I just bought a new URL for www.godsavethepress.com. unbelievably it wasn't taken already so I bought it while I could. I'll continue to blog here for now, but as soon as the website is up and running I'm going to redirect my blog onto the website.
Both my blogs will be moved when the site launches.
More information closer to the web site's launch.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
El Mocambo music show: Art needs more focus
Doppleganger, held last Saturday, is the second part of a series of events created by Ali Malik, a Toronto music and art promoter. The series is known as elZOO, named after the venue, the El Mocambo, a nightclub in Toronto, north of Chinatown.
“I called it Zoo because it’s a zoo of a bunch of different art forms,” said Malik.
Doppleganger featured three bands a DJ and six artists last Saturday. The show was a non-profit event collecting food donations for the homeless and those in need in Toronto. At its p
eak the El Mocambo housed approximately 150 guests and collected more than 200 cans of food, according to Malik. Money raised during the event went to the bands that performed.The six artists featured in the gallery were freelance illustrator Ty Dunitz, who had four digital paintings on display; illustrator Tyrel McNicol, who used a method of ink transfer onto wood, called acrylic polymer emulsion transfer; concert photographer Pete Nema, who had large prints including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nicole Atkins and Brant Bjork; Krista MacFarlane, who had two multimedia pieces on display; graphic designer, Anfrei Fortier and Eric Ealer, guitarists of the Isosceles Project severed a dual role by providing paintings for the gallery and performing with the rest of his band during the music portion.
The doors opened at 9:00 p.m. admission was $10 or $5 with a can of food to be donated. DJ Illicit provided music when the doors opened and between bands sets. Originally the narrow lobby was going to be empty and the gallery was going to be in the back room on the higher level of the El Mocambo. The art was moved to the front lobby so now guests would be exposed to it as soon as they came in. However the lobby may not have been the ideal place for artwork to be displayed, even if it was better than the back room.
“We lost one
sub-par venue and gained another,” said Dunitz, who added the front room was “not fit for hanging art.”Most of the walls were brick and Dunitz said there were only half a dozen nails already in the wall. Adding more nails was difficult since the walls were brick. The lighting was not ideal for showcasing paintings and prints, but did not hurt the show.
“(ElZOO is) a wonderful event,” said Dunitz, “but it’s a concert, not a music/art show.”
Over the front desk hung paintings by Eric Ealer, inside the lobby area Dunitz and McNicol`s art was on display together to the right with Nema, MacFarlane and Fortier on the left. Artist’s names and websites were posted with their work. Individual prints were labelled with the names of the piece, or in some cases, the sale price, including some mock prices like “$...”
The night started out slow with DJ Illicit playing music while the bands set up for the later shows. A number of the artists were in the lobby, talking with guests. The artwork was all fantastic and fit in the mood of the music show with edgy subject matter and photos that fit in with the garage band feel of the music. However one with an interest in the artwork can’t help but wish there was more too see.
Music started at 10:30 and as the night went on the event picked up with a full concert space. The nig
ht opened with the Harold Wartooth, a local garage band with a heavy rock sound. The band featured Omri Horwitz on vocals, Mike Mikocic on guitar, Brent Fagan on both guitar and vocals, “Emon” on Bass and Spencer Linton on drums. The band sounded great and with a sound system that could be heard all the way into the street and bass that you could feel in your chest.The Isosceles Project followed, featuring Euler, the dual artist (whose work was on display in the gallery) and served as the band’s guitarist, Scott Tessier on bass and Justin Falzon on drums.
The night ended with Zuku featuring Brandon Kennedy on guitar and vocals, Matt Felske also on both guitar and vocals, Chris Chartrand on drums and Jordan Beard on bass.
The three bands all had a very hard rock sounding garage band style. Malik chose them to complement each other and it worked well.
Doppleganger was a great show, featuring great artwork and music, but in future elZOO shows they need to mesh better. The gallery felt like an after-thought with the music taking priority. It was a great event to showcase local talents in both music and visual arts. The event left attendees wanting more, which may work in Malik's favour, since he plans on holding more elZOO events, monthly.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Art Jam Part 1: Success
I wanted to post some of my work now with my comments. Anything written in bold (like this paragraph) are my added comments. The first few pieces I am going to post will be a series that spans November 2007 to March 2008.
"Sheridan's creativity in spotlight at Art Jam" published in Sheridan Sun on November 29, 2007
For the first time the artistic community at Sheridan College came together for one of the biggest and most successful events in the school's history.
I learned about the event because, as it happened, one of the organizers was actually my roommate, Amanda Sheehan. While I am sure she was expecting the project to be as much work as it turned out to be, I don't think anyone really foresaw how big an event it would turn out to be.
The ConneXion was lit brighter than it had ever been when the event started at 8 p.m. last friday. Easels, mounted walls of plywood, canvases and other surfaces were on display. Other tables had objects ready to be custom-painted like vinyl records, wooden clocks, lamp shades and even the side-panel of a Ninja Motorcycle.
To add some context, the ConneXion was the new campus pub. The old pub was known as the Cage. I covered a story about the renovation. 1.2 million dollars went into the renovation and the school ended up with a very night club-style pub. Many people perfered the Cage.
The Liquid Lounge upstairs had paper sheets for dry media like pencils and graphite.
Farther context; the Liquid Lounge was, as the name emplys, a lounge area on a balcony level of the pub, which featured a bar and seating area.
The TV monitors located around ConneXion were used to play stop-motion art films. Hand-picked DJ, Tyson Dunitz, played music from the stage's corner as the Table of Elements (break dancing team) entertained onstage.
One of the reasons the renovations cost so much was a number of large LCT screens around the pub.
Tyson Dunitz provided the music, although really he is an illustrator. His work can be viewed at his website, here.
"I think the turn-out was a lot better than Tyrel (McNicol) and I could have ever hoped," said Amanda Sheehan, co-organizer with McNicol, "And I think, seeing the numbers like this will enable us to have another one next semester confidently."
A respectable number of people started making their way into the free show when it began, but by the end of the night more than 300 people had arrived making the event more successful than anyone had expected.
Ty Dunitz was part of the Art Jam team, but was, infact, not a Sheridan student, he was from OCAD (Ontario Colege of Art and Design) and he was not alone. Quite a few of the atendees, both contrigutors and guests, were actually OCAD students. The event was completely open to anyone who wanted to atend.
"I think it's fantastic. It's a great collaboration and a wonderful chance to meet tonnes of other artists," said Lauren Rowlands, a second-year illustation student.
Lauren Rowlands is another friend of mine in the illustration field. her art blog can be viewed here.
Students were not the only attendees at the event as several professors and guests in the illustrartion field came to collaborate with the young artists.
"I think Art Jam is absolutly amazing. It is an incredible experiance and beyond expectations," said Joe Mores, the illustration program coodinator, "They bring the community together. they show how relevant the arts are to our daily life."
Aside from being a respected professor of illustartion, Joe Mores is also a respected professional illustrator.
The artwork produced at the Art Jam was auctioned off on the following monday to fund the fourth-year illustartion graduation party. No word yet on the exact amount raised by the auction.
"I think this is the beginning of a new thing and it is certainly a tribute to the organizers that this is such a success," said Morse.
Although a success, the Art Jam seemed plauged by drama. Many of the pieces created at the event went missing when the artists took them home, and so much of the possible profits that could have been made from auctioning it off were lost.
Also Art Jam was the last pub event Sheridan held because of a secuity issue. The Art Jam was supposed to have a secuity staff for 200 guests, but they recieved none. A confrontation occured outside the pub that resulted in all pub events being canceled for several months, and a new bar manager being hired.
"Sheridan's creativity in spotlight at Art Jam" published in Sheridan Sun on November 29, 2007
For the first time the artistic community at Sheridan College came together for one of the biggest and most successful events in the school's history.
I learned about the event because, as it happened, one of the organizers was actually my roommate, Amanda Sheehan. While I am sure she was expecting the project to be as much work as it turned out to be, I don't think anyone really foresaw how big an event it would turn out to be.
The ConneXion was lit brighter than it had ever been when the event started at 8 p.m. last friday. Easels, mounted walls of plywood, canvases and other surfaces were on display. Other tables had objects ready to be custom-painted like vinyl records, wooden clocks, lamp shades and even the side-panel of a Ninja Motorcycle.
To add some context, the ConneXion was the new campus pub. The old pub was known as the Cage. I covered a story about the renovation. 1.2 million dollars went into the renovation and the school ended up with a very night club-style pub. Many people perfered the Cage.
The Liquid Lounge upstairs had paper sheets for dry media like pencils and graphite.
Farther context; the Liquid Lounge was, as the name emplys, a lounge area on a balcony level of the pub, which featured a bar and seating area.
The TV monitors located around ConneXion were used to play stop-motion art films. Hand-picked DJ, Tyson Dunitz, played music from the stage's corner as the Table of Elements (break dancing team) entertained onstage.
One of the reasons the renovations cost so much was a number of large LCT screens around the pub.
Tyson Dunitz provided the music, although really he is an illustrator. His work can be viewed at his website, here.
"I think the turn-out was a lot better than Tyrel (McNicol) and I could have ever hoped," said Amanda Sheehan, co-organizer with McNicol, "And I think, seeing the numbers like this will enable us to have another one next semester confidently."
A respectable number of people started making their way into the free show when it began, but by the end of the night more than 300 people had arrived making the event more successful than anyone had expected.
Ty Dunitz was part of the Art Jam team, but was, infact, not a Sheridan student, he was from OCAD (Ontario Colege of Art and Design) and he was not alone. Quite a few of the atendees, both contrigutors and guests, were actually OCAD students. The event was completely open to anyone who wanted to atend.
"I think it's fantastic. It's a great collaboration and a wonderful chance to meet tonnes of other artists," said Lauren Rowlands, a second-year illustation student.
Lauren Rowlands is another friend of mine in the illustration field. her art blog can be viewed here.
Students were not the only attendees at the event as several professors and guests in the illustrartion field came to collaborate with the young artists.
"I think Art Jam is absolutly amazing. It is an incredible experiance and beyond expectations," said Joe Mores, the illustration program coodinator, "They bring the community together. they show how relevant the arts are to our daily life."
Aside from being a respected professor of illustartion, Joe Mores is also a respected professional illustrator.
The artwork produced at the Art Jam was auctioned off on the following monday to fund the fourth-year illustartion graduation party. No word yet on the exact amount raised by the auction.
"I think this is the beginning of a new thing and it is certainly a tribute to the organizers that this is such a success," said Morse.
Although a success, the Art Jam seemed plauged by drama. Many of the pieces created at the event went missing when the artists took them home, and so much of the possible profits that could have been made from auctioning it off were lost.
Also Art Jam was the last pub event Sheridan held because of a secuity issue. The Art Jam was supposed to have a secuity staff for 200 guests, but they recieved none. A confrontation occured outside the pub that resulted in all pub events being canceled for several months, and a new bar manager being hired.
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