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!

Changing Education Paradigms

Amazing video!

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

Trampoline Hall on TO Live with Culture

TO Live with Culture recently posted some coverage of the installment of Trampoline Hall I lectured about Cheesecake at.  Take a look here for the post, by Shane Gerard.  Thanks Shane!

Jung Jung

Spotted these incredible lace knit veggies by Japanese artist Jung Jung on Essen Magazine's site today...how could I resist posting them.  SO amazing.

A Cheesecake Story

LECTURE: This month’s edition of Trampoline Hall, the long-running amateur lecture series (“amateur” in the sense that the chosen subjects must be things the lecturers are not professionals in) is curated by Becky Johnson and hosted (as always) by Misha Glouberman. It features artist and author Serena McCarroll on “Invisible Problems,” writer and comic Joel Buxton on “What Makes a Hit,” and conceptual artist Tara Bursey on “Cheesecake.” Very limited at-the-door tickets go on sale at 6:30 p.m. tonight. The Garrison (1197 Dundas Street West), 8 p.m., $5.

Yep, I lectured on the process of making and distributing four cheesecakes over a weekend to a packed house at this week's Trampoline Hall.  The fourth cake (not pictured here) was given to audience members at the show.  Also not pictured is Jim, the foreman of a building site on Givens Street who was the recipient of the blueberry cheesecake. This project was inspired by a short piece of non-fiction I wrote about making cheesecake for my family as a child.

The wheels are turning for future edible food art projects like this one!

This Week

Began one mammoth project...

...and finished another.  Perhaps rock'n'roll cross-stitch is my calling...?

Zine Dream 5

Zine Dream-- the annual zine (among other things) fair-- is happening again in August, but this year it has grown into an impressive three-day event.  Opening night is at the new location of Art Metropole; day two will feature a panel discussion moderated by small press/art/craft queen Shannon Gerard; and the main event takes place on day three-- a zine fair with 50+ vendors, entertainment and more.

I missed ZD last year on account of skipping town for Baltimore, but this year I'll be there with lotsa goodies.  I'll have a few old zines up for grabs as well as these posters and a brand new collaborative zine that I'm hoping will be done by the 12th!  Hope to see y'all there.

Event deets can be found here.

Thursday

Lots happening this Thursday!  First off, as I mentioned in a previous post, I'll be taking part in the exhibition Under 30 at 30 at the Japanese Paper Place's warehouse space on Brock Avenue.  All day Thursday, the JPP will be celebrating their 30th Anniversary with an open house, exhibition, paper sale and heaps more.  The exhibition opens in the evening...come out and support this singular Toronto institution in the process.

Japanese Paper Place - 30th Anniversary Celebration
Thursday, June 7, 2:30-9:30pm
77 Brock Avenue, Toronto
http://www.japanesepaperplace.com

Later that night, there will be a legal fee benefit event for my good friend, fibre artist Lizz Aston at The Piston, on Bloor Street West.  Lizz was falsely accused of assault when someone ID'ed her to the police using Facebook, resulting in her unlawful arrest...!  Unbelievable!  I am donating the piece pictured above, A Breast, for the event's art auction.  The night should be a blast, with dancing, crafty art and live music by psych/pop locals The Whirly Birds, The Persian Rugs and Hollow Earth, who I've been meaning to check out for ages.

For more info on the event, look here.

Hyperbolic Cat Wig

This is about all I have the time to muster up for a post right now.  Looks kind of like Kitty (!) from That 70's Show...

Beer-broidery

So far so good! I still have lots to do, though. It has to be done by June 18th.

Easter Eggs

Dyed some easter eggs today using wax. These are some of my favourites.

The Twilight Zone, The Uncanny Valley and Rod Serling on Creativity

I've been at home with the stomach flu for the past three days. I have a ton of work piling up around me, but all I can bring myself to do is watch episode after episode of The Twilight Zone on Youtube. I have been a fan of TZ for as long as I can remember, but I've fallen back into love with Rod Serling and TZ in a big way recently. Here is an amazing picture taken during the production (I'm guessing?) of my all-time favourite episode, The After Hours, which involves mannequins coming to life, and a hidden floor of a shopping mall. Also, the episode was shot in 1960, and the episode's lead (pictured on the left, with her mannequin double on the right) looks exactly like the first Barbie doll, that would have been released less than a year earlier in 1959.

This photo also reminds me of a theory I learned about recently called the uncanny valley. It is a robotics theory that determines at what point humans become repulsed or "creeped out" by robots that look like humans. I would say that the mannequin definitely sits in range of the uncanny valley, without making the episode remotely unwatchable.

Not entirely unrelated, here is a video of Rod Serling in the late 60s or early 70s speaking with students about writing for television, specifically about creativity and working with ideas. Everything he says could be applied to making visual art too, and it's all fine advice, even if at times it is a little "dad-like." I believe my own father said "if it wasn't hard, everyone would do it" to me at some point within the past month...!

Soft Rock

My mind was totally blown when I came across these LP pillows while doing an Exile on Main Street image search. The person/people who make them do commissions, and above are some photos of some of my favourites. It is not entirely clear who makes them online, but they can be purchased through New Zealand-based Etsy shop, Toggle.

If you could commission one cushion, what would it be? It's a tough question, but the New York Dolls debut came to mind on account of it's iconic centre label.

City of Craft at Canzine 2010

I spent last Sunday at Canzine hanging out with Jen A. at the City of Craft table, spreading the craft gospel. The table featured an awesome DIY make-your-own-button station, which I assisted with as a bonafide button-making pro. Jen and I pooled our extensive collections of Japanese and found papers as button fodder, which proved irresistible to passers-by. Here are some pictures of Jen and I looking like a couple of sexy librarians (!), as well as some documentation of pins made by Canzine-goers.

Photos by Jo Prescott. Thanks, Jo!

Corn Recipes

The perfect season for them! I plan on posting this latest food-zine on my Etsy shop within the next few days...

Garlic "Recipies"

I made this zine a few weeks ago. Aside from that, I've been swamped working 8 days (some 9.5 hours long!) straight at my two jobs and wading through (many fantastic) applications for this exhibition. Simply not enough hours in the day these days...

The garlic zine is available to purchase on Etsy at this link.

I like your work: art and etiquette

I bought this pamphlet/book at a bookstore in Brooklyn while I was there two weeks ago, because I both found it's concept hilarious and figured it would be an added bonus if I actually learned something from it, as someone who often feels like vomiting before her own openings. I once took the day off of work to go to an afternoon reception of a group show I was in, chickened out, and sent my parents into the gallery while I waited in the car! I agonize over the most basic of interactions that happen at openings, and judging by this book, I'm not the only one who does this by miles...

Here are some highlights from the book, which offers both biting criticisms of and honest advice and tips for navigating the art world, an oftentimes bizarre and complicated parallel universe which has it's own unique code of conduct and unspoken "rules."

ANONYMOUS: "Wait until you are at least six blocks away from a show before expressing a negative opinion about this show-- this is known as the "six-block rule."

ANDREW BERARDINI: "You must attend art openings. When you're Bruce Nauman, you can be a hermit in New Mexico. Until then however, you must attend art openings."

DAVID LEVINE: (When asked what constitutes bad manners...) "Getting so caught up in your own social discomfort that you fail to attend to the comfort of others."

RYAN STEADMAN: "If you're a skinny artist, be clean and neat. If you're a fat artist, be crazy looking and disheveled. Not sure why, but this seems to work best."

JESSICA SLAVEN: (When asked what the role of etiquette is in the art world...) "That the art world should have a separate code of behavior from civilized society serves to indicate its self-impressed and savage nature."

More on I like your work here.