i’m offering this drawing for the CFCR art auction fundraiser.  CFCR is saskatoon’s community radio station and this art auction is an important way people can support them.  other local artists are also taking part, so if you’re around in saskatoon today, please come out and show your support for CFCR.

“Artist for Alternative Radio”
community radio’s 6th annual art auction
CFCR Art Auction Fundraiser

7:00pm - viewing, silent auction, and reception
8:30pm - live auction

tickets: $25 per person ($15 tax receipt)

November 15, Saturday at Riverside Golf and Country Club
3180 Grasswood Road West
Saskatoon SK

last year, elijah was a penguin.  this year, he was ‘Super Dave Osborne’.  i made the outfit using paul’s old white T-shirt.

elijah doesn’t care for hats.  so he gave his friend, mr penguin the SD cap. i also made the super dave helmet, but he wouldn’t let me put it on.

kiss…

proud to be Super Dave! (maybe).

thanks to everyone who came out to the opening reception for the group exhibition, “flatlanders” at mendel art gallery last friday night.  i really enjoyed talking to you all and meeting some of my blog readers.

many people said very nice things about my drawings.  i was very happy to hear that.

the gallery was totally packed with a flood of people.  there were so many people that we wanted to talk to.  elijah didn’t cry, he was very quiet and wanted to be held all night.  he seemed overwhemed by the number of excited people.  originally we’d planned to stay for just an hour or two, but elijah fell asleep in my arms so we were able to stay until the end.

elijah has been to the mendel art gallery before, 16 months ago — 3 days after he was born.  we were discharged from the hospital on the last day of the show i was in, ‘political :: personal’.  we grabbed all our new baby gear and drove to the gallery.  elijah was pretty good at first, sleeping quietly, but then he woke up and started to cry wildly.

at the reception for ‘flatlanders’, a few people told me that they liked the ‘political :: personal‘ exhibit more than this show.  they missed seeing animals in my new drawings for the current show.

the drawings i showed in ‘political :: personal’ were my favorite picks from the last two years.  for the ‘flatlanders’ show, i only had a couple of months to prepare, and during that time i had the fringe festival, so i did all the drawings in the course of about five weeks.  the curator told me they wanted all new work, and i’d already promised most of my recent work to other galleries, so i had to start from scratch.  i wanted to do a series of drawings in a common style.  even though i did some other, different work during this time, i edited down to 7 drawings that are similar to each other.  i finished the last drawing on a saturday, did the framing sunday, and delivered them to the mendel on monday for installation.

the 7 drawings all have the same style: girls’ heads with no body and the hair made of wood (you can see the wood grain).   different things happen to the heads in different drawings.  one drawing is bigger and more complicated, with three heads joined together.

‘tricolore’ (click image to enlarge)

it’s a different style than i’ve drawn before. my interest changes all the time and so my style changes with it.  i can’t make myself draw the same thing twice.  if you look back at my drawings over the last 4 years, you can see the changes.  i guess some people want me to keep drawing schoolgirls with fish or elephants, again and again.  it’s hard to enjoy the unpredictability.  but i can’t repeat myself, even if i wanted to, so please bear with me. :)

now i think about it, i ended up drawing only heads during the five weeks because i was wondering if my head was going to explode.   i was staying up late every night drawing and waking up to take elijah to the park during the day.  eventually my head did explode and you can see the bits and pieces of my heads on the wall at the mendel art gallery.  better for my exploded head to end up in a gallery than in the hospital.

the next day was a panel discussion with most of the 18 saskatchewan artists exchanging their opinions on:

• the impact(s) of isolation and community on your work / how the changing Saskatchewan economy may be impacting your work / the role of Saskatchewan geography/history/culture in your work, etc. / the social role of artist in our province
• Spirit and Matter: i.e. is the art world like a “religion” unto itself? / how spirituality may or may not factor into your work / the importance of craftsmanship / responsibilities of an artist
• Technology and Ecology: i.e. ecological sustainability in art / impact of digital technology and communications on your work

many topics to cover in just over an hour.  it was interesting to hear other artists talking about their work.  i don’t spend much time hanging around with artists lately.  it reminded me of the ‘pause talk’ session i took part in this january at cafe pause in tokyo, without the cigarettes and the wine and the darkness.

i only spoke up a couple of times in the group discussion.  the conversation was mostly people explaining why they do what they do and analyzing the meaning of it.  i don’t spend much time thinking about what i do, i just do it.

some people were talking about how they like to work ’slow’, avoiding technology like digital cameras and using old-fashioned techniques.  i said we should imagine the world a hundred years from now, where today’s digital cameras will seem very old-fashioned and slow.  not that i care, by then i’ll be dead — everyone laughed when i said that.  someone else pointed out that even a pencil is a kind of technology.  i agree, that’s why i like to use the latest in superslow modern technology, my colour pencils.

paul took care of elijah during the panel discussion.  they got a seat near the front so elijah could see me.  but maybe it wasn’t a good idea — he’s been very mama-obsessed recently so he couldn’t leave me alone.  right from the beginning, elijah started calling out to me saying, ‘oppai~, oppai~’ in his most adorable gentle voice.  it’s good no one understood what the hell oppai means (”breast” in japanese).  so paul had to take him out and walk around the rest of the gallery, trying to distract him.  every time i spoke into the microphone, i could hear elijah in the distance, calling ‘mama~, mama~’.

i wish i could split my body into two to cuddle him.

after the panel discussion, elijah and i sat together on the gallery stairs and he asked me “so, you’re an artist?!’

i said, ‘am i?’…

i’m taking part in a group show titled ‘flatlanders - saskatchewan artists on the horizon‘ opening this week at the mendel art gallery here in saskatoon.  the show is curated by dan ring and the new assistant curator, jen budney.  18 emerging artists were chosen from the province of saskatchewan, exhibiting a wide range of media including ceramics, video, printmaking, photography, paintings, drawings, sculpture and installation.  you can read more about the show on the mendel gallery’s current exhibitions page.

i’m showing seven new drawings, all featuring wooden heads.  none of my work for the show has appeared online yet.  i’ll be putting images on my blog over the next few days.

two of the artists are japanese — kiyoko-san and me.  kiyoko-san does very beautiful abstract paintings and i draw bleeding heads or breeding heads. i think it’s cool we immigrants are part of this exhibit.

the opening reception for the ‘flatlanders’ show is tonight, from 8 pm until 12am.   i’ll be there, at least for the early hours (before i have to take elijah home for bed).  if you’re around in saskatoon tonight, please come and check out the show and chat with me :)

i’ll also be taking part in a panel discussion with the other artists in the show saturday at 2pm.  if you’re interested in listening to my nonsense talk, please come.

the show runs until january 4th.

FLATLANDERS:
Saskatchewan Artists on the Horizon

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, September 26 at 8pm
ARTIST SALON: Saturday, September 27 at 2pm

Mendel Art Gallery
950 Spadina Crescent East
Saskatoon, SK
Phone 306.975.7610

9 am to 9 pm daily
Closed Christmas Day
December 24 (Christmas Eve) 9 am to 5 pm
December 31 (New Year’s Eve) 9 am to 5 pm
FREE ADMISSION

tonight is an opening of a group show at douglas udell gallery in edmonton.  i’m showing the drawing above and 6 other drawings.  i was planning to go to the opening reception, but i’ve been sick and now elijah got sick as well.  so we won’t be able to go.  but if you are around in edmonton, please go to the opening and see the show!

the show will be travelling across canada.  the next stop will be at the douglas udell gallery in vancouver, opening saturday, september 27th.  after that, my drawings will be shown at the toronto international art fair (oct 2 - 6).  this is the first time these drawings have been shown outside of saskatoon, so i’m very excited.

the other six drawings i’m showing are:

chicken breasts

bird eat bird

under the sun

the great escape

swing

reedllik

the are some of my precious old favorite drawings, finally for sale.  if you’re interested in buying one, please contact the gallery.

Douglas Udell Gallery

Edmonton/Alberta
10332-124 street
ph: 780-488-4445

Tue-Sat 9:30-5:30 and by appointment

Vancouver/BC
1558 West 6th Avenue
ph: 604-736-8900

Tue-Sat 10:00-6:00 and by appointment

this drawing is called ‘my favorite neckless’.  i’m showing this drawing at hosfelt gallery in san francisco.  i’m taking part in a group show titled “vocabularies of metaphor — more stories“, all works on paper by fifteen international artists.  the show will run from september 6th to october 18th .   if you’re around in san francisco, please do take time to visit the gallery and enjoy the show.

about the show (by the owner/curator todd hosfelt)

it’s an exhibition of works on paper by fifteen international artists exploring narrative through symbols.  i’m interested in visual languages that are highly personal and lyrical.  the “stories” are also original to the artists and open to interpretation.

the artists’ choice of exploring the intimacy of drawing/painting on paper (and my choice, as the curator) is about giving the viewer a voyeuristic glimpse into private moments.  i’m exhibiting between two and six pieces by each artist to give the viewer the opportunity to observe mutating idioms and to decipher the lexicons of each.    while the show didn’t start to be about work by women, almost all of it is.    i’m including amy cutler, fay ku, shahzia sikander, ruth marten, liliana porter, yuka yamaguchi, yelena yemchuk, baseerah khan, rob matthews, henry darger, sara stites, charlotte schultz, rachell sumpter, crystal liu and seonna hong.

todd hosfelt will be writing about the artists and their works in the show on his blog.  here’s what he wrote about my drawing, ‘my favorite neckless’:

i love yuka yamaguchi’s work.    it’s what frieda khalo would be making if she were alive and japanese.    gorgeously rendered colored pencil (often self) portraits that are seemingly innocent and disarmingly brutal.

i’m reproducing “my favorite neckless” 2008 colored pencils on paper, 11×14 inches.     beyond the play on words, jay brought the phrase “turtles all the way down” to my attention.     the story, in this case, as told by stephen hawkings in “a brief history of time” goes like this:

a well-known scientist (some say it was bertrand russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy.  he described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. at the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “what you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise” the scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “what is the tortoise standing on?” “you’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “but it’s turtles all the way down!”

the story is used to illustrate religious/mythic myopia, but can also be read as meaning that you can never get to the bottom of a difficult question.

and of course there seussian reference to yertle the turtle…

i didn’t know about the turtle book by dr. seuss, but now i’ve got to go buy that for elijah and me ;)

‘jealousy’ — drawn on the street at the fringe festival, 2008

the fringe festival is finally over (well, three weeks ago).  it was very productive in many ways.  i got a nice suntan and a knife stuck in my heart.  as usual, people said to me whatever they felt like saying.  it was wonderful and amusing.

i was surprised that many people remembered or recognized my drawings from my show at the mendel gallery over a year ago.  some people even remembered them from my show at royal red gallery at phonographique three years ago.  a few people told me there were looking for me at this fringe this year since i wasn’t there last year.  the best moment was when a guy told me that he’d had seen one of the drawings, ‘inseparable’ somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where.  he left then came back just to tell me the postcard was up on the fridge door at his friend’s house.  he was so excited he came back for the third time to show my work to one of his friends.  i was very touched by all this.  so thanks and arigato!

i kept track of comments that i enjoyed.  so here’s the diagnosis;

•  ’you should do medical illustration.  you’ll be great!’ — i don’t think so…
• ‘do you draw family portraits? i have a photo here.’ — no thanks…
• ’she’s a freak!  she’s a freak!  she is a FREAK!’ screamed a guy with his full body tattooed and wearing a scary outfit with spikes.
• ‘i LIKE it!’  said 8 year old boy who flipped through all the drawings.
• ‘i wish i could draw…’ — i feel the same way
• ‘ahaha!  look at those boobs!’
• ‘these are amazing!’
• ‘i had the EXACT same image ( an elephant coming out of my belly) recently.  i should draw that!’
• ‘do you like creepy stuff?’ ‘no’ ‘… then why do you draw creepy stuff??’ — good question!
• ‘do you take any drugs?’
• ‘you look normal, but i know you aren’t!  you are not normal!’
• ‘did you draw these?  they are so weird and grotesque.  and you are so adorable!’ — do you want a candy?

i feel so energized and encouraged.  thanks for all the encouragement and cheering as well as your nasty looks.  i did a couple of drawings sitting at my booth and i’ve been drawing away ever since.

more soon, including news about shows i’m doing in september…

i’m taking part in a group show called “paper pushers” at gallery 1988 in san francisco.  i’m showing eight pencil drawings (click here to see six of them).

the show opening is tonight.  i hope my readers in san francisco can stop by and see the show!

paper pushers
an annual show featuring all works on paper

august 15 - september 6, 2008
opening reception: friday august 15th ( 7 - 10pm)

1173 sutter street (at polk), san francisco
ph. 415.409.1376
www.gallery1988.com

ah~, it’s so nice to be on the street with my drawings.  i started busking at the fringe festival here in saskatoon last night.  this is my first fringe since elijah came along.  and this is my first time ever being away from elijah for more than an hour.

i’ve been showing my drawings at galleries nowadays, which is very nice.  but i really like being on the street, where most of the people who come by are there just to look around, not because they’re particularly interested in art or in my drawings.  i like the randomness of having people stumble upon my work and seeing their reactions, good and bad.

the busking areas at the fringe have been very busy already this year.  i’ve been setting up on broadway, near 10th.  i have a little table with books of prints and postcards that people can browse through at their own speed.  there are a couple little stands that i put single prints in, so people can see them from a distance walking by.

some of the prints and postcards are of my newer drawings that i’ve never made into prints before.  the only one of the newer drawings that i’ve shown in saskatoon before is ‘new wings’.  the other new drawings are on first view, but i’ve already put the images up on my blog.

for the fringe festival i do a different printing technique than the archival prints i sell in my online shop.  they’re not as expensive to make, so i can sell the 8.5 x 11 prints for $10.  postcards are sold for $2 each, or 6 for $10 (i’m from kansai, i have to offer a good deal).  people keep telling me the prices are way too cheap.  i want them to be cheap enough that even little kids don’t have to worry about the cost if they find an image of mine they want to take home.

this year i’ve already had a lot of people coming up to me who know me from somewhere — my blog readers, people who remember me from previous shows in saskatoon, and even some asian girls who saw my drawings in the hong kong fashion magazine, milk.

a couple people asked for my autograph.  i double-checked to make sure they weren’t out of their minds.

i got a few negative reactions — people saying ‘urrghh’, or ‘creepy’ — but not as many as i was expecting.  one older woman did sniff at me with a disapproving face, which i was glad to see.  i don’t know why, but those negative comments don’t hurt me anymore.  i kind of enjoy them.  a couple of harsh comments go a long way to motivate me to draw more.

i ran into some of the local artists as well — artist kris moffatt, poet taylor leedahl who is representing local book company jackpine press, artist carole epp, and young artist michael.  i’m hoping to meet the artist kristin bjornerud who will be back in saskatoon for the summer from hamilton.

if you’re in saskatoon, come and see me on the street at the fringe festival!  you can say whatever you want, and you don’t have to pretend to be nice.  i’ll be happy to see you anyway.

i’m taking part in a group show called ‘environmental 911′ at gordon snelgrove gallery at university of saskatchewan.  it’s been a while since i got to show my drawings in saskatoon.  i’m very happy.

we’ll be at the closing reception probably from 7 to 8pm-ish.  please come and say hi if you’re around in saskatoon.

oh, this drawings is called “new wings”.  16 x 20″

Gordon Snelgrove Gallery

3 Campus Dr.  Saskatoon