MATH MEETS MODERN

ORDER AND CHAOS Some of the City's earliest public artwork happens to be on the original University of Alberta Campus. Made in 1966, this artwork conceived by Norman Yates captures a moment in history. Yates proposed this work for the West exterior wall of the Civil and Electrical Engineering Building, representing the human tendency to create order out of chaos. Although the purpose of the building has since changed, it was a fitting symbol for its original use. The stylized shapes were carved by the artist and painted in bold colours with the assistance of his students, creating a bas relief sculpture with retro modern style.
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ART in Everyone

l'art pour l'art Feeling inspired lateley by small reassurances of the resilience of the creative spirit. How amazing! Despite the posverty, alienation and suffering, people still feel the need to create. These simple rock stacks in an empty lot in Boyle Street are easily overlooked, but once considered, are a poignant reminder of the basic human need for beauty and the impulse to create. Even without any resources, people will find a way to build, to share their art with the world.
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Scrappy Happiness

Once upon a time (last year) I used to identify as a band photographer, in an amateur kind of way. Mostly, i just felt like I had found a community of like-mided people and it was fun to feel like I had a purpose. Shows tend to evoke those feelings of being part of something larger – of belonging. Last night, I rekindled my love affair with taking pictures of people making sounds.

 

 

Thank you Joel Plaskett. It was a magical night.

BACK WORDS // LOVE LETTERS

It is curious how the visual culture of different cities evolves. Sometimes it takes visiting another city to appreciates the distinguishing features that make each one unique. On a recent trip to Toronto, I was struck particularly by the quality and craftsmanship of the commercial art, being the typography nerd that I am. These vestiges of an earlier time have survived the march of progress and in some cases have been restored or replicated. It is a beautiful way to incorporate the human touch into the urban landscape and we would do well to take note.
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BACK WORDS // HAPPY EASTER

It is easy to forget that a wilderness existed among us. Animals and Plants that lived here long before a city took root, and will last long after people are gone. They lay in wait for the day they can come out of hiding, when we stop building up and tearing down in endless cycles of growth and decay. These creatures will survive us despite our incessantdesire to hunt, cut, cull, castrate, excavate, extract, exterminate, harvest, slaughter, slash & burn, poison, drain and otherwise destroy the place that belonged to them in the beginning. Sometimes I imagine what this land would have looked like two million years ago. I think of a pristine mess, sublimely unspoiled and unidealized. It is not a pastoral prairie scene. The grass is high and full of unknown dangers. The river is fast and clotted with rocks and branches. The banks are caked with mud. Some people look at this picture and see a garden pest. Others think of Easter or the trickster. For me, this rabbit, rangy and restless, is a humbling reminder of the history of this place, and the resilience of nature.
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BACK WORDS // Sight for Sore Feet

A burst of colour brightens an otherwise dreary Spring day – Snow-swept and slushy. The mural appears on 95 street, close to 107 avenue, on a long circumambulation that takes me through downtown, Chinatown, Little Italy, and eventually, back to Alberta Avenue. A smile crosses my face as Stripedscape by Grace Law fills my field of vision with 30 feet of saturated stripes, making me momentarily forget my saturated socks. Standing and staring at the painting for several minutes, likely causing passersby to assume I was another local eccentric, I could appreciate the size of the artwork and the great amount of work that went into it. According to the artist, the mural is "a colourful scene that embodies the diversity of the area that is so close to the heart of the city of Edmonton." The stripes are also meant to represent cooperation and peace.Sure enough, this mural was created with the help of many, and would not have happened without The Places.
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BACK WORDS // FELLOW FLÂNEURS UNITE

Alex Hindle and Leila Sidi are not your everyday Photographers. They travel tot he liminal spaces of the city that most people never let even their minds wander. "Crimes of Adventure in the Polaroid Apocalypse" is an exhibition of photographs that document the decay of urban industry in "the city's rich margins and their scribble scrap of rust bucket huts and train yards." "Crimes of Adventure"will introduce you to a different side of the city; a foreign-looking place that these artists became intimately familiar with. Their work chronicles their experiences, "telling a story that dissects the nature of dereliction, loss, and the powerful and fluctuating essence of places."
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BACK WORDS // COOL STUFF

Collections are fascinating. The artist behind the blog A Collection A Day, Lisa Congdon said, "I think that ordinary objects become something different when they’re arranged with other like things… Seeing things with other like things helps us to see them in new ways." A well-curated group of objects say a lot about the person who was attracted to them and who gathered them together. It also tells us something about the culture and history of the people or places the objects belong to. Cool Stuff brings the artifacts and artworks in the UofA Museums' collection together for a winter party at the Enterprise Square Campus until the end of March. For free.

If you want to know more about the thought that goes into selecting the things that go into the show,  visit the exhibition at 12 PM on March 29, when curator Jim Corrigan will be giving a tour. And for those creative people who say nature is a huge inspiration, John Acorn "the Nature Nut" speaks about how nature responds to winter in our city this Thursday March 15, at noon.

BACK WORDS // REDDRESS

Six hundred empty red dresses fluttered in the breeze against the white backdrop of freshly fallen snow, a stunning metaphor for the missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. The REDdress project was conceived by Jaime Black, a Métis artist from Winnipeg to "to draw attention to, and create space for dialogue around, the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Aboriginal women."
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BACK WORDS // SPINELLI

photo by Chelsea Boosphoto by Chelsea Boos

FAMILIAR FACE

While waiting for the bus across from my favorite grocery, I spy this friendly figure at his regular table. As usual, someone lovingly puts a scarf around his neck or a toque on his head in cold weather.

He is the late Frank Spinelli, founder of the Italian Centre Shop in 1959. The bronze was commissioned in 2004 by Zazo to commemorate the man who worked so hard to add life to the McCauley community. It sits in the park orginally known for its carnivals and community festivals in the 1920s. According to mccauley.info, "Patricia Park, later becoming known as Gyro Park, and finally as Giovanni Caboto Park, had already arisen providing a place for the children to enjoy a wholesome day outside, a place for the adults to congregate, and a focal point for the community to grow around."

The Spinelli family witnessed the slow transformation of the respectable neighbourhood during the 1950s into an inner city ghetto that people feared.

As stated on the Italian Centre website, the Spinellis "played a tremendous role in bringing the traditional culture of their homeland to Alberta... Their hospitality embraced immigrants and locals alike. Following in her parent’s footsteps, Teresa has worked with the Giovanni Caboto Society, supported a variety of inner-city organizations, and assisted in developing the decorative signage and street furniture that now characterize the Little Italy neighborhood." (italiancentre.ca)

The love and respect for this community is made tangible by this random act, evidence of the commitment to return this park to its former glory as a place people can celebrate and feel like they belong.

Back Words // ILLUMINITE

 

Lost and Found

The Alley of Light is about turning a lost space into a place for people. The committee is a grassroots initiative that aims to transform an uninviting alley into a place with character and identity.

It continues this weekend from dusk on February 25 to dusk on February 26 when IllumiNITE exhibits a gallery of light sculptures and structures from local artists in the alley behind Jasper Avenue at 104 Street. It will address the aesthetic quality of the alley by adding visual interest, bringing beauty and joy through an unexpected burst of activity and light. In 24 hours, artists, designers and community members will come together to reclaim and revitalize a commercial alley through art.

This void in the urban fabric finds new meaning when a community takes ownership and creates events and artworks that celebrate the diversity, intricacy and visual delight of the built environment. The process of place making is just as important as the final product.

The project proves that a group of citizens can have a sense of control over their environment. By encouraging participation, the project allows the opportunity for people to put their own stamp on a space, giving the street a stronger sense of place and security. It is an example of community groups and municipalities working on a human scale, closing the gap between planners of urban design and the end user of built environment.