At the ReStore

I arrived at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Saturday morning in the pouring rain, so the planned outside set-up for my work was definitely not going to happen.  After years of being bullied by the weather at outdoor markets, craft fairs and art shows I was very content with the contingency plan of setting up inside the warm dry store with the big vat-o-coffee and great abundance of brownies. 




It was a great pleasure to meet Myrna and the welcoming staff  and have the leisure of setting up my masks here and there throughout the store.
                                                                            
                                                                                       

The masks were right at home alongside the building materials, fittings, hardware supplies and other miscellaneous items that can be found at the ReStore.



After setting up, it wasn't long before I was rooting through bins like a kid in a candy store and making a little pile of things to take home myself! 





While the rain continued to keep the hoards away, I contented myself,  tinkering with an old typewriter that I was determined to take home with me, and which Myrna ended up giving to me as gift for coming to the store--I couldn't be happier!  More and more people appeared as the day moved along, and despite the rain I talked to a lot of interesting folks and lots of drop-offs were made to the E-waste site.  BTW, I believe that both ReStore's in Ottawa are now accepting E-waste for recycling on a regular basis (check their website).
  I was also pleased to meet Stone Sculptor, Uwe Foehring, who is on Staff and also is the creator of the towering e-waste sculpture outside the store. 


Thanks again to Myrna for the invite.  I met some great people, found a new source for art materials, oh ya, I sold some artwork as well!

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

Occupy: the show continues

Occupy continues at Cyclelogik , 1111A Wellington St. Opening night was packed to the rafters and I was pleased to sell one of my pieces. My "Longhorn" sculpture is hanging in the window (thanks Andrea!). I snapped this picture on my way home from work in the wee hours. The show continues until the end of the month, so drop by for a coffee and check out some local art over the holidays.

Urban Masks at The Linda Street Gallery--Dovercourt Community Ctr.

At the Linda Street Gallery, in the lobby of Dovercourt Community Centre, 411 Dovercourt Ave., until Oct. 23, 2011.

Artist's Statement

Alright, I collect junk. Let's just get that out of the way For over 20 years I have been making art from "found objects", not to reduce my carbon footprint ( a happy byproduct), but because these are the things that inspire me. Rusty nails, bicycle parts, things that fall off cars and all manner of unidentified corroded objects make their way into my carefully selected inventory of art supplies. I'm never sure how I'll use these items when I find them, but each one has a sense of history an purpose that I can't pass up. This series of masks is a continuation of a series that was selected for the Lumiere Festival this past summer. I see them as tribal masks of our urban culture.

Rin Tin Tin

Goalie

Longhorn

Bad Idea

Babar


Erik The Red

Artist's Statement

Alright, I collect junk. Let's just get that out of the way For over 20 years I have been making art from "found objects", not to reduce my carbon footprint ( a happy byproduct), but because these are the things that inspire me. Rusty nails, bicycle parts, things that fall off cars and all manner of unidentified corroded objects make their way into my carefully selected inventory of art supplies. I'm never sure how I'll use these items when I find them, but each one has a sense of history an purpose that I can't pass up. This series of masks is a continuation of a series that was selected for the Lumiere Festival this past summer. I see them as tribal masks of our urban culture.

Finishing touches for tomorrow's Lumiere Festival --Sat. Aug 20

I put the finishing touches on my 6 masks for tomorrow's festival. When it's all over I'll run a post to show how the pieces look when they are all lit up in the thicket just past the wall along the Rideau River in Stanley Park.





Hope to see you at the Lumiere Festival 5-10 pm at Stanley Park in Ottawa!