I’m pleased to present this very special guest post by Vancouver-based graphic designer Amy Novak, sharing a series of beautiful images from her collections. Enjoy…

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Please join us on Friday Oct. 5th for the next concert in the Howl series. We’re very excited to showcase Léopard et Moi and Avec le Soleil Sortant de sa Bouche, two local avant-garde rock ensembles working on the creative frontlines of this city.

Members of both groups were deeply involved in the student strike, and we will also take this opportunity to celebrate the victories of the movement with groups that contributed to the material culture of the strike tabling at the event.

3 – demo by lesoleiletsabouche

More info on Howl Arts.

RSVP on facebook here.

photo by Thien V.

With news of the cancellation of the Liberal tuition hike here in Québec today; a stunning victory after many months of mobilising and protest by students, and a rare (if nuanced…) victory for our social movements more generally, I thought I would post this image of the poster Sarah Boris designed (with my “art direction”), and I printed during our residency in Dundee.

I had the phrase bouncing around my head for many months, but never found an image/design to resolve it. The #GGI posters I designed were largely inspired by the desire to find a way to use it, ending up as a series of eight posters, yet none of which used the phrase “Coeur Rage”… It took the synchronicity of travelling to Dundee, and meeting with Sarah, for this design to emerge.

When I got back to Montréal, I used the poster at several street protests, and was often stopped by people wanting to take pictures of it. It certainly struck a chord with many people, and I’m very happy that Sarah and I managed to create this work, as a small contribution to the movement, to a summer of love and rage.

I was really excited to notice that my Gaza poster has been included in a post by Rick Poynor over at Design Observer about activist posters. Rick has long been a hero of mine for his longstanding and critical contribution to design writing, so needless to say, I’m honoured to be recognised by him here.

This poster was the initial trigger for the Imaging Apartheid project, which has recently been brought back to life with the hard work of the collective members. More on that very soon…

I’ve been sick for a week now, and I’m feeling like if I don’t start making something beautiful soon, I’m just gonna die (melodramatic, I know, but true in this feverish state). I recently rediscovered WU LYF thanks to a smart tip from John. Their debut album from last year, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, is a brilliant work, drenched in beauty, an almost over-the-top sincerity of expression.

I want to make art that looks like this sounds.

Also worth watching in these times, their insane revolution/riot video for DIRT.

Continuing my collaboration with Cinema Politica, “Selections” presents an extensive catalogue of CP’s Canadian films, artist and project profiles, photos of locals, etc. recapping the last year of the organisation’s activity. It celebrates and details the important work being done by CP, and acts as an engaging tool for outreach and promotion.

Despite the limited production budget, the booklet provided a good opportunity to push Cinema Politica’s visual identity (developed by us last year), through the use of powerful imagery and a cinematic format, a refined typographic palette and layout, and crisp one-colour (interior) printing on a nice, matte stock.

Additional design assistance by Kim Tsui, printing by Kata Soho.

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I’ve just returned from a wonderful 2 week trip to Dundee, Scotland — where I participated in Sarah Boris’s 48 Hour Splash project, and Porto, Portugal — where I kicked back and relaxed. Many thanks to Sarah (and Creative Scotland) for bringing me over there, to Dundee Contemporary Arts for hosting our project, and to Tamara for putting me up in Porto.

I’ll be posting more soon about the poster workshop, but for now, here are some photos documenting my too-short time abroad, edited with dbox’s “intsagrammy” photohsop actions, which I’ve been having a little too much fun playing around with of late.

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Tonight, I’m off to Dundee, Scotland to participate in an international artist residency entitled 48 Hour Splash, organised by Sarah Boris, to be held at Dundee Contemporary Arts. I’m honoured to have been invited to this incredible workshop/residency, alongside a group of talented and politically engaged graphic designers, affichistes, and artists, including: Glenn Orton, Siôn Parkinson, Edwin Pickstone, Nancy and Phillipe Vermes (whose book, Beauty is in the street, provides the contextual inspiration for this project), Pascal Colorat, Catalina Quezada Ortega, Constantin Demner, and Sarah herself.

The residency will consist of us working collaboratively for 48-hours straight (from the 7th-9th of August) to create a folio of silkscreen posters that will address our collective socio-political concerns, exploring the medium of the poster as a means of both personal expression and political resistance. I hope to be able to bring the context of the student/social strike here in Québec to the group, and learn from their individual experiences of struggle. I’m particularly excited to get the chance to meet Nancy and Phillipe, whom I sure will have much insight to share from their experiences of May 68.

Download the (working) project presentation here.

Stay tuned…