BOX11 Roundup 1/2–behind the BOX

Now that we’ve all caught our breath from the fantastic BOX11 Art Show & Sale last month, it’s time for a little recap.  A look back.  It’s a two-parter that will really just scratch the surface of the amount of work and reward of that event.

1300 visitors to BOX11, 58 works sold, 3 days of awesome.

Artist Christina Preece (above) in silhouette in front of her painting.

If you came to the show, here’s some behind the scenes stuff you probably didn’t see…

In an earlier post we talked about the Stage 1 intake for artists’ work.  That was back in September, when each applicant artist submitted 4 pieces to the jury.  Those artists that were selected out of that round had a chance to produce additional work and bring it in for Stage 2 intake in November just before the show.  The work gets reassessed by the jury and they finalize what pieces will ultimately go in the show.  Our Dave White (above left) brought in 2 additional ginormous paintings for Stage 2 and the jurors checked it out.

Y’all are by now familiar with Cathy Farwell, our determined and resourceful captain of the BOX ship.  I think Cathy pushes pause on the rest of her life for… about half the year to push BOX forward.  Respect.

Terry Torra’s awesome landscapes in the background.

Photographer Joe Martz hauled in multiple editions of various prints for the show.

Jacqui Murphy connects with BOX artists via her Art Allies effort that puts local producers together with local consumers of art.  If you pass the jury’s bar for BOX you get an optional one-year engagement on Art Allies.

When the work first arrives, it can’t be hung so it rests gently on bubble wrap on the floor.  Swati Soni’s amazing paintings here.  Swati’s first show ever and she sold out the first night!

Don Bourgeois heads up J.M. Drama that serves as BOX’s charitable sponsor and also works to keep The Registry Theatre ticking over on Frederick St.  As a lawyer, Don lends his expertise to the show.

Here is the core group of BOX organizers, all artists themselves.  From left to right: Cathy Farwell, Fatima Garzan, Denise Strong, Michelle Salter.  This crew has an advanced sense of humour and they are hilariously fun to work with.

Photographer Raegan Little and painter James Nye checkin’ out the Nye-o-sphere.

This year’s jurors l-to-r: Suzanne Luke, guest curator Jim Erb, and Jane Buyers.

Seeing Joe Martz’s photos (above) in this show, in additional to photography from Larry Williamson, Susan Campbell, and Denise Strong has inspired me to enter work for BOX12 next year.

Allan Hoch and Alex Hoch of Liteme Theatre Services once again transformed a factory space into an amazing gallery with their lighting kung fu.

The Hochs show up like the A-Team…

and love it when a plan comes together.

Hey, there’s the BOX curator extraordinaire: Suzanne Luke.  In addition to her job at Laurier’s Robert Langdon Gallery, she also is a curator in residence at WalterFedy, and working with Art Allies on cool shows like Convergence at the Communitech Hub.  And I thought I was busy…

My pal and “war buddy” from the dot-com days, Von Darnell of Huckleberry Film Studios.  I asked Von to help tell the BOX story through her team’s unique vision and execution in video.  And she generously agreed.  You might remember Huck Film’s awesome work on their Steel Rails piece.

Yaeyul Kim’s work came wrapped up like candy.

l. t. dougherty’s sculpture/myth cabinet.

Encaustic work by Michelle Salter

Jen Gough representin’.

My pal Kate Colmer of the Huckleberry Film Studio crew.

The alchemy of Cathy Farwell: copper, chemicals, and a blowtorch.  Kindred spirit.

James Nye

Huck Films in action.  This is a tripod-mounted tracking dolly.  Camera slides left and right.

Christina Preece (I bought the one second from the right!)

Kate’s getting the low-angle with the old balance-the-track-on-my-knees trick.

My fave painting from Dave White.  That’s my grandfather, George Foster, holding the fish.  I miss that guy.

Dedicated BOX workers: Bill Klos and Jessica Farwell

The curator considers.  Prints by Nicholas Rees.

Not art.  Denise asked me to shoot this for her.  She has a great eye for interesting stuff in the world.

Terry Torra.  Now here’s where the work has been hung up by some hammer-drilling volunteers and lit by the Hoch men.

Streetscapes by Yaeyul Kim.

Cathy Farwell

James Nye

Susan Campbell

Snacks!  Lemme just say, that as a volunteer you will not be fed better anywhere in the Region.

The Thursday before the show there is an artist orientation where Cathy explains how the show will run, how work gets purchased, etc.  It’s a great pre-game warm-up.

Joe Martz

Greg Kirch

Jason Keenan

Fatima Garzan and her work.

Attentive artists.

Raegan Little

We’ve got the power…

Swati Soni

l. t. dougherty

Joe Martz

Greg Kirch  – I bought this one, too.  Now showing in my kitchen.

Shadow Dave White with his grandparents behind him.

The canoe piece really popped off the wall once lit.

Jakki Annerino

Christina Preece – I bought this one.  Awesome treatment of light.

I displayed some of the laser-cut BOXware schwag that I cooked up.

Me.  This is what tired photo bloggers (phloggers?) look like in post-processing.

And then Rumpel Felt was all ready to rock the show.  Stay tuned for BOX11 Part 2.

Happy making,

DW