Daniel Barrow

image via the Toronto Star



Big Big Shout OUT to Winnipeg artist, Daniel Barrow for winning the Sobey Art Award. It was unanimous. That is $50,000. That'll buy a lot of pencils...

Here is a description of his work as according to the Globe and Mail:
"Over the past 15 years [he] has created a unique, self-sustaining fictional world composed of drawing, storytelling and manual animation of the antiquated technology of the overhead projector . . . Wry, politically astute and strangely heartbreaking, his comic narratives address love, loss, gender and media culture.”
Atta boy Daniel...You can read the whole story here.

Reviewing Jill Barber

On Thursday, November 18, I experienced a bunch of firsts:
* I attended my first concert solo.
* I saw Jill Barber and Michael Kaeshammer.
* I reviewed my first show!


I was given the opportunity to write concert reviews for the Halifax Magazine blog (Thanks Trevor Adams!), on Wednesday and secured my media pass within 20 minutes for the Jill Barber show. haha


I've been a big fan of Barber for a while now, and was thrilled that this would be the first show I would get to write about. Of course I was nervous: what if the concert wasn't good? Well, praise be to Jesus, it was.


Perhaps the biggest surprise for me though was the opener, Michael Kaeshammer. I had never heard of him before. I was seated to next to a fellow reviewer (for the Gazette), and we both had our socks knocked off from the minute he walked on stage. This guy legitimately has it all. Perhaps Jill said it best after she took the stage musing, "How about that Michael Kaeshammer? He's handsome, certainly charming. If only he was talented..." (Jill's funny too).


He is a jazz pianist with such extraordinary talent. Talents really. That voice! His hands moved gracefully across the keys, producing a sound equal to twice as many instruments. His skill in controlling the volume of the notes was also something I marveled at. And how about his band??
Mark Rogers (bass) and Mark McLean (drums), are so top notch, they made a new notch.
I really can't say enough about Michael Kaeshammer, and urge you to buy a ticket next time you see his name on a bill. yowza.*

Prop

After speaking with an old friend on Facebook chat today, she totally reminded me of how much I loved Propagandhi (Thanks Lia!), and how influential they were in my life. Oh Prop-how many days and nights were spent singing along to your lyrics: talking fast, smoking lots, and sipping plenty. Those days are long gone, but the memories, although dusty, have just come flooding back. You were the soundtrack to so many of my favourite times.

One of my favourite stories has to be when I was 17 and hitchhiked to Vancouver. My friend John and I had been walking for what seemed like forever, when finally these two young girls picked us up just outside of Jasper. They had two tapes in their car (this was 1996 ok...) and one was Less Talk, More Rock. We played that baby over and over until we reached Vancouver. Those songs have stained my mind, and have earned a place on my solid gold charts.

Come to Halifax?

Banquet Atelier

My friend and former colleague, the lovely (and exceptionally talented) Sarah Edmonds, has just launched a new line of crafts in collaboration with the uber-cool kids art space, Collage Collage.

She has created 3 deliciously fun kits: shadow puppets, a snake draft dodger and a wooden animal mobile making kit.

If you are lucky enough to be in the Van city area, you must go see them in person on Saturday, October 23rd from 3 to 5 at Collage Collage, 621 Kingsway (at Fraser & 15th).

Fear not for those of you not in town (myself included). You can take a peek at their new shop by clicking here .

Peter Diamond

"Treading Water" by Peter Diamond: via here

Peter Diamond's work is incredible. It is skilled, precise, deliberate, and lively. It is narrative while still allowing the viewer to imbue their own version of the story.

Illustrators are the bee's knees.

Decorator Crab

This is a decorator crab, (Cyclocoeloma tuberculata). Masters of disguise, they earn the name by taking objects from their surroundings and decorating their exoskeletons with it.
I want this crab to decorate my house. Go big or go home.

I want!

A woman passed away at the age of 91. She had an apartment she left before the second world war. She never returned to it. Her belongings remained there until this year. Love letters tied with a ribbon. Stuffed ostrich. Glorious turn-of-the-century furniture...and the pièce de résistance: a previously undocumented painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

Holy cramoly. I have dreamed of discovering something like this. A few years ago there was a story about a little old woman (not the one who lived in the shoe), but she did live in a tiny home. She had the most incredible paintings and first editions of books (the Chaucer-type). They found them behind the fridge, and under her bed.

If only that were my problem: "Where to store all of this priceless art!"...