It's Not Over!!! Chinatown Remixed 2012

(photo by Dave Loan)

In case you thought you'd missed it, Chinatown Remixed runs until June 12, so there's still time to wander over to Somerset West and check out local artists hosted by this neighbourhood's interesting and diverse businesses.

I set up my show on the Friday before opening day at Zen Kitchen.  The vernissage went splendidly, with a steady stream of friends, acquaintances and other curious folk passing through.



Thanks to all who came for your kind words and comments and of course a special thanks to those who added  my work to their own art collections! A huge shout-out as well to all the organizers and volunteers who made this unique event happen.  My only regret was that I was too busy to take in the festivities going on outside along Somerset street!

A hearty thanks to the staff and proprietors Dave Loan and Caroline Ishii for making me feel so welcome at Zen Kitchen and creating such an inviting atmosphere.  Caroline kept platters filled with chipotle hummus and poppadums and gluten free bread for dipping, not to mention pieces of delectable chocolate cake!(see menu).  Understandably, many visitors lingered! Check out Caroline Ishii's on CBC's All in a Day where she serves up a fiddlehead recipe and plugs my show at the restaurant :-)

While Chinatown Remixed will be coming to a close June 12, my exhibit will be held at Zen Kitchen until August 31, so please stop by and see my work and while you're at it, check out what this fabulous restaurant has to offer. (see Restaurant reviews).

Chinatown on Main St -- Chinatown Remixed 2012

I went a-posterin' in my neighborhood on the weekend.  Here's a taste of Chinatown Remixed around Main Street and the Canal.  It's always bustling around here; Spring is in the air, Market season has begun, bike races, Tulip Festival...

and then a quiet moment on the Pretoria Bridge on Saturday night gazing at the Super moon.
 

Riveting! -- Chinatown Remixed 2012

 My friend Randy Cartwright introduced me to the pop-rivet gun back in Sudbury, when we were working on a friend's rusted out Camaro.  He could fix or make anything and won all possible awards in Shop class from grade 7, right through high school. 

   The hand riveter I use now, I bought at the old Pascal Hardware in Montreal for seven bucks.  In our street-vending days on
Ste. Catherine st., I used it to rivet pieces of hardware to leather bracelets, and it has been useful for making and repairing all sorts of things since.

  It has been especially handy for making masks, like the ones I'll be showing at Zen Kitchen for Chinatown Remixed. A true craftsman like Randy would find a way to hide the rivets, but I like the way they look.  Like my old math teacher used to say..."show  your work!"

Hope to see you all on Somerset St. this Saturday!!!

Where do you find this Stuff?--Chinatown Remixed 2012

One question I am asked most often by those viewing my artwork is, "Where do you get this stuff?"
The odd bits of junk I use to make collage, sculpture, and the masks for my upcoming show at Zen Kitchen for Chinatown Remixed, are culled from here, there and everywhere.

I have a large collection of scrap metal pieces that have fallen off cars that I pick up off the road and throw in the milk crate on the back of my bike on my rides home from work in the wee hours.  Most of these have been sculpted by rust and salt and flattened by traffic.

I am also a collector of bikes and a lot of bike parts make it into my work.  This bike was rescued from the canal--Check out the zebra mussels that have attached themselves to the bell.
















Friends an neighbours who see me at work offer me things from their garages and basements and trunks of cars.


Don't kid yourself, Ottawa is not all tulips and Parliament buildings.  We have our share of nitty gritty vacant lots, dead ends and it is sad and surprising how many things show up in and along the banks of the Rideau River where I canoe with my sons.

We throw out a lot of good things, some of them admittedly obsolete.  When I find beauty and mystery in something useless, rusty, and broken, I take it home and try to make something out of it.

Junk Sketch, May 2012

Chinatown Remixed 2012- Sorting things out

With Chinatown Remixed coming up, I have been hunting and gathering and sorting through my materials for my show at Zen Kitchen, May 12.
I am working on a series of tribal masks for urban culture and in order to get the creative juices flowing , I need a critical mass of objects to draw from.
Once I have the items sorted into somewhat recognizable categories I can begin to lay things out and start to piece them together.The masks change a lot during this process; objects gravitate to one another, grouping together by size, colour, shape and texture. Once a piece feels "right", it is time to drill, screw, rivet, solder and wire things together.

Chinatown Remixed 2012

I'm very pleased to have been selected to participate in this year's Chinatown Remixed. I have been paired up with the award winning Zen Kitchen, home restaurant of Dave and Caroline of The Restaurant Adventures of Dave and Caroline which aired on the W network. My work will be on exhibit for 3 months starting on May 12th for the opening of the festival. Here is Wei Zheng's poster for the event featured on the festival's new website at chinatownremixed.ca


Here is a map of the venues and participating aritists, and please check out the website for a full list of festival events and information on becoming a volunteer.