’m excited to get out of the studio for the UNO show, happening this Friday! So today I’m going to drop my finished paintings off to the fine fellows at One Method. In the meantime here’s a few more sneak peaks.

Hope to see some of you out. It should be a fun night filled with great art, music and tacos at Toronto’s Evergreen Brick Works, a 15,000 sq foot warehouse. I’m so thrilled to be included with such an amazing group of artists: Mike Giant, Sam Flores, Greg Lamarche, Hydro 74, Johnny Crap, Dubelyoo, Abe Lincoln Jr, Misk, Doublenaut, Dave Glantz, Matt Barnes, Shingo Shimizu, Rcade, Vlad Hato, Bryan Espiritu, Tavis Coburn, Amber J, Angie Fey, Brian Mendoza, & Matt Darling.

Thanks for all your work putting this on One Method and HXfour! If you’re not driving they’ve even organized free shuttles that go back and forth from just north of Broadview Subway Station between the hours of 7pm and 2:30am. For more information about the one night only event go to La Carnita.

Hope to see some of you out and make sure you say hello.

 

So I’m in a group art show coming up in a few weeks put on by La Carnita and HXfour. It’ll be at the beautiful Evergreen Brick Works, a 15,000 sq foot warehouse, on Friday April 13th in Toronto. I’m so thrilled to be included with such an amazing group of artists: Mike Giant, Sam Flores, Greg Lamarche, Hydro 74, Johnny Crap, Dubelyoo, Abe Lincoln Jr, Misk, Doublenaut, Dave Glantz, Matt Barnes, Shingo Shimizu, Rcade, Vlad Hato, Bryan Espiritu, Tavis Coburn, Amber J, Angie Fey, Brian Mendoza, & Matt Darling.

Since it’s put on by the La Carnita crew I have a feeling there might even be some gourmet tacos around, so get there early! It’s one night only so make sure you come out and say hello. I’ll be the short brunette with the dark bowl cut and the odd accent.

Some process work for the show so far. The deadline is creeping closer. Time to get painting!

My sassy carnita lady will be shown too:

TORONTO, ON CANADA – Already dominating Toronto’s underground culinary scene, La Carnita is popping up something much bigger for their first international & local featured artist exhibition entitled ”UNO” in Spring 2012. Consistently drawing in the masses by dynamically integrating street food with street art, La Carnita has been followed fanatically throughout Toronto by educated foodies and art lovers alike since its first pop-up earlier this summer. In this one-night-only event.

LA CARNITA PRESENTS “UNO”
In the spring of 2012, La Carnita is inviting the public to witness a gathering of some of the most prolific and visionary contributors to the street art scene. UNO will have over 20 fine art, street and graffiti artists from across North America showcasing their works up for sale. Curated by Clay Rochemont, an Artists Representative, who’s influential participation in the growth of the street-art revolution during the late 90’s, will allow him the skill and expertise to hand-pick and select the featured artists for La Carnita’s first large-scale art show.

DX Salon Talk, Feb 22 February 9th, 2012

I’m so pleased that myself and the talented Marco Cibola have been asked to be part of the DX Salon Nights. Hope some of you Toronto folks can make it out. We’d love to see some friendly faces there. It’s on Wednesday February 22 , 6:30-7:30pm at the Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto. More info on this talk and the other DX Salon nights can be found on their blog.

Please let us know if there’s any questions you’d like us to answer.

Sorry to not be as posting so much on my blog lately. Over the last few months I’ve been busy working on a children’s book with Kids Can Press. I just got the proofs today and they look great! It’ll be out this Summer! I’ll post more info on the release day as soon as I know. I’m thrilled to show everyone what I’ve been working on.

Design for this lovely DX poster is by Lisa Zych

 

ZOO art exhibit July 12th, 2011

Last Friday night we had the opening of our Zoo exhibit at the Hamilton Art Crawl, at Loose Canon (150 James Street North). Here’s some pics from the event starting with the beautiful elaborate lettering that Jamie designed and was far too detailed to be made into vinyl. We had a lovely time in the hot window dealing with this bad boy. I think it turned out quite lovely at the end.

Most of us have been living in Hamilton for the past few years and have gone to the art crawl often but had never participated in one. Usually our work is shown in magazines in Toronto & American publications so it was so nice for a change to do something in our hometown. So lucky to be friends with such a fantastic group of artists. It was really inspiring seeing everyone’s work up together. Thanks to Dane at Loose Canon for having us at his gallery. So, the artists tackling the “ZOO” theme were: Dushan Milic, Jen Hsieh, Kyle Reed, Jamie Lawson, & Steve Newberry. Also, the show was taken to a new level by having some wonderful writing by Judith Scholes & Carolyn Veldstra.

ABOVE: ZOO logo by Jamie Lawson at Poly / Adaptimals Prototype X-1 (Bunny) by Steve Newberry / Rhinocerotidae by Dushan Milic

Dushan did some amazingly detailed line-work in his massive rhino piece. Steve made multiple foam rabbits with grasshopper legs & (of course) sun visors – even though they are mutated they should still stay safe in the sun. It was pretty tempting to want to throw them around the room. Jamie’s work with its vibrant layers of paint presented Below are my primal apocalyptic animal paintings. Really enjoyed working on these. So often I get asked to work on ‘pretty’ images so it’s amazing to be able to break out and do some subject matter that I find intriguing. I’ll have a separate process blog post soon on some of these. I’ve also included some photos of people checking out the work & a pic of Jamie & myself. I’m the lady in the red dress. Got to get one cheesy shot of yourself at your own show right?

ABOVE: Lion, Monkeys vs. Gaur, Octopus vs. Crab & Rooster vs. Komodo Dragon , by me

ABOVE: T’s Vision, 40 Syllables, 14 Words, The Fabulous Night Panther & Jaguar Masks by Jamie Lawson

Thanks for everyone who braved the sauna that night. It was hot and packed! I heard the art crawl brought out 1000 people. Not too shabby. Can’t wait until the Super Crawl in September when the whole street will be closed. ZOO will be up until July 31st.

ABOVE: Looking at my Rollie it’s About That Time by Dan Brandon / Gibbon by Kyle Reed / Flightless Bird by Jen Hsieh

 

ZOO ~ a Motley Menagerie or Magnificent Mammalia

Confused, strange & possibly even frightening more than cute, in this “Zoo” one encounters post-apocalyptic beast battles, transfixing Fabergé animals, the patchworked geometry of fauna, speculative Borges-ian cat dreams, mutated multiples, a monkey with a Rolex and the intimacy of creatures far too big & far too small. Animals of all sorts are depicted in an exoticizsed, Victorian-esque salon fashion, drawing from the world of turn-of-the-century “zoological gardens” and “menageries”, with plenty of the pure fantasy of 50′s/60′s exotica & many other odd influences peculiar to the artists thrown in for good measure.

Gaze with awe-ful wonderment at a miscellany of exotic creatures from distant lands!

Follow in the footsteps of intrepid explorers the world over, as you peer into the natural habitats of the beasts, replicated herein!

Struggle to comprehend this new reality – in far-flung realms beyond your experience exist unseen delights & curiosities, insisting you question your estimations of the Natural World!

Really pleased to announce an upcoming local show I’m participating in. It’ll be up for all of July, but the opening will be part of the James Street Art Crawl (2nd week of each month) on the night of Friday July 8. We’ve rounded up a fantastic group of artists and happy to finally have our first local show! Thanks to Dane at Loose Canon for having us at his gallery, Loose Canon. So, the amazing rooster of artists tackling the “ZOO” theme in their own unique way are:

Dushan Milic, Jen Hsieh, Kyle Reed, Jamie Lawson, & Steve Newberry. The show will also contain writings by Judith Scholes & Carolyn Veldstra

Below is the poster designed by Jamie Lawson and a section of one of my images so far. Get prepared for my scenes of primal animal violence!

When looking for inspiration for this exhibit I bought a wonderful book containing a whole bunch of delightful photos & ephemera. I’d highly recommend you buying a copy yourself. See some of its 400 images below.

ZOO, A History Of Zoological Gardens in the West

by Eric Baratay & Elizabeth Hardouin-Fugier

Reaktion Books, 2002



Turtle Wax from The Blog of Record. A keeper at London Zoo spruces up the turtles for the Easter visitors. April 1946, Regent’s Park, London. Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS. More here (via Giudit), including this 1938 photo of Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister Princess Margaret looking at penguins:

Amazing Vintage Zoo Posters from the early 1900s by the very talented German Illustrator, Ludwig Hohlwein (1874-1949)(some via the Susan Lenox Flickr).