So Voix de Ville was a blast. A photo of Alexa Fraser, me, and poor Dante-the-Puppet as we wait to perform The Enormous Elsewhere's Magic Show of Mishaps.
Updates
Chatting with the Mayor about Voix de Ville
Me wearing my artist and my NAC board pres hats at the same time. Annie Wilson and I start talking at about 15:00.
Studio
In about six weeks, this sweet garage will be fixed up and studio ready. Finally, a contractor is coming through. New windows, drywall, insulation (essential for the cold Canadian winters), new lighting, new electrical outlets, a railing for the loft. It will be good. Of course this means I’m spending far too much on Pinterest looking at storage and studio set up, but there are worse ways to fritter one’s time.
The PGG & a Spring Water Show
I’ve been somewhat lazy this summer, and with September ten days away, work anxiety is setting in. But the anxiety is nice and focussing – I want to get work done. Lots of work done. I am excited about many of my upcoming projects. The two projects I’m turning my attention to this week (aside from two commissions that must get done) are an upcoming show at the Niagara Artists Centre (NAC) and a puppet show that I’m plotting with my frequent collaborator and good friend, Alexa Fraser.
In September, Puppet-a-Go-Go has a show in the Plate Glass Gallery of the NAC. The show is not a live puppet show, but rather a tableau. An audience of puppets watching a puppet show. All four Puppet-a-Go-Go members have to make a bunch of puppets for the audience and then we each (and this is the part that has me so excited) make a scene – a frozen moment – for the puppets to watch. The scene changes monthly, and my scene – my frozen moment in time – is first up. Seamore (or with those eyes, should it be Seemore?) the Squid, pictured above, is part of the puppet audience, and I’m going to make some other deep sea creatures to sit with him. Seamore is made from an old tablecloth and a too-small dress. I have a fairly intense squidphobia, but a friend of mine who is an excellent storyteller recently told me about an encounter he had with a squid, and the story was so vivid and funny that I felt compelled to stitch together Seamore.
My other current work obsession is the puppet show that Alexa and I are developing for the spring. It involves water, wetsuits, and will likely feature a different puppet cephalopod. More on it as it develops.
The OAC Rocks!
Many thanks to the Ontario Arts Council for supporting me in exhibiting my work in the recent Puppet-a-Go-Go show. I was thrilled to receive word recently that I’m the recipient of an Exhibition Assistance grant. The OAC also generously supported me in the continued development of Virginia, a TYP play that I’m co-creating with Cole Lewis, an artist and friend who I greatly admire. Earlier this month, Cole and I spent two days at Carousel Players working on our script and design with the help of some very talented people, Jessica Carmichael (Artistic Director of Carousel Players), Sam Ferguson (sound designer), Deanna Jones (actor), and Tara Koehler (actor).
Photo courtesy of Carousel Players.
Puppet-a-Go-Go
The Puppet-a-Go-Go show was great fun, though the lead up was a little frantic. Alexa Fraser and I were working on our marionettes until the last possible moment, and we went from 12 marionettes to 5, but we figured 5 was a party and 12 would be too much. Right? Honestly, we were both so busy completing other projects that we knew we had to reduce the numbers. But we were happy with what we accomplished and the wall of 1000+ finger puppets was a wonder to behold.
Photo of a few of my finger puppets by Joe Lapinski.
A Fabric Moth is a Good Start
I want to re-create an Eastern Ontario woodland scene in fabric sculptures. Just because.
Setting for a Fairy Tale
Setting for a Fairy Tale by Joseph Cornell
With all the mask and puppet making of the past few months, I’ve been itching to get back to some collage work. Making the collages for Alice in Plunderland was completely absorbing. I loved it. I had fun at my show too, and I recently received a generous cheque from the Ontario Arts Council for Exhibition Assistance, making it all the sweeter. Thank you OAC!
Now I’m combing through books to find a fairy tale or legend to illustrate, but the more books I look at, the more source material I flip through, the more I think I want to work on a personal project that I’ve had at the back of my mind for years. I can’t talk about it of course – not until it’s well underway.
As I think about collage, read stories and look at images, one of my favourite pieces of art, Joseph Cornell’s Setting for a Fairy Tale, keeps coming to my mind. It is so simple, elegant, beautiful, and it contains untold stories of promise and heartache.