Graphic novelist / cartoonist Alison Bechdel (of Fun Home and Dykes to Watch Out For fame) came to Montréal to speak last week. She was humourous and humble in person, and gave some surprising insights into her creative process (lots of photo staging, writes in Adobe Illustrator). Though I haven’t picked up one of Bechdel’s …
I just saw Nostalgia for the Light, a brilliant documentary on Chile by Patricio Guzmán. It’s a beautifully told story of this South American country’s tumultuous history — the genocide and exploitation of Chile’s indigenous peoples in its mining industry, the violent coup by military dictator Augusto Pinochet and the subsequent “disappearances” of dissidents and …
One of the first things that struck me about Montréal when I first moved here were the spiral staircases. Winding, weaving, twisting upon themselves, these iron or wood stairways are treacherous in winter and yet add an element of elegance and fantasy to the city’s streets, while allowing for a greater density of residential occupation. …
Here follows Part 2 of a research paper of mine that explores the connections between ecology, culture, science and the collective consciousness. Part 1 can be found here. The Cosmogenic Dream – To Divine Visions – To The Awakened Dreamer Contrary to westernized cultures’ ambiguous approach to dreams, early cultures placed dreams squarely as a …
I’m not totally sure how I stumbled upon John Trudell but I’ve been reading up the last few days on this fiery, eloquent spoken word poet-activist of Santee Sioux descent who cut his teeth back in the 1970s as chairman of the American Indian Movement, among other things. Surveilled by the FBI, he lost his …
The past few years have been a bit of an undocumented period for me. I used to write pretty prolifically on the personal level and now it’s dwindled to not even a trickle, except for the odd journalling jaunt. Recovering the process will probably take some time, but in the meanwhile, I’m going to post …
I’ve been doing a bit of research into thought forms (for fun), and it may sound farfetched, but I think that it’s not unreasonable that our mental projections can and do take on a “life” of their own. Fascinating stuff. From Wikipedia: Tulpa (Wylie: sprul-pa; Sanskrit: निर्मित nirmita[1] and निर्माणnirmāṇa;[2] “to build” or “to construct”) is a concept in mysticism of a being or object which …
Here’s an electronic music set that my husband and I put together for a September party in Montreal, under the banner of Dharmakaya. The track selections were almost split evenly down the middle between me and him, surprisingly, but it took lots of work to whittle it down, and for me to learn the basic …
Literary magazine Niche has published their latest issue online; featuring some lovely creative writing, poetry and art (two of my pieces are included), plus some smart-looking graphic design and photography by Maria Surawska. There’s a PDF download available for a limited time, check it out here.
I’m happy to announce that I’ve been chosen to be a part of YES Montréal’s Art Expo this summer, taking place at the Montréal Science Center, along with fifty-nine other emerging artists, musicians and performers who will be exhibiting and showcasing their work. Admission is free. More info here, check out this video of the …
The end of April has been a crazy time for us — we moved and love our new place, but it was an herculean effort, and we’re still living out of boxes and tripping over things. But I’m happy to report that I’m showing some of my artwork under the banner of “INTERdimensional” at the …
I’ve been itching to learn how to create video content, and not knowing where to start. So I was delighted to find a “Digital Storytelling” workshop offered by Studio XX, Montreal’s “bilingual feminist artist-run centre for technological exploration, creation and critique.” Interestingly, digital storytelling is the modern evolution of traditional oral storytelling, the kind that …
Downtown Montréal gallery & herbal apothecary Fleurbain is showing works by architects-turned-artists from March 3rd until April 17th, 2012. I am honoured to have some of my works shown amongst the other inspiring creations — one of them my latest, Mycelial Kingdom. Prints will be on sale there. Also, there will be informal talks by …
Unseen and microscopic, this part of the fungi organism spreads as a branching network underground, making up what could be the largest organism in the world, according to mycologist Paul Stamets in his book Mycelium Running.
Well, winter’s halfway over. I’ve been working on some new stuff, which I will post on soon. In the meantime, I’m happy to announce that I’ve got some greeting cards and prints (in a snazzy packaging I designed and handmade myself!) on sale at the Concordia Co-op Bookstore, a local “non-profit co-op bookstore that is …
Another digital collage, part of a page done for a ‘zine I put together for Expozine 2011. You can see the rest of the PDF here.
For Expozine 2011, I ventured out into putting together a little ‘zine of my own — and am now making it available for viewing online via Issuu. The title “Know Hope” comes from a particular specimen of spray-painted graffiti that I passed by everyday in Montreal, and it now has become my motto. Cobbling together …
Last month I put up a small exhibit of my artwork at La Co-op Maison Verte, Canada’s first environmental solidarity co-op and an icon in my neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Thank you all for the positive response! Next up: I will have some pieces included in the “Small Works Exhibition” at Fleurbain, a gallery in downtown …
Named after my mother-in-law’s initial reaction (“Oh! It’s an anemone!”), this illustration depicts a girl whose dress is indistinct from the body of a jellyfish, while her hair transforms into a school of fish. No, it’s not a mutant — this drawing is inspired by my fascination with patterns and the ever-changing flows that exist …
“Evolution is the manifestation of latent potentials… another way of saying this is that consciousness exists in all forms of life. It is the very basis of creation, the power of evolution. Life, creation and evolution are the stages in the unfoldment of consciousness. There is nothing in existence that is unfeeling, nothing that is profane or unspiritual, nothing without a unique value in the cosmos.”
So I finally took the plunge and opened a shop over at Etsy. If you’re interested, my artwork is now available as prints, posters and cards (singles or packs of 6). As you’ve seen with my architecturally-themed illustrations, my focus is on where “Architecture Meets Art.” I also welcome commissions for fantastical drawings of that …
The hummingbird is seen as a symbol of resurrection, beauty and magic. Set against a mandala or wheel design of bursting colours, a bird-creature dressed in white has her feet immersed in a pool of water (a symbol for the subconscious), while geometric lines of energy seem to emanate from its depths. A drawing with …
Working on a couple of new pieces, here are some photos of the progress.
It’s every parent’s nightmare: earlier last week, an 8-year-old boy went missing after taking a wrong turn on his first walk home alone from day camp in a Brooklyn neighborhood. A mere seven blocks, with his mother waiting halfway — but he never made it. A massive two-day search ended in the heart-wrenching and shocking discovery …
Visual musings on the mathematical and existential matter of infinity: like love, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Table of diagrams on right from Don Hatch’s amazing website on tessellations and other sundries. Schlafli and Wythoff symbols, enough equations to boondoggle the mind. Wikipedia entry on uniform tilings on the hyperbolic plane: There are …