Chalk Form Census

Gearing up for upcoming project at Xpace Cultural Centre here in Toronto. Chalk Form Census will run January 30 to February 28, 2014.

Alison Snowball - ChalkFormCensus Title [300dpi]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Chalk Form Census:
A series of questions is posed, one at a time, on a chalkboard installed in a street level window. Citizens passing by are invited to contemplate or respond to the question, which changes at regular intervals over the month long project timeframe. Extending the reach of the census, the question is simultaneously posted online through social media [#chalkformcensus], thereby also providing a platform for responses.

Feel free to follow along or respond on:
Instagram @chalkformcensus
Facebook Chalk Form Census
Twitter @ChalkFormCensus

Special thanks to Amber Landgraff, Alicia Nauta and Adrienne Crossman at Xpace. Also, thanks to Simon Rabyniuk, for his thoughtful reflections on the work.

Productive Limitations

Was super pleased and in good company presenting my 25 latest paintings, [Red & Blue] from the series Productive Limitations, at the Gladstone Hotel’s //The Annual// Shifting Ground this past October 10-13 here in Toronto. Thanks to curator Katherine Dennis for her work in creating cohesion out of disparity for this group exhibition. Here a few detail shots I took of the work, as well as an install photo by fellow exhibitor, Tom Ridout. Thanks Tom!

Productive Limitations [Red & Blue] 2013 [Detail] - Alison Snowball Productive Limitations [Red & Blue] 2013 [Detail 3] - Alison Snowball Productive Limitations [Red & Blue] 2013 [Detail 2] - Alison Snowball

Snowball - Productive Limitations [Red & Blue] 2013 - ::The Annual:: Installation View - Photo by Tom Ridout
Productive Limitations [Red & Blue]
2013
Acrylic on wood panels
12″x12″[25]

Top: Details
Bottom: Install photo by Tom Ridout

More on Productive Limitations:
Imagined as a modular system, Productive Limitationsexploits the same process over and over, such that each panel is constructed following the exact same sequence of steps. Even so, product defies process, as aleatory chance enters the equation and no two panels are exactly alike.

With the basic unit of one square, there exist four possible orientations for the work —simple enough. With just four of these squares, there arise 45,280 possible permutations [ordered combinations] of the work. With twenty-five panels, as the work is shown here installed, the possibilities jump to 3,761,767,332,187,389,431,968,739,190,317,715,670,695,936,000,000 [or 3.76 x 10 to the power of 48].

The audience was invited to move the panels around to explore some of these iterations – allowing them to ‘shift the ground’.

Guest Spot at the Candid Call Centre

Played a minor role in artist Angel Chen’s project entitled, Candid Call Centre – where she connected the public with various professionals [especially in the legal and financial sectors] via a toll free call in line. I answered phones for an hour one day in my role as a former stock trader, which made for some anonymously meaningful chitchat. Thank you Angel for facilitating these crucial dialogues.

A quick quote from me in coverage by The Toronto Star.

Being She at the Gladstone

Being She: The Culture of Women’s Health and Health Care Through the Lens of Wholeness
Gladstone Hotel – TORONTO

Featured Artists – Sarah Anne Johnson, Nina Levitt, Jane Martin, Meryl McMaster
[June 9 to August 1 2011]

Juried Artists – Dawn, James Azzopardi, Caitlin Baker, Laura Barrn, Jennifer Bedford, Carole Conde + Karl Beveridge, Talia Eylon, Jeane Fabb, Hoda Ghods, Michelle Gibson, Katherine Hartel, Sophie Hogan, Moe Laverty, Manon Liz with Marianne Liza-Dumoilin, Yalda Pashai-Fakhri, Pam Patterson + Leena Raudvee, Larry Rossignol, Jasper Savage, Elida Schogt with Guntar Kravis, Lillian Sly, Alison Snowball, Gaetanne Sylvester, Elaine Whittaker, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
[June 9 to 15 2011]

Curators: Deborah Wang and Christina Zeidler
Curatorial advisors: Sophie Hackett, Michelle Jacques, and Betty Ann Jordan

Judging by a capacity crowd for opening night at the Gladstone, an intimate and thoughtful curated tour a few days later, and a high volume of press coverage that has been dedicated to the show – something about Being She has struck a nerve, if not the central nervous system of women’s health itself. Being held as part of centennial celebrations of Women’s College Hospital, the photo based exhibition is the first of its kind in the 100 year history of the health care institution.

My contribution as part of the juried show is dedicated to my mother Margie Snowball [1952-2010]. The series of photos was taken at Akropoli metro station in Athens.

Round & Round [She Goes] 2009

Often, the whole is illuminated only with the brilliance of hindsight. Kinetic forces of motion and change redraw borders and reshape lines, in staunch defiance of definition until – natural or otherwise – a conclusion is reached. My mom and I were in Athens when doctors discovered the tumour in her brain. With the forces at play, with our roles reversed, I mostly walked behind her. It was the beginning of her end and the end of my beginning.

While the juried portion of the show has come down the featured artists works remain up on the third and fourth floors of the hotel through August 1. Still, you can check out the Women’s College Hospital site for samples of all Featured and Juried artists’ works.  Below, you can click through to more extensive press coverage of the show.

York University – York prof featured in Toronto hospital’s centennial celebration [June 1]
Xtra – Artists revisit troubling history of women’s health in Canada [June 2]
National Post – Five things to do this week [June 3]
CBC Radio One – Here and Now – Interview with curator Deborah Wang [June 8]
Globe and Mail – One Hundred Years of Healing [June 9]

Inside Toronto – Exhibit celebrates centennial of Women’s College Hospital [June 12]

Sprung – Paintings by Shawn Skeir

SPRUNG
SkeirGallery – TORONTO
[June 2 to July 16 2011]
New works by Shawn Skeir


It’s official – SPRUNG done been sprang! With the lines between seasons blurring on a daily, even hourly, basis this year – the opening of Shawn Skeir’s latest show this past Thursday, provided a welcome dose of intensity and energy to all in attendance. Meant to “explore and celebrate Spring’s invigorating spirit of rebirth” and the season’s “transition from dormancy to new found vigour”, Skeir employs a wide spectrum of colours and techniques in expressing this transitory phase. From softer, natural hues in his Seascapes to full blown neon in his DNA and Abstract paintings, Parkdale’s master of colour is successful in getting his point across. See for yourself at 1537A Queen Street West until July 16.