My first week in Toronto has been fun, spending some time checking out the city, shops and galleries ...

I checked out a show featuring Saskatchewan artists at the York Quay (Harbourfront) Centre, here is the show's write up ...

COMBINE situates the works of 18 artists from Saskatchewan throughout York Quay Centre. The title joins two iconic references - the image of the prairie farming machine and the assemblages first created by Robert Rauschenberg - to provide a hint as to where the artists are from and what they are up to. Participating artists were selected for their mutual understanding of how the amalgamation of disparate objects and images can create new stories and meanings.

Here are some photographs I took at the show ...

At the harbourfront I was impressed by this wave boardwalk for children to play on ...

Another show I briefly saw was Christina Leslie's photographic series (MISSED) PERCEIVED at the Gladstone Hotel. It showcases multiple portraits and deals with satirical representations, for example the portraits reference the sambo character and representations of othering in media and popular culture. Leslie juxtaposes the sitters actual portrait with their 'caricatures'. Here are some photographs I took at the show ...

Some more fun finds on Queen West + Ossington ...

Could this be a glimpse of what could be in our city's future? We're looking forward to visiting PF1 (Public Farm 1 is the official name for the installation), and seeing how the project works when it's in an actual space with actual people and yielding actual vegetables. In other areas of the world vertical or step farming happens in the countrysides where terrain or flat space constraints (mountains) have necessitated this way of growing. These projects begin to show us how we can farm within the landscape constraints of major cities. More and more, people are talking about the need to better utilize our natural resources. These designs attempt to do that as well as bring city people closer to food sources.

matt at apartmenttherapy dot com

WORKac is the architectural firm responsible for the design, inspired by urban vertical gardening concepts. Public Farm 1’s intent is to educate thousands of visitors on sustainable urban farming through the unique medium of contemporary architecture.






The unveiling of Public Farm 1 by WORKac, the winner of MOMA/PS1's annual architectural design competition, took place in June 2008 in PS1's courtyard.

You can view the evolution of construction and planting of the actual Public Farm 1 on the PublicFarm1 website.




And just a few links...

Christien Meindertsma's Urchin Pouf



Canadian Photojournalism...

Jonetsu Photography

Davina + Daniel

Free Spirit Spheres

"There are a lot of trees here on Vancouver Island although the majority of them are second or third growth. The majority of first growth forests have been logged. Even when city folk move out into the country the first thing they do is clear at least a 30 m square piece of land to build their house on. Then they build a concrete foundation and up from there. The destruction mounts quickly.

I wanted something different. To enable people to move into and inhabit the forest without taking it down first. To live in and among the trees and to use them for a foundation. In this way the foundation depends on maintaining a healthy ecosystem. It also gives me back a magic environment right outside my front door. Like a bird in a nest."

-Tom (Inventor, Manufacturer and Distributor of Free Spirit Spheres)

Over the past two months, my design class has been working with paper and MDF. MDF isn't the best material, but it is cheap and has given me new insights into using wood as medium and using it to understand new concepts in design, such as spatial relations, space, flow, foreground, and transitions.

Here is a spatial exercise that we completed using MDF and wooden cubes.


Wood Pixel takes the kitsch idea of pixel pictures and turned it into an activity of arranging wooden cubes. It reminds me of the spatial projects from my design class. By arranging the six different kinds of wooden cubes on a wooden grid base, you can make patterns or pictures reminiscent of childhood characters, symbols of just fun patterns.


Here are a couple other projects from design studio, one is a self-portrait...


Torafu Architects' use of wood in design is fun. The Boolean Cafe at the University of Tokyo-designed using circular cut-outs of wood which form a seating area and partition pictured below.



I found this image by searching for wood and design. I loved the assembled and layered look of the table.


The photographs of Kenshu Shintsubo are simple, quiet, and stunning. I really enjoy how he showcases and contrasts two photographs side by side to show changing seasons and subtle similarities between nature and humans. Beautiful!!

"But really, I just want to migrate for the next few years, following warm weather and photographing the train hopping youth of america. I think it's one of the most important, overlooked, and temporary underground cultures of modern times...." Mike Brodie

Hobo style! I really admire the work of Mike Brodie aka The Polaroid Kid. You can see his hobo-esque photographs here.

Below is Mike Brodie's Artist Statement...

Maybe I've just become obsessed with dirty cloth & dull rags, objects that have been touched by a million different hands then set back down--right there--just for me. Things that are made by chance or found on the side of a road, rather than bought or sold. What's a story anyways? Why do people tell them?

My first memory was when I was a year old. Imagine that. Lyin' by a river bed, Arizona is hot in the summer, and even worse when you have an earache. One-year-old with no pants on, screaming and crying like it would help or something, my face bright RED. The blanket I was lying on, made of prickly pear green wool. If that cloth was still around, it would tell you a story. But its long gone, underground somewhere, tired.

I've been shittin' and pissin' for 20 years since that day. Most of the time I miss, but I "make photos" now, valued by some. Who are these people? One of my favorites is still that one my mom took, my dad cuttin' into a turkey like a man--in prison since, my grandma laughin' drunk in the foreground--dead now. I still have that one. As for why, who knows? This is where I am and what I'm doing. Everyone I've ever met is responsible for it, and those eyes of theirs--never blank--always tryin' to focus right there on the pupil. It's always difficult to get a good look at both of 'em. Go ahead and try. You'll just end up starin' right at the bridge of the nose.

The photos. I want people to see 'em just as you'd want to tell someone a good story. Nobody enjoys boredom. And when I'm good and dead, maybe my lungs'll still be around, with some words beneath. Everything comes as a surprise--thank GOD.

Mike Reynolds is an American architect that has dedicated his professional life to ecological and sustainable architecture. He uses discarded items, such as pop bottles and tires insulted with dirt to build his Earthships. With rising concern over global warming, Reynolds has become a pioneer of the green movement, practicing these innovative methods since the early 70's.

Edward Gorey has undoubtedly inspired the imaginations of many artists and especially the macabre-style of Tim Burton. His style is very dark and his stories quirky. Here is a sample of his illustrations.

I have failed to post anything all summer, I have been busy making jewelry, reading and looking into applying for my masters in environmental design. Here are some things that I have been admiring over the past few months...

I made very little art during the summer, but instead made bracelets whenever I had some free time. Pictured below are two of my favourite bracelets. My bracelets are being sold at Capitol Clothing on Broadway.


I have recently fallen in love with French artist Fafi's work!! She has been featured in the last two issues of Nylon magazine. She started off as a graffiti artist, working her way into galleries and now her images are appearing on products for adidas and LeSportsac. She calls her work "girlie art", as the female characters or 'Fafinettes' she paints are extremely feminine and appear in an imaginary world of their own. Pictured below is one of her 'Fafinettes'.


This summer I read two books by Jonathan Safran Foer: Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Becoming a fan, I was interested in his inspiration and style of writing. Similar to his books, Safran's website, the project museum is both visual and non-linear. Foer uses unconventional methods for inspiration, asking participation in different projects. In one particular project, he asked readers to submit pencil-sketched self-portraits, which he later framed to examine at home. I heard one story where he was having writer's block and wrote to renowned authors asking for advise. Most replied with generic letters, but some replied in their own words. I found influence from this in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, where the main character, eccentric child Oskar Schell writes to many notorious people asking if he could work under them. In the first chapter, for example, he writes to Stephen Hawking asking if he could be his protege.

I have been looking for architects and designers that I really admire for their ability to incorporate and concentrate on nature and environment, in both the physical and designed context. Here are three that I have found so far:

Site Architecture, Art & Design

One of my favourite designs is their 2004 plan for a residential building in Mumbai, India. It is a multi-tiered structure with landscaping on each level, inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, including terraces and water features, and maintaining Vastu principles in historic Hindu architecture.

A-Z (Andrea Zittel)

Out of all their designs, A-Z 'Living Units' are my favourite, because of their minimalistic quality. It reminds me of the philosophy of tailoring space to humans' basic needs, similar to that of pioneer-architect Le Corbusier. To deal with housing shortages in urban Paris, Le Corbusier designed 'Immeubles Villas' in 1922 that...was such a project that called for large blocks of cell-like individual apartments stacked one on top of the other, with plans that included a living room, bedrooms, and kitchen, as well as a garden terrace.* Pictured below is an A-Z 'Living Unit'.

Inscape Architecture

For a long time, I have been infatuated with the idea of movable walls, mostly in the residential setting. Inscape Architecture has designed movable walls for the corporate setting. I love that they are glass and allow for natural light to diffuse, while still allowing for versatility in space and privacy needs. This simplicity of design reminds me of the exposed framework and the use of glass to enclose and define space of pioneer-architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Pictured below is an example of Inscape's 'movable walls'.


Inscape Architecture is brilliant at designing office settings, keeping to clean lines and simplicity of materials, and working towards good use of space. Here is another example of their designs, a meeting area and space for filling and storage is pictured below.


*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier