These are dry times. Summer slips away faster than you can catch it – a dime down the drain. The sky hangs damp and icy today. Across the globe, powerful little men toy with the world’s future like it’s a game of chicken. Hurricanes have ravaged large parts of our earth. Families will suffer the effects for years to come. Terrorists won’t let London sleep.
This planet can get so ugly. So broken. So disordered. So many of our mirrors are shattered.
There is order in beauty. A divine order, I believe, but whatever your theology you can feel it. The affirmation of disparate parts falling into place.
Jennifer Berkenbosch’s Cultivar matters because the world needs beauty today. We need to be reminded that there is goodness. There is a solid bed beneath this wild river.
You may be well on your way to a year of good reading or you may need a little nudge. Here are 11 quotes to draw you toward a cozy chair under soft orange light. 11 reminders that reading is important. Reading transforms us.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
In a couple of weeks, Bleeding Heart Art Space, the little gallery I lead, will open a show that is more ambitious than anything we’ve tried before.
A double-show, really. A gallery exhibit involving physical paintings and projected photographs. A massive outdoor installation involving 50 some trees arranged into a circular ‘forest’ pathway. So much is involved here. Connecting with artists and hashing out ideas. Permits and logistics. The physical labour of pruning 50 trees of their branches and building stands for every tree. There are costs attached to all of this.
None of those things scare me much. In those tasks, at least, I have some idea what I’m doing. Reconciliation scares me. Opening the doorway to a conversation about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in this country scares me. Because what do I know?
What does a white male possibly know about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women?
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
We are seeking writers to reflect on what was stolen and lost when these women were taken from their communities, as well as the precious legacies they have left behind.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
A busy day is waiting for me. There is not much time to write this morning before I head to an all day field trip with my daughter. In about eight minutes, things start rolling and they won’t stop all day. First, I want to pause and thank you.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
It’s a true winter weekend, with big beautiful snowflakes drifting down. We are going to do what we have to do to survive this together – find the good and celebrate.
We are holding the first of many 2016 winter festivals this weekend, right here on the Ave. Deep Freeze is in its 9th year, and here are five reasons why this ‘cool’ festival (sorry) should be on your to-list this weekend.
image from DeepFreezeFest.ca
The great big snow carvings are always a hit, and what I’ve seen developing on the Ave this year will not disappoint. The ice carving competition (with chainsaws) starts Saturday with judging on Sunday. It’s always fantastic to see what these carvers see in a block of snow or ice. In the case of the snow carvings, sometimes we also get to play.
I’m not sure exactly what to expect from this, but I looking forward to something cool every time I hear ‘projection mapping’. This is essentially projecting moving images onto a building in a way that interacts with the three dimension space of the building. These Deep Freeze projections are set to enchant us on the facade of Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts on Saturday from 6:30 to 9:30 PM. Once the sun goes down, get ready for the fairies will show up and get up to some sort of mischief.
From the website;
Mischievous fairies, elves and ogres take over the facade of the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts through brilliant projector mapping by Owen Brierley and David Banks. Catch these fantastical creatures popping out of windows, jumping out of doors and sliding down balconies on Saturday from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm.
Find respite from the madness that is a huge festival in the still solace of Alysha Creighton’s WAITING ROOM. Our current intermedia exhibit of image and sound ends very soon, so this is a perfect chance to catch it while you can.
Find out more about WAITING ROOM here.
image from Earth Sky Art
While not out of town, this show is not actually part of Deep Freeze at all, so we shall consider it the week’s outlier.
Local artist and arts champion Jay Bigam (@JayisPainting) has a solo show on at the Gallery at Milner at Stanley A. Milner Library downtown. His show features abstract landscapes that capture the feeling of a place, rather than a direct representation.
Get ready for landscapes that burst with colour and dance across the canvas in ribbons.
Jay Bigam will be live painting at the Gallery every Saturday from 2-5 while the show runs (throughout January).
It’d be hard to dub the annual Deep Freezer Races as art, but I would say this one zany event is the force that keeps Deep Freeze interesting every year. This is the one thing that people tend to go ‘huh?’ about, and the one crazy idea that shows off just how willing Arts On The Ave is to bring crazy ideas to life.
It really is people pushing each other around in deep freezers, and it really is amazing.
Catch the races between noon and 2pm on Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10 on 118th Ave between 92 and 93 Street.
See you on the Ave this weekend?
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
If you want your website to load quickly for your visitors (and believe me, you do), it’s important that the images you use are sized correctly for the web. If you take a photo of your latest sculpture in stunning hi-definition and then throw that directly onto your site, your visitors are going to watch that photo load on their screens bit by bit. Bar by bar. Like it’s 1996. More likely, they’ll just leave.
Image size is increasingly important as more and more users are viewing your website on their smartphone. The bigger your images, the more of your visitors’ precious data you are demanding.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Why do we feel guilty spending money to further our creative careers?
Why does it feel indulgent to make investments that nurture and awaken our weary souls?
Spending money on workshops, retreats and resources can be a big pill to swallow but let me assure you, it is not money spent, it is money invested. The investment often has returns you simply cannot predict.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
I want to empower you to achieve what you hope for this year. I want to empower myself to reach some lofty goals. I think I have just the trick up my sleeve we require. We'll make our resolutions in reverse.
But first, a confession. I broke some major resolutions in 2015. Some of those failures were very public. I’m embarrassed by them.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
Based on Google Analytics’ Unique Page Views (meaning actual different people who looked at the content), here are the ten most popular Bleeding Heart Blog posts of 2015.
Opening these numbers up is a little humbling for me. Many of these posts hover around 100 readers, which I realize is not a massive number. But it’s a number that has grown and will continue to grow. Especially when I watch our social media communities continue to grow. And it’s a real number, and I hope when you look at your own real numbers, these give you some perspective.
Numbers are only valuable, of course, for what they mean. What they teach us.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
There are so many ways to make a difference in this world. We can volunteer, advocate, create beauty and pray. We can also give money. In our country, the government will often give us a tax deduction for financial gifts, too.
For those of us who care about the arts and a faith that puts love and mercy first, Bleeding Heart is one organization worth supporting.
You have something to say–why not say it here? Email your blog post idea to dave@bleedingheartart.space and let's chat.
