On Wednesday, February 1st, I’ll be guiding an algorithmic walk for Dr. Mike Darroch and Dr. Rob Nelson’s history / communication studies grad seminar. I spent part of the afternoon playing around with some ideas to have the instructions, or algorithms, distributed to the class.
We’ve done walks before, they’ve often been quite ambitious and sprawling. Given the two-hour time slot for the class, I’ve tried to keep this one short enough to finish it within an hour. The class did a range of readings on circulation in the city, so I’m hoping that these instructions will help frame some interesting ways to activate some of the larger ideas in the texts.
I started out with something I figured would be just a 1/4 sheet of 8.5″x11″ paper. Each group of students would start at a different number. I want the students to do the same things, just not all at the same time.
So, then I started thinking about those easy to make foldable books. I can print off one template and just set the fold different ways to offset the starting instruction. I also decided to put a little fill-in-the-page-number-blank and a few lines to note the location.
Each group will be instructed to take a photo once they find each of these places / things / situations. At the end, maybe we’ll be able to assemble them into a quick slideshow, or map or something to compare notes, so to speak.
We’ve been talking about doing some fairly regular drifts — maybe this is a good model to work from?
Sara Howie and I are excited to begin a new web-only interview project called Hi, 5 (5 Questions). The project will act as an educational device which will allow us to gain insight into the narratives that define successful individuals. We are interested in the motivations behind ambitious ideas and how change has been affected by those with the passion for progress. I decided to interview Dave because, once I heard about him, I was interested in how he worked the imagery and culture of Toronto, Ontario into his work.
About Dave Murray
Dave Murray is an illustrator and designer, currently based in Toronto, Canada.
Graduating in 2009 with a BAA Illustration from Sheridan College, Dave has continued to push himself to explore new visual frontiers to express both his own and client’s visions. Dave’s work has evolved to reflect his myriad interests; be it the strict design of his Toronto neighbourhood mapping series, or his futuristic cubist takes on portraits and pop culture.
Clients include Stella Artois, Streetcar Developments and Dandyhorse Magazine.
Dave’s work has been featured in The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Canadian House and Home, Benjamin Moore, and 3 x 3 Magazine, as well as countless blogs.
Dave Murray - Polygon Series (Rob Ford)
Dave Murray
January 13th, 2012
If you had to describe your current self to a 16-year-old you, what would you say?
Ha ha, the first thing would probably be that I no longer have shoulder length hair. I’d probably describe myself as a pretty logical evolution of where I was – everything is mostly the same, just more refined.
Could you describe an evolution in your work or way of thinking?
My work is constantly evolving – but I think the biggest step in the past few years has been the result of really exploring new ways of working that I otherwise wouldn’t usually do. I’ve really re-kindled my love of drawing, and am more into the history of art and image making. All of this expansion not only provides me with ways to creatively blow off some steam, but it also informs my more focused pieces.
Are there any people who have been instrumental in the development of your way of thinking and viewing the world?
This one’s actually tricky for me to answer. I like to think of myself as a passive observer – I don’t always immediately act on things, nor do I always respond to advice or new ways of thinking. Maybe I’m missing out on a lot, I don’t know.
How do your political beliefs inform or fuel your work as an artist?
Again, this is one of those things that I try not to let creep into my art. My politics are probably best defined by the some of the projects I take on – Dandyhorse Magazine is a great example. I’ve done a few pieces for them, and I love that I’ve had the chance to work with them because I love bicycles, and I love cycling in Toronto. This isn’t my favourite thing to admit, but trying to live as a freelance illustrator means that I’ll be more likely to take jobs from places that I might not necessarily support because it’ll pay the bills – the best part of those jobs, though, is making them fun for myself.
What do you feel a city should be or do for its inhabitants?
I feel like a city should, more than anything else, be an accessible home for everyone who wants to live there. Mass transit, good infrastructure, reliable services and culture are all things that a city should prioritize and constantly strive to improve. Toronto, right now, is an example of how not to prioritize these things, and it’s sad. Our mayor and his cronies are doing a sub-par job (putting it lightly). What I fear most though, is not that something bad will happen – but that NOTHING will happen. I’m pretty sure that at the end of Ford’s run, we’re going to be exactly where we were 4 years previous.
Creative Mornings is a monthly morning gathering of creative people and brainchild of my girl crush the ever fantastic Tina Roth Eisenburg (of Swisssiss and TeuxDeux fame). Each event has a 10 minute lecture, a 20 minute discussion, and is done before 10am. They’re also all free of charge and include coffee. The video above is of Michael Bierut of Pentagram and is quite interesting if you can take the time to listen to it.
The event started in New York but is now hosted internationally in over 15 different cities. This is a fantastic way to invite the participation of creative people who don’t have the time to attend a big conference and probably the best way ever to start a Friday morning.
Above, a wall between two houses covered in vinyl siding.
Danielle and I were on our way downtown the other day and we took Wellington after I forgot to turn where I normally do at Partington. There were architectural and infrastructural weirdness that actually had us stop, turn around, and then pull over to take these shots. It also made me anxious to start on the drifts we’ve discussed doing. More time to explore neighbourhoods slowly would be a lot of fun.
Above, a park that has a bizarrely designed planter (as far as Windsor’s standards go).
And, finally, a house that has this modernist addition on the front of it to feature a large circular wooden accent that actually frames a normal wooden door.
I wrote a plugin by hacking together some ideas based on the Notify on Comment plugin.
Essentially, I was looking for a plugin whereby someone mentioned or tagged in a comment (using the familiar @username syntax from Twitter) would be notified. They wouldn’t have had to have made the post being commented on, nor would they have had to made a comment on that post yet in order to be notified. It can notify multiple tagged users in one comment (eg. Hi there, @user1 and @user2) — it will notify both user1 and user2 via the emails they have registered as users on your WordPress install.
Now, because this plugin only queries the user database in WordPress, it’s not going to be useful for a wide range of blogs. But, if you’re a multi-author blog looking to shift more of the conversation away from emails or private posts and into the main stage of your blog and its comments, this might work for you.
Included in the zip file is all you need to upload it to your plugins directory on your WordPress install. It has a very basic email template, which you can adjust using some of the markup from the plugin file itself.
Danielle painted this today with some bronze spray paint. It’s that horse head from our living room. I was thinking that if we picked up on that plaque / time capsule project we’ve been talking about with a rubber mould and some plaster, we might be able to move it forward?
Let’s talk more about this the next time we meet, pick up on thinking about the next steps of that project.
Work.Place is an awesome project by Portland photographer Carlie Armstrong which aims to document the spaces in which creativity is housed. I suggest browsing through a few of the photo sets; they are gorgeous. If this doesn’t make you want your own complete workspace, I don’t know what will!
Since we’re on the cusp of real winter here in Windsor, I thought I’d share this project by fellow Canadian artist Nicole Dextras. Besides admiring her gorgeous series of photographs, we might be able to learn from her method of construction. She seems to make molds into which water is poured and frozen. Imagine if we used the 3D ‘R’ prototype we made for CAFKA for this!
Thinking more about the report card for public spaces thing I posted a couple of weeks ago, here’s another work by the Guerilla Girls,1986 Report Card where they scored galleries on their record of showing women artists.
I ventured to the CAW centre today to take advantage of the free WIFI and do a bit of research on the history of industry in Hamilton. I found some interesting articles about a abandonned knitting mill that was bought by Toronto Developpers and is being transformed into condos.
The Hamilton Textile District located on Ottawa Street is the largest fabric and textile district in Canada and also Hamilton’s top tourist destination.
This 1920’s commercial district in East Hamilton grew out of the local textile and fabric industry
which manufactured everything from sewing machines to clothing. Today the Textile District is
a thriving shopping area that has found its niche in fabrics, sewing and home decor. It is also
the site of the very first Tim Horton’s location.
Canadian patent laws and the underemployed workers skilled in machinist trades lured an important new industrial enterprise from the U.S.A.- the manufacture of sewing machines by Richard Wanzer. From this development there evolved the ready-made clothing industry, which William Eli Sanford introduced locally.
