Inspired by back issues of Rolling Stone Magazine.
#GoldenAgeOfMagazines #PopCulture #Illustration #SocialChange #WatercolorArt
June Callwood
May 1, 2018
People I admire who happen to be female: June Callwood. She lived and breathed social justice and civil liberty. June was also one of the first journalists in Canada to write about the physical and emotional toll AIDS was taking on a generation of gay men in Toronto in the early 1980s. Her book, Jim: A Life With AIDS (1988, Lester & Orpen Dennys), still pops up occasionally in used bookstores around the city as a reminder of how we need to listen to and take care of each other. I think of June every time I pass down Isabella St. and Casey House, the hospice she founded that embraces and cares for patients dying of AIDS.
Deepa Mehta
April 14, 2018
People I admire, who happen to be women: film director Deepa Mehta. I remember coming back from a press trip in Stuttgart and waiting forever at YYZ for a taxi. Deepa was waiting too and we gave each other the nod.
#IndoCanadianFilm #elementstrilogy #CanadianFilm #TIFF #fiercewomen
Why I draw
April 7, 2018
Back in 2012, when I was leafing through the book, More Things Like This, an anthology about the intersection of art, writing and humour, I didn’t expect to find a painting of me scattered amongst the works of Art Spiegelman, Andy Warhol, Shel Silverstein, Kurt Vonnegut, and Leanne Shapton.
I later found out my likeness was featured in this anthology because Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber of The Royal Art Lodge (the now defunct art collective out of Winnipeg) had contributed their painting, “Poster Maker,” to the book.
Michael had found a kid pic of me drawing in a back issue of Elle Canada (where I was an editor) and reinterpreted my “little girl sincerity and focus” with an alter ego who pens big “Fuck Off” signs for her bedroom door. “It kind of mirrors the comedy of a dry journalist reporting on a funny situation,” Neil told me in an email when I followed up to get the story of how I ended up in this book. You can read the whole interview here.
I’ve told this story on my new Facebook brand page because I’ve come full circle. After a dozen years of chasing magazine writing assignments, I’m back to drawing, with all its visceral and subversive delights.
Words aren’t doing it for me during this cultural moment. Or rather, I’d say digital distractedness and the rise of fake news have conspired to turn me off language, and my only solace has been to reignite my ancient interest in mark-making and colour.
After I started posting my drawings and paintings on Instagram two years ago, wouldn’t you know it, offers to buy my art started to stream in. Can I just say, I really appreciate that many of you are feeling a connection to my work. Thank you.
When the world tells you what it wants from you, sometimes it’s best to listen. An Etsy shop will follow.
Finally, if you feel so inclined, please like or follow my new brand page.
New grads need jobs
April 6, 2018
SHAMELESS PLUG, TORONTO:
Dear recent university grads:
Please join me this summer if you want to earn an in-demand certificate in Digital Strategy from the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies (@UofTSCS).
In just four weeks, you’ll develop essential job-ready employment skills, and lay the foundation for career success to last a lifetime. Learn how to:
• Understand the key trends and considerations in fast-changing digital and social media communications landscape.
• Use key digital tools, channels, and platforms in a strategic way aimed at maximizing the power of your message.
It’s immersive, intensive, and designed to develop your skills and prepare you for professional success. @UofT grads can use their $550 U of T SCS Alumni Benefit.
Register right here.
My fellow instructors are Donna Papacosta, Martin Waxman and Andrew Jenkins
Digitally yours,
Alison Illustration by Alison Garwood-Jones
Telling time
April 3, 2018
Queen Street window shopping: I still appreciate these ancient devices for marking time.
Also, a watch is a piece of jewelry to me.
A phone is not.
#Toronto #the6ix #timepiece #watches(@WestQueenWest)
Source: Let’s help more
April 3, 2018
Let’s give what we can: time, encouragement, money, and love.
For those who have much and are still cranky and upset for some unknowable reason, it’s probably because you’re not doing enough for others.
Changing someone else’s sense of what’s possible, changes your own.
