Toon’s On Transit 2019:
Saskatoon is Magic!

Reception: Thursday, September 19, 2019, 7–9pm
PAVED/AKA Event Space, Upstairs
Free, Everyone welcome!

This year’s theme is “Saskatoon is Magic.” What makes Saskatoon “Magic” is the unusual, the extraordinary, and the surprising. For the 2019 Toon’s On Transit artist reception, we invite you to discover the eccentric and funny side of the town where we live, and come see these magical interpretations that will be installed on Saskatoon Transit buses for all to see.

Images will be presented on Saskatoon Transit buses, and for the first time ever, on four Bus Shelters, over the course of September and October 2019. In total, 44 artworks have been chosen, and we will also have these works on display at PAVED Arts in the PAVED Arts Production Centre between September 19-October 18.

Partnering with Saskatoon Transit and Pattison Outdoor, these photographs will transform the morning commute into a moving public gallery, and bring new photographic artwork to all transit riders.

Toon’s On Transit is a continuation of PAVED Arts (Photography, Audio, Video, Electronic, and Digital) programming that highlights the talents of local artists through outreach and exhibitions. Located in the heart of Riversdale, PAVED Arts has been facilitating independent media artists for over a decade. Their gallery space highlights emerging artistic talent from the community.

Presented by PAVED Arts in collaboration with Saskatoon Transit and Pattison Outdoor, and supported by City of Saskatoon and Sask Lotteries.

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Look for the hashtag #TOT2019 on Twitter (@PAVEDArts, @StoonTransit) and Instagram (@PavedArts).
For questions: Email communications@pavedarts.ca

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Submit up to 3 photos, free for everyone, no experience necessary!

PAVED Arts wants to feature YOUR photograph in Saskatoon Transit buses for the 5th edition of Toon’s On Transit! This year’s theme is “Saskatoon is Magic.”

What makes Saskatoon “Magic” is the unusual, the extraordinary, and the surprising. For the 2019 Toon’s On Transit we are calling for all Saskatoon area photographers to consider the city from a different angle. Let’s discover the eccentric and funny side of the town where we live and place these magical takes onto Saskatoon Transit buses for all to see. This call for submissions is open to all Saskatoon & area residents keen on photography, regardless of their level of experience.

Participants are welcome to submit up to 3 photos to PAVED Arts. Images will be considered for presentation in City buses and, for the first time ever, four Bus Shelters over the course of September and October 2019. 

Partnering with Saskatoon Transit and Pattison Outdoor, these photographs will be printed and exhibited in City buses and on Bus Shelters, transforming the morning commute into a moving public gallery, and bringing new photographic artwork to all transit riders. Follow #TOT2019 on Twitter and Instagram.

PAVED Arts will also be displaying prints of the selected photos in the PAVED Arts Production Centre. Artists will receive an archival print of their photo, as well as have the opportunity to celebrate the exhibition launch at a reception at PAVED Arts on September 19, 2019.

Email your questions and submissions to: coordinator@pavedarts.ca

For more information on the Toon’s on Transit Exhibition please visit PAVEDArts.ca or look for the hashtag #TOT2019 on Twitter (@PAVEDArts, @StoonTransit) and Instagram (@PavedArts).

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For questions and submissions: Email Spencer at coordinator@pavedarts.ca

A mobile exhibition of photography on board Saskatoon Transit, coming Fall 2019.
In collaboration with Sask Lotteries, City of Saskatoon, Saskatoon Transit, and Pattison Outdoor.

Selected Photographs will be be displayed on (80) “Interior Cards” and (4) “Bus Shelters”.

SUBMISSION INFO:

• Send your Submissions: Email a MAXIMUM of 3 .jpeg or .TIFF photos per entrant to: coordinator@pavedarts.ca
• Image Resolution: 300 pixels per inch

• Submission Type: Please note with each image whether you are submitting it for consideration for an Interiour Card or for a Bus Shelter.

• Interior Card Image Size: 26 inches wide by 11 inches high.

• Bus Shelter Size: 47 inches wide by 56 inches high. Image must be 300 dpi. NOTE – this will be a very LARGE image (around 500MB). 

• Image Title: Please include an image title for EACH photo.

• Safe Area: Please ensure that your image has room for ‘bleed’.

• Social Media: Please include your Instagram/Twitter handles, if you would like your work to be tagged in posts.

Guidelines:
• There is no fee to submit and each successful photographer will receive an artist fee!
• Photographs with “water marks” or signatures will not be accepted, however, the photographer’s name will appear on the side bar of the design (see above).

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Toons On Transit is a mobile exhibition of photography, on board Saskatoon Transit, coming Fall 2019. These photographs will be printed and exhibited in City buses and four bus shelters, transforming the morning commute into a moving public gallery, and bringing new photographic artwork to all transit riders. Follow #TOT2019 on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Toon’s On Transit is a continuation of PAVED Arts (Photography, Audio, Video, Electronic, and Digital) programming that highlights the talents of local artists through outreach and exhibitions. Located in the heart of Riversdale, PAVED Arts has been facilitating independent media artists for over a decade. Their gallery space highlights emerging artistic talent from the community.

Presented in collaboration with Saskatoon Transit and Pattison Outdoor, and supported by City of Saskatoon and Sask Lotteries.

The post Toons on Transit: 2019 – Saskatoon is Magic first appeared on PAVED Arts.

A call was put out to Saskatoon and area photographers to submit photographs depicting “Diverse Communities.” The Open Call resulted in submissions from more than 80 photographers. Submissions were narrowed down to 30 by a community jury consisting of Cory Schewaga (Artist/Photographer/Videographer), Ben Lindsay (Youth Coordinator, Out Saskatoon), and John Shelling (Graphic Designer/Artist).

For nine weeks, 60 city buses will feature these unique photographs. “Saskatoon Transit is proud to support community initiatives such as this one,” says Jim McDonald, Director of Saskatoon Transit. “Toons on Transit allows residents from every neighborhood in Saskatoon to experience a piece of local art.”

PAVED Arts will also be displaying prints of the winning photos in their Digital Photography Suite. The Digital Photography Suite is open to the public Tuesday to Friday, from noon to 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from noon – 4:00 p.m. This is a unique opportunity for visitors and residents to view the City through the eyes of the artists and honours the artists with a professional print of their work.

Toon’s On Transit is a continuation of PAVED (photography, audio, video, electronic, and digital) Arts programming that highlights the talents of local artists through outreach and exhibitions. Located in the heart of Riversdale, PAVED Arts has been facilitating independent media artists for over a decade. Their gallery space highlights emerging artistic talent from the community. “We are excited to take Toon’s on Transit into every neighbourhood of Saskatoon,” says Travis Cole, PAVED Arts Executive Director.

Look for the hashtag #TOT2018 on twitter and Instagram (@PAVEDArts, @StoonTransit), and keep an eye out for #TOONSTUESDAYS on Instagram/Twitter!

The post TOONS ON TRANSIT 2018 first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Starting Thursday, September 14th, as part of the third annual Toon’s On Transit, fifty local photographers will have their work displayed on Saskatoon transit buses as well as the Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport for a 2 month roaming gallery exhibition.

PAVED Arts once again requested the work of Saskatoon area photographers to be placed on city transit. An open call for photographs by local residents resulted in submissions in excess of 200 entries. These submissions were narrowed to 50 images, selected by a community jury consisting of Carey Shaw, Karla Griffin and Kevin Lee Burton.

The fifty photographers selected by the 2017 Toon’s Kitchen jury are:
Alireza Montazeri, Allain Esquivel, Amos Friesen, Anton Endaya, Art Rachul, Avery Swiftwolfe, Bernice Leyeza, Bob Ferguson, Catherine Ritchie, Dale Boan, David Stonhouse, Deklan Iris-Hoscheit, Gavin Baird, Syed Hassam Hussain Jafri, Ian Preston, Jane Reväe McWhirter, Janice Weber, Jeremy Sax, Jessica Howell, J.M. Michaud, Joanne Lyons, John Harper, Joshua Erikson, Kaitlin Wong, Karen Polowick, Kelsey Fagnou, Kelsey Qualman, Kira Stillwell, Kyle Zurevinski, Lenore Maier, Lisa Rachul, Margaret Eng, Marriane Jane Angga, Mark Ferguson, Mateuaz Lewczuk, Maycie McWillie, Meghan Mickelson, Natasha Kooy, Nick Biblow, Nicole Dyck, Pauline Cuthand, Ron Cooley, Ryan Warkentin, Shelly Fox, Stacy Ingram, Stephanie Hall, Steve Pemble, Stew Coles, Tanya Turner, Zhijun Liu.

For eight weeks (September 14-November 13), 100 city buses will feature unique photographs by Saskatoon photographers. As riders enjoy their daily commute they will encounter a diverse array of photographs in the buses that will vary depending on their route and time of day.

As an expansion of the project, Pattison Outdoor Advertising has partnered with PAVED Arts to feature select photos from this years exhibition on the gateway terminal screens at the Saskatoon International Airport. This is an exciting development in this growing initiative that will provide a unique view of our city for visitors and residents alike.

Toon’s On Transit is a continuation of PAVED Arts programming that highlights the talents of local artists through our outreach and exhibition. Located in the former Toon’s Kitchen restaurant in Riversdale, a media gallery was constructed in PAVED Arts honouring the restaurant’s history. This gallery space has programmed local video work, as an opportunity to recognize our locale, as well as highlight emerging artistic talent in our community. As a growing annual tradition, we are taking Toon’s Kitchen ‘on delivery’ into every neighbourhood of Saskatoon.

A slideshow cross section of photographs submitted for this year will be exhibited in the PAVED Arts Toon’s Kitchen Media Gallery for the duration of the exhibition. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday Noon-6pm, Saturdays Noon-4pm.

Toon’s on Transit is generously supported by:

The post Toon’s On Transit 2017 first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Our community jury has selected our 50 finalists to have their photographs aboard Saskatoon buses in the 3rd annual “Toon’s On Transit!”

Join us Friday, September 15 at PAVED Arts (424 20th Street West) for a reception for François Quévillon’s exhibition  Waiting for Bárðarbunga and this year’s Toon’s on Transit. Francois’ artist talk is at 7pm and a public reception begins at 8pm.

Congratulations to all of our 50 finalists!

Alireza Montazeri, Allain Esquivel, Amos Friesen, Anton Endaya, Art Rachul, Avery Swiftwolfe, Bernice Leyeza, Bob Ferguson, Catherine Ritchie, Dale Boan, David Stonhouse, Deklan Iris-Hoscheit, Gavin Baird, Syed Hassam Hussain Jafri, Ian Preston, Jane Reväe McWhirter, Janice Weber, Jeremy Sax, Jessica Howell, J.M. Michaud, Joanne Lyons, John Harper, Joshua Erikson, Kaitlin Wong, Karen Polowick, Kelsey Fagnou, Kelsey Qualman, Kira Stillwell, Kyle Zurevinski, Lenore Maier, Lisa Rachul, Margaret Eng, Marriane Jane Angga, Mark Ferguson, Mateuaz Lewczuk, Maycie McWillie, Meghan Mickelson, Natasha Kooy, Nick Biblow, Nicole Dyck, Pauline Cuthand, Ron Cooley, Ryan Warkentin, Shelly Fox, Stacy Ingram, Stephanie Hall, Steve Pemble, Stew Coles, Tanya Turner, Zhijun Liu.

Thank you to our community jury, Carey Shaw, Karla Griffin and Kevin Lee Burton for your involvement in deliberating over so many amazing submissions, and a huge thank you to everyone who submitted a photo to TOT 2017.

Most importantly, thank you to Pattison Outdoor Advertising, Saskatoon Transit and Sask Lotteries for your generous support in the great community art project!

The post Toon’s On Transit Finalists Selected! first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Toon’s on Transit 

PAVED Arts wants to feature your photograph aboard Saskatoon buses in the 3rd annual “Toon’s On Transit!”

This call for submissions is open to all Saskatoon area residents keen on photography, regardlessof their level of experience.

All are welcome to submit a photo (or up to 3 photos) to PAVED Arts. Images will be considered for presentation on city buses during the fall of 2017.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JULY 15
Please submit your photograph(s) as jpeg attachments to: coordinator@pavedarts.ca

A community jury will select photos that reflect our city “through the eyes of its people.” Partnering with Rawlco Transit these photographs will be printed and exhibited in Saskatoon buses, transforming the morning commute into moving a public gallery, and bringing new photographic artwork to all transit riders. All submitted works will also be on view in the PAVED Arts “Toon’s Kitchen” media gallery for the duration of the public show on transit. For more info, email coordinator@pavedarts.ca

The post Toon’s On Transit – Open Call for Submissions!! first appeared on PAVED Arts.

After its successful launch in 2015, PAVED Arts once again requested the work of Saskatoon area photographers to be placed on city transit. An open call for photographs by local residents has been held every summer since 2015.  These submissions are narrowed to 50 images, selected by a community jury consisting of Local artists, photographers, people from the press and the University of Saskatchewan.

“Having Toon’s on Transit on our transit buses provides a great opportunity to showcase the talent of local photographers in a unique space. Buses are a part of the daily commute for many in our community, and now to have photographs taken from locals on the buses – it’s fantastic!” –Shreya Pahwa, Living YXE Instagram Photo Blog and 2016 Toon’s On Transit juror.

In the fall, 100 unique photographs by Saskatoon photographers are featured on Saskatoon City Transit. As riders enjoy their daily commute they will encounter a diverse array of photographs in the buses that will vary depending on their route and time of day.

As an expansion of the project this year, Pattison Outdoor Advertising has partnered with PAVED Arts to feature select photos from this years exhibition on the gateway terminal screens at the Saskatoon International Airport. This is an exciting development in this growing initiative that will provide a unique view of our city for visitors and residents alike.

Toon’s On Transit is a continuation of PAVED Arts programming that highlights the talents of local artists through our outreach and exhibition. Located in the former Toon’s Kitchen restaurant in Riversdale, a media gallery was constructed in PAVED Arts honouring the restaurant’s history. This gallery space has programmed local video work, as an opportunity to recognize our locale, as well as highlight emerging artistic talent in our community. As a growing annual tradition, we are taking Toon’s Kitchen ‘on delivery’ into every neighbourhood of Saskatoon.

The Toon’s on Transit project was made possible thanks to support of Sask Lotteries, the City of Saskatoon and Pattison Outdoor Advertising.

Toon’s on Transit on generously supported by

The post Toon’s on Transit first appeared on PAVED Arts.

The post Toon’s on Transit 2016: Call for Submissions first appeared on PAVED Arts.

In June of 2015 PAVED Arts, with support from the City of Saskatoon, embarked upon a unique project of placing the work of Saskatoon area photographers onto city transit. The response to our call for submissions was overwhelming. In the end the community jury were tasked with selecting 35 photographs from a total of 317 images that were submitted.

You can view the selected works on city busses this fall.  You can also visit the PAVED Arts media gallery to view a collection of outstanding submitted work from Saskatoon photographers.

The artists selected for Toon’s On Transit (in alphabetical order) are:
Suzy Bourque, Stew Coles, Ron Cooley, Kate Cronin, Samantha den Hollander, Kenton Doupe, Brayden Elliott, Bob Ferguson, Shelby Fitzgerald, Shelly Fox, Jeff Glasel, Ken Greenhorn, Arnold Isbister, Will Kaufhold, Kaela Klingenberg, Emily Kohlert, Natasha Kooy, Don Kossick, Arvid Kuhnle, Aralia Maxwell, Rae McLeod, Jelena Misevski, Leila Olfert, Marcel Petit, Perseus Plaza, Jannik Plaetner, Laliberte Renée, Derek Sandbeck, Stefan Scott, John Shelling, Stephanie Strauss Hall, Justin Tendeck, Janice Weber, Maury Yee and Kyle Zurevinski.

The post Toon’s On Transit first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Press conference to be held at PAVED Arts, 424 20th Street West: 10:30am Tuesday, September 15
(Artists will be in attendance)

A public reception will be held on Friday, September 11 at 8pm, for the screening of all Toon’s On Transit submissions. This slide show of the submitted photographic works will be staged in the PAVED Arts Media Gallery.

In June of 2015 PAVED Arts, with support from the City of Saskatoon, embarked upon a unique project of placing the work of Saskatoon area photographers onto city transit. The response to our call for submissions was overwhelming. In the end the community jury were tasked with selecting 35 photographs from a total of 317 images that were submitted.

The artists selected for Toon’s On Transit (in alphabetical order) are:
Suzy Bourque, Stew Coles, Ron Cooley, Kate Cronin, Samantha den Hollander, Kenton Doupe, Brayden Elliott, Bob Ferguson, Shelby Fitzgerald, Shelly Fox, Jeff Glasel, Ken Greenhorn, Arnold Isbister, Will Kaufhold, Kaela Klingenberg, Emily Kohlert, Natasha Kooy, Don Kossick, Arvid Kuhnle, Aralia Maxwell, Rae McLeod, Jelena Misevski, Leila Olfert, Marcel Petit, Perseus Plaza, Jannik Plaetner, Laliberte Renée, Derek Sandbeck, Stefan Scott, John Shelling, Stephanie Strauss Hall, Justin Tendeck, Janice Weber, Maury Yee and Kyle Zurevinski.

The post Toon’s On Transit Launch Event Sept 15th first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Featuring new video works by Ni Shao, Olha Tkachenko, Kevin Wesaquate and Yake Zhang. Project mentored by Jody Polowick.

Responding to an open call issued in July, 2014, the four artists selected for the “New Voices” project bring to bear a wide array of perspectives and experiences. Each of the newly commissioned video works responds to this place, both in historical terms, and from the personal and experiential vantage point of what it is like to be a “new” Canadian in Saskatoon. Participants benefited from access to project mentor Jody Polowick as well as the technical staff and facilities offered up by PAVED Arts. Please join us for this premiere screening.

PAVED Arts would like to gratefully acknowledge the City of Saskatoon for their generous support of the Toon’s Kitchen: New Voices project.

The post Toon’s Kitchen: New Voices first appeared on PAVED Arts.

John Morgan is a former founding member of Video Verite in Saskatoon and continues to be an active member of the media arts community in Saskatoon.  PAVED Arts is proud to showcase a collection of his work in this instalment of Toon’s Kitchen.  “Reflecting On Quietude” features seven short works by John Morgan, each with a rather simple composition or motif that utilizes video so as to contemplate the rural landscape, township, country, or even the self.  To learn more about the films in this program click here

Toon’s Kitchen celebrates Saskatoon-based artists who have made a significant contribution to Video Art practices on both a local and national scale. This screening series is designed to compliment Toon’s Kitchen: New Voices, a mentorship program that opens March 13th.

The post Toon’s Kitchen XVII “Reflections on Quietude” first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Toon’s Kitchen celebrates Saskatoon-based artists who have made a significant contribution to Video Art practices on both a local and national scale. This screening series is designed to compliment Toon’s Kitchen: New Voices, a mentorship program that opens March 13th.

The post Toon’s Kitchen XVI “Compound Theory 2a” first appeared on PAVED Arts.

The post Toon’s Kitchen XV: Equal first appeared on PAVED Arts.

The post Toon’s Kitchen XIV: Kitsch In Toons first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Jane McWhirter (Saskatoon)
Essay by Karla Griffin
January 17 – 31, 2014.
Public Reception: Friday, January 17@ 8:00.

Emerging artist Jane McWhirter has developed a Toon’s Kitchen project by drawing content directly from the “public” yet virtual space of an online dating website. First Impressions is a video artwork based on what people choose to say during their primary interactions with a complete stranger, as it plays out over the internet. Online dating allows people to step out of their shell and approach a potential mate in a way that is very detached and impersonal, mediated by a router and screen, with only an illusion of “intimate” proximity. Such encounters may give people the courage to say things that they would not say in a face to face situation.

The post Toon’s Kitchen XII: First Impressions first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Amber Christensen & Karen Polowick
Essay by Megan Morman
January 17 – 31, 2014
Public Reception: Friday, January 17@ 8:00.

Amber Christensen and Karen Polowick have been working together since 2009 and are inspired by the work of early feminist video artists such as Martha Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen and also by contemporary artists Shawna Dempsey & Lori Millan. Their collaborative project, bearing the full title Daddy Sets the Beat: the subjugation of an orphan girl, is a self-reflexive parody of the dogmatic politics that often accompany “second wave feminism.”
Filmed on Super 8 and hand processed, the medium is employed to evoke a sense of nostalgia, given that the scratches and imperfections of hand processing also reflect qualities associated with found footage. Daddy sets the Beat acts as a performance of an imaginary history, evoking the possibility that these works could potentially be the product of a feminist video artist working in another era. Christensen and Polowick mix this content with a contemporary perspective; one which is caught between rejection and adoration for the didacticism of early feminism.

The post Toon’s Kitchen XIII: Daddy Sets The Beat first appeared on PAVED Arts.

The multi-channel video School of Athens was shot in Saskatchewan in 2013. Dramatic figures populate rural landscapes, seemingly incongruent with each other and their surroundings. Characters act out a surreal morality play full of charged allegory. Central to the piece are two sets of contrasted characters: demure and virginal Greek nymphs, and their Orientalist shadow selves—looming veiled women who are at once gothic and sci-fi. Keeping an eye on the women are mysterious men, robed in history and power.

Allysha Larsen’s multi-channel work School of Athens will be presented in the Toon’s Kitchen, opening November 8th along side of the Main gallery presentation of Dead Air by Steven Bates.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday, Noon – 6 pm; Saturdays Noon – 4pm.

PAVED Arts acknowledges the support of our members, volunteers and partners, and of our principal funders: Canada Council for the Arts, Saskatchewan Arts Board, SaskCulture, SaskLotteries, the City of Saskatoon and the National Film Board of Canada.

The post Toon’s Kitchen XI: School Of Athens first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Miki Mappin (Saskatoon)
A Critical Text will be written by Andrea Ledding
July 5 to July 19, 2013.
Public Reception: Friday, July 5@ 8:00.

Transqueery, Miki Encounters the Neil Richards Collection

Miki, a somewhat eccentric trans gender individual is asked to submit a proposal for an artwork which would engage with a queer collection at the University of Saskatchewan Archives. Despite being in the middle of an awkward life transition and knowing nothing about the collection, she agrees and proposes to make a video of her encounter with the Neil Richards Collection. As she is introduced to the archives and begins exploring the collection, she becomes fascinated with the collector, Neil Richards. In the archives she engages with the staff and discovers material that relates to her own personal experience. Largely hand held, using existing light and the camera’s microphone, Miki Mappin’s disarmingly simple technique results in a direct and entertaining engagement with her subject.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday, Noon – 6 pm; Saturdays Noon – 4pm.

PAVED Arts acknowledges the support of our members, volunteers and partners, and of our principal funders: Canada Council for the Arts, Saskatchewan Arts Board, SaskCulture, SaskLotteries, the City of Saskatoon and the National Film Board of Canada.

For more information, contact: David LaRiviere, Artistic Director tel. (306) 652-5502 ext.1 artistic@pavedarts.ca
PAVED Arts: 424 20^th Street West Saskatoon SK. S7M 0X4 www.pavedarts.ca

Free admission to the public with barrier-free accessibility.

The post Toon’s Kitchen X: Transqueery first appeared on PAVED Arts.

– A short project description (200 words maximum) PLEASE SPECIFY the media (Photo, Audio, Video, etc.) of your project and include any technical requirements in your proposal.

– A DVD or CD containing relevant support material for your project (longer works are permitted, however please limit submission media to 5-10 minutes for review purposes)

– Alternatively, links to media on Tumblr, Vimeo, Soundcloud, etc. can be submitted  

– Each proposal must also include a writer who will be commissioned to write a short (700 word) statement about the work

Toon’s Kitchen projects will be two weeks in duration. Artist fees of $450.00 and writer’s fees of $150.00 per project will be paid. Where possible a public reception for the projects will be aligned with our Main Gallery opening receptions, otherwise public receptions will be coordinated at the discretion of PAVED Arts staff. Five projects will be presented in the 2013-2014 programming season.

Deadline For Submission: Friday, April 26, 2013

Please address submissions to: David LaRiviere, Artistic Director, 424-20th Street West, S7M 0X4.
Email submissions will be accepted at: artistic@pavedarts.ca

For further information use the contact above or phone: (306) 652-5502 ext.1

The post TOON’S KITCHEN: THE SASKATOON PROJECT SPACE Call For Submissions first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Emerging artist Emma Jean Anderson will present a video work that contemplates identity, not as a constant essence, but rather as a contingent and evolving complexity. This project is the final iteration of the first cycle of Toon’s Kitchen presentations.

Commissioned essay written by Bart Gazzola

Liquid Braille is a study in contrasts: this is what makes it so interesting, and why I can watch it over and over. This is a form of mimicry of the “star” of the video by Emma Jean, Preston, as he swims “forever” and the video loops endlessly.

This is a work that you can almost step into, like wading into a pool. It’s installed in this space as a projection dominating a wall and presenting a figure that’s sometimes smaller than the viewer, and other times dwarfs us with his movements. Liquid Braille is somewhat hypnotic, filling the room.

There is no audio component to this work, and its silence is a sharp fracture to the activity of Preston, swimming and swimming and swimming. Preston is blind, and this is a purely visual experience he can never share – but perhaps that’s standing in the wrong place, and “looking” at this work incorrectly. Perhaps Liquid Braille isn’t about us, but about his experience in that space, and Emma as the observer (or recorder) of that happening, watching him, and passing this on to us. We need to think of this environment, the room and the silence and the narrative on the wall, as trying to communicate something to those of us who suffer from the “oppression of the visual”. Remember Tiresias, who though blind, seemed to know enough to make the Greek Gods uncomfortable….

The familiar tiled flooring of a massive swimming pool appears occasionally, all blue and reassuring, hinting at a stable location. This is challenged by waves of smothering black and brilliant flares of white that obscure our vision in Liquid Braille. There’s gestural marks that are both blocky and delicate (in form and in their brevity of appearance): this is the atmosphere that Preston moves through like a fish, self assuredly, confident and clear in his purpose. It’s like he’s almost flying, and swimming is, after all, an activity that – unlike many sports – doesn’t privilege sight.

A past work of Emma’s also played upon ideas of motion, and interaction: her BFA exhibition played upon notions of dance, and the familiarity and intimacy of dancing with a partner, where, to steal a wonderful phrase she used in describing this work, “other people leave their fingerprints upon us.” The conversations we’ve had about that work, and this work, have only helped make me experience Liquid Braille as something that has nuance. She’s deliberate and considered in her choices, in this vignette of her friend. It’s almost like this is a translation of his experience– and getting the words and sentiment correct are necessary for our understanding.

Emma’s words, in conversation with me about this work illustrate this. This is very much a portrait of Preston, and a means to position you in another’s place and experience their world. Liquid Braille is “me trying to understand how he experiences space, and also the way thoughts and perception work… like flashes of insight. An awareness of yourself, your environment, at once and yet separate. I like the idea of impossibilities made possible through metaphor…”

Experience Liquid Braille: it washes over you like water, and in the reference to Braille in the title, reminds us that vision is just one of our senses.

The post Toon’s Kitchen IX: Liquid Braille, first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Exhibition dates: February 15th – March 2nd, 2013
Opening reception: Friday, February 15th @ 8:00 PM.
Delicious snacks and a signature refreshment will be available.

With “The Knot,” Saskatoon-based artist Troy Gronsdahl offers up a quiet, poetic intervention that transpires between subject and landscape. The artist begins with an ubiquitous but beautifully composed section of the Canadian Boreal forest. Within moments of establishing the tableau a single gesture crosses the frame, playing on both the depth of solitude and a limit case for language. In the artist’s own words, “The presence of the object implies human intervention, a deliberate action and opens narrative possibility.”

ON SURRENDER AS AN ACT OF INFILTRATION

Troy Gronsdahl’s The Knot

Troy Gronsdahl’s short video The Knot opens in the middle of a forested landscape; a young tree trunk appears in focus among older trunks, small saplings, the stumps of fallen trees, and clusters of leaves, all blurry. The sharp trunk is slightly off centre, leaning towards the edge of the frame, and two or three soft fingers of bright green leaf peek in from the top.

We, as observers, are given time to absorb all of this, as the uninhabited vista lasts for 16 seconds of the 70-second work. Eventually, a blurry figure emerges from the background, navigating the undulating terrain on foot. In jeans, plaid shirt and glasses, the artist approaches the trunk—and us—and continues just off-camera, from whence he ties a clean white cloth around what we now realize to be a branch, perhaps an inch or so in diameter. A knot is formed by the artist’s hands, and they disappear, leaving us with the scene in which we started, save for the addition of the small, white banner.

An art historical context of imaging the Canadian landscape springs readily to mind, and one could easily be tempted to think of Gronsdahl’s gesture as Thompsonesque: the artist is a lone wanderer who emerges from and disappears back into the forest, leaving only art-tokens behind, or so goes the mythology. But the quietude of the artist’s performance—and, indeed, his overall avoidance of the camera’s lens—implies both purpose and resignation. This figure is no ecological flâneur, no enviro-tourist; he is on a mission.

That mission is one of surrender. Gronsdahl marks the young branch with a white flag, and retreats. The solitude of the location and the lingering absence of other bodies suggest that, perhaps, his surrender is to us, an anonymous citizenry—the body of the observer occupies this territory only virtually, by means of the apparatus of the camera. Gronsdahl’s camera, in this case, becomes a paradoxical witness… paradoxical because the camera is always placed, and captures nothing by accident. But if the camera is the ultimate, universal, secular confessor to whom the artist submits—a stand-in for any and all potential viewers of its public record—then the artist operates from a position of abstract guilt, or culpability, or complicity. The white flag of surrender is placed before us, but not for us.

What, then, are the stakes of this surrender? They must be high, for no protest is made, no ceremony nor complaint issued (silence is, after all, reserved for the most profound of sentiments). The work’s title, and indeed the knot itself, suggest an ambivalent binding—neither tight nor loose, the band is formed efficiently but gently around the tree, and the branch bows in submission to the hands’ ministrations. It continues to sway, tentatively, after the hands have left the picture entirely and it has been left alone with the camera, bowing in a subtle response to its context and its use as collaborative performer. The white handkerchief, for its part, is a personal object made semi-public, or at least unleashed into the landscape, and the tying of a marker on a branch is a way of sectioning and owning a part of that landscape.

We should not be lulled too easily, however, into thinking of this work as an expression of abject shame; it is far more ambivalent than that. Invoking Canadian landscape as he does, and given his position as a white, male, Canadian artist, Gronsdahl is, perhaps, surrendering to Canada, as construct or context or concept, without apologizing for it. His hoser-hip costuming suggests middle-class North American privilege, while he engages in a nearly anonymous declaration of reclamation and relegation—a thankless and, dare I say, almost pointless action that refers to larger political narratives of race, belonging, and Grand National Identity (if only with tongue firmly in cheek). The ambivalent elegance of Gronsdahl’s gesture is that it is as much a literal marking of territory as it is a signifier of surrender; the swatch with which he binds the tree is itself the indication of his giving it up.

– Lee Henderson

The post Toon’s Kitchen VIII: The Knot first appeared on PAVED Arts.

Please join us for the opening reception of Trail Home on Friday, January 18th at 8PM.

Rowan Pantel, Trail Home

“And when you’re alone there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.”

The post Toon’s Kitchen VII : Trail Home first appeared on PAVED Arts.

November 23rd – December 8th, 2012.
Please Join Us for the Opening Reception: Friday, November 23rd, 5:00 to 6:45 PM.

This project begins as a response to harmful stereotypes that are circulated in the mass media, but goes further in a positive direction, to lend voice to those who may otherwise be badly misrepresented in the public record. As the Poet Janet Marie Rogers explains;

The poem, Insult to Injury was inspired by an article in the National Post, written by Christie Blanchford, about the Robert Pickton trial. In the reporting of the victims, Ms. Blanchford called the victims drug addicts and prostitutes. The latter title was true in most cases, but the title drug addict was never reported or proven during the trial.

I found the statement, in print versions of the article and when I researched the on-line version of the article, the accusatory statement was pulled. Media, and particularly in Christie Blanchford’s case, has the ability to commit crimes upon the people they are referencing, just as much as serial killer Robert Pickton. The poem Insult to Injury is informed and based on the National Post’s article.

The post Toon’s Kitchen VI: Insult To Injury first appeared on PAVED Arts.