Apparently a lot can happen in a 36-hour whirlwind trip to Toronto.  We left late Friday morning and returned to Ypsi by 11 p.m. the next night.  The occasion was our friend Simon’s visit to see us this weekend.  He had never been to Toronto and since it’s such a vegan-friendly place, we decided to go and eat everything in sight.  I was lax in my picture taking on Saturday, but I did snap some photos Friday night.

Mark enjoying an avocado mint smoothie at the Calico Cafe

tags and flowers

night spinning

house crying a rainbow

art in a storefront window

In 36 hours we hit up Calico Cafe where we et up beautiful appetizers, dinners, and even had a smoothie, Get Real Cafe for a fantastic vegan brunch of waffles, fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, and a tofu scramble plate for champions, Buddha’s Vegetarian Food for GIANT portions of Hong Kong style veggie food that Mark will still be eating for lunches the next few weeks, and Fresh for take-away salads, a chocolate chunk cookie, a divine date bar and smoothies!  Oh the smoothies!  I had a Shamrock shake made out of mint, banana, rice milk, matcha tea, and agave nectar- oh man!

We rode bikes everywhere, which was very handy.  We stopped in an art supply shop, a couple of galleries and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA).  We consumed vinyl and wearable sundries at local Toronto shops: Soundscapes and Rotate This for records and cds and Preloved for reconstructed shorts, shirts and skirts. We also stopped into 69 Vintage, where for once I managed to keep from buying something.  I do have a stunner of a coat from there procured on a previous trip, however.

Not bad for 36 hours eh?

After having just spent a month and a half in Europe, I have spent a lot of time since my return (about 2.5 weeks) reliving and retelling my experiences there.  Within three weeks, Mark and I visited five cities in three countries.  I have finally uploaded all travel photos to my flickr page, but I want to blog about the trip a bit too.  Of course I have already concentrated heavily on my three weeks at the residency in Budapest, but now it’s time to explore the rest of the trip leading up to that.

So, since our purpose in going to Europe was to see and experience artwork, in each of the next few entries which will correspond to the cities we visited in order, I will post three photos of art that is somehow noteworthy in it’s own right (at least as I see it) and three of my own “artful” photos- perhaps of artwork or anything, really.

Here goes round 1- first stop: Rome!

Let’s start with three notable artworks or experiences with art:

It started with a visit to the Vatican Museum and extended throughout our time in Europe: my infatuation with Italian Grotesque painting.  I love that sur-realism existed prior to Surrealism.

Again at the Vatican Museum (one of the few museums we visited that allows photographs) is the Room of the Animals.  These two gallery rooms contain carved stone statues of every type of animal imaginable.  They reflect the age-old obsession with conquering and collecting animals to form a sort of menagerie.  A private garden full of exotic animals was a sign of wealth.  An excellent book on the larger subject is called Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets by Yi-Fu Tuan.

Foil she-wolves placed on the walls that line the Tiber, a public art-installation by Kristin Jones.  Here’s one that was close enough for us to see in detail, but hundreds of them  line the wall that recedes downward from the upper walkways on both sides of the river for a stretch.  The way they reflect the city’s lights at night is a mystical spectacle.  I like this photo because it captures the reason for Jones’ embarking on the project in the first place: neglect.  The barricade, graffiti and litter form an environment against which this momma wolf  snarls and bristles as she protects her young–human and wolf alike.  Here’s a New Yorker article on how this project came about.

Okay, now for my three “artful” photos, whatever that means.  They might be photos of or containing someone else’s artwork, or they might just be a shot by me that I think turned out particularly well.

Palm trees against the bluey blue of a sky nearing dusk.  Taken on our first night in Rome.

We were fortunate to travel with our friends Mary and Chris for the Rome-Florence-Venice portion of our trip.  We had traveled with them to Toronto, CA and London, UK on separate trips in the past, and when we started to hatch this trip to Europe around my residency and the Venice Biennale, it coincided with vacation plans they were making for the summer.  Here is an amazing photo of Chris having a great time at a cafe that we joked would be perfect in a travel guide.  We really were having a good time, but this photo is almost hyperbolic in it’s quintessential just-kicking-back-in-Rome-ness, complete with the token accordion player.

I was able to momentarily stop time at a fountain near the Coliseum.

Next stop: Florence!

This excellent fellow Mike Ambs condensed the entire 12-hours of Shadow Art Fair into a four minute video (for fun!) which really captures the day quite well.  Here’s the link to view it.

Sunday we hosted a vegan brunch at our house.  Our friends Ryan and Val brought tons of good eats too.  Mark has already posted about it over at Irreverent Vegan.  Ryan and Val did a great write-up on it (from which I nabbed this photo) on their blog i’m just doing this thing.  Their about page is pretty funny, so check that out too!

brunching it up! for photos of food- visit those other two blogs pronto!

So, that last post would have gotten out of hand if I had included everything I want to write and show, so I decided to break it into two posts.  And now for part 2!  This year’s poster and t-shirt were designed  by the amazing and talented Melissa Dettloff (aka Mad Dog) who just happens to be my friend and studiomate.  The shirts and posters were printed by the ubiquitous VG Kids.

She's clearly pleased her design was chosen.

Here’s a quick look around the fair:

the mervelous Amelia and her new lavender-scented skunk friend

A couple of booths I’d like to feature:

Sarah Bradstreet, working it at the Broad Street booth

the lovely Maria working the Swipple! booth

Swipple!

Their booth debuted a sleek new design this year for maximum art viewing (and therefore purchasing).

And then there was the food!  This vegan was pleased as punch about Jennifer Albaum’s Chips and Cheeeze which rocked to a sold-out audience.  Thankfully, you can find the recipe over at her blog Scumpdilly.

Jennifer serving ups Chips and Cheeeze! We had ours with lotso jalapenos...

Mark Maynard was also signing people up for his Cycle Powered Cinema project.  Mark (my man) has volunteered to help out.  MM was posting to his blog live during  the SAF, which is pretty funny.  There’s even a bathroom video interview with Ryan Groendyk, one of the meisters in charge of the Shadow Brew which sadly got all drunk up before we made it back for our second visit for the day.  I hear it was pretty amazing and…”weird” (hey, that’s Ryan’s own description).

As twilight fell, Manhole rocked some Chuck E. Cheese-style limbo action outside under a glorious sky.

I hope you had fun!  (I know I did)

So like a carnival sweeping through town, the Shadow Art Fair descends on Ypsilanti, Michigan twice yearly.  The summer SAF in July always has an especially festive air, as there are longer daylight hours (as opposed to the December SAF) in which to enjoy it and the opportunity to spill into the Corner Brewery‘s outdoor beer garden after supporting local and regional craftsters, artists, and creative peoples.  So, of course “supporting” means buying up a bunch of stuff, and if one is going to “go consumer”, the SAF is the place to do it.  I go a little bit nuts each time I go, buying gifts for others, but mostly for our home…and for me.  I deserve it, right?  So, this post is about the spoils I plundered this time around and is an opportunity to give a shout-out to those artists who caught my eye long enough to catch me digging into my wallet.  Props to Mark for picking out cool stuff with me and being patient with my spendy self.From left to right, the ceramic pieces of Christina DeAngleo are so lovely we bought four exquisite little shot glasses and one stein with a bug drawn onto it.  Never underestimate the importance of a large mug for holding lotsa steaming hot droughts come  the cold Michigan winter.  The earrings are handmade by the b-line, a jewelry designer who uses mostly polymer clay, but I snapped up these beaded little brassy bluebells.  The t-shirt is by Great Lakes Shirts.  Mark got one last year and this year, it was my turn.  Now I can pay tribute to the more watery parts of these northern mid-western states of ours.  The painting is by Jason Wright.  Mark and I have wanted one of his pieces for a long time now, and finally have brought one home.  Jason runs Swipple!, an online and often actual art exhibition space where he features artists from all over, but especially regional artists and sometimes outsider artists.  Jason also works closely with Michigan prisons.  He works to get the inmates’ artwork seen and has curated several successful exhibitions of prison art.

Whenever we bring home new stuff, the cats get into investigatory mode.  Ramona wanted to be sure that I feature a close-up of some of the stuffz:

Wobbly Bob doesn’t care about the stuff, he just likes the paper it’s wrapped in.  He favors hunkering down in a little nest of it.

After speaking to a bunch of people at our vegan brunch yesterday (more on that later), it was agreed that a highlight of the fair was the booth of Broad Street: “jewelry for the eco-fabulous.”  And man is it ever!  I bought an amazing chainmail neckercheif creation off the neck of some poor girl who was trying it on, but karmicly, another girl snatched a necklace out from under me a little later, so the universe is working as it should.  If you ever see Sarah Bradstreet selling her wares, be sure to snap up what you want early on, because it gets gone!  Here’s a photo of me modeling the first item I bought:

Two more sellers deserve some props.  Sally England of SED (Sally England Design) had a really eclectic booth with faux bois printed plush logs, felt Michael Jackson portraits and these amazing golden t-rexes, one of which had to come home and join the menagerie in the kitchen window box:

The other artist is is Lori Brown, who as Morninglori, makes up wonderful stories about imaginary beings and makes them come to life in her sculpted and plush creations.  We bought some as gifts, so I can only show the tippity tip of an ear so’s not to blow any surprises, but if you visit her etsy site, you’ll get the idea.

Now that we’ve indulged me by reveling in my post consumer bliss, next up: the people and place of the Shadow Art Fair.  I haven’t even mentioned the Chips and Cheeeze yet!

My friend and art colleague Ryan, recently texted me the somewhat cryptic message:  “Check out the paintings of Jordan Kantor.”  Where had he come across these paintings?  Why was I supposed to see them?  An email cleared it up: Ryan has seen them at the exhibition Untitled (History Painting): Painting and Public Life in the 21st Century at the newly opened University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor.  I still need to get over there to see them.  In the meantime, we can take a look at why Ryan thought I should check them out:

Jordan Kantor Untitled (Challenger), 2007 Oil on canvas 70 x 60 inches

Jordan Kantor Untitled (Basel lens flare 6761), 2009 Oil on canvas 21 x 28 inches

Jordan Kantor Untitled (Basel lens flare 5727), 2009 Oil on canvas 21 x 28 inches

Jordan Kantor Installation view, 2009 Art Statements Art | 40 | Basel

Ryan and I discussed his text message to me.  He thinks something in my new work resonates with Kantor’s work.  What do you think?