97th Annual OCAD University Graduate Show

97th Annual OCAD University Graduate Show

May 3rd - 6th, 2012

Opening Reception May 3rd, 2012   6:30 - 11pm

OCAD University

100 McCaul Street, Toronto

* Printmaking Graduates located in the Central Hall, on the 2nd floor of the main building.

8 Vignettes

8 Vignettes

A Collaboration of Art and Music between
OCAD University and the Royal Conservatory of Music

April 20th, 2012
Performances begin at 7:30pm

The Music Gallery

197 John Street, Toronto

On Friday, April 20, a once-in-a-lifetime collaborative performance between OCAD U’s fourth-year Printmaking students and musicians from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music will take place at The Music Gallery in Toronto. The collaboration is the brainchild of renowned Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer and his good friend, OCAD U Printmaking Professor Rudolf Bikkers.

Invited guests will experience eight vignettes, each featuring a musical composition written by an RCM student paired with one or more printmaking students, who have created works that range from sculptural in nature to those that include projected elements, lighting, animation and installation. Guests will intermingle among the performances as a part of them.

The performance will feature works by OCAD U students Arend Currie, John Ekonomakos, Elizabeth Ortolan, Melissa Cormier, Annie Cormier, Megan Cunningham, Krystina Plante, Lee Aaron Wiesblatt, Ryan Reid Millard, Ashley Lil Eisen, Alexa Hatanaka, Jean Romano, and Annyen Lam.

The students from the Glenn Gould School are Taylor N McGee (violinist), Danielle Girard (violinist), Sophie Baird-Daniel (harpist), Ruth D’Souza (vocalist), Teddy Wiggins (violinist), Vladimir Tsyglian (vocalist), Carlos Hernondez (pianist), Sahara Sloan (vocalist), Dave Shewchuk (violinist/composer), Nicholas King (pianist), Autumn Chodorowski (vocalist), Minjoo Jo (pianist), Lucas Porter (composer) and Tao Chen (coordinator).

Due to space considerations the event is restricted to invited guests, but the performance will be documented by OCAD U Visual Resources, and made available via the university’s library later this summer.


Read the entire article

Rock N Roll 4

Rock N Roll 4

A Celebration of Stone Lithography

April 19th - 29th, 2012

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Sunday   12 - 7pm

Closing Reception April 28th, 2012   7pm - 1am

Oz Studios

134 Ossington Avenue

Rock N Roll shows are always a bangin' party with awesome people and artists from the community. Come out and celebrate with us on Saturday April 28th!!

Works for sale

We Killed It!

WE KILLED IT!!!!

Black Sheep was a HUGE success!!

Thank you to the hundreds of people who came out to celebrate with

us and make it such a special night!!

Also, special thanks to The Gladstone Hotel and their excellent staff

who have gone above and beyond for us.

Stay tuned for the next Black Sheep show!
Baaahhh!!!

Black Sheep Press - Toronto's Best Parties

Local magazine, The Grid, has featured the Black Sheep show in this weeks edition of The Night List, a prediction of the top 5 best parties to attend in Toronto, during April 5th-11th!

Go Black Sheep! We're everywhere!! We can't be stopped!!! BAAAHHH!!!!

Highlight:

Thursday: Black Sheep, an OCAD printmaking exhibition

Gladstone Gallery, 1214 Queen Street West, second floor. #WQW Free. Runs until April 24. Doors at 7 p.m.
Looking for a custom throw pillow? Maybe fund a rad t-shirt line upstart? If you’re looking to stumble upon the next big nu-art thing being birthed in this town, stumble no further than OCAD’s thesis exhibit. The exhibit’s namesake, the “Black Sheep,” is merely the beginning of realness, and what I’m taking as an allegory for the incoming generation’s craving/quest for the unique among the complacent and conservative. Look for lithography, etching, relief and screen printing transformed into sculptural, installation and bookmaking projects. Themes include: “the death drive to post-human transformations, folklore to popular culture, collecting to cultural persistence, and traditional ideologies from the Classical to the Romantic.” Ones to watch: nature-led Melissa Cormier, visionary-of-all-trades Jimmy Brannen, and rebel girl Kaelan Karjalainen. Find out more here, and watch a promo video from the class here.

Pick up your copy on news-stands across the GTA!
Visit the website for their full review

Black Sheep

Black Sheep

April 5th – 23rd, 2012

Gallery Hours 12 – 5pm daily

Opening Reception April 5th, 2012 7 – 10pm

The Gladstone Hotel – 2nd Floor Gallery

1214 Queen Street West, Toronto

Poster version designed by Krystina Plante

Showcasing the artwork of OCAD University’s 2012 Printmaking Thesis Graduates:

Jimmy Brannen

Megan Cunningham

Annie Cormier

Melissa Cormier

Arend Currie

John Ekonomakos

Nathan Enkel

Jean Ferderber

Alexa Hatanaka

Kaelan Karjalainen

Annyen Lam

Ashley Lil

Ryan Reid Millard

Allison Philp

Krystina Plante

Xenia Vakova

Lee Aaron Wiesblatt

The Gladstone Hotel - Upcoming Events Listing - Black Sheep

The Gladstone Hotel features Black Sheep:

Black Sheep

Thu, Apr 5, 2012 - Tue, Apr 24, 2012

12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Cover: FREE

Venue: Gladstone Gallery (2nd Floor)

Visual Arts

Poster design by Krystina Plante

In the Printmaking Department of OCADU, each student offers their unique vision to the timeless mediums of lithography, etching, relief and screen printing. In this exhibition, Printmaking’s graduates have both supported the mediums two dimensional tradition, and transformed it into sculptural, installation and bookmaking projects.

With urgency and enthusiasm, these artists find their own niches and approaches for their work, expanding their sights beyond the institutional space to a cultural landscape. Themes explore a variety of delights including: the death drive to post-human transformations, folk lore to popular culture, collecting to cultural persistence, and traditional ideologies from the Classical to the Romantic.

Come celebrate with the graduating printmakers, as they reveal their thesis works!

With works by: Jimmy Brannen, Annie Cormier, Melissa Cormier, Megan Cunningham, Arend Currie, Ashley Eisen, John Ekonomakos, Nathan Enkel, Jean Ferderber, Alexa Hatanaka, Kaelan Karjalainen, Annyen Lam, Ryan Reid Millard, Allison Philp, Krystina Plante, Xenia Vakova, and Lee Wiesblatt.

Please join us for the opening reception Thurs April 5th, 7-10pm

 The Gladstone Hotel Events Listing for Black Sheep

Check out The Gladstone Hotel Blog

Black Sheep Promo Video

Oh Yeah! We're ballin'!
Who else has a promo video?!!!

Special THANKS to Jimmy Brannen for all his hard work in the making of this amazing video!

Black Sheep Posters

Wicked poster designs for the upcoming Black Sheep show!!

Poster designed by Melissa Cormier

Poster designed by Ryan Reid Millard

Poster designed by Krystina Plante

Poster designed by Jimmy Brannen

Poster designed by Lee Aaron Wiesblatt

RIP Aaron Marx

 

Tragically, Aaron Marx, the owner and curator of Studio 561 has passed away this week. He was a kind and full of life man, and I am so grateful to have been able to meet him and share many laughs with him before he was taken away, much too soon. He will be deeply missed! 

My condolences go out to his loved ones.

The Honey Badger Don't Give A Shit!

This video is f-ing hilarious!!! And the honey badger IS pretty badass!!!

Local Musical Talent

Somebody That I Used To Know - Walk Off The Earth (Gotye Cover)

Five people singing and playing one guitar...needless to say this is pretty awesome!

Guy Laramee

Canadian multi-disciplinary artist Guy Laramee from Montreal, Quebec is making some absolutely breathtaking artist books. I would love to see him work!

Check out his work at www.guylaramee.com

Levi's - Representin' Printmaking!

Way to go Levi's! Representin' Printmaking! Badass!!!

Creating Printing Plates with Laser Toner

Bill Ritchie, from Halfwood Press demonstrates how to create an image transfer by using a laser print on silicone-backed label stock, which is a shipping label paper. The interesting thing about his technique is this specific paper that he is using for his transfer, since the backing of the label stock paper can then be re-used later for the back of his plate as an acid resist.
In part 2 of this video series he works back into the image with a scribe, burnisher and scraper to make it less photographic and more like an original drawing. The transfer is etched lightly so that it may just be used as a starting point. In my opinion this is the way that all photo etchings should be treated. Simply duplicating a photographic image within a print medium seems like a bit of a waste of time, and sort of stale.
I have posted both parts of this video just in case you are interested in seeing him continue working on this plate, but it is only part 1 that I am really interested in, because it is this paper he uses in creating the substrate that intrigues me. These and many other Halfwood Press videos can be found on YouTube.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

Gocco Printing

The other day I was craft-gawking and saw that someone had made some "gocco print" journals, and I had no idea what they meant. So I Googled it and found that it is this neat little printmaking machine from Japan that was super popular in the 80's and is now making a come-back...like all things 80's and awesome! You can only create an image that's about 4x6", but it's a pretty cool thing to have at home for making invitations, cards or small-scale editions. I've seen some people use it for making zines on-the-go which is a really awesome idea! Although, seeing as it is a somewhat rare product, which is only found in Japan, I'm not sure how easy it would be to order the special inks, bulbs, or exposure sheets that this machine requires. Never-the-less it's a neat little toy and if I had one I'd probably use it quite a bit. 

Check it out! I've posted 2 different video tutorials

Watch the short nerdy Etsy demo video

OR

Watch the hilariously cheesy in-depth demo video from the 80's

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

Kirk Demarais - Film Family Portraits

I caught a glimpse of these portraits at the bottom of a page from Cineplex Magazine back in 2010, with a tiny article titled The Art Of Film. I tore it out and it's been stuck to my bulletin board ever since. I am having a love affair with Kirk Demarais' series Film Family Portraits. What an idea! So clever! And they're so simply and perfectly executed in just pencil crayon alone. Why didn't I think of this first?! Koodos Kirk! I really want one! Perhaps a family portrait from Snatch?! Badass!

The Torrances, inspired by The Shining
I want this one. *Hint Hint Mr. Demarais!*



The Johnsons, inspired by The Jerks



The Hoovers, inspired by Little Miss Sunshine



The Huxtables, inspired by The Cosby Show
Two originals commissioned. One by actress Kristen Wiig. This one by comedian/actor Nick Kroll



The McFlys, inspired by Back To The Future


Check him out at http://www.kirkdemarais.com/

Vicki Nerino

Toronto-based artist Nicki Verino "makes things from stuff". Very obscene things most of the time! The obscene-ery isn't really shown here but check out her website if you wanna see lots of flabby vaginas and abnormally long soft dicks in some awkward situations! Gotta love a free spirit! The girls got talent though! Super imaginative and humourous narratives. I love the heavy scribbled style and punches of red tones throughout.

Here's a few of my favourites from this awesome up and coming local artist.

Check her out at http://www.vickinerino.com/

Or visit her blog at http://www.vickinerino.blogspot.com/

Smoking Lily

I've saved this snipped article from an Elle Canada mag-azine about West Coast screen-printers Smoking Lily for the past 10 years. I didn't want to let myself forget how awesome these Canadian entre-preneurs were. Their designs are simple but in-ventive, aesth-etically pleasing and often humorous. Their accessories and housewares are my particular fav-ourites. Not to mention the screenprinted recycled furniture as well. It's inspiring to see artists turning their craft into careers, and it gives me hope for the future!

If you're not in the B.C. area, check out Smoking Lily's beautiful website and blog at www.smokinglily.com/

Photoshoot With Mom

A few weeks ago my mom and I had a fun mini photoshoot together to capture the perfect portrait

to send to my Grandfather in Quebec for his wall of family photos!

Here's a few that we managed to take in between giggles!





My Favourite



The Winning Photo



Gregory Crewdson

In my first year of University I was introduced to the narrative photographic works of artist Gregory Crewdson. His work has resonated with me over the years and he has overwhelmingly become my favourite photographer. Within my own narrative works I have felt that it is the most minute details that can make the difference between holding intrigue or falling flat, being believable or being forgettable. It is these small nuances that I obsess over. Crewdson is the master of this obsession, spending sometimes months working on the most elaborate sets in order to capture that one perfect photograph.His attention to detail, and use of lighting alone are impecable! Every photograph is like a still from a movie. A strange, dream-like moment, heavy with narrative.

View the entire series of photographs in the following slideshow

Cardmaking

A night of cardmaking with my mom, to make cards for our family in Quebec. I love craft nights!