August 15, 2011 – 6:47 pm
Okay, this made me laugh and is therefore blog-worthy. Sajak & Farki is a design firm based out of Calgary and not only do they have a beautiful website (and the best team photos EVER — with drama taken to Victor Newman levels) they do some really fabulous work. This one is called What the Face, and in their words:
“What the Face is an interactive installation that combines a photo booth and facial recognition software to create unique, eerie and hilarious composite photographs.Participants enter a photo booth and have their picture taken. Two images are drawn from this single photograph — one of the person’s face, and one of just their eyes, nose and mouth. These two photographs, combined with hundreds of others are randomized and recombined, creating unique, hilarious, human faces.”
I love it. Such a fun stumble-upon.
My friend Jen put me onto the work of Geneviève Jodouin (Toronto), who was her printmaking instructor. Anyone who knows me knows that I love pattern, and her work touches on pattern a lot, while incorporating it into a bigger story. Her illustrations are simple and soft and super interesting and many of them explore the interpretation of movement, almost like a storyboard or flipbook merged into one.
August 5, 2011 – 11:37 am
Okay, first off — a slightly shameful hello. It’s been a while. The summer has simply been calling my name. No — *bellowing* my name and luring me out to enjoy what it has to offer. And my freelance business has been buh-zizzay. So my blog hasn’t been getting much attention… but my tan and my clients have, equally. But still, no excuse!
Thanks to the lovely work of Big Tinsel (Toronto), I’ve got another little golden nugget to share with you. Specifically, a gold necklace, the Festival Necklace, that is simple and truly lovely. If you’re more brass or gunmetal gal, there are so many other lovely pieces to choose from too, many quite minimal with a clever twist. Shoe eyelets take on a whole new life as jewellery, while silver spike charms give you a sense of security in other pieces. There’s a nice sense of restraint in all of her pieces which I appreciate.
And! You can see her wares in person at the Bloorcourt Arts and Craft show next weekend, August 13th.
Go find yourselves some golden nuggets!
Lace is totally it right now, but with trends coming and going, it’s nice to see something as classic as lace preserved in something modern and timeless, like this Lacery vase by Ange-line Tetrault, OCAD graduate and resident of Toronto. Ange-line writes that objects tell a story, so I can only hope that this one is about her grandmother or a trip to place where handmade lace is a tradition they refuse to let go.
Whoa man! Have you ever heard of Coriander Girl? It’s a flower shop in Parkdale and they make these amazing creations that make me wish I was planning a special event so I could commission them to do a masterpiece for me. Maybe I should just whip up a reason to celebrate something so I can.
So, so beautiful. It’s also got the nicest little gifty things, all in good taste and most of which is local. Tell me these aren’t lovely!
Kid Icarus is a pretty rad screenprinter and gift shop in Kensington Market in Toronto. In the front of the shop they sell hand printed posters, art prints, postcards, greeting cards, t-shirts, and handmade toys. But for me, the back of the store is where the magic happens, in the screen printing shop. I’ve had a bunch of friends get their work printed there and it always turns out super well. I’m digging this wallpaper 3D Canada Geese Wrapping Paper,
which comes with 3D glasses so you can see the geese fly in all their glory.
I like these illustrations by Marc Johns (Victoria, BC) for the following reasons. First, the colour palette is soft and summery and soothing, and reminds me of going on boat trips as a kid on Georgian Bay, on a day when the water is peaceful and my family is relaxed and there is no fear of crashing into something. Which brings me to my second reason, which is that I’m not sure if they make me feel like an adult or a child — there’s something simultaneously youthful and mature about his illustrations. And finally, I simply have not tired of anchors and stripes. Check out more of Marc’s witty and whimsical watercolour illustrations on his website.
As a Canadian who has just returned from Berlin, how can I not love this series of cards by Banquet from Vancouver? The series is actually called “Canadian Logger meets Enchanted German Forest” and even though I’m a city girl and I saw very little of the German forests, it’s a nice blending of both of the worlds I have come to love so much.
I love this pattern by Carmen Mok out of Toronto.
I came across Jay Dart selling his drawings last spring during the Queen West Art Crawl and it stood out as one of my favourites of the bunch. Working out of Toronto, his drawings are minimal, beautifully drawn and have a bit of a Canadian narrative to them, with outdoor scenes and references to hiking, fishing and nature. Here are a few from his Wanderers series, my favourite series of his so far.
Okay, so this may not be a new discovery to many, but these bags by Fieldguided out of Toronto are working their way through fashion circles all around. A Kate Bush reference, set in caps in a beautiful serif, handprinted, made in Canada… can’t go wrong.
Okay, so this guy’s work is amazing — Luke Ramsay from N.Pender Island, B.C. It was seriously hard to pick what I would deem my favourite but with this series titled Pretty Problems, it was a nice problem to have.
I had the pleasure of meeting Drew halfway across the world on my Berlin sabbatical (which, by the way, is why I haven’t had any posts lately!). He’s from Toronto, but currently living abroad and not only is he just an awesome dude, he is a brilliant painter. Think taxidermy, dark saturated palettes, fantasy and nature gone awry. He posts new work on his blog Art Monster and is well worth checking out!
Truth be told, I was drawn to this because it just looked cool. But then I read that it was actually a graphic for a timeline/chronology of Edmonton bands from 1950 to 2010 by stat-lover and designer Raymond Blesinger out of Montreal (and originally from Edmonton). You can get it in print (this is just a portion of it… see the rest here — the real deal is actually 304″ long by 17″ high), or you can go to www.fifteen.ca and even contribute bands to add to the list if you think any are missing.
Jeffrey Macklin is a Peterborough based designer who has done a series of wood type letterpress posters throwing love to Canadian creatives. Canadian Authors, Guitarists and, in the one I’ve chosen to show given my strong connection to it, Graphic Designers. I love woodtype! And I love Canadians showing other Canadians some love. Check out this and other prints on his Etsy shop.
patriotlove 