Winnipeg, Canada

My colleague Adrian Shum returned to the office this week (following a raucous visit to Toronto and Niagara Falls to fête an old friend’s wedding) with a wee token for each of us at Circle—friend Marian Bantjes’ Empathy Penny. While in Hogtown, Adrian trekked over to the downtown Gladstone Hotel, plugged $2.01 into the Pennysmash Machine a few times, and got these lovely value-added pennies back…

Empathy is a fine thing to have—it truly enriches lives.

Thanks Adrian. Thanks Marian. :-)

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

It’s been a busy weekend for Ev and I, focused on the 8th WAVE Artists Studio Tour. The incredibly hot, sunny weather provided a perfect close to the summer, though was also likely responsible for the smaller-than-expected turnout of visitors (many no doubt chose the beach over art, given the dearth of hot days over the past few months in Manitoba). Feedback from the 130-or-so who did drop by Ev’s studio was enthusiastic and positive—the greatest value of this gig is the opportunity for personal interactions and garnering individual’s responses to the art.

Photo: the lovely Elfriede Richter (who once again served up platters of delectable dainties to all comers) with daughter Ev and The Vamp outside the What? studio on Saturday morning.

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

There’s something about full-moon nights like this that make me oh-so-thankful to be living in such a wonderful place as Canada… if last night was a hint of things to come, our local coyotes will be serenading again (in exuberant, go-for-broke, multi-part harmony) around 03:00 or so…

Here’s a lovely tune by a truly fine Canadian chanteuse (finessing a piece written by the inimitable prairie-child, Joni Mitchell).

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Ev has been busy preparing for the second round of the 8th WAVE Artists Studio Tour, a self-guided event that takes place this Saturday and Sunday (5 and 6 September). She’ll have a selection of recent sculptural works (like this, this, and this) on display, as well as new series of thrown vessels and assemblage jewelery. The Fishfly Gallery in Winnipeg Beach also has some of her works on display (like this and the piece shown above). If you are in Manitoba, please do drop by… if not, you can see more of Ev’s work at What? Clay Art & Curios.

Images above: Third Time Lucky (with detail), a figurative slab-built stoneware sculpture, finished with burnished steel low-fire glazes and iron oxide stain, with found porcelain hand and bifocal eyeglasses; 430mm x 230mm x 545mm high. Ev’s comment: “Beach safety is always top of mind when living in a lakeside community… combine this with the fear of myopic perspective and you have ready-made irony within reach.”

Banff National Park, Alberta

I’ve (once again) spent the last wonderful week of August in the Canadian Rockies, a well-established pattern over the past decades. This time around things played themselves out somewhat more low-key (and lower-altitude) than in recent years, as simply “being” trumped “doing”—I was quite worn in body, soul, and spirit and in need of over-due rest and hiatus, so schemes of summits gave way to valley respite. As in past years, I drove out west and back with Bettie (a considerable pilgrimage of nearly 4000 km, return), and the old Dame proved largely reliable once again (I did end up jury-rigging an exhaust repair in Medicine Hat when her “throaty” tone turned downright rude and intrusive).

My week started with a fine visit in the new/old Calgary home of long-time climber friends Gregor and Janice, replete with a tour of the town the following day (the organic farmers’ market was both a surprise and a highlight). Then it was on to Canmore (a visit to the ACC’s clubhouse/head office) and then Tunnel Mountain campground in Banff, with touristic day-tripping to the Cascade Ponds, the Lake Minnewanka loop, Johnson Lake, and the original Hot Springs on Sulphur Mountain. Later in the week, I moved further west to Lake Louise, with a pleasant day at Moraine Lake (I had never hiked the entire lake-shore trail to the glacial water-source before) and a reconnoitre with Gregor and Janice for a Friday trek up to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House.

A somewhat grueling 17-hour return trip across the wind-swept prairies brought me back to Ev’s in Winnipeg Beach at 03:00 this morning… both tired and quite rested at the same time. :-)

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
—Psalm 121: 1, King James Bible

Images above: Retro signage at Banff Hot Springs on Sulphur Mountain; the surreal azure beauty of Moraine Lake; the Tower of Babel above Moraine Lake (I climbed the 10-pitch trad route along the left-edge skyline profile with Simon Statkewitch a few years back); my good mates Gregor Brandt and Janice Liwanag at a rest-stop; a view of the lower cliffs of Mount Lefroy and the exhilarating Fuhrmann Ledges by which we descended from Abbot Hut a year ago (this photo should help make sense of the bird’s-eye topo of the route I posted last year here).

Banff National Park, Alberta

Well… there’s a good chance I’ll make it out to the Rockies this summer after all. Stan the Van-Man is currently massaging Bettie a little (old Dames do like that so, don’t they), and with any luck I’ll find myself out in my favorite vertical playground within the week…

Photo: Castle Mountain (aka Eisenhower Tower) as photographed on 24 June 1884 by geologist and explorer A. P. Coleman. His ascent of Castle was one of the first significant climbs in Canada.

Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba

Evelin Richter’s sculpture ‘Peer Pressure’ has been selected as one of 20 pieces of art to be shown in the Manitoba Crafts Council 2009 Juried Exhibition. The show vernissage is 17 September at 19:30 at the Outworks Gallery, 290 McDermot Avenue in Winnipeg—then continuing on display until 29 September. From 1-29 October, the exhibition travels to the Viscount Cultural Centre in Neepawa.

‘Peer Pressure’ is a slab-built stoneware piece with low-fire glaze and assemblage (an antique bottle capper) on a waxed wooden base, 395mm x 200mm x 520mm. It’s a social commentary of sorts re: the failure of corporatism and the workaholics who drive themselves down along with sinking enterprise.

In her artist’s statement, Ev (my talented girlfriend) writes:

“I love creating with clay, making “something” from “nothing.” I love clay because of its sensuous pliability. My favorite tools are my hands—I experience and learn so much through the sense of touch. Figurative sculptures are particularly satisfying—I enjoy meeting new characters as they emerge out of the clay. I begin by visualizing, then wait for the shape to materialize through my hands. I know my work is going well when I lose track of time. I know a work is completed when it matches the image in my head, and when I can think of nothing else to add.”

See more of Ev’s work here.

…the guy who failed his Rorschach Test? (hint—that’s a joke)

I work with a talented young designer named Adrian Shum (who’s coincidentally celebrating his birthday today). Adrian blogs at the eponymous and palindromic MUHSASHUM, where he posted an interesting piece about a fast-evolving online controversy amongst psychologists regarding public exposure of Rorschach’s famous inkblots last week, here.

@Issue

Give the same creative brief to three different designers and you’re likely to get back three different solutions. Take for example the poster competition sponsored by the Canadian Council on Learning and the Canadian Commission of UNESCO to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and mark International Adult Learners’ Week last March. Sixty designers across Canada submitted their portfolios; three were commissioned to design posters around the theme “Learning is a Human Right.”  (Read what the three designers had to say about their individual approaches in the @Issue article here).

Posters by Andrew Lewis, Sergio Serrano, and good friend David Coates. Thanks to Oliver Oike for the link…

Asheville, North Carolina

A few weeks ago, after he interviewed me on his site, I sent Marty Weil of the ephemera blog an envelope containing some of the philatelic collectibles from the recent Canadian Recording Artists stamps that Circle designed for Canada Post. Marty has now produced and posted a short video of his response, here.

(Thanks again for your interest, Marty).