BOOK STACKS – CONCEPTUAL ART EXERCISE
For this assignment, I first began by pulling out every single book I own from my bookshelf. I carefully considered each book title and began to create stacks that might work together. I cringed at the variety of titles and series in my collection, because many of these are from when I was younger. Still, it was a fascinating way to reflect on the novels I enjoyed in the past compared to the books I’m reading today.
Stack 1 – “Bibliophile”
I got the inspiration to arrange all of my books with just the term “Bibliophilia” visible for my first book stack after I noticed it on one of my sticker books. A bibliophile means someone who loves books, and being a book lover myself, I am showcasing my passion with this ridiculously huge stack from my collection.
Stack 2 – “Catastrophe Unleashed”
I wanted to attempt to use the book titles to tell a story for the following two stacks. This one has the plot of “Ungifted” “Magicians” who unintentionally cause a fire, which results in a “City of Ashes.” If there was a book that came between “The Magicians” and “Catching Fire” that suggested something went wrong, I believe the message would be conveyed more effectively.
Stack 3 – “A Peaceful Life”
I particularly liked the title “Gardening in the Tropics” and wanted to use it in the story for my last stack. The narrative revolves around Emma, who leads a tranquil, picture-perfect existence just tending to her tropical garden and braiding sweetgrass. Although sweetgrass is unrelated to the tropics, just thinking about it evokes a calming feeling within me, which is the vibe I wanted this piece to portray.
TORONTO TRIP
Raven Chacon, For Zitkála-Šá, 2017-2020.
This is one of the artworks that stood out the most to me during our trip to 32 Lisgar St and Park. Although it’s simple in its presentation, the creativity of each piece of music draws you in. I don’t know much about music, but I felt a longing to play each score and hear the sounds they would create. I also enjoyed reading about how this artwork was dedicated to First Nations, Native American, and Mestiza composers and sound artists.
This is another work that caught my eye while at Lisgar Park. It is made from deconstructed shoes that, at first glance, resemble the silhouette of a bird. I felt at peace standing there and watching the “birds” hang calmly. I think the beautiful blue sky that day also added to the piece.
Maria Ezcurra, Passing, 2022.
This was the last installation I saw on our trip. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much time to explore each video playing as I would have liked, but I was entranced by the short bit that I did see. The dark red light throughout the room added an eerie feeling to the strange performances happening on each screen.
Arboretum Video
Unseen Movements, 2024.
For this assignment, Ashleigh and I wanted to turn our attention to the small and typically unseen movements of insects and animals. We began by collecting various clips in the Arboretum and then sorting through each one. Once we had our selected videos, we studied each one and found different clothing and props that we could use to emulate the insects/animals. We tried our best to time our movements to the clips, which was probably our biggest struggle. This video can almost be seen as a love letter to the beauty of the lives of these little creatures. While most people will walk right by a bug without so much as a glance, we instead watched and studied each minuscule movement they made at that moment. For a short period of time, each animal and insect was appreciated.
The Process of Making a Book
For our book assignment, it took me a while to decide on a final idea. After rummaging through my book at home, I saw a “Future Diary” that I bought from a Scholastics Book Fair when I was 9 years old. Reading through it for the first time after almost 10 years was a wild experience that involved a lot of cringing.
For the book that I made, I decided to take the original diary and add comments on my past writing and new answers to the prompts from my 20-year-old perspective. The final book would be a look into me from the past and the present (or “future”).
During the process of making the book, I wrote on the actual diary using a pink pen, which I then scanned each page and uploaded to the editing software. After that, I printed out test pages to see what my spreads would look like. To make it more accurate, I then cut out the test pages and folded them to look more like my final book.
After a discussion with Diane, we decided it would be better to add more text to fill some of the pages with my present voice. To do this, I transferred my files to an iPad and wrote extra text on top. You can see the difference in text when reading through the book. All in all, I’m happy with the final book that was produced. If I want to show someone what I was like as a 9-year-old in comparison to the 20-year-old me, this is the perfect book to do so. In the future, perhaps I’ll add even more notes in the gaps to expand this portrait.
BRAINSTORMING FOR ARTIST MULTIPLES
I’ve had two ideas so far for this assignment. One of them is to use clear cases and add a sticker that says “Break Glass In Case of Emergency.” In each case, there will be a crumpled snack that one would typically find at the bottom of a school bag, such as a granola bar or some crushed goldfish crackers. I personally only eat these long-forgotten snacks when I am desperately hungry or in an emergency.
My other idea was to create stickers based on these “Avalanche the Architect” stickers placed all around the GTA.
ARTIST MULTIPLES
I decided to create stickers for my artist multiple based on the mysterious “Avalanche the Architect” posters that are spread all over the GTA. I decided to use the concept of obnoxious self-promotion that is seen with the Avalanche stickers to instead support Canadian Indigenous women artists. Christi Belcourt, Rebecca Belmore, KC Adams, and Daphne Odjig are the artists I selected. I chose these artists because I find their work to be especially inspiring.
Here are the posters that I based my stickers off of:
These stickers/posters are pasted in the most random places across different cities. Oftentimes, they will catch your attention and perhaps make you curious enough to look up what “Avalanche the Architect” is. Then you’ll probably roll your eyes when you see it’s just an unknown rapper from Mississauga. My hope is that people will see my new and improved stickers then look up the names of these artists and see the beautiful work they produce. I’ve included some of my favourite artworks from each artist, just in case this blog is what pops up if anyone were to search for the meaning of these stickers.
