Fidget

Fidget is the project I have been dedicating most of my spare time to for the past month. The installation will eventually be comprised of several strands of handmade worry beads (komboloi), modelled after the traditional ones known and used in Greece as a tool for relaxation and meditation.

My intention with Fidget is, as with other works of mine, to address the ways in which we use repetition and repetative acts to desensitize ourselves, and to allude to the constructive and destructive implications of this instinct.

I'll be submiting this piece to a show called Insomnia, which will take place at Red Head Gallery during Toronto's Nuit Blanche festivities. (Saturday, September 30th, sunset to sunrise)

More pictures, and possibly as short statement to come soon...

Upcoming Shows/Events

September 2006- The Business of Art: a panel discussion with guests Lynne Wynick (Wynick/Tuck Gallery), Wil Kucey (le. Gallery), Nicole Collins (Moderator) and myself at Toronto School of Art
October 2006- From Russia With Love (solo) at Fly Gallery, Toronto
October 2006- Fantasy Fashion Show 9 (Gallery 1313 benefit) at Gallery 1313
November 2006- Shadow Box Exhibition (group) at the Textile Museum
November 2006- TSA Alumni Exhibition (group) at TSA Gallery, Toronto
December 2006- Holiday Show and Auction (group) at Bobby Five Gallery, Toronto

www.tsa-art.ca
www.g1313.org
www.textilemuseum.ca
www.bobbyfive.com

From Russia With Love

Here are some additional From Russia With Love images I took a few nights ago. They are neat because they are the the only documentation I've made of the process so far. The lower of the two images is of my source material, exactly as I see it...one of two or three Russian bride websites I haunt regularily for images. The other picture is of the first sixteen-or-so portraits I did, laid out on my floor

similarily to how they will be installed (side by side) in the storefront window. It's funny that from far away- like from across the road from the installation- the subtle drawings will probably just look like dots, evenly spaced out.

I'm actually in the middle of a three-week break from the Russia project because I am tied down to a sculptural project I have to have done by the first week of September. I find that my mind always wanders back to this work, though. I can't wait to start the bookwork aspect of From Russia With Love...seeing a book or zine come together, especially one of substantial size, is always exciting. The bookwork multiple of this project will eventually be for sale through me for about $10 each.

Me, published?

I just recieved word that my "recipe" for record sleeve notebooks will be included in the upcoming book "Making Stuff: An Alternative Craft Anthology." I got the spot through my old friend Vikki in England, who I know from a vintage clothing store I used to work at years ago. The book is due out in October in the UK and November in the US and here, and will be released on London's Black Dog Publishing. It should be available at Pages and David Mirvish Books as well as other new book retailers. Keep an eye out for it this fall!

Check out a preview of Making Stuff on Black Dog's website:
http://www.bdpworld.com/books/list/design/makingstuff/makingstuff.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1904772617/202-0533691-8646239?v=glance&n=266239