Happy Canada Day

Today I thought we would celebrate Canada's birthday with some irreverent and reverent printmakers.


Zombie Beaver screenprint by Halifax printmaker Geordan Moore (a.k.a. the quarrelsome yeti).


Ode to a Guitar by Peterborough's Jeffrey Macklin of Jackson Creek Press. This is his tribute to Canadian Martin Tielli, lead guitarist for The Rheostatics, and his hand-painted Ibanez double neck 6/12 string electric guitar,with a "never quite presented idea" for the new Canadian flag designed by Group of Seven founder A.Y. Jackson (similar to but distinct from Lester B. Pearson's Pennant).

The Rheostatics made a whole album inspired by the Group of Seven which is quite lovely. This is just a taste I found on-line.



You can't get more Canadian than that.

Lastly, a screenprint which makes me nostalgic. It was in a book of Canadian art my parents had which I would pore over as a child, and shows streetcars, the red rocket, as they were when I was small. I always loved this image.



"Streetcar Headdress" (1972) by Charles Pachter, silkscreen, 60.96 cm x 76.2 cm (courtesy Charles Pachter).

I hope you have a great Canada Day. I plan to spend mine with my better half, whom, incidentally, I first met by a moose sculpture by Charles Pachter

Undead menace, and other PSA

Oh dear, there has been a zombie-shortage around here.
Check out the work of illustrator and designer Travis Pitts (Dr. Monster on flickr) [via Apartment Therapy]






A work-in-progress, because one can never have too much Bowie.

{He shares the PRoSPERoUS FoX' worshipful 23 allusions}.

Screenprinting the light fantastic

I have a lot of etsy favorites, and amongst these figure a large number of printmakers of a variety of media. There a few who make serigraphs/screenprints or even just work with the well-loved miniature Japanese gocco screenprinting devices, who have something in common. It's somewhat ineffable, but I have been trying to put my finger on it. It involves critters, no doubt, but it is also something about the line work, the colour choices and the surrealism. These four work in different countries, but they all happen to be women, and they all happen to have a touch of magic.

Consider London-based Ellie Curtis and her EllieCurtisDesings:

Josephine


Battle of Birlundula


Bird Emperor Cushion (pink), on calico

Why I haven't bought myself a pillow yet, I don't know. I think I'm simply having trouble deciding which one I need most.

While some of the work of Finnish Brooklyn-based artist animalsleep (with etsy shop here)is a little less abstract and mere fantastical, some strikes a similar vein:

extra terrestrial specimen collection 6 color silkscreen, 9" x 15"
2007, edition of 21
{This is a reminder folks: Butterflies are the new pirates!}


jefferson's frog suit 5 color silkscreen with spray paint, 8" x 10"
2007, edition of 30


dropping in to say hello *
4 color silkscreen, 7.5" x 14"
edition of 30


flamingo home
5 color silkscreen, 12" x 16"
2006, edition of 28
Now her work is on my wall.

I sense some sort of akin-ness to Madison, WI artist icebear (her blog):

our beloved sausage


Top Village



Game of Jacks

And, last but not least, one of my particular favorites, Lille, France-based Australian artist Emma Kidd, known as benconservato on etsy. Her work adorns my walls.


Zombie with a Thylacine


Sibiline {part of her book Erm Malley}


Black Fox

You must check out her work in other media as well.

zombie time

So, I was thinking about zombies. Why? Don't ask why. Perhaps it was the delightful photos posted by the Wooster Collective last week. A couple of city construction road signs were hacked near UT Austin, warning residents, "Caution! Zombies Ahead!!!", "Nazi Zombies! Run!!!" and so forth. A great hack. Anyway, this gives me an excuse to recommend that you check out the portfolio of Mike Bertino (and blog here). He seems to love a good monster scene:



A lot of his work is layered, with great lines and vibrant colours.

Clearly zombies have a great deal of presence in popular culture - in visual arts, be it film, comics, or illustration, as well as a recent upswing in zombie self-help guides. What about literature? Well, for the Jane Austen fan (if not too precious), I read on bioephemera about an upcoming book project billed as "The Classic Regency Romance—Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!" The author, Seth Grahame-Smith, might be on to something. I think of my friends and ask, "Do they love Jane Austen? Are they obsessed with zombies?" and I must answer both of these queries in the affirmative. The blurb says:

Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers--and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead.