Fibre Fortnight Miniature Auction

Posted on March 10, 2013 by printerbird

Every spring, the Fibre department takes over the main mall at ACAD to show off the great work of students in our program. There is also a miniature works show and silent auction to raise money for the program (to bring in visiting artists, fund projects by students and other activities that complement curriculum). I’ve created a sculptural piece for my contribution this year. Bidding opens on Monday, March 11th and closes on Thursday, March 21st.

Wood, paint, tiny dish, fake grass, linoleum. 9.25" x 7.5" x 4.25"

Cordyceps Wood, paint, tiny dish, fake grass, plastic. 9.25″ x 7.5″ x 4.25″

The piece was inspired by a chance viewing of a type of fungus called cordyceps which invades its host, changes its behaviour so that it ends up where it wants and then kills the host. Its strange, horrible and beautiful all at once. I wanted to imagine an architectural event similar to that of cordyceps, so, voila!

The Imagined Past opens Friday!

Posted on February 21, 2013 by printerbird

The works for my exhibition The Imagined Past have been in the works for several years now so it feels strange to finally have them set up and working in the gallery. I can’t quite believe they are finally doing what they’re supposed to as I’ve spent the past few days patching code and fixing lose connections (on top of tinkering with them for the past few years, making them work more effectively). Will my amateur electronics/code/construction techniques hold up? Join me on Friday February 22nd at 8:00pm at Stride Gallery or on Saturday February 23rd at 2:00pm for my artist talk to find out! The show is up until March 22nd. Stride is located at 1004 MacLeod Trail SE in Calgary.

Marc Dulude is showing works in the upstairs gallery in his exhibition Have You Seen This? Its a great show by an excellent Quebec artist whose practice concerns itself with sublime spatial experiences using mirrors, the viewer and nature. His artist talk is the same day as mine at 1:00pm.

The Imagined Past in the Stride Project Room (Calgary).

Pomp and Circumstance

Posted on February 9, 2013 by printerbird

I just dropped off a bunch of my prints at Pomp and Circumstance here in Calgary. Its a great store selling a range of interesting objects for your home, from modern to vintage. They are featuring a small number of artists and my work is available there as well as that of Stephen Frew, Tivador Bote, and Don Kottmann among others. Interested in buying a print? Drop by!

The Imagined Past in Stride’s Project Room

Posted on February 8, 2013 by printerbird

I’ve been putting the finishing touches on my upcoming show in Stride’s Project Room. This is my first solo show featuring my sculptural work. This body of work is a personal attempt to step outside of my comfort zone. “Push yourself!” I yell at my students. So I decided to yell at myself a little bit. Four of the works have micro controllers and sensors that allow either a light to respond to movement or Servo motors. I am not a 3-D artist nor am I knowledgeable with electronics but I was determined to create work that responded to the viewer’s movements. Come by Stride on February 22nd to check them out.

The Future In Retrospect IV (detail)

The Future In Retrospect II

First Print of 2013

Posted on January 31, 2013 by printerbird

Here is a new print that I’ve made for this year’s portfolio exchange at ACAD. The first of hopefully many prints to come this year! Stay tuned for info about my upcoming show in the Project Room at Stride Gallery in Calgary.

Raise the Hills

John Snow House Portfolio Fundraiser

Posted on December 24, 2012 by printerbird

I was invited by the New Gallery to participate in their portfolio fundraiser for the John Snow House. Ten artists with a connection to the artist-run centre were invited to create a single-colour digital image that they printed on John Snow’s old relief press. My contribution and an image of the press are below. It marks the first time that someone else has printed one of my images. The full folio is available for purchase from the New Gallery.

Calgary Biennial Review and Catalogue Launch

Posted on December 9, 2012 by printerbird

A review of the Calgary Biennial is up on Portage Press, a new site for critical arts writing. My work is discussed in Eric Heitmann’s article, check it out! Also, tonight is the launch of the catalogue for the show. The curator, Steven Cottingham, sought essays and articles from both artists and writers so I’m looking forward to reading about all the different interpretations of home. Today, home means warm refuge since its about -20 here in Calgary. Blargh. Bring on the chocolat chaud!

Trois Rivieres

Posted on November 20, 2012 by printerbird

I recently returned from Trois Rivieres where I served as a juror for the 8th Bienniale Internationale D’Estampe Contemporaine de Trois Rivieres. I was fortunate to be able to spend several days looking at and discussing prints from all around the world. I greatly look forward to seeing the prints in the summer when they are exhibited. I gave a talk afterwards (in French!) at the Universite de Quebec a Trois Rivieres. It was interesting to consider my ideas in another language and to connect to a different audience.

I was greatly impressed with the depth of culture in Trois Rivieres and the way that they integrate culture into the daily life of the city. I met a great many artists and visited Presse Papier (a print-based artist run center and print shop). My brain is still absorbing the depth of the experience, I know I will be back in Trois Rivieres soon!

Pre-vernissage with Guy Langevin at his exhibition “Crepuscule des Anges” at Presse Papier.

Showing my prints after my talk (Jo Ann Lanneville just to my right).

A.M Leka with students and his prints after giving his artist talk at UQTR.

Aleksandar Mladenovic Leka

September Show Openings

Posted on September 9, 2012 by printerbird

I have three shows opening in three different locations this month. This week, both the Calgary Biennial and BIMPE VII opened in Calgary and Vancouver respectively. The Calgary Biennial is up until September 29th, BIMPE VII is up at Federation Gallery until the 22nd but will be moving to Dundarave in October, SNAP (Edmonton) in January 2013 and The University of British Columbia in Kelowna in February 2013.

I also have work in the 2012 Taiwan International Invitational Mini-Prints Exhibition and Symposium which will open at the National Taiwan Normal University on September 15th. Ten artists were selected to represent Canada at this event, should be a pretty excellent show. Wish I could ship myself to countries as easily and cheaply as I send my prints.

High Five

Posted on August 28, 2012 by printerbird

As I discussed in a previous post, I am participating in an interesting portfolio exchange where the artists involved are responding to each other’s prints. Here is my response to Lou Joseph’s piece. I’m looking forward to seeing his response to mine.

World Falls Down
(silkscreen, 15″ x 11″)

heather huston

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