I’ve been helping Cathy Farwell on a project called Art$Pay. The idea is to connect artists with paying work and to connect the community with great local artists.
The TL;DR: we’re all meeting up at Descendants brewery tonight at 7pm. Yer invited (and disregard the “sold-out” on eventbrite, tell ‘em I sent you).
A big part of starting anything new is getting the word out. To that end, Cathy enlisted help creating a video and assembled artists, curators, property developers, community activators and… me to introduce Art$Pay and kick off the experiment. I hung around the studio during the shoot and did some shooting of my own. Oh hey, if you’re looking for more info, the web site launches tonight and you’ll find it here: http://artspay.org and on facebook and twitter and instagram…
My friend Pamela Rojas (above) is about the nicest person you’ll ever meet and she’s a helluva great artist, working out of her digs at Globe Studios (you’re going to their open house Fri/Sat, right?) You might have seen her giant community mural projects around WR. The latest one was painted on a business at University Ave and Regina.
Got a bunch of pics for you on the other side, but ya know, the best way to find out about this is to just show up tonight. Descendants is on Victoria near Lancaster in Kitchener. If you haven’t been, well now you’ve got another reason to get out tonight because Leigh and Robin run a great joint and they completely get community.
More pics…
Pam is a total character.
She moved here in 2005, coming from Chile by way of Italy (I think I got that right).
I’m so glad she’s here.
In addition to mural projects, Pam makes these sculptural clay spheres. Amplifying their esthetic, for me, are the technical details of their fabrication. There, now you’ve got something to chat about with Pam.
Thank goodness for the teleprompter. Cathy, in the background, is quite happy to have me photograph *other* people.
Character.
Gear!
I bet this works waaay better…
than my guerrilla approach of using old phones as lav mics.
When people ask me if I do video, this is what I see in my head i.e. gear I don’t have (yet).
On your mark.
Laura Mason from the Accelerator Centre.
Laura coordinates the art shows that hang at the AC. I last caught Laura in my lens when I photographed the Governor General’s shindig at the AC back in May.
What did we do before LED lighting?
Sue Sturdy. Total champ. My first introduction to this Cambridge artist was back in 2010 when Sue cooked up a project to encase the Galt bridge in knitting. Respect!
Sue: “Want me to work with this project while I do my take?” And she did.
Sue Sturdy work.
When I see this work…
I know painter Jennifer Depencier is in the house from Hespeler.
Dog cameo!
I know Jen as much from…
her community jam called A Day and a Night, as I do…
from her painting.
Laurier Wonfor Nolan, the barefoot outdoor performance painter extraordinaire.
First time we actually met, having travelled in intersecting orbits.
If you’re in uptown Waterloo in the evening, check out some giant pieces Laurie did live in The Jazz Room.
LWN.
Side note: this studio came well-equipped with post-Halloween candy.
When you see sharp shoes like this, you know…
curator…
Suzanne Luke is on the scene. Suzanne is the curator at Laurier’s Robert Langen Gallery and she also curated my photo exhibit at the Laurier Library.
I was chillin’ in the front office for lunch when…
in walked Craig Beattie of Perimeter Development.
Perimeter has been a strong supporter of art here.
I shot Craig for Kitchener’s OWN IT magazine a couple years back when Perimeter was constructing the new Google shop in DTK. Perimeter is the driving force behind the reinvention of the Walper Hotel downtown, and Craig and the crew are delighted to have that open again. I’ve noticed over the past four weeks that a whole whack of community events are happening there.
My brohemus, David G. White, and I completely love the paintings of…
When I look at Maca’s work I think she is somehow painting dreams. I should also mention she totally crushed her lines on the first take. Wow.
Bird’s eye view.
Artist Simona Zac, taking a little time away from…
painting, teaching, and…
running a gallery/studio/shop ArtHaus 150 on Victoria at Park in Kitchener.
From Kitchener, artist Ean Kools.
The first time I saw Ean at work, he was spray painting a piano on Queen Street in Hespeler.
More recently he was pitching in on the Cambridge International Street Art Festival.
Hmmm, I’m starting to see a pattern. Beyond their practices as individual artists, a lot of the people in this post are working at a meta level to create opportunities and get shit done in their community. Guess it makes sense that they’re speaking up for Art$Pay.
I like to frame Art$Pay as an experiment. It (hopefully) takes a little pressure off the whole thing and helps us be the risk-takers and innovators we aspire to be.
Art$Pay is not the fully-baked pie that is whisked out from behind the counter. It is, instead, a catalyst for us to work together to build something, to shape it. To me, success looks like artists selling work and the community buying (or renting!) the work. Every single piece that finds a home in a business/incubator/condo/café/restaurant/brewery and puts dollars in an artist’s pocket is a win. But first: we need to connect. See you at 7pm.
This is us.
DW
You said it all DW and said it well!
Connect with us tonight at Descendants from 7- 11 pm and again on Tues. Dec. 13 after 7 pm for the new visual arts meet-up happening the second Tuesday of each month.