Some art-related blogs

Photo by yooperann courtesy of Flickr
(Creative Commons)

Readers of this site will know that I love photography, and that I try to mention as many local photo-blogs as possible. One genre that I have not covered very much, however, are blogs by area artists and/or online sites that discuss art.  As such, below is a list of some local art blogs that are worth checking out.

Terre Sauvage is a Canadian and Aboriginal art blog written by Amy Prouty, an undergraduate art history student. According to her online profile, Amy was born in Oshawa, grew up in Muskoka, and now resides in Ottawa’s Chinatown neighbourhood.  Her blog is a fantastic source of information for anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of Canada's art scene.

A mouse-shaped cloud is a tumblr site that contains an eclectic amount of artsy material.  There does not seem to be a specific focus like Terre Sauvage, but the site is worth visiting as it contains a lot of links to very interesting work.

Another great blog is TheheARTbeatgal.  Due to my busy schedule, I have not been able to follow this site very much.  (Ditto for other art related blogs in the city).  However, I plan to change this, as one of my goals this summer is to start expanding beyond photography and paying closer attention to area artists.

Finally, while surfing the Ottawa blogosphere I came across a couple of blogs by local artists that I have never seen before.  I look forward to exploring the work of Mique Michelle and Brad McOuat in future online surf sessions.

Young artists display work; Art Battle Ottawa; Northern Scene; finding lost art

"Art Hunters" by Lazy Artist courtesy of Flickr
(Creative Commons)

Here are some interesting art-related posts from the local blogosphere to begin your Wednesday.

Upcoming art shows

Councillor Tim Tierney notes on his blog that the work of some of Ottawa’s best young artists will be displayed throughout the city in late April and May. (See here for schedule).

The Big Beat has a post on Art Battle Ottawa that is taking place this Sunday, May 5, at Arts Court Theatre at 2 Daly Avenue.  The event kicks off at 7 pm.

“'Art Battle 52' is coming to Ottawa for the first time, after 51 skirmishes in other cities," says The Big Beat. "The on-stage events, with local painters 'battling' on canvas in front of an audience, are held monthly in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax, and could soon become a monthly event in Ottawa, Montreal, Hamilton and Saint John, N.B."

Photography projects and news

Ottawa Start blog writes about an interesting project by local photographer Stephen Harrison who is taking pictures of trash that he found along Poole Creek in Stittsville.  

For his part, Patrick John Mills has posted a great story of finding some lost etchings dated 1972 of St. Andrews United Church in Williamstown, approximately 100 miles from Ottawa.  "There were low run, only six of one and seven of the other had been printed," reads the post.  After making some enquiries the prints will be donated to the Church.

TheheARTbeatgal, meanwhile, has a slideshow from Northern Scene on a show of designers from Canada's north.  Finally, Ottawa photographer Tony Fouhse writes on his blog that he has been invited to the Big Apple by The New York Times: see here and here.

Workshops

Claudia Salguero is offering workshops on Corel Painter on May 4 and 5, as well as next September.  Click here and here for details.

Blog Review: Pictures from the bus, and other tales

Eastern Townships I by Lia Hiltz

Lia Hiltz is an Ottawa-based artist who also happens to work as a foreign service officer.  It is tempting to call her a Canadian diplomat who paints and draws on the side, but this description would downplay her strong artistic talent, as well as her accomplishments in art-related blogging.  While Canadians can be proud that our diplomatic corps is filled with creative people like her, Ottawa residents should be equally pleased that there are such passionate artists living in our midst.

Hiltz is known in the local blogosphere through her wonderful blog Pictures from the bus, and other tales.  The original premise behind her site was to draw pictures of people she saw on the bus, and then post them online, such as the picture on the left.  Over time, however, the blog has evolved.

"We are buying a second car so I can drive my daughter to her new school starting this fall," Hiltz tells me in an email.  "This means that while I will continue blogging, I won't have the bus blog niche anymore.  This hasn't really sunk in yet."

While in the past her blog has focused on her drawings, recent posts feature her paintings, like the one at the top of this page, as well as reviews of local artists, such as this post from last month. "Originally the blog had a heavy artist review element that I am returning to," she says in her email.  "My loose goal is to know who all the area painters are.  How that will look, I don't know."

One of the things that I really enjoy about her blog is how she chronicles her evolution as an artist.  For instance, in this post Hiltz documents her experience experimenting with a scratchboard.  Overall, I found this to be a very original and appealing blog.  Whether it's trying out a new technique, sharing words of wisdom from an art teacher, or praising the work of a local artist, her blog will definitely appeal to artists and art-lovers alike.  If you want to know more about Hiltz you can read this interview from Local Tourist Ottawa.

Blog Review: Manon Labrosse visual artist

Photo of Manon Labrosse courtesy of
www.manon-labrosse.com

Manon Labrosse is an Ottawa-based artist who grew up in the small francophone community of Hearst in Northern Ontario.  Having received a B.F.A from the University of Ottawa in 2002, she has resided in the nation's capital since 1998.  In the bio and artist statement that appears on her blog, she describes her work as follows:

Using the landscape to explore childhood memories from living in Northern Ontario, her work is mostly abstract except for a few chosen shapes, such as telephone poles, power lines or as per her current work, log piles.  Having an interest in symbolism, she hopes that using a shape or symbol repetitively throughout a series will create a pattern that will evoke individual connections or memories. 

On her blog, Labrosse has posted images of many of her paintings.  After reviewing her work, I found her style to to very intriguing.  One technique I particularly like is her decision to let certain drops of paint roll down the canvas, leaving clear lines.  My initial reaction when I saw this was to think of tear drops or rain drops, which create a melancholic feeling when combined with the abstract background.  These lines, however, can also symbolise an awakening, such as in her current series of paintings called Thaw, in which the lines can be thought of as the melting of snow and ice.

Thaw 4 by Manon Labrosse courtesy of
www.manon-labrosse.com

"I started this series excited about spring, about the thaw, the warmer weather, but winter keeps snapping me back to reality, which is, that winter drags on and on in Ottawa," Labrosse writes in a blog post about Thaw.  "[F]or those of us anxiously waiting for that magical time of year when birds are chirping, the sun is higher, the air smells fresher.... uh, well, it's not happening quite yet, and no amount of vitamin D supplements are going to help me now."

My favourite paintings by her are from an earlier exhibit at Art Image in Gatineau titled le paysage désolé et les pylônes.  On the left is a painting from this exhibit, which beautifully combines an abstract landscape with the shape of power lines, whose reflection can be seen on the ground.

Another series that echoes paysage désolé is her collection of paintings called power lines.  Whereas the dark colours of paysage désolé give the sense of a calm, even tranquil night, the strong red in many of the paintings in power lines produce a much more haunting effect.  For instance, looking at power lines I could imagine that the sky was bleeding.

Labrosse's work will next be on display at the Le pARTy yearly auction of the Ottawa Art Gallery.  The fundraiser at 2 Daly Avenue is scheduled for May 30, and is a great opportunity to buy art from local artists, such as Labrosse.  A group show of many artists from the National Capital Region will then be on display for about a week following the auction.  

If you want to see more of Labrosse's work, her paintings can be found at Galerie St-Laurent + Hill.  For specific examples of her work at the gallery web site click here.  In the meantime, you can read her blog to follow her artistic evolution.

New exhibits by Rosalie Favell, Adrian Göllner and northern artists; other art posts

Photo of artwork on the Rideau Canal taken on
February 11, 2006, by Robbie 1 courtesy of Flickr
(Creative Commons)

There are several art-related posts in the local blogosphere that I have come across recently.  From news on current exhibits, to thoughts from photographer Tony Fouhse, to a submission request for the work of local horror filmmakers.

Current Exhibits

If you are interested in local arts, then the blog The Big Beat by Peter Simpson of the Ottawa Citizen is a must read.  Recent posts have covered several new exhibits taking place in Ottawa.  The first exhibit is by Rosalie Favell, winner of the 2012 Karsh Award for photography that is given by the City of Ottawa.  The photograph show runs until May 5 at Cube Gallery at 1258 Wellington West.  You can read another post on this exhibit from the Artful Blogger.

In a separate post, The Big Beat writes that artist Adrian Göllner has a new exhibit called Norwegian Wood at Patrick Mikhail Gallery at 2401 Bank Street that runs until May 11. According to the blog post:

(Göllner) built a contraption that attaches to a speaker and holds a pen over a sheet of paper that spins at the speed of a long-playing record, and then he “transcribed” songs including Norwegian Wood, Come Together, I’m a Loser and Help!

The results look vaguely like a pressing of the grooves on a vinyl record, but they vary significantly.  In the drawing for Come Together the grooves are densely packed into a dark circle, while the grooves in the drawing for Help! are more sparsely spaced. Each song’s drawing is distinct.

Finally, Simpson writes about the exhibits Dorset Seen and Dawson Gold at the Carleton University Art Gallery that runs until to June 2.  The exhibits are part of the National Art Centre's Northern Scene, the largest collection of artists from the Yukon, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Nunavik and Nunatsiavut ever presented outside of the region.

Dorset Seen includes drawings and sculpture from Cape Dorset, a remote village of 1,200 people in Nunavut.  "[P]ound for pound," writes Simpson, "(Cape Dorset) may have contributed more to Canadian art than has any other community in this country."

Dawson Gold, meanwhile, has several pieces by artists from Dawson City, Yukon. "One of (Dawson's) most famous residents is 'Caveman Bill,' who for 17 years has lived in a cave that was hacked from the cold stone by a gold miner more than a century ago," writes Simpson.  "A video by British artist Tom Wolseley goes inside the lair of the caveman."

Interesting Posts

Local photographer Tony Fouhse has a very interesting post on his site, in which he recounts becoming reacquainted with a former drug addict by the name of Jimmy Bonney, who Fouhse first met in 2007 while working on his photography project User.  The post is worth reading.

Lia Hiltz from the blog Pictures from the bus, and other tales has a post about art that you can rent through the Ottawa Art Gallery.

Call for Submissions

A recent post on Ottawa Horror is calling on all Horror Filmmakers in the National Capital Region to submit their work for Volume 3 of the site's annual DDV extravaganza.  If you want to see examples of past featured work click here.

"We're looking for Short Films, Trailers, Music Videos with a Horror Theme," says the blog post ."Our only conditions are first, that it be made by an Ottawa Area Filmmaker (we happily include both the Ottawa Valley and The Outaouais) and second, that it be under 20 minutes in length."

Interested filmmakers can email sonsey@ottawahorror.com.  Volume 3 will be released at Ottawa Comicon, which is scheduled for May 10-13.

Painting on the Mackenzie King Bridge and other art-related stories

Photo by Joanna Rees (copyright)

Since starting this site, I have highlighted several creative blogs that focus on such topics as music, poetry, photography and fiction.  One area that I have not written much about, however, is visual arts that is not related to photography.  I aim to change this with this post.

Let's begin with a wonderful piece in Images of Centretown about Patrick Mills, a painter who is painting outside on the Mackenzie King Bridge for the entire month of March.  (Readers of the Ottawa Citizen blog The Big Beat would have read about Mills earlier this month). The IOC piece contains a great vignette in which blogger Charles Akben-Marchand speaks to Mills while he was painting, and then a few days later comes across some of Mills' work that had just recently been installed on the second floor of City Hall.

If you haven't been following Mills' project, or you have and would like to know more, you can visit his blog where he is keeping track of his month-long adventure of painting outside in the cold.

Another interesting post comes from the Domicile blog, which provides an update and pictures on the work of public artist Adrian Göllner, who is currently working on Swift, an eight metre high public art installation that will be installed at the entrance of Domicile's One3One condo project currently being built at 131 Holland Avenue.  According to the blog post:

Göllner was approached by Domicile and our architect for this project, Christopher Simmonds, to commission a sculpture for the north façade of the building....  The piece itself is made from stainless steel.  The metal is cut, heated and rolled to form the sculpture.  It is then painted with a polyurethane paint, which protects the piece from rust and corrosion from the elements.  In order to make transportation of the easier, Swift is built in three separate pieces, which will be welded together on-site at One3One during installation day.  This all day process is set to take place the 4th week of April.

In other art-related news, The Big Beat blog reports on the restoration work currently taking place on an untitled tapestry by Nunavut artist Jessie Oonark, who died in 1985.  The 3.73 metres high and six metres wide tapestry first went up at the National Arts Centre in 1974, where it stayed for roughly 20 years on and off, before going to Winnipeg for a show on Oonark's work.  It then returned to the NAC where it stayed in the archives.  It is now being restored with the aim of once again hanging it on an NAC wall.

Finally, the fun art-blog BLARG! has posted some new illustrations.  This is an interesting site that I hope to review in the coming weeks.

Blog Review: Artful Blogger

Digitally manipulated photo by Peter George Gordon
(Creative Commons)

Ottawa Magazine is a wonderful source of local news.  Whether it's their picks for best restaurants in town, recommendations on where to grab a glass of wine, profiles of area residents, discussions on art, gardens or politics, or the numerous other topics that they cover, they are a must read for anyone interested in knowing more about our nation's capital.

From a blogging perspective, the magazine's online site publishes several blogs that specialise in different topics.  My aim is to eventually review all of these blogs.  For today, however, I want to start with the Artful Blogger by Paul Gessell, which contains intelligent and well-written pieces on various local artists and exhibits in the city.  Recent posts include:

• A fascinating story on Ottawa-based sculptor Kenneth Emig, who has an exhibit at Galerie St. Laurent + Hill, at 293 Dalhousie Street in the ByWard Market, until April 9;
• The current photography exhibit at the School for the Photographic Arts: Ottawa, currently taking place at the Exposure Gallery, 1255 Wellington Strett West, until April 29; and
• A review of a photography exhibit in Hull by contemporary Inuit artists, at the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Art Gallery, 10 Wellington Stree in Hull, that runs until May 4.

Ottawa is sometimes mocked as a conservative and unimaginative city.  Readers of the Artful Blogger, however, know better, as this blog reports on the numerous artists and interesting exhibits in the city.

Local News: Young at Art 2013, Changes in Hingtonburg and Wellington West

Elgin Street - Photo by Hobolens
(Creative Commons)

Kitchissippi Councillor Katherine Hobbs has a post on her blog about Young at Art 2013, a juried art exhibition that brings the work of young visual artists to local art galleries across Ottawa.  Held since 1996, the program allows young artists to display their work, as well as being eligible for a number of prizes and awards. Selected works will be displayed beginning April 24, 2013.

Childfree provides updates on some business turnover in Hintonburg and Wellington West, along with an accompanying slideshow of photographs.  The Carlington Community Association blog, meanwhile, notes that there are now VRTUCAR stations at 130 Central Park, and several along Wellington, Richmond and Parkdale.  According to the post,  the Ottawa network includes one electric car and hybrid vehicles.

New Blogs: Music, Illustrators and Humour

Ottawa is a city filled with music lovers.  Up to now, however, I did not have a section on the blogroll dedicated to music.  Fortunately I found the time to correct this, and have now linked to various music-related blogs.  My intention is to add to this list in the coming weeks, with the aim of writing a post in the near future that focusses on the music-loving bloggers in the city.  In addition to music, I also created a section on the blogroll for illustrators and humour.  In regard to the latter, the only local comedy site I have found so far is The O Dot, although I have a suspicion that there are other funny people roaming in the local blogosphere.

Update: Sean McIndoe writes hockey humour at his blog Down Goes Brown, which I have added to the humour section. 

Update (March 16): I have added ELgiN StreEt iRReguLars, a quirky web site whose tongue is firmly planted in its cheek.

New Blogs: Local Artists

Photo by Peter George Gordon
(Wakefield, Quebec - Creative Commons)

As promised, I have added a section on the blogroll dedicated to area artists. Filling in this category was particularly hard, as there were many people who I decided not to link to.  Given that this site is dedicated to highlighting blogs, I excluded many artists who had professional web sites but not a blog.  While I did make an exception for a handful of artists that I particularly liked,  generally speaking I only linked to blogs.  In the coming days I plan to do more research on blogging local painters, sculptors, illustrators and other artists, with the intent of writing an in-depth post on art-related blogs.