Ever since those magical pottery classes on the 4th floor of the CIE, listening to Bob Dylan and J-Pop while the sun shone in the windows and Inomata-sensei shuffled around, speaking to his students in confusing Japenglish… I’ve held a special place in my heart for making stuff with clay.

The whole process is frustrating as hell (on par with any kind of printmaking, I’d say), since a successful piece will only be so if every step along the way has gone right. If something goes wrong, pretty much any work done up to that point turns out to be a complete waste. Gah! So many times I’ve wanted to throw up my hands and say “Stupid pot! Why won’t you be the shape/size/masterpiece that I want you to be?!” But most of the time, I love it. I am mesmerized by the lump of clay spinningspinningspinning until I can eventually turn it into something I will love forever and ever.

Pottery is different for me than other art-making because my focus is almost entirely on mastering a specific skill - like learning how to bake, or drive a car, or ski - and only now am I starting to bring some creativity into it. The things that I am working on at this moment are a little more design-y, because I feel more inclined to spend time giving the piece some… style? Yeah, style. Anyway, photos of those ones to come! Probably around late June.

For now, here are some photos of my work from my winter class.

I’m working on a bunch of artwork these days, as I’m getting ready for a couple shows in spring 09. As of right now, I don’t know exactly what’s going to be in those shows, but I figure if I’m at least being productive, then I’ll have work to chose from! Check out 4 new pieces under Recent Work.

One of the shows, by the way, is part of the Young Professionals series at the Art Gallery of Swift Current. It will be my first solo exhibition and is set for April 25 to May 16, 2009.

A guy named Austin Kleon takes a sharpie to the daily post and creates poetry that I like more than any other poems I remember ever liking. His website is located at austinkleon.com

In March I did this album cover for Saskatoon’s The Sheepdogs. I made an edition of five 6-colour screenprints, and then one was scanned for the cover. The album was just released last week and is very awesome, so check out their website and pick up a copy.

…turn it into, uh, more paper.

For my 3rd year printmaking class, I’m doing a project that involves making a bunch of my own paper. These scraps will go in it, along with whatever else I can manage to turn into paper. Maybe some cotton rag pulp, abaca (banana leaf) pulp, celery, old t-shirts, some straw, pieces of other people’s prints, who knows…

This (sort of related) interest in exploring the “lives” of resources (as they are found, made into things, and then discarded, and then maybe used again, as is the case with some of the things I’m recycling in my paper) kind of came to me in the last little while, and was a big part of the movie Manufactured Landscapes that I watched the other day.

“I used to want to be a doctor. Then I wanted to be an artist. Now I want to be a photographer…”
-Avijit, 11, Calcutta

I just watched the documentary “Born into Brothels” on The Passionate Eye. Holy. What cool kids in such uncool situations. Makes me want to join in and help others by using art.

And… how come people under 12 tend to come up with the best photographs? I’ve seen it happen several times.

art is just what we decide to treat as art, and that it has way more to do with the person making it and the people viewing it than the actual “it” itself.

Here are other answers to “what is art?” taken from the streets of the USA.

Hey,

So I’m back in Canada and excited about life. This site is finally getting some action, with some new pages with photos of my art.

 Anyone going to Tokyo in May 08 should check out the brightly-coloured and only slightly overwhelming Design Festa, held on the 17th and 18th at Tokyo Big Sight. It’s the largest art and design festival in Asia and is like nothing you would ever see in North America. Held twice a year, there are about 7,000 exhibitors and usually over 50,000 visitors. Paintings, prints, shoes, hair bobbles, umbrella sculptures, music, food… it’s all there.

I went to the 25th Design Festa in May 07 and had a great time. It was amazing to see so many young Japanese designers, creating all kinds of things, but who seemed to have similar influences. So different from stuff here. Everything looked Japanese, and was super kawaii. But the best thing of all is that I left my mark on Vol. 25, in the official website’s Visitors Report.