oh canada - objects of interest...

$3 at 'junktique shop' in Montreal on Mount Royal st. May 2010

update.. bookmaking... etc...

well... things are starting to feel more concrete. i am very soon, as in today soon going to make a more concrete budget for my phase 1 of bookmaking/ researching... i booked a flight to calgary where i will begin the research by hanging with my pa... i am hoping he will take me out to some of the places he worked.. not sure how i want to approach my time with him but i am excited.

I am also beginning to consider book making techniques and wowzas it is a huuuuge world! i have two books right now that I am working with.

1. The Structure of the Visual Book by Keith Smith and
2. Cover to Cover by Shereen La Plantz

the second one is more colorful and has more step by step instructions. both touch on the expansiveness of the conecpt book and show many unconventional as well as conventional formats for book binding.

It is very very cool to think about books like this. I am noticing that I feel like I am going to have to be careful to make sure I pace myself - not to get caught up in the format and forget about the content!
will keep updating with the process as it unfolds!
and thanks to JP KING for his help!

installation Eastern Bloc 2010 'Thanks dads..."

I don't think this was understood as well as I would have liked it to be, but I am still happy with it. I tried to juxtapose a 'message from our sponsors' - Suncor's message in an art book published for the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. In this 'message from the sponsor' is a good piece of PR about how they are always aware of and working with First People's on their projects (this is placed alongside a documentary called H2Oil which shows their tragic involvement in the Tar Sands which is poisioning the land and people for miles, with un-knowable catastrophic results)

I also included an interview with my father, who is/ was an oil man in Alberta, who spent much of his adult career life negotiating land rights for drilling on First people's land, as well as a picture of Cheif Pontiac which both my father and I grew up looking at.

My intention with this installation was to show the complexity of our relationships to land and people and the hidden nature of these things. Reserves are, especially in the prairies, very hidden spaces isolated and far away from most peoples view - and therefore subject to so much potential for abuse. Oil companies are always after their land, and what they do while they are there often goes unnoticed..

I also believe that we can't just point the finger at the oil companies, because they are partly just fulfilling a need - our need, government need etc.. the problem is a large and complicated one, I am not proposing answers or blame, simply an acknowledgment of the situation and my particular place in it for contemplation, discussion, growth.

home on the range lyrics

Katie and I were putting together a proposal for a gallery showing our residency related work and decided that 'Home on the Range' was a good title... i have always looooovveeed that song.. she looked up the lyrics and found this monster of a song! look at how long it is.. we thought it was pretty amazing and so thought we should share it!!

These are scans from Technology of the Self , a seminar with Michael Foucault.

I love this passage about 'knowing what you are' - When Foucault is asked about his professional title(s) the question becomes more contemplative than the usual reply. In particular, I find his answer inspiring for my project in that he compares the silliness of having to confine oneself to a title to desiring to know the end of a book before you begin writing it..

It is this kind of mind, the open, wondering, beginners mind that I wish to have through the process of making this book

a mindset which is hard to keep sometimes amidst the pressures of life!

booooook research begins

I have decided that my major project for this Residency will look like a book project, the purpose of the book, as I see it is to capture
a) the personal experiences of doing this project, this means the lovely and amazing feedback I have received from friends and strangers, the amazing exchanges which have helpped me grow and learn etc.
b) interviews and photos taken during travells to alberta and saskatchewan (Dates to be announced!)
c) critical theory / research which has informed or added to this journey.

I am planning on learning how to bind books with the help of friends Danielle Sim and JP King.. this might also come in the form of an open workshopy type of thing a ma jig. so keep yer eyes open!