Response at Propeller Centre for the Arts

Keep an eye out for TEMPLE II (detail pictured above) in Response at Propeller next week! The show should be amazing...please try to make it out!

Response
Propeller Centre for Visual Arts
in the Main Gallery
June 6 - 17, 2007
Reception: Saturday June 9, 2-5 pm

Artists Include: Tara Bursey, Stephanie Cormier, Dan Dodds, Tyler Hilton, Seungyun Im, Martha Jeblonski-Jones, Donna Kwasnicki, John Lismer, Lucinda Luvaas, Amanda MacDonald, Jo Anne Maikawa, Ann Marino, Frances Patella, Tina Oehmsen-Clark, Kayli Rodgers, Tammy Salzl, Keijo Tapananien and Kara Williams.

We are surrounded by artistic gestures in a multitude of media. Art forms weave in and out of our everyday experiences. We are conditioned by them, although the processes which form them are often a mystery. How do we understand our perception of these media? How do we comprehend their messages whether overt or subliminal?

This unique show offers an opportunity for visual artists to respond to another art medium of their choice. Propeller throws open its doors to invite everyone to view visual responses to literature, film, video, performance, prayer, music or other form. The challenge was to translate the salient messages received from the medium of choice into a medium of the Visual Arts -- a dedicated image that illuminates and unlocks the perceived meaning of the vehicle of inspiration.

The schedule coincides with the Luminato Festival of Toronto (http://www.luminato.ca), this show will be a celebration of art in general and the specific perceptions of visual artists.

Watch web site for additional details about performances.

Propeller Centre for Visual Arts
984 Queen Street West,
Toronto, ON, M6J 1H1
Hours: Wed-Sat 12-6, Sun 12-5
Tel: 416.504.7142
Email: gallery@propellerctr.com
Web: http://www.propellerctr.com

From Russia With Love

From Russia with Love
Drawing/Installation
By Tara Bursey

June 1-30, 2007.
She Said Boom! Window Space
372 College Street
Toronto

Bookwork multiples are available exclusively through the mail for $5 each for the length of the exhibition only. Address orders to From Russia with Love: 301-110 Tyndall Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6K 2E2.

From Russia with Love is an installation featuring 54 portraits of Russian “mail order brides” drawn from photographs on internet sites. The installation is an extension of the artist’s previous work exploring serial portraiture- yearbook photos, WWII military portraits- and the idea of portraits of this nature serving as “human catalogues.” Using the laborious act of drawing each woman’s likeness by hand, the piece attempts to subvert the idea of these women being catalogued, while alluding to their commodification through their presentation within a storefront installation and bookwork “catalogue” multiple.

Tara Bursey is a recent graduate of the Toronto School of Art’s diploma program, and a former student at Ontario College of Art and Design. An artist whose practice encompasses sculpture and installation as well as drawing, printmaking and craft, Tara’s work is characterized by its ethereal quality, and an often obsessive use of repetition, pattern and delicate sculptural materials such as eggshells, garlic skin, found garments and paper. During her studies at the Toronto School of Art, Tara was the recipient of TSA’s Barbara Barrett Scholarship (2004) and Matthew David Stein Scholarship (2005). In the past two years, she has exhibited extensively throughout the city in such diverse venues as Open Studio, MOCCA, Eastern Front Gallery, Fly Gallery, and Propeller Centre for the Arts. In addition to her work as a fine artist, Tara also operates actively within Toronto’s independent music and small-press communities as a DJ, illustrator, designer, writer, and is currently a core member of the Toronto Zine Library collective. She was born and raised in Toronto, Canada.

For more information, contact:
Tara Bursey
She Said Boom! Window Space
ssbwindowspace@hotmail.com

Heather Saunders- It's A Girl!

Here are some details of the installation taken last night. More to come within the next couple of days!

Toronto Zine Library in Broken Pencil!

We're in their latest issue...check it out!

Zine Libraries: Alternative Learning Centres with Couches
MICHELLE KAY

Visiting a zine library isn't like going to a conventional library. You don't have to speak in hushed voices, you can bring in a hot beverage, sit on comfy couches, peruse independent, hard-to-find publications and meet other zine enthusiasts. Toronto's Zine Library is housed in the Tiki Roon at the TRANZAC, a community organization that promotes the arts, theatre and music. The Tiki Room is not large or fancy, but it serves the purpose of providing a cozy place for people to gather and read zines or listen to readings. Most zine libraries are more than just archives with dusty boxes but also act as meeting areas, hosting events, talks and workshops where artists, writers, activists, media critics and others can congregate to share ideas.

However, if you're already visiting the Toronto Reference Library, why not check out the zine library there? Broken Pencil donates there zines to provide the bulk of this collection. While the focus is on the Toronto zine scene, you will find other Canadian and international zines such as Montreal's Fish Piss. The zines are neatly arranged in folders and are stored alphabetically by title. They currently have about 700 zines, and if you need a break from your studies, it's conveniently located on the 4th floor of the library for your perusal.

According to Montreal's Bibliograph/e co-founder Anna Leventhal, "By having a place where zines are broadly accessable to the general public, there is a chance of maybe breaking down some of the barriers between media producers and media consumers." It serves as a kind of "nexus for people who are interested in alternative media, original writing and weird art." The Toronto Zine Library Collective's Tara Bursey likens zine libraries to political infoshops in that they "provide people with a venue for free information exchange and learning without interference or moderation. Both are places that could be considered alternative learning centres or 'free schools.'"

Halifax's Anchor Archive is found in Sarah Evans' and Sonia Edworthy's living room in a detatched house in North Halifax on Roberts Street. Evans states, "The purpose of the Anchor Archive- and I would guess most zine libraries- is to share zines, often a hidden and inaccessible type of publication, with anyone who is interested." Anchor Archive also organizes zine fairs and since 2006, has been running artist/writer/zinemaker-in-residence programs where residents move into the backyard shed- which is cleaned out to hold a bed and a desk- for a few weeks or a month and work on projects, holding office hours during the library's open hours. They are a great opportunity for collaboration and allow for out-of-towners as well as local folks a chance to work on a project while using the resources of Anchor Archive. Past residents include Dennis Hale, Sarah Mangle, Jeff Miller and Sara Spike, and Iris Porter.

Zine libraries are mostly volunteer-run, recieving little funding except when supporters and organizers decide to pay for expenses out of their own pockets. They are truely labours of love. Says Evans, "Halifax has a real shortage of public spaces that are community-run, art-based, and when we moved in here, we decided that a zine library would be a good focal point for starting something. There was always a lot of interest in zine fairs or workshops we were organizing."
Broken Pencil #35

Toronto Zine Library at the London Indie Media Fair

This Saturday, the Toronto Zine Library will be tabling at the 2nd annual London Indie Media Fair. The fair will feature Indie/DIY groups tabling their wares as well as a number of fantastic workshops. The Toronto Zine Library table will feature our physical catalogue, highlights from our collection, the TZL zine and pins for sale as well as many other goodies and surprises. If you are in the London area, please come down and say hi to us!



London Indie Media Fair
Saturday, May 12th, 2007
12-4:30pm
at the London Public Library,
Central Branch
251 Dundas Street
London, Ontario

Compulsion Soap

Here's a picture I took recently of my Compulsion Soap multiples. They are a year and a half old, and for some reason, I've never taken decent pictures of them until now. Over 150 of these hand-carved soaps exist...they were one of the first of my multiple works that dealt with the theme of "domestic anxiety," which I have addressed numerous times through numerous multiple works since...