Tuesday November 30th 2010, 10:08 pm
Filed under: inspirations,news
First up, long admired political art collective, The Beehive Design Collective, have launched a kickstarter campaign to mark their 10 year anniversary. I remember first seeing their work during the FTAA protests in Quebec City back in 2001, and just recently referenced their work in a class I was teaching as an example of an approach to a visual essay. Check out the video above to learn more about their important and inspirational work, and if you’re in the states, help ’em out so they can keep printing and get yourself some beautiful posters while you’re at it.
2009 marks four decades of me being a published poet
in this once greatest country so try and find any of my
books in your local bookstore and you’d be shit out of
luck yet if I had similarly wasted my life doing
almost anything else I could be retired by now with a
modest check and better teeth but all I’ve got to show
are consequential words across an empty white space
– Happy Hour’s epigraph
The eleventh issue of Four Minutes to Midnight is a radical break from the format of the last four issues, consisting of Happy Hour, a book of 60 poems by F.A. Nettelbeck, lavishly illustrated by Sophie Jodoin, and Fugue XI, printed and bound as a slim edition of 28 pages. Production details include a double bump of silver ink on black cardstock covers, bright pink endpapers and a hand stamped bellyband holding the books together. Interior pages are printed on Rolland Enviro100 paper (FSC 100% post-consumer fibre, chlorine free process using biogas energy). The double-issue is printed in an edition of 350 copies.
Another great Expozine weekend is in the books, and as tiring, stressful and hectic as it was, I’m pretty sad it’s over and we’re going to have to wait a whole year for the next opportunity to see so many amazing independent creators and creations.
As a member of the illustrious board, headed by the indefatiguable Louis Rastelli (with big shoutouts to Billy Mavreas, Genevieve Boyer, Pascal-Angelo Fioramore, Michelle Lacombe and Graham Hall) I spent Friday setting up hundreds of tables and chairs while hoping that issue XI of Four Minutes to Midnight would be printed and bound in time by my printers Kata Soho (kids, remember, don’t leave printing to the last minute!). Everything worked out in the end, and I was able to enjoy the opening event at Sala with some good friends and great performances by Sherwin Tija (reading from his collection of Pseudo-Haikus and new zine, “The Little Cancer that could”) and Super Fossil Power. There was a nice turnout, but unfortunately, as was to be expected, a lot of zinesters I was hoping to meet were MIA as they frantically finished their wares.
It’s my favourite time of the year! Expozine 2010 is right around the corner (THIS weekend!) and I’m beyond excited to get to see so many of my friends again and all the work they’ve been up to in a sweaty church basement jam-packed with geeky zinesters. And equally excited to discover new art for my walls, new zines for my mind, and new people to collaborate with. I’ve met some of my best friends through this event, and it’s one of the main reasons I’m still in Montreal, with its amazing community of independent artists. It’s going to be a fabulous weekend!
Monday November 01st 2010, 2:25 pm
Filed under: portfolio
In collaboration with the fine folks at Bluesponge (in particular developer extraordinaire Patrick Paul-Hus), I recently completed the visual identity and web design of ShopDilara.com, an elegant online web store for fashion afficianadas.
Featuring a sophisticated typographic palette and a clean, uncluttered design, the site balances equal parts sass with class!
