Pop Up Neighbourhoods: Alleyways and Folded Cities

A busy summer of working on pop up neighbourhoods of Montreal: St. Laurent and the St. Henri canal have been thoroughly scoured and mapped with markers and watercolour!

Intaglio Prints

'Navigate'


'Flight'

Drawing inspiration from the 19th-20th century science fiction illustrator Albert Robida's floating fantastical cities, and the 1960's British artist Ron Herron's Walking City series, I have been thinking about cities on the move. Evolving, mutating, encroaching, these cities are kinetic islands always searching for their next future even as the current architecture is growing.

The Mutter Museum and Book Anatomy

Back in February I was able to take the bus down to Philadelphia and visit the Mutter Museum. Attached to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, it is in the back of a college buildings, behind two large wooden doors marked with a small sign.

The Mutter Museum primarily displays its collection of anatomical bodies, bones and waxwork replicas, and only has a small selection of books about anatomy on display. The one book I remember most vividly is both a book abut anatomy and a book made from flesh itself, as it was bound in the skin of a consenting patient who dies of the disease the book concerned. Both medically fascinating and emotionally gruesome, the Mutter frames itself as an academic museum, and manages for the most part to avoid death becoming a spectacle rather than an educational dialogue. However, this interest in preserving the quiet, contemplative air of the museum means photographs couldn't be taken! I'm relying on the photographs people have posted online (they must have had a less swift security guard than mine!)

Except for making long pilgrimages to centers for anatomy and medicine, my main access to anatomical details is the same resource used by medieval doctors: large plates of anatomy printed in expensive books! The relation of the book as a portal of information and visual information to the field of dissection if fascinating. I open up a book, and can have the same information someone has gathered by opening up a body. The relation of interior and exterior works in book metaphors too: "She read him like a book", "don't judge a book by its cover". As an avid book reader, the idea of books being very person-like is not a far stretch! Inspired by my visit to the Mutter Museum, and the collection of anatomical pop-up books in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto, I created a paper-and-acetate book of a female figure that has several layers of biological 'armor' that is slowly stripped with each turned page. On my way home, made on the bus from paper, acetate, a discarded geographic book and a lots of Japanese paste, my book doesn't have the same presence as a large, finely printed medical book, but it can be checked out of the Toronto Reference Library nonetheless, through their Artist Book Collection! Between the long bus ride and the pressing deadline from the Reference Library, my book was documented using my cellphone camera, but at least you get a peek!

Nanobooks - 'Little Moving Things'

I went to the annual opening of Nanobooks, the end result of a micro publishing class taught by Shannon Gerard at OCADU.

http://littlemovingthings.tumblr.com/

Every year they have beautifully crafted miniature books full of wisdom and mirth. I now have books covering a wide range of topics from how to swear in Polish to a collection of ukelele songs and a book of Toronto neighbourhood histories. They are always thoughtfully created, beautifully made and crack me up!

This year it is open until June 19th, Nanobooks is a perfect place to create a mini book library or get gifts at a great price. Trust me, it's addictive!

'I Carry My City' and 'I Keep My City' flipbooks

I've been working on a set of flipbooks or 'thumb cinema', illustrating how one's favourite places travel around with you wherever you go. The first two are complete, while the others are still in the sketchbook phase.

After being drawn and inked on my light-table, I print the books on an archival giclée printer and hand-sew them. The cover is an intaglio print from a copper plate of a building made into a hard-cover to keep your treasured city safe.

'I Carry My City'



'I Keep My City'

Buildings to Crush, Buildings to Build

Once I'd created the blueprint to fold my own set of buildings, I started to create mini-cities. This mini-city has the added benefit of reinforced sides and a pinhole in the bottom to blow it back up after it has been crushed.

DESTROY BUILD DESTROY

And crushed. And crushed. There's a little bit of Godzilla in me.

TCAF-errific!

I managed to get down and wade through the enormous crowd of people attending this weekend's annual TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival). It's inspiring both to see the people publishing their small pieces of awesome and to see the enormous turnout!

I got to visit with my friend and prof Shannon Gerrard, who in addition to selling her graphic novel and her mini graphic series had her crocheted plushtaches, which are addictive props to own. All Facebook profile pictures benefit from having a plushtache! (Mine is pink striped!) If you miss your chance at TCAF, they're also sold at the Drake General Store...



I also now have Jeph Jacques' 'Questionable Content' anthology of his webcomics origins. A good day for comics all around!