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Canada awoke to the sad news this morning that NDP leader Jack Layton passed on in the early hours, in his home. We all knew he had been battling cancer (successfully, we thought…) for a while already, and we also knew that he was a fighter—so word of his passing hit us with a collective shock-wave.
Condolences to Olivia and Jack’s family—a very large family indeed…
Banff National Park, Alberta
I’ve just returned from a week-long road trip to the splendid Canadian Rockies with Bettie Blue, my trusty Westie companion—more rest, reading, and reflection than climbing this year, but a splendid time of refreshing renewal nonetheless.
You can see more photos in a Facebook gallery, here.
Vancouver, British Columbia
Sadly, my artist friend Jennifer Romita’s cat Powder passed on yesterday (not easy to take, I know how it feels). Powder has loomed large in Jennifer‘s work. Here’s some of what she’s shared…
I share my space with a small domestic cat named Powder. As cats go, she is particularly meek and fidgety, and certainly not the brightest. But what she lacks in understanding, she makes up for in affection. She wouldn’t hurt a fly even if she could. And though I may never dress her or take her around town in a stroller, Powder is very much like a child to me. I rarely think about her cousins in the wild that would sooner hunt me than see me as a reliable daily source of kitty treats.
We pet owners forget that our furry children are animals whose bodies and instincts have been honed over thousands of generations. Ironically, Powder is at her fiercest and most feral-looking when she’s preparing for a nap. When she yawns, I get a glimpse of the wild animal stalking around in her genes. So in honour of my gentle beast, I have tried to paint a portrait that captures this part of her nature that so often goes unnoticed. As this piece came together over the course of a month, the image itself began to alter the nature of my domestic environment. My space slowly became dominated by a savage beast I hardly recognized. The energy and wildness of Powder’s portrait is an absurd foil to her quiet presence.
I question our connection to adopted animal companions. Is it just anthropomorphism that distorts our bond, or do we perceive pets as genuinely less animal—and somehow more human—as a result of that bond? Whichever the case may be, I suspect that one of the essential properties of domestication is its capacity to further disconnect us from the “wild beasts” in nature, and ultimately, with the natural world around us.
Images: ‘RAWR’ and ‘Nose,’ both acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 40″, 2009.
Winnipeg, Canada
The great Canadian educator, philosopher, scholar, literary critic, rhetorician, and communication theorist Herbert Marshall McLuhan was born 100 years ago today, in Edmonton—though he grew up and studied here in the ‘Peg before moving on to Cambridge, Windsor, Toronto… and the world stage. McLuhan was a man of idioms and idiosyncrasies, deeply intelligent, and a soothsayer… learn more about him here.
Anyone who follows this blog knows that I quote McLuhan regularly (almost an understatement)… as you can witness here. I regret that I never got to meet him in person, though I did become acquainted with one of his daughters and her husband some years ago…
Thanks for all you left us to ponder, Marshall!
Image: one of a special set of Millennium stamps issued by Canada Post.
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
Wow, summer’s here with gusto… liberated the old bicycle from the shed this week, and had a pleasant drive along the lake (with water levels several feet higher than normal) with my Sweetie… looking forward to more times in the saddle in the months ahead.
I now ride a somewhat clunky 1980s-vintage 18-speed mountain bike, but I did once mount an authentic velocipede (center bottom in image above, with the huge front wheel) that belonged to a neighbour of ours when we lived on Florastrasse in Reinach, Switzerland, back in the 1960s… and I have owned sleeker road-bikes back in the day.
Montréal, Quebec
Just in time for Canada Day, I’m happy to announce that our latest set of commemorative stamps in the Canadian Recording Artists series has been launched. This series of stamps features black & white portraits of the artists, supported by typographic tapestries comprised of song titles. The iconic Canadian artists featured in this series are Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Robertson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and chanteuse Ginette Reno. CD-shaped booklets of 8 die-cut, pressure-sensitive stamps (along with envelope seals and information about each artist) are available in four styles, with individualized covers for each of the four artists. Also available are souvenir sheets, postcards, and an Official First Day Cover (OFDC, popular with philatelists).
CIRCLE has been designing the Canadian Recording Artists stamp series since 2007; the first series featured Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and Paul Anka; series two featured Édith Butler, Stompin’ Tom (Connors), Bryan Adams, and Robert Charlebois.
These limited edition stamps are available through post offices across the country as of 30 June 2011. They can be ordered online by following the links at Canada Post’s website www.canadapost.ca, or by calling toll-free: 1-800-565-4362 (Canada and the United States), or 1-902-863-6550 (from other countries).
Images: the round souvenir sheet on gummed stock; the four “postage paid” postcards, each featuring an enlarged stamp/portrait; and the Officidal First Day Cover (OFDC) with date-of-issue cancellations.
Vancouver, BC
Keith Martin is a remarkably talented designer and illustrator. I know him through the GDC (Society of Graphic Designers of Canada), our country’s national professional association, as well as from award-shows in which his work appears (including some of the most beautiful stamps every created for Canada Post). Keith is also known to those in our field as an outstanding teacher, and a helpful mentor.
Today he posted a link to the GDC Listserv (an ongoing conversation among Canadian designers that’s been going for over a decade now) along with some helpful advice regarding “keeping life in vector drawings.” I was blown away by the examples of his work that he pointed to in a Flickr set (here) and felt this was just too good not to share. (Hope you’re OK with that, Keith). (-:
Here’s how he described what you see above: “I think it is quite common for thumbnails to loose their energy/life when translated to vector. One way I have found to break out of that is to use a drawing tablet. I keep “drawing” the gesture repeatedly very quickly and then use the bits that work out. If you have never used one there is a bit of a learning curve, but I have found it to be an indispensable tool. Drawing with it (a tablet and stylus) using pressure sensitivity is a great way to capture that energy… here are some examples of my fluid vector work.”
“When I was doing these drawings I built a friendship with Kathryn Ricketts, the owner, dancer, choreographer of the dance school where I did these drawings. She was doing a series of performances where she improvised a dance performance with other art types (singers, musicians, poets,etc). What she created on stage was a conversation between herself and the other person through both artist’s disciplines. So I ended up doing a number of these with her where I was on stage with my laptop and a digital projector and I literally drew on her and the stage around her as she improvised dance movement from my drawings. Between us we had some interesting conversations without a word being spoken. We did this all over Vancouver, notably at the Chan Centre, the Vancouver Centre for Dance, and we even did a couple of the Fuse nights at the VAG (Vancouver Art Gallery).”
Images: part of a series of gestural sketches by Keith Martin of dancers in situ, done while watching dance students practice their craft. “These are quick 1 to 2 minute sketches using a stylus and tablet with a laptop, with the drawing program Adobe Illustrator.” All sketches were done at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver, Canada as part of the Salon Series, all are © Keith Martin, 2010.
Vancouver, Canada
Ice hockey is Canada’s national sport, and the annual crowning moment in the sport of hockey in North America is the winning of the National Hockey League’s (aka NHL, not actually national now with more U.S. teams than Canadian ones… but that’s another story) Stanley Cup. Most Canadians watched the Vancouver Canucks lose the final game of the series to the better-playing Boston Bruins in Vancouver earlier this week—and most were also mortified (ashamed, embarrassed, upset) at the full-moon riots (triggered by a relatively small group of anarchists and drunk teenagers) that ensued, sullying the reputation for human kindness and friendly hospitality that the City of Vancouver (and Canada in general, we’d like to think) has long enjoyed.
Among the thousands of photographs of rioting, looting, and general mayhem that appeared online within hours of the event, one image in particular caught the attention and imagination of viewers—and at almost light-speed, circled the globe to become an instant icon of an ironic moment in time. After having been knocked down by advancing police troupes armed with shields, Scott Jones and his girlfriend Alex Thomas were captured by photographer Rich Lam in what appears, at first blush, to be the amorous act of love-making—in reality, Scott was simply trying to comfort and calm her.
CBC’s news-sleuths were quick to track down and reveal the back-story (text article and a video interview) here.
You can’t always trust your eyes… especially with smoke in them.
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba
Thanks to the many who came out to visit Evelin Richter’s studio ‘What Clay Art & Curios’ as part of the 10th Wave Artists’ Studio Tour over the past two days. The weather was outstanding and the exchange with visitors was stimulating. Among the guests who attended, my Circle colleague Adrian Shum decided to document his impressions photographically by means of his iPhone—view an online Flickr gallery of what he captured here.
Thanks Adrian!
Images: thumbnails from the Flickr gallery; the ‘What Clay Art & Curios’ studio, workshop, and Ev’s house as seen from the street; some of the completed sculptural pieces on display in the “workshop gallery;” “Piercings” jewelery pieces of Ev’s (on sterling silver chains); and the ‘Domestic Goddess’ weather-vane I made for Ev a few years back…
