Category Archives: Art

NANOWRIMO

runnerIt’s that time of the year again – NANOWRIMO!

“National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.”

I’ve tried this before and it was great fun, just kiss your life goodbye as you try to write a novel in a month.

TV 45 Light Years Away

Slashdot reported that a television company is broadcasting for an audience of alien species.

“The two naked hosts will present their own unclothed bodies as examples of our physical embodiments, and will tell about daily human existence. Music, art, and our own personal messages will be transmitted as well as discussions from sociologists, scientists, and space experts. This project is the brainchild of the French-based Centre National D’etudes Spatiales and is rooted in seriousness as a natural extension of the gold-plated ambassador disks of Pioneer 10. “

Filly Wear

horseyMost people who think of horseback riding visualize the rich, wearing pants with ridiculously huge hip width.  Vancouver clothing line Miss Filly is trying to turn that idea on its head.  The clothes collection is not only fashionable, it also tries to help women and girls live a fulfillled life.

Miss Filly designer Heather O’Hara grew up with horses, despite not being rich.  O’Hara believes in the powerful bond between women and horses, and this is reflected in her clothing line.  Miss Filly includes shirts, hoodies, tank-tops, toques, and panties.  Designs include lassos, hay bales, and the trademark Miss Filly ponies.

The clothing line has worked with organizations such as the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, by contributing to fundraisers and riding scholarship programs.  O’Hara hopes to start a Miss Filly Foundation for inner-city girls and women at risk.  Clothing can be viewed on-line at the Miss Filly website.

Solar Fashion

neat! I like when technology and fashion merge because neat-o concepts like this get made. Practicality on the other hand can be worried about later (although practical applications of solar powered clothing exist).

From We make money not art:
“Solar cells are embedded on some of the tiles: they charge the dress during the day, and make it change colors in dimly lit surroundings.

“Each tile is designed in such a way as to accommodate a solar cell, a RGB LED, or a photocell, and jumper connectors (in the form of 0 Ohm resistors). A control board provides power, communicates with the tiles, and links to a computer via RF. The dress is completely modular both in terms of software and hardware.”

*Artist Spotlight*

adi.JPGOur artist spotlight this month is Toronto’s Adi Zeharia. Adi is attaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design this year. Through her acceptional talent she has been awarded several scholarships and her work has been seen in over 7 exhibitions over the past three years. Adi has created her own unique style by breaking up forms into shapes, to be both of aesthetic interest to and to create a playful atmosphere. Her work is colorful and ethereal and is laced with intriguing whimsical qualities.

In some of her most recent work she is exploring the concept of how our society views death. Adi looks at a connection with animals and nature to explore how we might find a more peaceful relationship to our own finite nature.

“In the West (or in an urban envirionment) it feels like there’s a societal denial of that relationship, and maybe people would make better choices in life, if they formed stronger understandings of their deaths…. maybe thats why having a relationship with nature makes people feel more alive, because nowhere is death more evident…”

You can view Adi’s collection of work here.