Well, today I had my 1-day installation at the School of Art. I titled it 'absence and essence,' for want of a better idea. I guess I'm satisfied with how it turned out, although things can always be better... It is still a work in progress, after all.

I ended up using 25W bulbs, each housed in an MDF box, with the glass slides fitted in the front. The images were projected onto free-hanging paper screens. I showed 5 images, all of my mother and sister, in a rough semi-circle.

It seemed like there were quite a few comments in my little envelope when I checked in at lunchtime - obviously I haven't looked at any of them yet. I hope some of them will be nice! ;) Tomorrow I'll be seeing Chris, and I hope he will be nice as well!

If you are interested, video footage of the installation is available on my facebook and Youtube. There are 2 on FB, one long pass over the whole exhibit and a shorter one showing the motion of the screens; but I've only got the longer one up on Youtube at the moment. There are also some still images on facebook, which should be viewable to everyone. I welcome questions and would very much appreciate any comments/suggestions!

( mini-statement )

Tags: art, exhibition, mom, phd, photo, sister, video
Current Location: Aberystwyth
i feel: artistic
groovin' on: Tom Waits - Poor Edward

So, I just got back from seeing Steeleye Span at the Arts Centre! It was good times; the concert was completely sold out. It was the first date of their tour, so there were a couple of wonky bits, but overall it was excellent. They played a lot of their older stuff, which pleased me greatly, including an encore of All Around My Hat for which they got the whole audience to sing along. It was awesome. Just off the top of my head, the set list included:

All Around My Hat
Gone to America
The Song Will Remain
Bonny Black Hare
Cold, Haily, Windy Night
King Henry
The Blacksmith
Lovely on the Water
Boys of Bedlam
Saucy Sailor
Babylon
Cam Ye O'er Frae France
Long Lankin (!)
Van Diemen's Land

It was a little weird for me, though... Steeleye Span is so connected to my mother in my head that it made me kind of emotional. Fragments of memories flashing through my brain, like her sitting in her sewing room singing along to her stereo while working on some project or other... It was hard not to think about how much she would have enjoyed the show, how she should have been there. Then Maddy Prior was selling tickets for some raffle in support of cancer research; I bought one.

I had a great time though, just a little sniffy in places.

Also, their drummer looks like Dumbledore.

Tags: aberystwyth, mom, music, steeleye span
Current Location: Aberystwyth
i feel: good
groovin' on: Steeleye Span - Long Lankin

This year I am going to participate in the CIBC Run for the Cure (in support of finding a cure for breast cancer, for those of you outside of Canada). I've been unable to participate in the past two since Mom died due to being out of the country, but this year I'm going for it... I want to make a difference, so that maybe someday, nobody else will have to lose their mother, sister, daughter... I want to help other people the way my mother did her whole life; I want to make a difference, even a small one. I'm hoping to be able to run the whole 5k (3.1 miles or so) by October 1, the date of the run -- currently I can do about 3.5 - 3.7 in about 25-20 minutes. In the worst case I will walk the last K or so I guess, but I really want to be able to do the whole thing. I want to make her proud!

If you feel like sponsoring me donations that would be wonderful, but kind words and encouragement are also very much appreciated! I This is a cause that is very important to me, as you can well imagine. I put up a little page (at the link) when I signed up just now; I'm going to have one of my own pictures there soon, so please excuse the slight lameness for now!

Tags: health or lack thereof, mom, plans
i feel: hopeful

It's been over two years... Why does part of my brain still think I can call up Mom and ask her stuff? :(

Ah well. I had a really good day yesterday. I mean it was awesome. Got up at a good time and arsed around on the internet for a while, and then went downtown with Rob... We went to St. Lawrence Market and picked up some cool stuff for my Dad, and then the Eaton Centre to look for stuff on our friend's wedding registry. I couldn't find what I wanted, so I will have to go out to Yorkdale I guess, but that's OK. Then we went to see the Proof show at Gallery 44, since it was the last day. There was some really nice stuff there... and I'm not bitter at all that they didn't pick me... no, really... Anyway! I had a $1 hot dog at Queen and Spadina (best not to think about it :V) and then we made our last stop at the Nutty Chocolatier. Yum! So then we came back here and played the Incredibles game, which is pretty fun!

Rob went to work at around 5, and then I went running! For a half hour! I am so proud of myself! And then I did 40 minutes of yoga, and then Rob called 'cause he was sent home from work, so I made some cupcakes and we played some more video games! Wooooo! Yay for cupcakes and video games, and especially yay for Rob! The weather was also gorgeous all day, sunny and warm -- not too hot -- with a lovely breeze.

Dunno if anything is up for today... I'm going to watch a bad movie -- Jurassic Park 3 -- and then see I guess.

Tags: art, friends, life, mom, photo
i feel: groovy

While going through my mother's scrapbooks/photo albums, I found the following scrawled, in her hand, on a scap of paper:

Strawberry fields forever!

     No! It would produce an
ecological catastrophe through
imbalance of populations

… A communist plot

Tags: mom
i feel: lonely
groovin' on: Assemblage 23 - Divide