On The Waterfront at Hamilton Winterfest

On The Waterfront happened and wrapped only one short day ago. Main documentation to come soon, but here are some fun snaps taken by others found on Twitter.

The End in the Spectator

Nice mention of my piece The End (Evelyn Prentice) in the Hamilton Spectator today, in both the Spec print paper and website. Thanks to Spec art critic Regina Haggo for the mention in her review of the Invitational exhibition at you me gallery, which is up for another week or so. The closing reception and informal artist's talks will take place on Sunday, February 8th at 2 pm for those who are interested.

Read the review for yourself here: http://www.thespec.com/whatson-story/5295130-an-inviting-exhibition/ 

Winterlore on AKIMBLOG

Nice mention of last year's Hamilton Winterfest exhibition, Winterlore, on Akimblog's 2014 Critic's Picks, Hamilton edition. Thanks, Stephanie Vegh!

http://www.akimbo.ca/akimblog/?id=962

This year's exhibition is fast approaching. More info in this recent post here.

Hamilton Winterfest

There are some very exciting exhibitions on the horizon in Hamilton that I'm involved with that may be of interest to those in the area engaged in the often intersecting worlds of art and heritage. I'm putting on another outdoor exhibition as part of Hamilton Winterfest this February. On The Waterfront, as well as Things Made Here are unique shows that celebrate material culture and local history. See below, as well as Tourism Hamilton's website for more details!

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On The Waterfront
A Hamilton Winterfest Exhibition

Lesley Loksi Chan

Fwee Twade (Becky Katz and Matt McInnes)

Hopkins Duffield

Carey Jernigan and Julia Campbell-Such

Aaron Oussoren

C. Wells

To be on the waterfront is to be on the threshold of something. The waterfront is where settlers landed, and early trade took place. In the 19th Century, the area surrounding Pier 8 was home to some of the city’s first industrial sites, among them an iron works, boat works, sail loft and glass company. In On the Waterfront, industrial sites will serve as points of departure for contemporary artists from around and outside of the region. Evocative outdoor installations will draw on skills, materials and forms associated with early industry, as well as the social history of the neighbourhood. This exhibition will consider the Hamilton’s waterfront as a site of historical significance, tension and possibility, as well as a place where past stories and dreams of the future collide.

At the Hamilton Winterfest Kick-Off Event: February 7, 2015
12:00pm – 8:00pm

Pier 8, Hamilton


Things Made Here: The Collection of Glen Faulman
January 31 to March 21 2015
AGH Design Annex
118 James Street North, Hamilton

Glen Faulman (AKA The Hamilton Kid) is a 10th generation Hamiltonian and a 3rd generation steelworker. He is also part owner of This Ain’t Hollywood on James Street North—needless to say he has great pride in this city, and in particular, the things made here. Glen’s goal is to collect “an artifact from every manufacturing plant that ever operated in Hamilton,” which would be a number approaching a thousand.

On view at the AGH Design Annex are selections from his extensive collection of objects made in Hamilton. From a late 19th century sewing machine produced at a factory formerly located at James Street North and Vine Street, to a stunning Hamilton cash register made on James Street North at Colbourne, to nail samples and graphic ads for soda pop and beer, these everyday artifacts will be familiar to long-time Hamiltonians. They are a stunning introduction for those less familiar. Three types of objects are on display: graphic designs used commercially, the things themselves that were produced, and the things to make things with, such as nails and other components.

At the AGH Design Annex, we provide a platform for contemporary local designers. This exhibition will situate newer pieces in the context of historic local production, with the goal of celebrating those aspects of graphic and industrial design that have stood the test of time.

Curated by Melissa Bennett (Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton) and Tara Bursey (Independent Curator).

Join us during Art Crawl on Friday February 13, from 7 pm to 11pm as we launch the exhibition Things Made Here: The Collection of Glen Faulman. Meet the Collector and revel in DJ Johnny Angel’s 78 Spin Out – playing all your favorite 78’s.

For more information:

http://www.tourismhamilton.com/festivals-events/winterfest-2015/art-winterfest-2

Supercrawl 2015 Call for Artist Submissions

This is a public service announcement on behalf of the Supercrawl Curatorial Committee!

Supercrawl 2015 Call for Artist Submissions


Deadline: Tuesday December 16, 2014


Supercrawl is a free annual outdoor art and music festival in downtown Hamilton, and the Supercrawl Curatorial Committee is excited to once again release our Call for Artists for 2015. Supercrawl celebrates the unique mix of arts organizations, cultures, businesses and creative people along James Street North in Hamilton. Last year Supercrawl attracted over 100,000 attendees and will continue to grow in scale in 2015.



The Supercrawl Curatorial Committee presents a wide variety of artistic projects at the annual James Street North Supercrawl. The goal of the committee is to curate contemporary public art which challenges site and context, as well as works that present new opportunities for access and engagement for Supercrawl attendees.



The committee selects projects by local, national and international artists based on artistic merit, originality, and ability to integrate within the festival's scale and energy. This committee reports to the Supercrawl Board of Directors. Since 2010, the committee has curated works in a variety of media, including projects by Dean Drever, Zeke Moores, Sean Martindale, BGL, Kelly Mark, Kim Adams, Max Streicher, and many others. Committee members are Melissa Bennett, Tara Bursey, Amy Kenny, Courtney Lakin, Ciara McKeown, Dane Pederson, Alana Traficante, Stephanie Vegh and Matthew Walker.



facebook.com/Supercrawl

instagram.com/supercrawl

youtube.com/user/JamesStSuperCrawl


supercrawl.tumblr.com


The Curatorial Committee invites artists working in a wide range of creative disciplines to propose works for installation as part next year's event, taking place on September 11-13, 2015.



The Committee is interested in seeking proposals in the following media:
Installation art
Sculpture
Video (projection-based is preferred)
Performance art
Public interventions
Storefront window installations
Murals
New media
Dance


Works will be installed in various locations along James Street North; in addition, the committee is looking to focus on works that can be installed within the following contexts:

Mural wall on west side of 20 Wilson Street
Various windows of buildings along James Street North
Street vinyl (adhesive vinyl art on pavement, walls or windows)
Silent video shorts
*Please email us for images and further details on the above sites.


Proposals must consider public safety, visibility, and that which can be safely performed, or executed outside with large crowds at anytime of day/night, and will remain impactful during both the daytime and night hours of the festival. Each project selected will be allocated an artist’s fee and production fee. Costs such as travel and accommodation, where necessary, may be covered and will be addressed on an individual basis; production assistance may also be available.



Submission Requirements

        1. Artist's statement—conceptual statement on the work (150 words maximum)
2. Practical explanation of the work—i.e. Scale, materials, methods, etc. Thought must be given to install plan and technical/logistical requirements, as well as cost considerations
3. Three images/stills/sketches of the proposed work, supported by 3-5 images of previous work relevant to the proposed project (jpeg, max. 72dpi, no larger than 768 x 1024 pixels). Include title, year, medium, dimensions for all images
4. A clip, link or digital copy of any video (10 minutes max), if applicable
5. A statement as to whether the proposed work has been exhibited before; if it has, please include details as to where and when
6. CV with mailing address, phone number and email contact information
7. Location suggestion for your work (optional)

The Supercrawl Curatorial Committee is open to creatively diverse work that has visual impact and responds to the streetscape of the event. Artists and their work will be identified and publicized as official Supercrawl curatorial selections during the event, on the Supercrawl website and in select media releases. Artists will be required to sign a contract with Supercrawl Productions Inc. The committee will contact selected artists in late January – early February 2015.



Send submissions to supercrawlart@gmail.com

Subject Line: YOUR NAME, SUPERCRAWL ART

Deadline for submissions is Tuesday December 16, 2014.

Gorilla Graphics: This is Our Brain on Vinyl

Ben and I whipped up a little installation for our awesome friends at local record shop Hammer City Records for November's art crawl. This installation is also a big crazy promotional scheme for Ben's new business, Gorilla Graphics. We are grateful that Craig and Leah gave us the space to purge our brains of some silly imagery lifted from the annals of pop culture's sewer.

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GORILLA GRAPHICS: THIS IS OUR BRAIN ON VINYL 
Art Crawl Night 
Friday, November 14 7-11PM

Hammer City Records



Gorilla Graphics is a small business run by lifelong punks Ben Needham and Tara Bursey that specializes in producing custom vinyl and sign graphics for exhibitions, promotions, artists and businesses big and small. 

Part showcase and part mural, Gorilla Graphics: This Is Our Brain On Vinyl blends the objects and visuals we love from the worlds of punk, art, pop culture and design. This installation illustrates the countless possibilities for producing vinyl graphics for application on everything from walls to windows to drum heads. Radical vinyl decals for cars/skateboards/your UFO/etc. will be sold at the opening, with all proceeds going to Hammer City Records!


http://www.gorillagraphicshamilton.com/

http://gorilla-graphics.tumblr.com/
 

http://www.facebook.com/gorillagraphicshamont
Twitter: @gorillasdovinyl

Hammer City Records

228 St N at Rear off Robert Street Alley
Hamilton, ON
Show runs until the second week of December!

Alexandra Brownell's Sweet Fibre at Needlework

At the beginning of this year, I had the awesome opportunity to visit a 3rd year textiles seminar class at Sheridan College as a guest curator thanks to friend and colleague Thea Haines, an instructor in their department of Crafts and Design.  I gave a talk about my work as an independent curator with a deep love and appreciation for textiles.  I also helped design and present an assignment to students where they were to prepare a submissions package for a call that I wrote around the theme of cotton.  All the students in the class were asked to think critically about cotton-- as a raw material, the history and politics of its production, and its qualities as a textile-- towards proposing an installation that they would create in the window of fantastic Hamilton textile shop, Needlework.

After all submissions were received and graded by Thea, Liz and Kate from Needlework and myself got together to jury the submissions.  Though so many submissions were thoughtful and worthy, we eventually decided on a proposal by the talented Alexandra Brownell who, inspired by archival photos at the Hamilton Local History Archives, created a nostalgic and whimsical tapestry that paid tribute to the carefree quality of cotton, outdoor fairs and the pleasure of summertime. I supported Alex through the process of planning her installation and writing an artist's statement, which was a great experience!

Sweet Fibre went up a few weeks ago, and is up for another week or two.  Spin around to check it out before it's too late! And congrats to Alex on a wonderful first solo show!

Call for Submissions: Repair Centre

New project alert!  Check out the following call for submissions and throw something my way if you're interested!

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Repair Centre
at the Peter McKendrick Community Gallery
Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street, Toronto
Curated by Tara Bursey and sponsored by the Wychwood Barns Community Association

Repair Centre invites artists to submit art and project proposals that explore the politics, pragmatics, poetics and aesthetics of repair. This exhibition will take place at the Peter McKendrick Community Gallery in July of 2015.

Drawing on the past function of the Wychwood Barns TTC streetcar repair barns, Repair Centre will examine the function and principles of repair to restore, renew, maintain and heal. This call for submissions invites artists to consider artistic acts of repair as a means of engaging issues related to (but not limited to) architecture, ecology, the material world, DIY, labour, skilling and deskilling, the aesthetics of repair, human relationships, performativity and the borderlands between art and life. This exhibition proposes repair as an opportunity for re-invention, re-incarnation and an experience beyond a simple means to an end.

Please send the following materials for consideration:
-- A project proposal of new work, or a statement about previous work you are submitting for consideration (one page maximum, pdf format)
-- 3-5 jpgs of previous work (72dpi; 1024 x 768 pixels) or web links to video or audio
-- A corresponding image list (pdf format)
-- An updated CV and Bio (pdf format)
-- Contact information

Please send proposals to tara@tarabursey.com by July 15th, 2014. Please label all email submissions as REPAIR CENTRE SUB in the subject line.

Recap: Justseeds in Hamilton

 

Yours truly at top right, DJ Carla Coma at bottom right

Last March, I organized two exhibitions of the work of Justseeds Artist's Cooperative at Homegrown Hamilton (This is an Emergency!) and Hammer City Records (Celebrate Women's Herstory) in honour of International Women's Day.  What started out as an idea for one exhibition soon sprawled into two, along with a couple of amazing community partnerships with SACHA and Centre3 for Print and Media Art.  At the opening party, four lady DJs (including myself and Justseeds' DJ Mary 'Mack' Tremonte) spun records to the point that revelers needed to be kicked out because they didn't want the party to stop.  The opening was seriously one of the funnest nights I've had in Hamilton since moving here just under a year ago and I'm still reeling from all the wonderful feedback about the two shows and the sheer awesomeness of them.

It's been a while since the show closed, and I've been meaning to post here to thank everyone one more time for making this happen.  Thanks first to Mary Tremonte (Toronto-based Justseeds member) without whom the shows would not have happened. Thanks to Mike of Homegrown Hamilton and the amazing Leah and Craig of Hammer City Records for providing valuable wall space, enthusiasm and assistance. Thanks to Carla Coma and Donna Lovejoy for providing amazing tunange. Thanks to Erin Crickett and SACHA for teaming up and spreading the word and Ingrid at Centre3 for helping coordinate the artist's talk with Mary and Jesse of Justseeds.  

The Justseeds shows were in part inspired by the shared enthusiasm for print culture that spans across Hamilton cultural scenes, from art to craft to activism to punk rock.  Evidence of this can be found in retail spaces like Mixed Media on James Street to the DIY merch made by Hamilton punk rockers to the incredible community initiatives of Centre3. I'm proud that the Justseeds exhibitions and events in March (and of course the work of Justseeds) brought these things together in a profound way.

I'll be putting together one more show at Hammer City Records this year!  Not sure what it will be yet, but the goal is for it to be as amazing and fun as the Justseeds shows.  We'll see what I can muster up...

This is an Emergency! at Homegrown Hamilton

Market Value

Last weekend, I was one of nine artists that participated in Market Value, an initiative of the Hamilton Arts Council and the Worker's Arts and Heritage Centre.  For Market Value, artists from a variety of disciplines were invited to make work in public at the (beautiful and light-drenched) Hamilton Farmer's Market for a seven hour shift.  There were paid for their day of "work" at the market with the help of the OAC funding the project received.  The project was part exhibition and part advocacy initiative that puts the hours of work that artists spend producing art in plain view.  My work was performed/made over one day, and five other projects took place over the course of the previous week-- participating artists included Jim Riley, Trevor Copp, (F)NOR (Andrea Carvalho, Svava Juliusson, Donna Akrey and Margaret Flood), Mary Dyja and Laura Bromwich.

I had a lofty idea for a new work to produce for this exhibition that didn't end up happening.  The reason for this is complicated, and though I am very tempted to unpack the saga here, I will not.  Luckily it was not that difficult to change my concept at the 11th hour because making work with food has been my bread and butter (*GONG*) for a number of years now, and dipping back into a older body of food-related work (though not ideal) would be a good fit for a day of performative art-making in the Farmer's Market.

Last summer, I continued my The End body of work by making an installation for Gallery 1313's window box gallery.  This installation, called The End (Seven Samurai) was irreparably damaged by the heat and sun over the course of the exhibition, so I've been meaning to make a framable 2D version of the installation for several months now.  I decided that Market Value was as good a time as any to take this on.  For my market day, I screened Seven Samurai on my laptop while I recreated the end title of the film in dried foods associated with Japanese cuisine-- black sesame seeds and white rice-- a portion of which was purchased at the market.  For those who don't know, Kurosawa's film is about a team of samurai protecting bandits from pillaging the annual harvest of a very poor village in feudal Japan.  I thought that the film and using food as material were both interesting ways to address the issue of food (in)security across history.

 Food for art-making and food for eating over the course of my shift.

 The product of five hours of work...!?!?

Photo: Jen Anisef!

It is always a pleasure to show my work, and I was happy to have the chance to exhibit my own work (after a flurry of curatorial activities and projects since moving to Hamilton) in a very public space, and for the first time in my new city.  Feedback is always so interesting and varied and it's a pleasure to learn how open people are to engaging with art and artists-- especially those who do unusual things with unusual materials.

For me, the most challenging part of participating in this exhibition was casting a critical eye on my own practice, and coming to realize that in having someone else advocate for my work, I maybe haven't been the best advocate for my own work.  I was recently a visiting speaker about my other life as an independent curator in a class at Sheridan College, where I emphasized to a cohort of students-- most of which were about 10 years younger than me-- the importance of being re-numerated for their work.  I remarked that in not being mindful of being compensated reasonably (or at all) for their work, they were not only jeopardizing their own economic health, but they would ultimately have a detrimental effect the livelihoods of their fellow artists.  Pretty ironic, as I haven't practiced as I preached for the vast majority of my art career.  The lesson to be learned here for all artists is to continually step away from your art and look at the big picture of a life in art that involves goals, negotiation, economic exchange and critical thinking, both for one's own sake as well as for the sake of other working artists.

I'd like to thank Stephanie Vegh of the Hamilton Arts Council, Andrew Lochhead of the WAHC and my volunteer Ariel Bader-Shamai for all their help on my market day, and through the entire process of developing and carrying out Market Value.  I'll wrap this post with this cartoon that speaks volumes!

For more on Market Value, look here and here and here.

Justseeds Artists' Cooperative in Hamilton this Friday!

If you're in Hamilton (and even if you're not!), don't miss the multi-venue event Celebrate Women's History with Justseeds Artists' Cooperative which kicks off on Friday, March 14th at the James Street North Art Crawl!  Thanks so much to the local exhibition partners for helping make this happen-- Homegrown Hamilton, Hammer City Records, Centre3 for Print and Media Art and SACHA.

RSVP on the event Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/701873419870645/?ref=br_tf

RSVP to Celebrate Women's Herstory at Hammer City Records on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/533030836816430/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

Market Value at Hamilton Farmer's Market

This just in! This great thing will be happening at the Farmer's Market over a week in March.  I have something in store for the Saturday, but will be spending time at the Market in the weeks preceding the event interviewing market vendors in order to make the work that will be produced on my market day.  

For more on this project and the participating artists, see this post on the Hamilton Arts Council's blog.

Winterlore

 TH&B Collective, Bay Man

Floyd Elzinga, Silver Cones

Jacqui Oakley and Jamie Lawson, Awakening

 Thea Haines, Blanket Fort

 Tonya Hart, Phantasmagorical Nights

 Kosa Kolektiv

Hitoko Okada, Lotus Lantern

Winterlore was an overwhelming success at the Hamilton Winterfest kick off event yesterday. Thanks to the all the amazing participating artists (Floyd Elzinga, Hitoko Okada, Jacqui Oakley and Jamie Lawson, the TH&B Collective, Thea Haines and Tonya Hart) for making the exhibition what it was. I'd also like to thank Werner Plessl, NJT Productions for the lighting, Jamie and Ryan of the Waterfront Trust, Alex (security guard extraordinaire), Ken Coit, Ben Needham and my friend and collaborator Jen Anisef, Cultural Projects Specialist at the City of Hamilton for being a huge support through the entire process.

Hamilton Winterfest is a city-wide initiative that runs until February 9th.  For more information on what's happening, look here.  Also, the Winterlore-associated exhibition Meryl McMaster: In-Between Worlds runs until the end of March at the AGH Design Annex.  Don't forget to check it out!

Winterlore at Hamilton Winterfest 2014

 Tonya Hart

 Thea Haines

Since a mere three weeks after moving to Hamilton in August, I've been working on this exhibition of outdoor art for the 36th annual Hamilton Winterfest at Pier 8.  I am proud to be a part of the first year that Winterfest has had an increased arts and culture focus, with an amazing roster of events happening from February 1st - 9th.  See below for details on Winterlore, affiliated arts programming at Lister Block and the AGH Design Annex, and the Winterfest website for more details about the events at the kick-off and the programming happening across Hamilton for nine whole days.

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Winterlore, an exciting exhibition of outdoor art, is on view for one day only as part of the Hamilton Winterfest Kick-Off event at Pier 8 (47 Discovery Drive) on February 1, 2014, from 3:00-10:00 pm.

Curated by Tara Bursey, Winterlore features the work of six artists and collectives who have drawn on winter folklore, stories and symbols from Hamilton, Ontario and around the world to create dynamic installations. In line with the Winterfest program, this exhibition serves as a celebration of the diverse cultures of Hamilton and the beauty and magic of the wintertime.

Winterlore features the work of visual artists:

Floyd Elzinga (Beamsville)
Hitoko Okada (Hamilton)
Jacqui Oakley and Jamie Lawson (Hamilton)
TH&B Collective--Simon Frank, Ivan Jurakic, Tor Lukasik-Foss and Dave Hind (Hamilton)
Thea Haines (Hamilton)
Tonya Hart (Toronto)

The Winterlore Facebook event page can be found here.

Though the Kick-Off event will feature the majority of Winterlore artists in a temporary display at Pier 8 on February 1st, there are two longer term opportunities to see winter-inspired art offsite:

Presented in association with Winterlore by the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s AGH Design Annex, Meryl McMaster: In-Between Worlds runs from February 1st to March 22nd, 2014 at 118 James Street North. In-Between Worlds is an exhibition of work by emerging Canadian photographer Meryl McMaster, curated by Melissa Bennett and Tara Bursey. The artist’s Aboriginal and Euro-Canadian heritage are explored in her works through photographs of a lone figure in the winter landscape, where identity and myth are intertwined.
http://merylmcmaster.com/home.html
http://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/da_index.php

A whimsical winter village is on display for a month in a heritage vitrine on the 1st floor of the Lister Block as of January 10, 2014 featuring work from thread artist Amanda McCavour (courtesy of Lonsdale Gallery, Toronto) and the Beehive Craft Collective.
http://www.amandamccavour.com/
http://www.beehivecraftcollective.ca/ 

For more information, visit www.hamiltonwinterfest.ca, email jen.anisef@hamilton.ca, or call (905) 546-2424 ext. 7612.
http://www.tourismhamilton.com/festivals-events/winterfest-2014