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Petrochemical painting has something to say

A pretty and pretty repellent tapestry composed of a lot of bad decisions and ignorance is having a moment.It had a benign beginning eight years ago: to approach painting like making a quilt. It started when I discovered I could pour viscous acrylic paint onto acetate...

Lessons from the grad show

Art school is just the end of the beginningThe concourse was a crush on opening night at Emily Carr University’s Spring grad show. Seventies’ disco music fuelled giddy graduates clutching bouquets, hugging, posing for parents’ photos in front of their exhibits of...

Letting go and getting on it

Our job as artists is to imagine different futures (Originally published Feb. 23, 2025 on Substack)I made a bit of a scene when Friedrich Irrgang confirmed that he was retiring after 62 short years in the timepiece-repair business. And just what will become of my...

On radical self-care

Making ourselves whole through making​First there is shock. I saw it in a coffee shop in a small US city the morning Trump was elected — again. The place was full but hushed. “Are you okay?”, one customer after another whispered to the three female baristas. Nods....

A beautiful craftivism in a flowery part of the world

MORE THAN DECORATION: Flower images carry deep cultural significance for the Maya. Left: A figure dating from 600-900bc nestled in a lily. Centre: Needlepoint detail from a huipil (top), part of a traditional everyday dress. Right: Jesus emerging from a lily in an oil...

Am I blue? Yes, and grey and silver too

“Your hair seems blue,” a friend noted over dinner.It really is. I’ve joined the blue-rinse gang — emphasis on the blue. Denim blue is an unnatural hair hue that seems only natural now that I’m surrounded by heaps of old jeans and altering all those tones of...