Friday Finds: Ira Glass on The Imagination Gap

You know this feeling. You have this incredible project in your mind. Perhaps it's something you were hoping to complete for Bridge Songs: Dear Edmonton,. Perhaps it's a piece you've committed to for our Grow Your Art Challenge, and now you are second-guessing yourself. You have this incredible project in your mind, but the product of your efforts fails in comparison. Your hands cannot make what your mind dreamed up. What you can only imagine, well, you can only imagine. It's something I call The Imagination Gap, and I would call it a universal frustration for artists. It's something we spend our entire lives shrinking. I believe, in glorious eternity, it will vanish.

According to Ira Glass, host of NPR's incredible radio show/podcast This American Life, there is no way around The Imagination Gap. There is no warp whistle to toot out a magically transporting tune and bypass the level of 'crappy work'. You've got to suck your way to success.

It's refreshing when you hear someone like Ira Glass say, "I took longer to figure out how to do this than anybody I've ever met". It's refreshing when those you admire, look up to and consider excellent admit their own self-doubts and failures. 

Ira Glass says "the most important possible thing you could do, is do a lot of work". Feels like I've been hearing that a lot lately. From others. From myself.

So there's just this one find today, and it's just two minutes long. But if you let it soak in, I promise it's worth at least five 'Friday Finds'.

Watch this, and if you could, share your thoughts and experiences below.

http://youtu.be/PbC4gqZGPSY

This video came by way of David Taylor's Diary of An Arts Pastor blog. If you haven't found his blog yet, let's consider that Find #2 for this week. Unless you hadn't been listening to This American Life. Then it's #3. Enjoy.

ArtsTalk Tuesday: Museum School with Lyndal Osborne

It's Tuesday - let's talk art. This week, I got to take in 'Museum School' - an Art Gallery of Alberta program for elementary school kids. I also dove into some new Netflix discoveries, spent good time reading and finished some knitting. Not a bad art week, all in all.

But I'll get to all of that in the comments.

What art, media and culture have you engaged with this past week? What would you recommend and why?

Art is best enjoyed and digested in community, so this is our weekly space to have those conversations - to practice discernment as a collective.

So, what are you watching, visiting, listening to, reading, etc?

Where have the arts taken you this week?

Friday Finds: Edmonton Awesome Right Now

With all of the Dear Edmonton, submissions rolling in, I've got our fair city on my mind. I'm grateful, for instance, for my daughter's experience making sculpture with Lyndal Osborne at the AGA yesterday. Today, I join her class for the final day of Museum Week - where they get to experience the AGA through hands-on art making.

Our art gallery is certainly one bit of Edmonton Awesome to be grateful for, and if you haven't seen the Lyndal Osborne show Bowerbird: Life as Art yet, perhaps your Edmonton weekend starts there.

In this spirit of appreciation, perhaps the only antidote to the dragging doldrums of a long winter, I dug into what our city has to offer art enthusiasts, just this very weekend. And I didn't have to look far. Here are a few highlights if you're still making plans.

124th Street Gallery Openings

I love the 124th street galleries. They are concentrated in a little walkable area suited to a Saturday stroll. Some of my favourites are having openings this weekend. That generally means the artist is in attendance, and there are snacks. Can't get much better than that.

Peter Robertson Gallery

Double Blind, by Paul Bernhardt, is one of two shows opening this weekend at the Peter Robertson Gallery. The write-up begins by reflecting that,

"Our tenuous faith in science and technology's ability to solve society's most pressing crises, which tend to be ethical in nature, is interrogated in Berhardt's recent work.”

Check it out at http://www.probertsongallery.com/component/exhibition/

The Front Gallery

Another favourite spot of mine, The Front Gallery houses a great selection of artists. The show opening from Paddy Lamb looks to be no exception.

"Paddy's work explores the imprint of society on nature in a variety of locations, offering a personal narrative concerning human migration and attachment to the land. His recent work explores aspects of abandonment, neglect and disuse as part of the physical landscape.” (from the show invite)

Visit http://www.thefrontgallery.com

EPL Makerspace

The EPL Makerspace is just a miracle of democracy to me. At the downtown public library, there is now a room packed with computers and digital goodies for making all sorts of digital creations. Keyboards for making  music. A giant green-screen for photography and filming. All the professional software you could want. A 3D Printer. A book-making machine. The possibilities are huge. Oh, and it's all free to use. You only pay for the hard-costs on what you produce (the paper for a book, for instance). If you haven't dropped into the Makerspace yet, you really should.

According the to video above, the EPL Makerspace even has a banana-piano?

http://www.epl.ca/makerspace

Night of Artists

Not quite in Edmonton, Night of Artists takes place over the weekend at the St.Albert Enjoy Centre - a glass-walled sanctuary from the lengthy winter, made all the better when filled with local art.

With a couple of evening gala events, and plenty of time for afternoon strolls through the many represented artists on Saturday and Sunday, it may be worth a short trip out of town to check out this long-running event from Phil Alain and friend Lewis Lavoie.

From the NOA website,

"Night of Artists is designed as an opportunity for artists to showcase their artworks with other artists through a fun and exciting event that appeals to the masses. The idea behind the show is based on collaboration and team work. Thus the shows success for over 16 years has been a reflection of community coming together in support of the arts."

Get all the details at http://www.nightofartists.com

Here is the video trailer for the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qTq_RVCaEU

(Thanks to artist Jennifer Noseworthy, who will be displaying work at Night of Artists, for pointing this out to us on Facebook!)

Edmonton's Neon Sign Museum

I plan on driving by this weekend to check out this new kid on the museum block in Edmonton. I love vintage signage – especially vintage neon signage – so I just cannot wait to see what is only the beginning of this unique outdoor museum project.

Thanks to Eli Ritz for point us towards this post full of (finally!) awesome photos of the Neon Sign Museum - http://spacing.ca/edmonton/2014/02/22/neon-sign-museum/

What is Your Edmonton Awesome?

What are you loving in Edmonton this week? Share your recommendations in the comments below.

A Poem and a Pause for Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is the beginning of a season of the Christian Calendar called Lent. In Lent, we remember Jesus' journey towards The Cross - it's like an advent calendar for Easter. But instead of treats each day, we often deny ourselves something. It is a time of fasting and deep listening. A time of drilling down, as we approach the darkness and death of Good Friday, to ask ourselves what, this time around, must die. We also ask where we need new life. Where Resurrection will shine. You can read the scriptures for Ash Wednesday on the Vanderbilt site, where you'll also find prayers and artwork tied to the current or upcoming holy day or Sunday. The image in this post comes from that site.

Find the Ash Wednesday materials at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=23

This morning, considering the day, half reflecting and half fading back to sleep, I heard birds singing. Then I wrote this poem for Ash Wednesday.

ASH WEDNESDAY

I lie on the couch

as dead

When suddenly, outside

birds chirp a symphony

cheering me on towards morning

And all the strength I need

all the effort I could not muster

is laid upon my ears as the gift

of spring

And I arise

Spring is coming

behind a death

following a heavy burdened trudge

up the twisted hillside

the first tulips twitch to life

within their tombs

for death comes first

and we are all ashes

and dry bones

waiting to dance alive

waiting for the song of God

ArtsTalk Tuesday: LEGO Movie Mayhem

It's Tuesday - let's talk art. This week, I sat down for the hour and a half creative burst that is The LEGO Movie. "Everything is Awesome" is a fitting theme song for this intricately built technicolor spectacle that brought back some of the feelings of wonder I had watching the very first Toy Story.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What art, media and culture have you engaged with this past week? What would you recommend and why?

Art is best enjoyed and digested in community, so this is our weekly space to have those conversations - to practice discernment as a collective.

So, what are you watching, visiting, listening to, reading, etc?

Where have the arts taken you this week?

ArtsTalk Tuesday: Steal Like An Artist

It's Tuesday - let's talk art. This week, I powered through Steal Like an Artist, a great little book by Austin Kleon.

What art, media and culture have you engaged with this past week? What would you recommend and why?

Art is best enjoyed and digested in community, so this is our weekly space to have those conversations - to practice discernment as a collective.

So, what are you watching, visiting, listening to, reading, etc?

Where have the arts taken you this week?

ArtsTalk Tuesday: AGA and Edmonton Odes

It's Tuesday - let's talk art. This week, I've been listening to Bridge Songs: Dear Edmonton, song submissions, and learned a bit about what it means to be an Edmontonian. I've also paid a visit to Lyndal Osborne's massive retrospective at the AGA. Wow.

What art, media and culture have you engaged with this past week? What would you recommend and why?

Art is best enjoyed and digested in community, so this is our weekly space to have those conversations - to practice discernment as a collective.

So, what are you watching, visiting, listening to, reading, etc?

Where have the arts taken you this week?

ArtsTalk Tuesday: Potlucks and Makers Faires and More

It's Tuesday - let's talk art. What art, media and culture have you engaged with this past week? What would you recommend and why?

Art is best enjoyed and digested in community, so this is our weekly space to have those conversations - to practice discernment as a collective.

So, what are you watching, visiting, listening to, reading, etc?

Where have the arts taken you this week?

ArtsTalk Tuesday

Let's talk art. What art, media and culture have you engaged with this past week? What would you recommend and why?

Art is best enjoyed and digested in community, so this is our weekly space to have those conversations - to practice discernment as a collective.

So, what are you watching, visiting, listening to, reading, etc?

Where have the arts taken you this week?