Ancient Basswood (at Broadview and Danforth)

This is a pen & ink project that I just finished- an old basswood that I must have passed hundreds of times and always found inspiring. This particular tree can be found at Broadview and Danforth avenue in Toronto. My neighbourhood and my city are usually where I get my ideas and inspiration, specifically the natural spaces, urban parks, trails and trees of the Don River watershed. 

Here's the illustration in it's early stages:

And here's the final:

- Patrick

Cool stuff coming up at the A.G.O.

There's lots of cool stuff coming up at the A.G.O., check out their site for more info: https://ago.ca/

First of all, starting today (May 25th) and going for the next year for sure,
anyone under 25 gets in free!!!!!
Also, annual passes are $35!!!!!  
A few great changes from C.E.O. Stephan Jost- thank you!

I can't wait to check out:

Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room (now open and part of the permanent collection)
Brian Jungen: Friendship Centre (opening June 20th)

- Patrick

The Principle of Design: Pattern

As I work through the elements and principles of design with my students, I try to find engaging and achievable projects to highlight the potential of each. The School of Islamic Geometric Design is a great site for patterns and got some fantastic ideas for a memorable pattern design studio project here: http://www.sigd.org/resources/pattern/

There are so many beautiful patterns all around the Aga Khan Museum. It would be great to include a field trip to the museum to explore pattern and find inspiration.

I first visited the museum a few years ago, see some photos in a previous post: here.

Patrick

Beautiful Jamaican Wildlife Poster

Check out this beautiful Jamaican Wildlife Poster- a wonderful educational resource by Liz:
https://sawwhetstudio.tumblr.com/

The Grange Park

This week I visited the beautiful new Grange Park behind the A.G.O. and O.C.A.D. Here's the site: http://grangeparktoronto.ca/

The park is beautifully laid out- our first impression was of an architect's drawing of a park. The trees and gardens are well-maintained and well-distributed throughout. Henry Moore's Two Forms sculpture has a new home; the Grange heritage building is accessible all the way up to the front door; there's a new entrance to the Learning Centre of the A.G.O.; and the kids playgrounds are awesome! 

Here's a shot of one of the beautiful old Chestnut trees (with the A.G.O. in the background): 

We also stopped by the gallery for a quick visit- here's one of the Rodin casts, in a beautiful spot with natural light:

- Patrick

Art & Nationhood- AGO Creative Minds- April 21st, 2017

A fascinating conversation about art and nationhood happened last night at Massey Hall in Toronto, featuring: Christi Belcourt, Sir David Adjaye, Junot Diaz and Paul Gross. In light of the upcoming Canada 150, the conversation gets to the heart of some of the serious problems with trying to define nationhood in Canada- hearing from Indigenous, American, British and Canadian perspectives. Looking forward, the talk brings up the idea of "radical hope" and the role that art can have in breaking down our barriers and illusions and allowing us to reveal and share in our humanity. Definitely worth a watch!

See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TukxNhN740M

And find out more about AGO Creative Minds here: http://www.agocreativeminds.ca/

- Patrick

Art Show @ the Brockton Haunt this weekend

I'm taking part in a show this Friday. I'll have some originals and some prints up, all are welcome! Treats and drinks are available. Please see details below:

We are hosting a TWO night art show featuring some great local artists! There will be beer, wine, coffee and snacks for sale.
Feb. 10th and 11th 7:00pm-11:00pm.

Featured artists:

Friday Feb. 10th - Phil Bowen and Pat Butler
Saturday Feb. 11th - Andrea K Fairfoul

Phil Bowen- https://www.instagram.com/el_serpentine/
Pat Butler- https://www.instagram.com/phbutler/
Andrea K Fairfoul- https://www.instagram.com/akfairfoul/

Sketching The Line

If you take the T.T.C. regularly, you will have seen the "Sketching The Line" series of artists' drawings of scenes/people on the T.T.C. Submission are open now until February 28th for anyone interested. Find out details here: http://www.artintransit.ca/archives/pattison-outdoor-and-the-ttc-announce-call-for-submissions-for-sketching-the-line.html

Happy sketching!

- Patrick

Jean-Michel Basquiat at the A.G.O.

The new exhibit at the AGO looks amazing: Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now's The Time. This is the first major retrospective of the artist's work and I cannot wait to check it out. I've already heard good things about it and the educator's night was well attended. 

One of the reasons that I'm excited about this exhibit is the accessibility of Basquiat's images. It's a refreshing move away from the often snobby, pretentious high-brow art world (seen in too many shows- where viewers stand around sipping drinks and pretending to understand the meaning behind artwork that really speaks to no one). This unfortunate part of the art world gives all art a bad name and distracts from the power of visual creativity to actually communicate something. This criticism is not directed at the A.G.O., who always have something thoughtful to check out, but to an unfortunate majority of other galleries. 

Just a little rant. I hope you enjoy the show!

Museum of Inuit Art

I have enjoyed visiting this museum and I would like to bring my art classes next year.

The Museum of Inuit Art is located downtown Toronto, at 207 Queen's Quay West- right on the water by the Harbourfront Centre.

The beautiful and well-lit venue contains a variety of Inuit art in different media and presents great opportunities for students to analyze visual communication and cultural connections to art making. 

Here's their site for more info: miamuseum.ca.

T.I.F.F. Field Trip

This term my Grade 12 Film Studies class along with an English class and a Writers Craft class visited TIFF to try the "Make a Movie In a Day" program.

We had a great time and the students got the chance to experience a high-paced version of the whole film-making process using industry standard equipment. They wrote screenplays in small groups, pitched them, voted on one, practiced and shot it and we received a copy of the edited final a few weeks later. 

This is a trip I will gladly do again!

Graffiti in Toronto, Downtown Field Trip

The Torontoist recently posted an interesting piece about how the Mayor has selected a panel to judge whether grafitti around the city is art or vandalism. The city will destroy the vandalism and keep the art. There are so many different kinds of grafitti in our city and different standards of acceptability and legality. Here is the article: http://torontoist.com/2012/10/city-staff-will-decide-whether-these-murals-are-vandalism-or-art/ .

These photos were taken in Graffiti alley on a field trip with my art classes last week. They are a good example of the variety of graffiti that we have. Much of it is protected but who knows how the panel will vote.

Financial Literacy

The Globe featured this article today about a new focus on financial literacy in the Ontario curriculum. I think it's important for kids to learn about money throughout school. This can be supported in any subject area to provide a comprehensive approach to financial literacy.

    An example of this for Visual Arts, that I would like to try, is how to plan an art show in Toronto. This would involve many related stages: planning the show, producing artwork, securing participants,  fundraising, organizing entertainment, booking a venue, promotion, establishing working relationships, opening night, sales, and a review of the overall experience from a financial perspective.

   Another example for Visual Arts is planning a small business in the arts or planning a freelance career as an independent contractor in the arts. This would involve writing a complete business plan and investigating need, cost, return, investing, borrowing and projecting results.

   Financial literacy is of course of utmost importance when students are considering post-secondary education and must be examined while addressing the careers in art lessons.

Any of these ideas would serve as the basis for a challenging and rewarding cumulative task.

Maps

A map is a visual representation of an area, a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of space such as objects, regions, and themes.

Typically when the term map is used it is referring to a two-dimensional spatial map, like the map of the world. But maps can be used for much more, to visually represent information. We see them all the time and may not realize it. A basic spatial map that is not to scale or spatially accurate but quickly communicates order and direction is the TTC subway map:

This kind of map can be used to communicate basic information even though it leaves out most of the geographical features of the area that is represented, another example is how to get to the coffee shop from my house:

Maps can get more interesting when they use metaphor, here is an example of a metaphoric map of my route to school:

Another interesting way to visually convey meaning by using a map is a cartogram. A cartogram is a map in which a thematic variable is substituted for land area or distance. The space of the map is distorted to communicate the information about the variable in question. For example, M.E.J. Newman created this cartogram with each county of the U.S. rescaled in proportion to its population. The colours refer to the voting results of the 2004 Presidential election.

Maps can also reveal the scope of the knowledge of a time, such as the T and O maps of the early modern era, that reveal what they knew the world to be then: Asia at the top, Europe on the left and Africa on the right. This one was created by Gunther Zainer (one of the first printers from Augsburg) in 1472 illustrating the Etymologiae of Isodore of Seville.   

Class activity: 

Part 1:(Think/ Pair/Share) Start by creating a verbal, instructional map of how to get somewhere from the school, or another public place. Share with a partner so that they will be able to get there. 

Part 2: Individually create a basic spatial map, like the one from my house to the coffee shop. 

Part 3: As a first step in a long-term project, choose to begin either a metaphoric map or a cartogram and work on some overall ideas and themes that you want to explore. 

School for low-income kids in Niagara region

The Toronto Star featured this article about a new low-income school in the Niagara region. Kids will only be admitted if their parents have not gone to college or university. Is segregation the answer to poverty? Should this deficit mentality be encouraged? Can't any potential resources that this school might receive be effectively used in inclusive schools? Separating these kids from their peers will only alienate and stigmatize them more. Strength and resiliency come from diversity even though it may be the more challenging alternative.

The TDSB offers a better solution. Extra classes with relevant goals are being offered on weekends for kids who need the help. This way specific areas can be addressed without the labelling and separating that the Niagara region is resorting to. Saying that this approach has worked in the States is not a valid justification. We can't keep comparing ourselves to a different country with different strengths and challenges. We're better than that, lets come up with our own solutions.

Community Gardens: Experiential Learning with GTGK

Green Thumbs Growing Kids is a Toronto-based group that provides experiential learning in environmentally sustainable community gardens for urban youth and their families.

I had the opportunity to volunteer with them a few summers ago and had a great time in their Winchester community garden learning about plants and drawing some of the helpful pollinators.

This is a recent video of theirs, produced by an OISE teacher candidate.
To find out more, have a look at their site.

Art Matters + Mayoral Arts Debate

This is the first post! I'll start with the basics: the A.G.O. info and a link to the arts debate that just happened.

    Last Wednesday evening was choatic outside the A.G.O. with a massive crowd full of political types, the media and members of the Toronto arts community. All gathered to witness the Mayoral Arts debate that filled up so fast they had to run a live feed next door. 

Here is the full video,  http://artmatters.ca/wp/2010/09/toronto-mayoral-arts-debate-full-video/

from the A.G.O. blog (http://artmatters.ca/wp/). The main A.G.O. website is: http://www.ago.net/.