SPARK BOX SHOP
We have been working hard on putting together the merchandise section of the studio. As some of your will remember the “sale” area of the last space was crowed in a hallway, not the most convenient place to look at printed goods. We decided we wanted to make one full wall of the new studio dedicated to printed goods that were for sale. This would include materials from our craft sales, Square2 Magazine and personal art work. Like most projects it took a lot longer than we anticipated to get it together the way we wanted … but it finally feels close to finished.
We have also been updating our Etsy shop with new products and recently put up a table on the Poppytalk Handmade Online Market. So, if you are looking for a handmade gift for the upcoming holiday season please make sure to pop in. We are open year round Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 6 PM (Thursday we are closed).
PAST RESIDENT: CYNTHIA HSIEH
This summer we shared our home and studio with artist Cynthia Hsieh. Cynthia works primarily in drawing and painting and in her own words ” the narratives of [her] drawings and paintings aim to allude to the outward appearance of the good life with delicacy, subtly, and humour. They exist in the context of an imaginary reality where expectation of the beautiful and other external elements fuse, hence [her] commentary of such seemingly desirable world.”
Being from Shanghai Cynthia wasn’t used to living the country life of P.E.C. It took some getting used to but by the end of her stay she was surprised at how much fun she had had in a small town. During her stay she took part in a number of different “Spark Box” activities. She came with us to the Picton Picturefest, to Nicolai Sarafov’s lecture and exhibition and to many trips to the various P.E.C. beaches. Before leaving she gifted us a hilarious drawing of me with my still-not-created terrarium (the image is based on a photo in a 1970s foliage book).
PAST RESIDENT-MONICA LACEY
P.E.I. photographer, potter and printmaker Monica Lacey worked at our studio during the month of July. Monica’s work primarily focuses on the beauty of the broken, overlooked, or discarded (maybe a residency in rural Ontario was a perfect choice 
).
During her stay she worked with solar plates, a printing process we hadn’t used at the studio before. Solar plate printing can be used to create intaglio prints or relief prints using photographic negatives. To find out more about this process click here >>
Monica’s working habits meant that the studio first needed to be prepped. Found treasures, personal photographs, great music and inspiring messages filled the space and quickly transformed it into a beautiful environment for working. Her studio space perfectly reflected her lovely personality and it became a great place for me (Chrissy) to get out of the July heat to share in thoughts about art, life and the power of a great beach!
Monica made several prints during her stay with us, each done from photographs she had taken prior to arriving. These images were of abandoned places, animals and amazing bits of nature. This imagery worked beautifully with the solar etchings. She even left us a small print in which she combined a bit of scrap paper from a note book we had found under the floor in our upstairs. Along with all the work she produced, Monica found time to enjoy the local scenery and reflected on her stay with us through her blog >>
RESIDENT: JESSICA ANDERSON
This summer has brought us a number of fantastic artists-in-residents. Sadly, these artists don’t stay with us forever and last week we said our goodbyes to Atlanta-based artists Jessica Anderson. Jessica is pursuing a MFA degree in sculpture at the University of Tennessee. Her work and interests lie at the intersection of art, activism, and the transformative possibilities between the two.
The allure of printmaking did take hold of Jessica during her stay and she ended up making several prints large etchings. Her main focus though was the creation of sculptural pieces that resemble her In Laboratory work. During her two week stay the studio turned into what looked like a science lab filled with jars and bags of floating bits and pieces of simulated human parts.
AWARD WINNER: AMANDA MCCAVOUR
I met Toronto artist Amanda McCavour during the Come Up To My Room exhibition at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. She had a room installation which featured an entirely sewn living room space. Over the course of that weekend we hung out quite a bit and I was very happy to see that she had applied for our residency award.
Amanda “uses a sewing machine to create thread drawings and installations by sewing into a fabric that dissolves in water. This fabric makes it possible for [her] to build up the thread by sewing repeatedly into [her] drawn images so that when the fabric is dissolved, the image can hold together without a base. These thread images appear as though they would be easily unraveled and seemingly on the verge of falling apart …”. She is “interested in the vulnerability of thread, its ability to unravel, and its strength when it is sewn together.”
While at the studio she worked a few different projects, one involved sewing lined paper and another comprised of several new pieces for her Scribble series. The lined paper work, I assume, will feed into her Folded Fortune work (see above), which developed through experimenting with themes of children’s crafts and things she had made when she was younger. The Scribble series is yet another project based on a popular children’s craft, the spirograph. The result of these pieces is a very impressive installation comprised of several scribble drawings suspended from a ceiling.
RESIDENT: REBECCA ROTHFUS
I have always been drawn to white on white or black on black art work, so when artist Rebecca Rothfus came to our studio this past June and said she was going to work on a series of embossments I was thrilled. Rebecca work is of modern day landscapes. She is intrigued by the structural beauty of cell towers and industrial plants and enjoys the visual contrast between these structures and their surroundings. Using photographic references Rebecca made four collograph prints which she later used for her embossments.
A collograph print is created by using a hard surface (wood or cardboard) to build up your imagery. This results in a relief surface with a range of different textures and levels. Many printmakers use string, fabrics, objects found in nature and textured paper to create their imagery. Generally these are then inked and transferred to paper through the printing press. Rebecca used cardboard to build up the different layers of her print, adding and removing pieces to create the levels. Then, instead of inking the plate she put it through the press clean to create the embossment. The wet paper moulded around the different levels of cardboard leading to a beautiful, all white print, with her image recessing in from the background.
MAKING ART IN THE NEW DIGS
Six days after we moved into the new location we hosted our first resident, Krystal Read, hailing all the way from Dallas, Texas. I must say we were pretty nervous about having a resident only five days after we moved but lucky for us she was great and everything came together just fine. Krystal worked with etching and silkscreen while at the studio. She produced four progressive etchings with silkscreen components and several great sketches (like the one you see above). Krystal’s work is filled with layers of imagery from her past, found images and pop culture.
In her own words “many remnants of history, like old photos, are discarded or quietly tucked away without much reference. It is the rediscovery of these historical remnants that fascinates me. After stumbling upon a collection of old photographs at an antique store, I was drawn by the mystery of the photos. These ghost-like images that are discarded and almost lost to history implore elaboration and interpretation. Through various mediums (drawing, etching, performance, photo-animation) I explore how history can evolve into fantasy or decompose into remnants.
By etching a memory onto a metal plate, I explore the attempt to hold on to history. The medium allows me to explore the many facets of a memory by creating various states in which I scrape away parts of the image and fabricate other details. The plate retains each consecutive mark and, as a result, becomes a recording of historic events. Photo-animation also allows me to record the life of a memory by photographing the slow erasure of an image or the added drawing of a self-imagined context. This deliberate elaboration and removal of details generates questions about the elusive story of the image while exploring themes of memory, time and truth.”
A LITTLE BIT OF PRESS
I know this is late coming, but this past April Spark Box Studio was featured in Ellegirl Korea. I am still not sure how the editor heard about us but in mid-March I received an email asking if we would be interested in being interviewed for their Pop Girl section. The editor was putting together a few pages surrounding artist collectives and she thought we would be a great feature. Of course we were thrilled and agreed instantly. We had local photographer Michael Grills take some shots of us, the studio and some of the awesome people that have helped make this place possible.
It took awhile for the magazine to finally arrive on our doorstep but when it did we were happy to find out that we were the first page of the feature. Sadly, not knowing any Korean, I am not sure what parts of the interview were used but the page looks great (they even included Square2!).
REFLECTING ON PAST RESIDENTS: HANNA HUR
photo taken from May Truong
Last summer we had Toronto artist Hanna Hur stay with us for a week. Hanna and I became great friends in the short period of time that she was here and I had the pleasure of interviewing her for the April issue of Square2 Magazine. Hanna’s work ranges from drawing to photography and she deals with a multitude of different topics. She has worked on several projects with her twin sister Laurie Kang and recently she has been developing many drawings based on themes of self-identity and her departure from the Christian faith.
What’s next for Hanna Hur? She is off to Berlin in May where she will be mentoring with artist Candice Breitz.
REFLECTING ON PAST RESIDENTS: JAMIE Q
A few months ago we had Jamie Q, a Canadian artist, participate in our Residency Award. Jamie works in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, bookmaking and printing. I loved her work as soon as I opened the link to her website. It was bright, punchy, fun and full of underlying meaning. Not only was her work amazing but her MFA research focused on the politics and aesthetics of the do-it-yourself ethic, as well as the social potential of art objects and DIY distribution strategies … could she sound more interesting? She proposed to create a silk screened zine while staying with us and she did just that. In a week Jamie made 60, 14 paged, 8 colour screen printed books. For those who don’t know much about silk screen this is a lot of work and a great accomplishment. ***by the way you can purchase a copy for yourself on her website just click here***
Jamie always seems to be up to something. If you are living in San Francisco you can see her work at the Take Root exhibition at the Luggage Store Annex. If you are in London Ontario she will be participating in a Zine Workshop at the London Library April 28th.
SO FRESH AND CLEAN
Spark Box Studio is hosting a lovely exhibition featuring the work of Nell Casson and Melanie Taylor. The Opening Reception is Thursday, April 7th from 3-8 PM. It is family friendly and there will be refreshments and food (if seeing great art isn’t enough:) The show continues until April 30, 2011.
MAKING A WEBSITE
If you’re like me you may find that you procrastinate on the things that you aren’t that confident doing. For example, building a website for your work. You may not know what templates work best for artists, maybe you are unsure of where to look to get your hosting or domain (maybe you don’t even know what those words are), whatever the case, having a website that shows your work, bio and CV is very important when starting your career.
The first thing you will want to do is pick a domain name that works best for you and your work. For example, my domain is chrissypoitras.com. If people want to search for my work they will be more likely to look up my name in a search engine. If you decide to use something other than your name make sure you think it through and have a good way of making people aware that when searching for you they should search that name in google/yahoo/etc.
Next you will need to purchase that domain name (we use godaddy.com). You should purchase the .com and .ca versions of your site if you are from the USA or Canada. This will ensure that people typing in your site can type either and find you.
Now that you have your domain name purchased you should purchase you hosting service. You can also do this through godadddy.com.
NOW, before I go too far, there are other options as well. You can use sites like otherpeoplespixels.com where you can pick your template, purchase your domain and hosting all in one spot and they work only with artists.
If you decide you want to get a blog template you can either set it up with godaddy.com so that your domain name doesn’t look like this: chrissypoitras.blogspot.com. OR if you don’t really care about having .wordpress or .bloodspot, etc tagged onto the latter part of your domain than you don’t necessarily need to purchase a domain name or hosting service at all.
Have I lost you yet??
I hope not. Lets just recap:
1. Think about what you want you site to be called. Either name it after yourself so that it is an easy search for galleries and potential buyers OR pick something different that relates to your work (just make sure this makes sense before doing so).
2. Think about whether you want to purchase your domain name and hosting services OR if you are fine with having WordPress or Blogspot or Tumblr adding their name at the end of your domain. Once you have decided continue to either start your blog or purchase you domain and hosting.
Now that you have made your choice you can start looking through the many online templates. You can find several different styles at the sites listed below. Your hosting/domain service should have a great troubleshooting service and can help you upload your template to your website.
Artist Website Templates:
Blog Websites:
Now that you have your template start populating it. Select the work that best represents who you are. Put up your bio, contact information, artist statement and CV. All of these items will give viewers an idea of who you are and what you are about.
You can also post your work on these sites:
These sites bring in different clients and it is always a good idea to get your work out on as many sites as possible. This will give you more chance to get noticed.
If you decided that the template sites aren’t your thing you can always hire someone to help you with your website. These can get expensive and it is generally a good idea to have the capability to edit/update your website on your own.
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RESIDENT: LILAC LANG
I know we haven’t been great at getting posts up about our past residents. In fact, we need to get better at posting in general. So, here comes our attempt at getting back on track.
Last month we had painter Lilac Lang, who travelled to our studio from Vancouver, B.C. Her month at Spark Box was not only artistically productive but filled with fun events and new friends. Lilac completely emersed herself into our small town. She worked hard in the studio all day and came to several events with Kyle and I during the evenings.
In her own words her art has been about “the ongoing effort to validate painting as a medium with the potential to embody relevant aspects of human experience and to remain critically important in the face of contemporary art discourse. Coming from a background of graffiti culture and more traditional forms of fine art, my work fluctuates between lowbrow illustration expressing humorous aspects of social failure and abstract oils employing the language of modernist painting. My practice relies on experimentation and improvisation bound by the parameters of set processes and predetermined courses of action. In the past, I have exercised this means of creation using colour combinations borrowed from everyday objects such as domestic knick-knacks, fashion ads, and decorating books to produce whimsical, abstract artworks.”
Interested in starting a new body of work, Lilac produced many studies and some medium sized paintings while at the studio. These new works stemmed from images of interior design and look at relationships of space, shape and colour. We always love when artists use the studio and time away to investigate a new phase in their practice.
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ONLINE FIND: MEL KADEL
Grand Old Fort (image used from Mel Kadel’s website)
We have had several really great artists come through our doors in the past year … but there are always people online that I wish would come to the studio. So I decided to do some posts about them. This post is about Mel Kadel an artist from Los Angeles whose drawings of young woman, repetitious patterns and dreamscape scenery have always captivated me.
Copy Cats (image used from Mel Kadel’s website)
Kadel uses pens, q-tips, glue and old paper to make her very intricate drawings. I love the way her characters interact with the strange shapes, colours and piles of pattern. Sometimes it is as if they are attempting to escape an unknown world. In a recent interview on Fecal Face Kadel was asked if she would ever consider moving away from the city (apparently she loves to stay in and lives in a cute log cabin just off the freeway) … I hope that if she ever does want to be surrounded by nature she will make a trip to Picton!
Holding Down the Fort (image used from Mel Kadel’s website)
COME UP TO MY ROOM
COME UP TO MY ROOM
Exhibition Hours:
Friday, January 28, 12-8pm
Saturday, January 29, 12-10pm
Sunday, January 30, 12-5pm
Every January the Gladstone Hotel hands its rooms and spaces over to a group of 20 artists and designers for one of their most exciting shows Come Up To My Room. This alternative design event spans over four days and features 11 room installations and 14 public space projects. Only 44 artists and designers are selected and Prince Edward County’s Chrissy Poitras and Becky Lane were among these.
Chrissy and Becky will be creating a public space piece entitled Chaos Theory in which the two will collaborate to create a process-driven installation which discusses the junction between happenstance and expectation through that quintessential symbol of order: the clock. The themes of chaos and order are addressed from opposite ends of the spectrum.
Chrissy Poitras is an abstract painter and printmaker with a degree in fine art from Queens University. Her work is an investigation of the accidental marks found in her surroundings, the purpose of which is not to create a unified composition, but to allow the viewer to follow trains of thought.
Becky Lane is a designer with a degree in interior design from Ryerson University. She is the principal designer for the design studio, I Beast You. Becky explores themes of nostalgia and remembrance by recreating objects from her past, and incorporating the discarded objects from other people’s pasts into her own story.
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THE LITTLEST PRINT EXCHANGE
Sometimes, when you don’t have time to create a whole body of work, it is fun to participate in a collaborative project. That is why this past summer I applied to be part of the Littlest Print Exchange. The Littlest Print Exchange is an annual juried trade of tiny art prints. Fifty artists are each invited to submit an edition of 50 prints and in turn receive a complete portfolio of 50 prints from all 50 contributing artists.
To my luck I was picked to be one of the 50 printmakers involved. So in early October I got to work making my 50 3″ x 3″ etchings to send off to Illinois. Why did Christopher Clark start the Littlest Print Exchange? He says that ”in truth, the Littlest Print Exchange is a chance to defy the notion that bigger is better, to prove that good things really do come in small packages, and to build connections between artists working around the globe.”
Being the owner of a print studio I encourage any opportunity to see the work of other printmakers and to connect with them. Because of this I was really excited and happy when I say the little package sitting in our mail box from Chris. I am also happy to announce that all of you can see these great prints as well. We will have the Mini Print Show up at Spark Box Studio until the end of the month.
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NIALL ECCLES
Last July we were posting Character of the Day drawings by cartoonist Niall Eccles while he built his website. Since then Niall has created many more of these lovely characters and I am happy to announce that they are for sale at Kelly’s Downtown Picton. We are also excited to be including Niall in the Spring issue of Square2 Magazine along with several other great artists from Prince Edward County and elsewhere.
SQUARE2 ISSUE THREE
The third issue of the Square2 Magazine is now for sale at Spark Box Studio and Books and Company! This issue looks at artists who work in a traditional fashion, creating art grounded in history, using materials, methods and subject matter passed down through generations.
We had the opportunity to launch this issue with an intimate concert at the Bloomfield Town Hall with Julian Brown and Blake Howard.
We are now working on the fourth issue which is already looking to be packed full of great and inspiring artists!
To see a preview click here: http://issuu.com/square2magazine/docs/sq2issue3_portion
LETS RAISE ENTREPRENEURS
We love TED talks and these two are very fitting with what we encourage here at Spark Box – thinking outside the box, being creative and getting people interested in the things you make. We have been pouring our collected knowledge into our two guide sites: The Emerging Artist Guide and The Art School Guide that are meant to help artists at all stages of their career.
I found the Cameron Herold video on the site Etsy.com and at first his talk sounded a bit too business for me. With all his references to accounting, market research, revenue, etc. I didn’t see where an artist like myself could relate. But after watching it again I started seeing myself in many of his stories. I started selling my art outside my house when I was 10, I created a handmade dog biscuit business and had pet stores selling them when I was in my last year of high school, I saw that kids had nothing to do in my small town so I convinced a local bar to have a Youth Party night where we could dance until 11 PM when I was 13. Sure I may not be doing all of these things now but my parents always stood behind me, helped me out and encouraged me to pursue my dreams. This has helped me immensely as an artist.
I struggle with seeing myself as a business person on a pretty regular basis. I worry about the typical issues of “selling out”. But the reality is artists make things and they want galleries, people, etc. to show these things or buy them. Even if you make art that isn’t for sale you still need to get galleries interested in showing them. No matter how you try to swing it artists are entrepreneurs. So embrace this notion and find the resources out there that will help you get people to see the awesome things you are making!
COUNTY RADIO SHOW
Kyle and I were lucky enough to have been interviewed by the County Radio Show, a feature on the newest County website Horntrip Magazine. The magazine focuses the local food and wine industry but the County Radio Show speaks to many different Prince Edward County entrepreneurs. Janet Davies was kind enough to think of us for there most recent podcast. Listen to it here and be sure to check out the Horntrip site to find out about all the other great things going on in this area!
ONLINE FINDS: BOOOOOOOM
Image from the Booooooom website
If you don’t already read this blog then you have been missing out! Booooooom is by far the BEST art blog I have seen and it is coming out of Canada! Created by artist Jeff Hamada Booooooom started as a fun project meant to build a network of fun creative people and it is now one of the largest blogs on the internet. Booooooom features art, design, film, music, photos and more … you can seriously spend hours looking at really amazing work. Plus many of the artists are emerging.
HOMELANDS
Place of Culture, 2007, latex paint, pen and ink on paper (image courtesy of Dagmara Genda)
I love intricate drawings, and large-scale drawings take this love affair even further, so you can imagine how happy I was to have seen “Homelands” an exhibition at the Modern Fuel featuring the drawings of Dagmara Genda and Marigold Santos.
Place of Culture II, 2009, latex paint, acrylic, pen and ink on paper (image courtesy of Dagmara Genda)
The works dealt with themes of place and space in the construction of identity. Genda’s surreal drawings, consisting of layers of intense imagery, stems from three interests – nationalism, space and identity. Santos’ work, which was lit with black lights (amazing), was inspired by childhood folklore from the Philippines and featured two primary creatures the asuang and the anti.
Dusk Ador, 2009-2010, Brush and ink, phosphorescent paint, charcoal, colored pencil, gold and silver leaf, pastel on Fabriano paper
(image courtesy of Marigold Santos)
Dusk Ador, 2009-2010, Brush and ink, phosphorescent paint, charcoal, colored pencil, gold and silver leaf, pastel on Fabriano paper
(image courtesy of Marigold Santos)
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BRENDAN FLANAGAN
Stairwell, oil and acrylic on board, 2010 (photo courtesy of Brendan Flanagan)
Ornans, oil and acrylic on board, 2010 (photo courtesy of Brendan Flanagan)
Costume Party, oil and acrylic on board, 2010 (photo courtesy of Brendan Flanagan)
In a recent trip to Toronto I had the pleasure of going to Angell Gallery where I saw the large-scale paintings of Brendan Flanagan. Flanagan’s paintings are extremely expressive representations of claustrophobic interiors, which are filled with movement, bold colour and complex details. His combination of techniques create unique environments with melting walls and distressed figures. I particularly love his daring colour palette.
