- Old-school Leonard Nimoy is totally (not) relevant to my artistic practice
Among the daily slew of Akimbo announcement emails to hit my inbox this morning was one odd bunny in particular that managed to penetrate the fog created by inadequate coffee supplies (my Bodum coffee press has a crack in the glass) and an impending grant deadline:
The Owens Art Gallery (Sackville NB) is looking for Artists […]
- The Archive and Everyday Life: A Visual Arts Guide
This weekend, McMaster University’s Department of English & Cultural Studies is hosting The Archive and Everyday Life, a conference that promises to bring high humanities studies down to earth for a close look at the commonplace. This merging of disciplines means that there will be several related openings and events at McMaster and on James […]
- Honey vs. Oil: On Pedagogy in Art
While last week’s three-parter on The Big Picture Revisited revealed time and again that Hamilton sorely lacks a granting body for artists, that fact doesn’t save me from pending grant deadlines for both the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council. And yes, both anecdotal and statistical evidence from that forum showed quite plainly the […]
- ‘A Field Guide to Observing Art’ at McMaster
After a series of delays and hints over the past week or so on this blog, I’m glad to finally have a sufficient window of opportunity to say a few things about A Field Guide to Observing Art at the McMaster Museum of Art. While I’ve already commented in passing on this exhibition’s value as […]
- A postscript (and continuation) on the dubious value of art education
The conversation around art education that got rolling last week among various blogs including this one has picked up a further thread courtesy of Gabrielle Moser, who is herself just starting a PhD in Art History and Visual Culture at York alongside those same contentious studio-based PhD candidates. As someone with an insider’s view on […]
- In the studio last week
With blog-worthy content running at a veritable trickle, I had an excess of blessed studio time in which to experiment with a few unanswered questions. One of those being, can I feasibly adapt my work to a traditional bookmark format just because of a random call for submissions? Perhaps it’s a lingering affection for Barrie […]
- Stendhaliance: From Mona Lisa to Asia Argento
I did warn last week that August can be a slow month for art, and with many of the other art blogs I frequent running at half-capacity as a result, there have been days that seem to do little but reinforce this seasonal disorder of ennui and downright exodus. This was perhaps most tellingly demonstrated […]
- On Monsters, or art in times of strife
I’m pretty sure summer is meant to be an easier and even sun-shinier time, but lately it seems as though my own view and everyone else’s has been one designed to reinforce how bloody hard it can be to make art happen. And now that the rain’s let up for two whole days in a […]
- Survival and the Seventies at MKG127
I’m grateful June is almost over as this whole month has been the death of good intentions, one of which was to go see I Can’t Stop This Feeling: Crisis, Comfort and Craft at MKG 127. Of course, this exhibition closes June 27 and while I will be in Toronto tomorrow, it’ll be to watch […]
- Saying what we already knew (now with numbers!)
Nothing quite brightens my day like a tidy, official report reminding me not only of how utterly dirt-poor I am, but also that I’m far from exceptional in this regard. And yes, apparently it’s that grim but all the same I believe Michael Maranda (assistant curator at the Art Gallery of York University) has done […]
