Regret/Resolve: Exhibition Planning

Yesterday morning Rosina and I went to the Art Gallery of Windsor for the install of BCL’s piece that is going in the Border Cultures: Part One (Homes, Land)  along with some other great artists. The show is opening next week on January 25th.

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We spent the majority of the remainder of day planning for the Regret/Resolve Exhibition that’s happening January 31st at 7:00pm.

_MG_3712(1)Sara, Rosina and myself each took a wall and started pinning the t-shirts in different variations so we could get a sense of what could work in the space.

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Rosina making a second row.

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I decided to go with a more uniform shape, but it seemed to try and “hide” the fact that these were T-shirts.

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Rosina’s more organic approach.

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We almost had a full house which was great for working through our list of to-dos! Kevin, Josh, Sara, Rosina and myself hung out during the day, with Justin joining us at night to add some more input.

Kevin made some great renderings of the space, along with his own creative options of how the exhibition should look.

The most minimalist version.

Another.

Some song lyric manipulations.

We changed our gears and began to focus on the North Bay publication that we have recently begun to work on.

Diligent Joshua and Kevin.

Drawings, printouts, writing, brainstorms.

Rosina takes a stab at a chapter title for the publication: Street Etiquette for Strangers.

Meanwhile at the front of the storefront, Paul Anderson hosted his first Building Electronics Workshop. He had a full house of curious and attentive guests.

Taking notes.

Overall, it was a very fun and productive day!

More soon.

Scattered Notes from the end of the year

The holidays flew by, but here’s a quick look at how we spent part of it — amazingly, we almost all got together at one point or another. It’s been way too long! Right before everyone arrived home, Hiba reviews the t-shirt project … already changed again from the image above.

Rosina and Hiba took another look at the t-shirt phrasing, while simultaneously pulling together a small window installation.

Also, we made our first full-size work from the drafts we did a few weeks back.

We can’t wait to do some more of these! Above, Hiba lays the vinyl over the black background.

Bunting installation at the window.

Holidays.

Call to resolve, made with our little bunting app.

Call to resolve: Participate and Be Patient.

You saw our bunting app, right? This was a first draft of the little graphic.

Also, working on the installation for an upcoming show. Hardware.

Then, the holiday party!

Then, back to the studio, working on hardware for the hearts.

Michelle and Sara.

Karlyn, back from the west, and Hiba.

Josh Babcock + JB Weld.

Michelle’s adventures at the hardware store.

New vinyl.

Planning.

Hardware assembly.

It failed, the first time.

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Second try, with acrylic.

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The gap.

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Scars.

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Notes for a form. We’re finalizing things for this t-shirt project. You’re going to participate, right?!

 

Monday in the Studio: Rubber, Plaques, T-shirts

Mondays always seem to be the best studio days. Maybe it’s because the weight of the week hasn’t set in, or that the last Thursday is just far enough away that we’re motivated to try to get more work done. Whatever it is, yesterday was a particularly good example of getting things done at CIVIC SPACE.

On the table, we’re starting work on a plaque project we’ve had on the back burner for quite a while, and we’re also beginning prep work for a t-shirt project we’re planning for the new year. As part of the plaque project, we’re going to be casting a laser cut template in plaster, but first making a rubber mould. Above, Hiba and Laura open up the containers of rubber mould mixture that Hiba had left over from a project last year. The paste was still good, but the clear liquid is now a solid, so Sculpture Supply Canada, here we come.

With the prospects of making a frame in which to make the rubber mould, we went back to the laser cut acrylic. We’ll be transferring the letters and shapes from the laser cut onto a flat surface, then cover that with the rubber mixture, and then making plaster casts from that. Above, Hiba surveys the work to be done.

The plan will be to remove each letter from the template and then super glue them to a plate of glass.

At first, Hiba worked with the original sticky substrate as a base for the glass and a template to align the letters.

The stacks of letters. The burnt-brown surface is basically the paper / tape used to protect the acrylic.

Meanwhile, we also got a heat press for this t-shirt project, so Laura set out to test it.

The t-shirt vinyl cut pretty well and the initial transfer test went well.

Another test and we quickly realized we would have to cut everything in reverse.

So, back to the cutter. We still need to tweak the offset to avoid those curved kinds of corners.

So, with the vinyl cut in reverse, we take on a t-shirt test.

Laura clamps down the press.

And we realize we’ve somewhat over-cooked the shirt. The substrate for the vinyl comes off, but the shirt is left with a big light-coloured square from the press.

After remembering that we had to actually apply the letters not in reverse in order to get the mould the way we wanted, Hiba had to remove a handful of letters, glue them back together and then start over again.

This time, we printed out the original laser cut template and taped it to the back of the plate of glass.

Now, it’s a better template and will make a really good mould. Because of the rubber mix, we wanted to get as flat a surface as possible for the letters to affix to, which will avoid any weird casting problems with the plaster down the road.

All looks good, just that R in the second row that broke apart before we even started. However, we’re continually impressed with how detailed the laser cutter was.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Laura did more tests of temperatures and times until we got to a point where we ran out of new spots on the shirt and we think, the ultimate combination for 100% cotton shirts. We’re picking up some more test shirts, so we’ll be able to verify later this week. Heading back in today to do some more work on the plaque, picking up on some work from the posters we started last week, and maybe even some more work on Drift