2009 Resolutions:

1. Buy a home. – Tudor and I managed to do this in October.  It took a long time to educate ourselves on the market and how money works but it was all worthwhile.

2. Use everything I have ever bought – Didn’t quite manage to do this.  I still have a queue of books that I should be reading and I continue to buy new books that I shouldn’t.  My Italian cds are still covered in dust.

3. Finish the OAAG Tour   – I actually went to five more galleries before house shopping took up all my time.  This is my primary goal of 2010

4. Learn to Negotiate – Read 2 books about this and somewhat used the skills for daeling with wedding vendors (yes, I got engaged to Tudor).  Haven’t had to use this at work.

Resolutaions for 2010.

I’m going to set only one resolution for this year:  Finish my OAAG tour.

What are your resolutions?

It was nice to get have week without stepping into airports.

On Friday I went to the Powerplant fall season opener with Siya

One of the things I love about visiting the Powerplant is that I get to aggravate Tudor with my love of Micah Lexier, which is always a plus.  Tudor thinks he is a lazy talentless hack; I wrote a lovesick essay about him/his work during high school.  Since we have starting dating, we have been to two Micah shows and one auction where I nearly bought a $700 8X10 pencil drawing.

The PowerPlant is currently selling a $103 shirt with his writing on it.  I want to buy it for him just to witness his internal struggle of needing t-shirts while hating Micah.

I re-met Joyce Wong, a film maker I met during my Asian lit class back in school, who is now my new bang-twin.  We are mos def going to be BFFs.
On Saturday, Siya, Tudor and I continued to run away from responsibilities and headed off to Cafta at Kitchener-Waterloo area.

I walked on water…

wheelied with a prosthetic … vid

(and FYI Luke Hart, the artist, was seriously hot.  And a quick google search reveals he’s in a band

…. just how did my panties stay on?)

walked/face-planted into confidence … vid

spied on spies …  vid (we were running away after this shot)

and tried to Band Apart in the Kitchener City Hall (unsuccessful and wildly pathetic)

More pics? Yes, at Siya’s flickr

Later that day I met up with Coko for poutine at Poutini’s (not recommended) and  Queen art walking.  I bought a piece at the Lens Factory that I love but Coko and Tudor hate.  We talked about that idea that I keep mentioning but not actuating and blog etiquette.

Coko’s got an awesome song out which I can’t stop listening to.  Check it out.  It’s full of Coko.

I started this blog as a way to record the discomfort I felt being fresh out of school and venturing precariously into the real-ish world. I loved and was quite proud of this blog and it got to a point where I was updating and reviewing stats obsessively.

Then my computer broke down in March (actually during Fashion Week – an art of God?) and I decided it was time to take a break.

I hunkered down and decided to actively participate in my life and the results were unbelievable.

In the last four months, I:
-Got a promotion
-Traveled to Detroit, Seattle and Atlanta
-Joined the Women in Engineering Advisory Council
-Removed my head from my ass (perhaps)

I’m not sure if I will have enough time to update this blog. I originally had a lot of plans for features that are now sitting in various notebooks. Ultimately, I would like to continue my Ontario Association of Art Galleries Tour.

Please be patient and stay tuned.

As I make my way through the OAAG Tour list, I am always surprised when I find a beautiful, vibrant gallery not-quite-hidden away within close proximity of an area  I frequent daily.

The Textile Museum of Canada is about one kilometer away from my university and never once, in my entire academic career did I know if its existence or visited it.  I am now quite sorry that I didn’t. 

Although I blog frequently about fashion, I find that I am not very comfortable with the subject matter as I lack basic understanding on the mechanics of textiles and the history and industry that surrounds it. The only fashion posts I feel confident about are about my consumer experiences. While searching through my archives for my blog’s birthday post, I was embarrassed to find that most of my fashion-related posts were junk thoughts which I wrote only because the pop culture surrounding fashion allows for precarious opinions. I can’t say that I am proud of many of them and I am looking for ways to improve.

I wasn’t sure what to expect at the museum and was really afraid that all the exhibitions would be too advanced for me to enjoy.

The Textile Museum is house in one of those non-descript brown brick high rises that litter the downtown core.  The entrance was hard to locate and I had to walk around the building once to find it.

The Textile Museum seemed to have been dealt a bad hand in terms of real estate.  It seems to be laid out in a typical office-type building -low ceilings, modular spaces, barely any natural light – and it seems to sap the life out of the items being displayed.   I don’t have enough understanding of curation to articulate the problem but the rooms were lacking something that makes you realize that you are looking at something special. 

The permanent collection consists of an around-the-world display of traditional costumes.  What I really enjoyed was that each of the information plaques had a diagram of the patterns used to create the garment. 

Romanian and Chinese traditional costumes:

The collection also included pieces from contemporary designers:

This was a fun interactive display that allows you to drape a male and a female mannequin.  Evidently, I don’t have what it takes to be Canada’s. Next. Top. Designer.

There was also an awesome exhibition of Judy Chicago’s work which I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the documentary about the very conservative-looking middle aged women who participated in the genitalia-themed needlework.

I loved the gallery shop. The clerk was just so genuinely helpful. I was looking for a book about clothing maintenance as I have somehow managed to wear out all of my suits and work blouses and dresses in one year. I wanted to learn how to identify durable fabrics and then subsequently maintain their structural integrity. The clerk helped me locate a book called “Laundry: The Whys and Hows of Cleaning Clothes” by Robert Doyle. While I know why I should be cleaning my clothes, I am unable to accomplish the hows and often just shove a mass of clothing at the dry cleaner and hope for the best. Doyle did a great job explaining the material and manufacturing of the most frequently used fabrics along with detailed instructions on how to clean them. I have read this book cover to cover and am looking forward to a reduction in my dry cleaning bill.

I would like to further my understanding of textiles and fashion.

Do you have any book recommendations?

Ratings:

(1) Environment:

Attractiveness of space: 5/10
Use of space: 7/10
Maintenance of space: 10/10
Element of Surprise: 0/10

(2) Curating

Effectiveness of Display: 8/10
Consistency of Display: 10/10
Attractiveness of Display: 5/10

(3) Exhibition

Effectiveness of Exhibition : 10/10

Average: 7.1/10 – worth a visit

To my astonishing (and very very not-imaginary) readers, thank you for a wonderful year of laughs, insights, mini-tutorials and mentorship. I had not imagined getting such an overwhelmly positive response.

To celebrate, a list of my favourite posts so far. Happy reading.

14-Apr-08 The Best Thing Ever – My brother throwing an axe at a tree
18-Apr-08 My Carbon Footprint - My attempt at calculating my carbon footprint
22-Apr-08 The Asian Literature Photo Project a self-portrait by proxy series I did for a class
28-Apr-08 On Max Mosely and Other Religious Figures – My thoughts on the documentary Stalag and Kreidens from the Hot Docs festival.
6-May-08 My Grandma’s Home – I love my grandmother
6-May-08 The Olympic Run – I never thought that I would get to see the Olympic Run in Hong Kong.
6-May-08 Reading the South China Post - It is a real pleasure to find regional papers in English.
14-May-08 Cooking with my Grandma – Putting family recipes to paper is an emotional task
14-May-08 Bao San – A fun day at Cheung Chao Island
24-May-08 Voting in the People’s Republic I decided to vote for fun. I guess there are worst reasons to vote.
25-May-08 Trend in Chinese Art My most popular post
28-May-08 My China Extrusion – The day I discovered amongst many things that this blog is banned in China and guards are hot
31-May-08 Lessons Learned in Hong Kong – Travellers’ Tips for the Common Wealth bound
6-June-08 Oh My Yves! - My visit to the YSL show at Montreal Museum of Art
2-July-08 My Temporary Suburbia Where I discovered my love of referencing my parents’ childhood suffering like every other forum-poster on the Globeandmail.com forums
22-Aug-08 My Stepford Dream – A dinner party Tudor and I hosted
3-Sept-08 Wwwwwestside – A trip to the Art Gallery of Hamilton where I discovered the Ontario Association of Art Galleries
4-Sept-08 Performance Rating my Friendship Skills – I do not make a good friend
13-Sept-08 La revedere, Summer – My favourite pic of Yan
23-Sept-08 Ontario Association of Art Galleries Tour: Oakville Galleries - Although I made fun of Deirdre Logue’s “Beyond Her Usual Limits” in the post, after a couple months living milestone-less adulthood, I began to feel her pain
4-Oct-08 TIAF Gala – I scened
13-Oct-08 Ontario Association of Art Galleries: Robert McLaughlin Gallery - My favourite gallery on the east end. I great discovery
20-Oct-08 Toronto Fashion Week versus Ethics - A popular but quiet post
10-Nov-08 Fashion Takes Some Action - the beginnings of my evolving thoughts about fashion’s place in politics
22-Nov-08 A Dissolving Birthday – My favourite post. Probably the one post I spent time editing
20-Jan-09 Windsor Gothic – Pictures I took during a business trip to Windsor
1-Feb-09 Shopgirls versus Public Butter - another popular post. the beginnings of my thoughts on service.  The Comments are worth a read.
19-Feb-09 Canadian Fashion Wasteland - This was fun to make. Too bad I don’t have photoshop now
3-Apr-09 – AGO Massive Uprising Party – Me at my worst: listless and wealthy

This was way long ago.  I don’t even know where the pictures for this post are anymore.  Found them.

Every computer I can get my hand on have been frizzing out which has made blogging a chore.

Either ways…

The Power Plant has been a favourite gallery of mine since my early teens long before I realized it was the playground of post-modern fops. I believe that Canadians do contemporary particularly well and the Power Plant is one of those galleries that displays Canadian contemporary particularly well.

On a side note, I often get messages from readers suggesting that I post something about ”Trends in Canadian Art” post as I had written a very googlable “Trends in Chinese Art” post. I personally find it very hard to find solid trends that are specific in Canadian work (although others have been able to discern them). I find that the ideas explored in Canadian art are no different than the ideas explored by inquisitive artists elsewhere. The Chinese artists in my Chinese Art trends post are obviously coloured by the Chinese Fatigue, however, Canadian artists boasts of such a diverse background that not one geo-political theme overwhelms an other. I think that this ambiguity is a trademark of the Canadian experience.

I had meant to visit the Power Plant with a friend thinking that my membership was enough to cover both of us. When we found out that it didn’t, she decided to not visit the gallery at all, despite me volunteering to pay for her.  I felt odd about missing her company but I really admired her for living within her means (I’m writing like I didn’t just spend another small fortune on a intentionally un-Canadian day dress at Holts this weekend.)  For whatever reason, I have gotten used to treating Canadian artists and designers like charity cases and perhaps it isn’t the best thing to do. 

The exhibitions I saw were Beauty Plus Pity, a look at the relationship between childhood fantasies and animals.   I thought that I would enjoy it more based on the description but I found it to be empty of emotion.  Maybe it is because I didn’t grew up with the same fairy tales of the artists.  

I also saw More than Enough, which I thought was beautifully set up but I completely didn’t get.  To be honest, since I lost the pictures, I can barely remember what I saw, which is quite possibly an indication of the level of effectiveness in the pieces.

There were some Micah Lexier te-shirts on sale for, if my memory serves me, $135. 

I am very happy that his pieces are now much more democratic but what is the premium I should pay for a small percentage of his pre-2000s artistic genius?

Ratings:

(1) Environment:

Attractiveness of space: 9/10
Use of space: 10/10
Maintenance of space: 10/10
Element of Surprise: 5/10 – It’s hard for me to judge, I’ve been here so many times 

(2) Curating

Effectiveness of Display: 6/10
Consistency of Display: 10/10
Attractiveness of Display: 8/10

(3) Exhibition

Effectiveness of Exhibition : 9/10

Average: 8.3/10 – worth a visit

So the One Image Charity photography auction is my kryptonite.

Will I have adequate impulse control? Stay tuned.

Yeah Yeah … Nah

It was a fun party.

I’ve learned to embrace the fact that most of these events are really places to parade around your latest purchase from Holts and it was great! High five! I belong!

The theme was uprising. Of course, this was a benefit for the bourgies so all it really means was that the AGO scented themselves with cultural shorthands of what used to be symbols of fear and upheaval.

There were protest signs that middle aged women took tourist pics beside.

And hippies.

There were faux riot police hanging around and I was hoping that there would be a Kent State re-enactment.

There wasn’t.

I made a sign with faux John and faux Yoko

… about loving Tudor

… but I ended up being a two timing bitch.

Tudor and I were basically a set of yuppie John and Yoko. Symbolism, much? No.

Then I made token rebellious gestures to the art establishment of my own! Take that, defenseless art!*

*(No art was harmed in the taking of these pictures)

Saw Anita from IwantIgot.

I would probably go again.

I just watched this documentary on TVO and I really wished that I had taken notes while watching.