Soon after Spark Box opened its doors we began receiving inquiries about hosting a children’s art camp during the summer. However, the thought of a bunch of paint-covered kids running around our small studio space was enough to keep us up at night. When we expressed our dilemma, our supportive community stepped forward to provide us with a camp location! Mia Lane, and her daughter Becky Lane, offered to host the camp on an amazing wooded property by Fish Lake. During the week of August 16 – 20, 8 kids from all over the world came to print, paint, draw and sculpt in the woods.

Not only did we have a great location, we also got great help. Becky Lane, a local designer, helped Chrissy Poitras plan, organize and run the camp. While the kids had fun creating their art, they were also taught and inspired by the art history each of their projects was drawn from. The campers learnt about the impressionists while painting en plein air, the earth art movement in the 1960s by creating sculptures out of natural materials, and the history of street art when making their own graphic text pieces, to name a few.

By the end of the camp the kids had created an impressive array of remarkable art works, installed their own exhibition in the woods, titled and priced their work, and made personalized invitation for their family and friends. They had a great turn out and some even sold some work!

Last week two young guys from Calgary dropped into the studio in the afternoon. We gave them the tour and gave them our little Spark Box speech. We soon found out that both boys were in high school and interested in the arts. We chatted for awhile and then they headed out for the day. Oddly, a few hours later they came back up to the studio to get some more information about our workshops. We happened to be in the middle of teaching silkscreen and the process seemed to interest them. We gave them information about silkscreen and our workshops and they went off to find out if was something they could include in their vacation budget The next week they were back with their dad and ready to set up a date to come in for a two day workshop. In the end each of them left with four prints and a t-shirt!

The other week I read an article from the Globe and Mail by Judith Timson. In the article she discusses the legitimate worries of people in the arts and people with artists as children. In fact Timson spoke to many of the issues that I had written about in my last blog – the struggles with money and support. But Timson makes a few points that perhaps I missed.

First, she presents some sound advice from the executive director of Arts Etobicoke Louise Garfield. Garfield points out some of the benefits of choosing an art career. Garfield says that artists led lives that are full of “…vibrancy of their intellect and emotions. Adventure, exploration, drama, deep feeling, playfulness, hilarity, camaraderie and FUN!”

On top of all that loveliness Garfield also mentions that artists are actually pretty good financial managers. Why would that be? Well we are all pretty used to tight budgets!

Ok so if that doesn’t make you want to be an artist than maybe Timson’s reference on how artists influence history will. How could I have forgotten that some of the most interesting characters in history are artists? Perhaps I am being naive but I would say that most people know by name the biggest rock legends, classical musicians, play writes, artists and dancers in history … but how many doctors, lawyers and business executives come to mind? (not to say that those others are not all very important historical figures as well)

Let us also not forget the words of Queen Victoria: “ Beware of artists – they mix with all classes of society and are therefore most dangerous”

So if you’re feeling down about choosing to be an artists maybe it would help to think about the amazing people you will meet on your artistic journey, the power you hold by being creative and free thinking, the life lessons you will learn when you pave the rocky road to stardom and joy you will spread to others when you share your creations.

A few years ago I found an article titled “I wanted to become an artist, so I quit my job and became one” by Christopher Fife on the New York City Foundation for the Arts site. I was a recent graduate when I found this article and I thought that this article offered a good perspective on maintaining balance between practice, work and life. I feel that many of us go through this tough debate in our head and struggle to come to a working balance.

After leaving Queen’s and heading off into the world I was faced with a choice- Do I get a “real” job and paint from time to time OR do I devote myself fully to being an artist?

Unfortunately due to crippling OSAP debt it wasn’t a hard choice … I needed a full time job and art would just have to come second. So I got a full time job at Oeno Gallery and although my job at the gallery was great and gave me many opportunities to stay connected with the art world I was not content because I was hardly making any work.

So last December I quit my job at the gallery and committed myself fully to Spark Box- the business Kyle and I opened together with the hopes we could make our own work and support others who wanted to do the same.

Over the past year Kyle and I have talked with many artist (friends, residents and open studio members) about the life of the artist and the trials and tribulations associated to our careers. Most of these conversations centered around the same theme- money vs. passion.

One resident Susan Gardiner Bourlier went to school for architecture. After she finished school she took on a good job at a good firm and was making decent money. The only problem was she wasn’t really happy. She knew that her heart wasn’t in the business and that she really wanted to be a painter. Much like myself she seemed to have what every post grad wanted …  a good job in the field they went to school in. But, also like myself, her heart wasn’t in it. So she quit her job and has now devoted her life to being a painter. She said “I guess I had to pick happiness over money”.

Although her statement seemed harsh it raised a good point that many new artists don’t like to think about, which is that being an artists requires you to reassess your priorities in life. These priorities can be different for everyone, for some it is being ok with loosing a bi-weekly pay cheque, for others it is losing social time in order to paint after work and for some it is knowing that you aren’t going to have a multi-million dollar life style. I do believe artists can make money at their work, you have work really hard for it to be lucrative but it is an actual possibility.

I suppose all I am trying to say is that when you pick art as your career your life will change and even though those changes will be hard it is worth it!

For more information on getting started as a professional artist check out our Emerging Artist Guide.

Beth Frey has an interesting way of looking at story telling and the creation of visual narratives. During her spring stay at Spark Box Studio this multidisciplinary artist created a number of highly detailed works on paper.

To some Beth’s work may appear to be quirky illustrations full of humorous characters in exotic environments, however, coming from a performance and video art background it is not surprising that Beth’s core concept is the history of story telling.

The drawings she made while at Spark Box were for a show in Toronto at the Gladstone. The curator had given the artists a short story of a young boy who was traveling through an enchanted forest being tricked by several squirrels along his journey. Beth’s visual interpretations of this story were soft in palette but complex in imagery. The piece ended up being a triptych full of elements that walked the viewer through the narrative of the fairy tale.

For more information on Beth, including upcoming exhibits please visit her website www.bethfrey.com

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We have had illustrator Niall Eccles working at the studio since we opened and have always enjoyed watching him work on his projects. Recently he has made the experience all the better with his daily characters.

I have always wanted to be disciplined enough to commit to a drawing a day … but alas it just isn’t in the cards for me. However, it is a practice I should adopt and we should all take a page from Niall’s book and try to create something everyday.

As a way of honoring Niall’s “Character of the Day” we will be posting them to our website daily! 

These little drawings will be for sale at the studio if one of them catches your eye and you just have to have it!

In mid-winter of 2010 we had the pleasure of hosting Kingston-based artist Don Maynard at our residency. Maynard has explored a variety of mediums over his career, spanning from drawing to multi-media installation, the latter being very impressive and mesmerizing. During his time at Spark Box Studio Maynard developed a mock-up for a sculpture commissioned by the City of Ottawa Archives. The sculpture is a floating house, which appears to hover 20 feet above the ground, and is held down by six stainless steel ropes lashed over the roofline—“ropes” that actually serve as a giant support structure from which the house hangs. Maynard remarked when asked why he decided to do a residency “Sometimes you have to get away from your own studio to get something done”, making Spark Box Studio a great location to prepare the scale model for the sculpture.

We couldn’t have been happier to have him working in our studio and to later feature him in the first issue of Square2 and exhibit his work at the launch on the upper floor of Books and Company.

To learn more about Don Maynard pick up a copy of Square2 Magazine!

www.square2magazine.com

With an upcoming day workshop in relief printing (July 29) and the screening of the Bansky film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” at the Regent tonight it seemed appropriate to do a short blog about a pretty amazing relief printermaker /street artist in NYC. Her name is Caledonia Dance Curry or better known as Swoon and she has taked the art world by storm with her wheatpaste drawings, large scale installations and fleet of make-shift pirate ships that made sailed down the Mississippi River and crashed the 2009 Venice for the Biennale.

I first found out about Swoon through The Run Up interview series. Her interview was really inspiring because not only is she amazing and talented but you can really feel the passion she has for what she is doing. I think that Swoon is one street artist that illustrates the power of taking art to the streets and making art an experience for everyone to enjoy. 

On top of everything else her relief work is absolutely stunning. Each piece is a highly labored portrait of someone she saw in a park, met on the streets or has known for years. These relief prints are detailed, captivating and remarkably well executed!

Life Drawing: Starting July 14 from 7:30 – 9:30 pm at Karlo Estates Winery. $10 drop-in fee.
Monoprinting: One day class July 8 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm.

Pinhole Camera: Weekend workshop July 16-17 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm.

Kids Camp: in July and August.
Sign up online for our upcoming workshops by filling out the sign up sheet on our workshops page. Additionally you may email us at info@sparkboxstudio.com or you may also call us to book into a workshop at 613.476.0337.
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EXHIBITIONS

Unframed with Tammy Love, Kyle Topping and Chrissy Poitras @ Angeline’s Restaurant.

Print with Carl Wiens, Buffy Carruthers, Peter Mennacher, Nell Casson, Kyle Topping and Chrissy Poitras @ Blizzmaz Gallery, 3071 County Rd 13.

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SPARK BOX STUDIO MEMBERSHIP

Become a member of Spark Box Studio and help us to continue offering these great resources and opportunities for local and visiting artists by getting yourself or an artist friend/family member a Spark Box Studio membership. Click here for more info.

Just wanted to give Kingston artists a heads up about the Salon Prize Juried exhibition. Sounds like a great opportunity to get your work seen in Kingston. Below are the details and a link to the website.

About Salon Prize

The birth of The Salon Prize came from Cleah Bunting’s overwhelming desire to help out other artists in their own working lives. The prize was originally done in association with The Kingston School of Art–however due to the demands of the growing contest–the competition out grew the school.

Cleah’s intentions with the competition is to provide not only prizes, but also opportunities for artists to showcase their work. This prize is about the image presented to us (judges)…meaning we are not concerned with current artwork/styles, the artists reputation, nor where they stand in the community. As a show–we are looking for images that evoke and capture our audience–that are not only acts of brilliance but will also encourage creative growth amongst many of the artists whom visit the show.

I believe strongly in Kingston’s creative community–and with pleasure feel it necessary to show my respect to other artists by allowing them a voice through this project. This contest is all about “What is best for the image……”

I would like to thank Kingston’s community support for allowing this prize to thrive well into it’s second year–for we could not have done it without you.

And we wish every entrant the best success!!

“Happy Painting”–Ted Seth Jacobs.

Prizes

The Salon Prize is proud to support the Fine Arts Community by offering the following

prizes to contest participants.

1st Place – $1000!

2nd Place -500!

3rd Place – $100 Wallacks Gift Card!

This year we will also be featuring a $100 door prize just for the fun of it!

For more information and entry form go to www.salonprize.com