BookLust

Pretty Penguins

Author and artist Douglas Coupland has a new show coming to Toronto. It's called The Penguins, and it will be showing at the Monte Clark Gallery from Thursday July 26 to September 16, 2007.

Using old mass-produced Penguin paperbacks, Coupland has created some very intriguing and attractive collages. A description of Coupland's vision from his site:

In their day, Penguin paperbacks had both the marketing clout of an Oprah Book Club selection, as well as potent academic cachet. Using Penguin paperbacks as a starting point for text collages, Douglas Coupland investigates mid-20th century notions of social engineering and mass enlightenment decades after the experiment came to an end.

The opening of the exhibition is Thursday July 26 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, and Coupland will be there in attendance. I'd love to go to the opening, but I actually have a summer cocktail party to attend! I will make the effort to see the show though, and you should, too, if you're in the city, and you love those pretty Penguins!

Thanks to Torontoist for the info!

For the Love of Libraries

I have always been drawn to collages. The mixture of paint and images and words fascinates me. Over the years I have attempted creating collages; some good, some very, very bad, one even the cause of a nasty marital spat (you know what I'm talking about, sweetie). It wasn't until I was in college, studying graphic design, that my passion for collage really blossomed. I had a great instructor, Johanne, who introduced me to the work of a man I'd never heard of before, a fellow by the name of Nick Bantock. I was literally blown away. From there I discovered many other collage artists, one of my favourites being Barbara Hodgson. These two artists in particular, really inspired me to dare to experiment with a medium where I felt completely out of my element. I haven't done much collage lately, and I really miss it. I hope to get my fingers messy with paint and glue very soon. A gal cannot live by Photoshop and ink alone!

For the heck of it, I thought I would share with you one of my favourite collages that I created a few years ago. It was part of a community art project, organized by a small arts organization situated very close to the library where my husband works. The goal was to get a group of artists to create works of art which paid homage in some way to the Oakwood Avenue community. The only thing I knew in any detail about Oakwood Avenue was of course, the library where my husband worked. I went there often, and yes, I loved books and libraries. So that was my project. I created a collage all about my vision of the Oakwood Village Library and Arts Centre. It was a joy and a challenge coming up with some of the materials. I took pictures of the library, managed to get copies of the architectural drawings of the building, went to art and paper shows to purchase any materials associated with books and libraries, and even went to the Toronto Archives to dig up copies of old maps of Oakwood Avenue. Unfortunately I did not mount the collage properly; I painted directly on foam board without giving the back any support, and as a result, the collage warped and buckled a bit. This really ticked me off, but I was still pleased when I saw it hanging in the window of the library. The day of the 'grand opening' the artists and any guests were supposed to walk along Oakwood Avenue, and when they came to their work of art on display (I forgot to mention that the art was all displayed in various windows of shopkeepers, etc, all along the street) they were to give a little talk about the signifigance of their piece. Well, I do not really enjoy explaining to a bunch of strangers my art and what motivated me, blah, blah, blah. In fact, I was bloody nervous. And it was a fricking cold day. But I stood in front of this crowd, in front of the Oakwood Library, and started explaining the signifigance of my warped and buckled collage. In the middle of my speech, a rather scruffy-looking man who was obviously down on his luck actually interrupted me, in front of a crowd of art-loving folk, and asked me if I could spare a quarter so he could buy a muffin. Without missing a beat, I pulled some change out of my pocket, and handed the guy the cash. Thankfully that broke the ice a bit.

Anyway, the collage ended up being tucked away in my studio until we moved to our new house. In the past few weeks I managed to pull off all the foam backing so it was no longer buckled, but in the process, it got a bit beat up. It makes me like it even more. Eventually, I will glue the back with some sturdy paper and hang it somewhere in my library. But just for the sake of posterity, I decided to scan the sucker, which was no small task, since it's 60 inches long and 24 inches wide. That means scanning in sections, which doesn't always turn out exactly how you had hoped. So as well as being somewhat rough around the edges, it's also a little wonky online. More reasons to love it.

Too much in this life we live is focused on the importance of perfection. In physical appearance, in ideas, in lifestyles, in relationships, in creating one's art. Collage, for me, is all about imperfection and it's raw, unabashed beauty. Apologies for blathering on. One of my many imperfections.

Oh, and if you want to see an even bigger sample of this piece, click here.

Ephemeral Love

Oh joy! I saw this book yesterday, and snatched it up without hesitation. Who can resist a book written by Nick Bantock providing instruction in collecting ephemera and creating collage? Urgent 2nd Class was created just for me. On the back it reads:

"You are invited to take an art class with the master of aesthetic curiosity, Nick Bantock. Urgent 2nd Class is an inspirational handbook for making art by embellishing and tampering with old documents, maps, postcards, scraps, envelopes, and other ephemera. Written in Bantock's ebullient, intimate prose and featuring numerous visual samples, Urgent 2nd Class shows how to alchemically transform the unexpected into your own idiosyncratic art."

Now let me say straight up that I am not a big fan of "inspirational" how-to-be-creative books. They just don't fly with me. But I bought this book because, well, it's Nick Bantock, he writes well, he gives some good practical ideas for collecting and creating collage, and most importantly, the images inside are luscious.

Now if only Barbara Hodgson would write a similar book!

I Met Her!!!!

Sick of me talking about Barbara Hodgson yet? Yeah, well too bad. Tonight I attended Harbourfront's last session in their Summer Reading series. The only reason I went was because Barbara Hodgson, that most talented of book designers and writers was there to talk about her latest book, The Lives of Shadows. She did not disappoint. Down-to-earth, funny, friendly, and a great story-teller. As well as reading from her novel, she showed slides of her work that she used for her book, as well as photographs of Damascus which she used for inspiration. And speaking of inspiration, she is an inspiration. I just want to get back into collage, and write this story that's been kicking around in my head for 2 years (I've got a small amount of it written, but not much). Yes, I confess that I would love to create an illustrated novel in the style of Barbara.

Did I gush when it came time for her to sign my book? Of course. Hope I didn't look too much like an idiot.

And so in honour of Barbara, I will show one of my favourite collages that I made a few years back. It's a page from one of the first large books that I hand-made.

A Jumble of Jumblies

The fun just never stops. I figured I'd do a few postings today 'cuz tomorrow I'm out the whole day with the fam-damly-in-laws to explore the Egypt Exhibit at the ROM. And then Sunday I have a crap-load of freelance cartoon work to do, so it's a crap shoot if I'll get a chance to post.

These are 4 pages from a little book I made in college, using the art of collage. I wanted to illustrate one of my fave poems by Edward Lear, The Jumblies. This poem has always frightened me. Perhaps it has something to do with the first time I encountered it. I didn't actually read it the first time, I heard it. It was a small film from I believe the National Film Board of Canada. Some fellow (wish I knew who) with the most haunting, gripping voice, narrated the poem, as images of very unique and fantastical stamps from around the world came across the screen. I was mesmorized. And terrified. Has anyone else seen this film?

Anyway, my instructor gave me a low mark for the project. It was 8 pages in all, and she only liked the front and the back cover (that's the first and last image in this layout). What can I say? I still had a lot to learn about typography (still do). Oh well. I had fun.

I'd love to do a cartoon version of this poem some day. And then after that, I'll illustrate The Goops.