November 28th, 2008
My good friend James is known as Mr. Craig by the Grade 12 art students at Nicholson Catholic College in Belleville, ON. He does a great job trying to teach and inspire his students, at least one of whom has gone on to a successful career in the arts!
Last year he asked me to take part in a show benefiting Habitat for Humanity. It seems that when James was buying planks of wood to build a fence, he got them about a foot too long. After cutting them all down to size, he was lift with these useless foot-long pieces of lumber. Not one to waste materials, Mr. Craig distributed the wood among his students to be used as canvases in an art exhibit!
I was among a few of the “established” artists asked to take part. This was my first piece done on wood, and I have to say - it was an enjoyable process!
November 25th, 2008
I’ve been volunteering with the Canadian Improv Games off-and-on since 1994! I’ve even done a lot of the design for merch/adverts on the local level. This year I got to also design the national games’ t-shirts! After the Improv Camp staff/camper tees got such high praise, I was given free reign to do… whatever! The only caveat was that it had to be done in three colours for a white tee.
November 22nd, 2008
Canteen opened its doors back in October, and The Little Big Show was the first exhibit they hosted. Canteen’s a small gallery run by my friend Inaas, who’s also the owner of the hip Milk boutique in Ottawa.
For the gallery’s first night, Inaas decided to hold a group show benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Ottawa. She was able to build a very impressive contributor list of local, national, and international artists - many of whom donated the entire proceeds of their sales! Artists included local hero Hayden Menzies, Toronto’s Liam Thurston, Robert Mars, APAK, Pamela Henderson, Marysol Foucault, and Scott Campbell, just to name a few.
The night was a resounding success; attendance was high, and sales were plenty. There were a lot of familiar faces squeezed into the small space, and a lot of new ones.
Here’s a link to some photos of the night on Flickr.
