Bees and bubble tea straws inspire new work
My mind has been buzzing with thoughts of legendary environmentalist-artist Joseph Beuys as I’ve been hatching an idea for a public artwork that is not so much intrusive as inclusive, especially if…
Duct-taping a torso just the ticket
Everything I need to know I learn on blogs , at least when it comes to making stuff. Most recently, I needed to display a knitted artwork for an upcoming show this weekend but I did not want a…
Some powerful signs at Sochi
The signs, they are a-changing . But to see them you have to look past the visual bombardment of dead-eyed-Kardashian-object images, pop-up balloon-boob ads, and the opening scenes of violence…
Something potent in unapproved public art
It’s official: the Dude Chilling Park sign, a guerrilla-art installation by recent Emily Carr industrial design grad Viktor Briestensky, has been reinstated, with full approval by the city’s parks…
Designs on the halter dress-tool belt combo
Most people will admit that their everyday clothes are a sort of uniform. We need to keep it pretty simple because we’re likely dressing in the dim of the still-dark morning when we’d rather spend…
procraftination spikes when math hits
I was told there would be no math. Turns out there’s nothing but math in making things, and all kinds of math in packaging it all up for clients and justifying it all to Revenue Canada. I love to…
Innovation can be a risky business
Coming up with new ideas is not without its hazards. The world-renowned Noma restaurant is a case in point. Chef-patron Rene Redzepi uses what grows in the area, innovating astounding food…
A time-based dwelling-sculpture called home
This is clearly not a staged photo. Pretty much every rule of home decor is ignored here in this old East Van house. And that’s why I love it. Maybe it’s the weather but I’ve just about had enough of…
Of portraits and the patriarchy
When my brother showed me his inherited oil painting of a senior citizen , my first thought was: Yeesh. No wonder the young nudes endure. They may not be remembered by history, like this unfamiliar…
Making merry makes the maker
The Crassmas season is one big distraction to me. But once I remind myself that a gift does not have to be a solution to someone’s problem but a simple, seasonal gesture, I embrace the chance to…
true craftsman makes a crazy idea real
While the rest of us are scrambling to post our recent activity , build our brand, be a part of the online conversation, Noah is solving problems through metal. His underwhelming website is testimony…
When words are not enough
When the news hit yesterday of the death of the world’s greatest humanitarian of my generation you could almost hear the cries of grief — and celebration . When the tears dry and the dancing…
Just a bad craft? Time and techonology will tell
I’m posting this picture because if I don’t do it now I might cram this doomed project into a green garbage bag and stuff it where the sun don’t shine: in deep storage. I’ve seen through some…
The most powerful art might be made of garbage
The astronomical private art-investor feeding frenzy at prestigious auction houses is light years away from art. It’s a greedy need for prestige, worlds apart from the hand of Picasso or Andy Warhol…
Designs for the rich look like cheap tricks following calamity
Nothing against the design visionary of Zaha Hadid but all this global starchitecture looks like rich people’s toys in the wake of disasters like Typhoon Haiyan. This is no time for designers to…
Bushwacking through the geometric jungle
I read two articles in the old-timey newspapers this morning , one revealing that speaking another language may help delay dementia and the other suggesting that sitting for eight hours a day can…
Art trumps ads by just a whisper
They say if you want someone’s attention, whisper. Or maybe that was just a line from a Whisper pantyhose commercial back in the ’70s. Whispering to get attention isn’t easy in an image-packed urban…
Horrifying rugs, Collectible rags inspire
I became acutely aware that craft can pack a serious political punch when I first saw a fleeting image of an Afghan rug designed with bombs, grenades and exploding figures, created by children. It’s…
when dress-up becomes an artform
Thank god for The Walking Dead . It is the one force that has the power to kill off the overpopulation of pink princesses. All that Pepto-Bismol-hued froth and glitter kicks in my gag reflex but I’m…
A potent show of Fabric unfolds at the Vancouver Art Gallery
Internationally renowned artist Kimsooja was verklempt at the opening reception for her show, Unfolding , at the Vancouver Art Gallery Thursday. Her audience would soon feel that emotion unfolding…
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