- How to Review Toronto’s Art Scene in One Day or Less
While the pace of life slows for some in these lazy summer months, I’ve found myself so strapped for time that my only option for taking an overview of Toronto’s present art activity for an upcoming MAP Magazine article was to do all my gallery-going in the space of a single day. Several days after […]
- James North Art Crawl: June
When I set out in spite of spotty weather to take in this month’s Art Crawl, it was largely on account of the fact that the night featured the last of the New Harbours series of performances at Christ’s Church Cathedral. The sudden thunderstorm certainly made an extended stay in the Cathedral an attractive prospect, […]
- Artist employment and other rant-worthy enterprises
The question of employment in contemporary art has been an especially weighty one from a personal standpoint ever since I was handed my shiny MFA degree in some especially gorgeous hall of the University of Glasgow. Like many other self-proclaimed ‘artists’, I am woefully underemployed and am therefore none too picky about where I find […]
- James North Art Crawl: May
There may have been a problem with many of the exhibitions opening at this month’s Art Crawl, and I’m not entirely sure it’s a bad problem at that - there may simply have been too much art on the walls. Not to mention too many men wearing bad hats.
For instance, this proved to be the […]
- Loose Threads
Two of my posts from this past month are now in need of a resolution as April draws to a close, neither of which warrants its own post, so consider this a two-for-one deal.
Firstly, some of you may have noticed that my first blog for Akimblog has now gone online. The post’s coverage of the […]
- The Condition (Not the Content) of Hamilton’s Art
Earlier this week, when Terence Dick invited me to join the contributors to Akimblog as a representative of the Hamilton art community, he did so with the caution that I would need to find a way of writing that would remain ‘different and distinct - yet somehow retain your breezy, intelligent, personable, and critical style.’ […]
- Killing Time and Tuesdays on Queen West
An interesting point to bear in mind when an impromptu day trip into Toronto gives one time to drop into Toronto’s Queen West art district - many, many of these spaces seem to think the week starts on Wednesday. I’m well familiar with the notion of closed-on-Mondays in contemporary galleries, but Tuesday as well? Seriously, […]
- Simon Starling at the Power Plant (with a side-dish of Sadie)
I’m arriving somewhat late in the game on Simon Starling’s Cuttings (Supplement) at the Power Plant; the show has been open since the beginning of the month, but now that I’ve got a review that needs writing for the good people at MAP Magazine - presently on residency at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, […]
- James North Art Crawl: March
Despite last week’s obnoxiously epic snow storm, the weather took a turn for the decidedly pleasant for last night’s art crawl, drawing out the sort of large, enthusiastic crowd I’ve been longing to see on this occasion ever since I moved back to Hamilton last summer. It takes more than a stretch of galleries […]
- Barrie: The Rome of Ontario
Today is the last day of ‘Art and Cold Cash’ at the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie before it ostensibly makes its way to the Winnipeg Art Gallery, which made my visit yesterday something of an eleventh-hour effort, snuck in as it was on the morning after a late-night birthday party. Or rather, the […]
