sketches from a hiker's album
posted by kodeureum | 1:39 pm
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| kodeureum |
- the rains have finally stopped...
- Wish You Weren't Here
- I haven't had this much fun since recess.
- kindred spirits
- treasure
- after I buy a house
- a cantankerous hankering for fresh air
- something to say?
- kind of a book report
- two girls and their dogs
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
62 Comments:
Matbe you shouls adjust your fstop ;) lol
Did you do the water colors?
Yup, both executed by yours truly roughly nine years ago, my first summer here in sweltering South Korea.
wow I did not realize you were N rtist too...seperated at birth?
I try not to brag, but I do have a BFA in visual art. For some reason I actually thought it would turn me into an artist! My brother was really keen on seeing my diploma after my graduation ceremony, so I handed the envelope to him with this caveat: "It's just a piece of paper." How true. But then again, so are Raphael's drawings in the Ashmolean.
I hear you.....I have a BFA too....
The diploma is in an envelope somewhere in my apartment.
The only part about graduation that I remember is shaking Seamus Heaney's hand.
Okay, "A", identify yourself! You were at my graduation, weren't you? I still remember Seamus Heaney looking all Oxford donnish having just received his Nobel Prize for Literature the previous fall.
Let's try twenty questions: 1. Are you a man?
Okay...you've got 20 questions...
The answer to the first one is NO.
Next question??????
2. Was your major Visual Arts?
2. YES.
"A" game is a-foot
3. Have I spoken with you in person anytime in the past eight years? (since August, 1998)
We've spoken face to face, but I believe it was before August 1998. (We ran into eachother on the street.)
HINT:
I own a piece of your artwork....but I don't think you own one of mine.
4. Were you in any of my printmaking classes?
(That was a pretty big hint, by the way!)
4. YES.
Okay. Now it starts getting difficult, so I'm glad I still have a few more questions!
5. Did we ever go to a movie together?
5. NO.
6. Did you ever live on Bathurst?
6. NO.
(Just wanted to let you know I'm heading to the cottage for a week of canoeing, hiking and hammock naps....so it may take me some time to answer your next question).....that'll give you some time to think....have a great week!
So, a week of hammock naps and canoeing.
Am I jealous? Yes!!
It hadn't rained here for two weeks until last night when I was in a cinema watching a movie. It was cool for about an hour and a half afterwards and now it's muggy again. It's only 7:30 am! I'll be heading to the beach for a day on Saturday, and then teaching again for two days next week.
Can you believe it? The fall semester starts on August 28th, and there isn't even a Labour Day long weekend.
Just to let you know, I'm a little bit stumped right now. There are a few people from my printmaking classes that I remember very well, but most of them are guys: Bud, Alec, Scott, Jason and the like. Of the ladies, there's Sutapa, Rachelle, Sandra and not so many others that I recall, other than Ann(e) who went to a couple of movies with me, and Helen who I was roommates with on Bathurst for a short time, along with Rachelle and Leslie. The only woman from York I remember bumping into that long ago (maybe November '97) is Sandy Kim, but I thought she once lived on Bathurst as well. Here's my next question:
7. Did you hang out with any of those people?
I can't help but be facinated by all this ...twice have I been contacted by former freinds on my blog and once by an agry ex-inlaw...how can you stand the tension
Actually, I'm all a-quiver with anticipation. It's when the mystery is solved that the responsibilities begin. As you might notice, I've gotten a bit stumped. I really ought to be able to remember who this is!
7. NO.
HINT: I've been in your BMW. I rode in the "front" passenger seat...it sure did have a lot of leg room!
Alright, now it's getting downright difficult. You rode in my BMW with a lot of legroom, so that must have been while I was having one or the other of the two front seats re-upholstered, summer of '95. I was living on Bathurst then with Rachelle, Helen and Leslie, and I asked if you ever lived on Bathurst so you aren't any of those three, but you were in my printmaking class at York, you are a lady, and you didn't hang out with anyone I mentioned so you can't be Judy Minze(sp?). I drove a lot of people around in that BMW, so this could take a few more questions. The cottage and canoeing makes me think Vanessa but I just saw her last summer at the outdoor art fair, and you're definitely not Annette because I contact her regularly when I'm in Toronto. I'll try this:
8. Is 'a' a clue to your name, as in the first letter?
I'll be checking the alumnae lists soon, you do realize!
8. YES.
HINT:
We lived on the same street.
Okay, now. Here we go with that hint:
Bathurst, Garden, Bathurst, Wychwood, Dickens, Delaware, Sullivan, Bathurst again, and D'arcy. Framing them all, Blaketon. I'm guessing either Sullivan or D'arcy. Your name begins with an A, if I worded my question correctly, and you were in one of my printmaking classes at York. Hmmm.
Here's the question, really just a shot in the dark:
9. Did you ever come to a party at one of the many places I have lived?
Now I really am going to check the alumnae list.
9. NO.
Hmm...okay....isn't this going to be anti-climactic if after all this you don't know who I am?
BIG HINT:
During undergrad I was employed by York U. as one of the monitors of the printmaking studio. I had to monitor the students using the studio after business hours. I remember one night a guy actually wanted to take his Litho stone home with him so he could finish his drawing before class the following day. That stone must have weighed at least 200lbs and he wanted to drive his car up the lawn just outside of the studio doors and throw it in his trunk. Well, i had to crack some heads and in the end he didn't take the stone home. Anyway, I'm getting off topic....next question?
I'm much better with faces rather than names; if you'll check back to my preamble for question number 7 I mentioned a Scott when I really meant Todd, who you should remember as he was a print studio monitor for a few years as well. That was the job I wanted to get, but I got stuck watching naked people for three hours every Tuesday evening instead as a monitor for Open Studio Life Drawing. I had already drawn enough nudes and I really wanted to make more etchings and serigraphs.
As to remembering your name: Andrea has been popping into my head for some time now but it's difficult enough to differentiate the Andrea I used to meet for lunch at Queens Park from the Andrea who was my roommate on Sullivan from the Andrea I worked with in theatre from more than a few others. I thought Scott instead of Todd because those are also the names of two of my good friends from middle school. As is Andrew. I'll always remember Nanika, Heidi, Ingeborg and Puikei from York, however, and not just because I invited them on a date or two.
So question number 10:
Are you the Andrea who was in my second year (actually first) printmaking class, slim with blonde or perhaps brown hair? (I'm not sure which as perhaps there was a colour change, from light to dark, and I AM getting old.)
The alumnae search hasn't panned out, by the way, as the York website is basically useless.
10. NO.
Todd and I both worked in the Printmaking Studio during the same year. Perhaps you didn't come in during my shifts.
So here's why I looked you up on the web:
I ran into "Bud" (his real name is Neil) at the new Lee Valley on King street....and it got me thinking about all the artists from school and what they are doing now. So I looked a bunch of you up on the web. I've run into Todd a few times...he is doing well living in Montreal now. Alec lives in Mexico. I think Jason is living in Chicago. And I came upon you in Korea.
The reason your name came into mind....
1) You gave me a painting (of your room).
2) You were always knitting in class (are you still knitting these days?)
3) we ran into eachother on the street way back and it ended up that we both lived on D'arcy.
4) I remembered your name
So....i am starting to doubt that you know who I am. And that is to be expected as I was rather shy and quiet in school and I was working two jobs so I didn't go out as much as others.
Actually, I always thought Bud's real name was Japanese, as he did tell me about a Japanese first name once. There was another Neil in printmaking who might still live on Kipling, near where I grew up. The reason I remember all those people is because we were all in the same third year printmaking or serigraphy class, or both. I met Bud, Todd, Alec, Sutapa, Vanessa and my old roommate Annette, as well as my ex-girlfriend and roommate Kirsten at the Toronto Outdoor Art Show and Sale in Nathan Philips Square last summer. It was kind of like a reunion. The last time I saw Jason was at his show on King St. in June, 1999. We went to the Rhino for drinks afterwards and my then girlfriend, now ex-wife, was in town with me for a short three-week visit to Canada. I think Jason's still in Chicago, too. What is the new Lee Valley, anyway?
To tell the truth, I didn't usually work in the print studio when Todd was a monitor, either. I was too busy trying to scrape together cash working in theatre, dance, restaurants and music videos. I only lived on D'arcy for five months, and they were kind of hectic as I was at my busiest as an art director then, I was having a play I had written produced at the Rhubarb! festival at Buddies in Bad Times, and I was rapidly losing my mind. I did manage to get a 55% passing grade on my Theories of Personality half-course at York, the last one I needed for my degree, but I had to wait six months to graduate, having finished my requirements in December. It's not fair, really, as people who finish up in the summer only have to wait two or three months until the Fall graduation.
The June graduation was a little confused for me. I remember putting on the robes after meeting Trevor's brother Tyler in the cafeteria near the bearpit, and then filing through some stairwells singing Gaudeamus Igitur which I remembered from high school Latin. I did feel (and look, finally) like one of the Oxford scholars I had seen while living there. I remember throwing my hat up in the air for some odd reason and returning the robe, hat and collar. I think we were supposed to keep the collar, but the people taking back the robes didn't mention anything. I still don't have my diploma framed: maybe this year. Ten years does seem like a long time, but it's really just a drop in the bucket. My daughter is only turning six in November, and I expect to be around until she's at least fifty.
I haven't knit anything since winter 2005, but I do have my bamboo needles and some nice yellow wool I bought on Queen West tucked away somewhere so perhaps someone will get a hat for Christmas. Of course she'll be needing a new yellow coat to go with it.
So you're not the Andrea from my first (second) year lithography or etching class. I must have given you a lift in September. Except for one week at the end of October my whole time on D'arcy is a bit of a blur. I remember an Angel from York, but I don't think she was ever a studio monitor. There's another painter who did the exchange to Newcastle the year after me, and who I bumped into at a Tube station entrance around Christmas, but I can't remember her name either. I can barely recall Matt who was in Newcastle before me, and you're not Ingrid or Kate who did the exchange the same year I did. I don't think you're Sandra Huh. Here's my next question, more of a last gasp:
11. Did you go on the bus trip to New York City in March, 2003?
11. NO.
You are right about my Neil/Bud mix up. I meant Neil from Kipling. Do you remember his last name?
Lee Valley...is Lee Valley Tools...lots of good woodcarving tools etc. Ironically it opened up on King St West in what I believe was Open Studio's old location...(they are at 401 richmond now)
Grad was a blur for me too...I graduated a year after most people in my classes because i didn't take a full course load and worked instead. I remember it was really hot and we were in a tent. I shook Seamus' hand and walked off the stage and right out the tent door.....the ushers were trying to stop me from leaving....but i just wanted to get out of there.....it was so hot....
I haven't seen Todd for quite a few years now.
I've been out to a few of Open Studio's print shows/sales around Xmas time....but I didn't see anyone from school there. Not even Dan Olsen. Todd had some artwork at the shows....but i couldn't find him in the crowds.
I don't know if this is a reminder/hint...but when I was monitoring the printmaking studio I was often working on painting gouache designs for a textile/wallcovering design firm I was working for. I remember the students used to tease me for it....mocking me for pimping myself out to a firm. (mentally i always said "f-you" but i would just smile on the outside and keep painting)
Neil Wismayer. How's that for photographic memory? He was at the Outdoor Art Show and Sale chatting away with Bud like the old chums they are.
Perhaps my problem is that I never saw your name written down. I do have a pretty good memory for faces, though.
11. Do you remember me parking my green and white Volkswagen Camper Van outside the sculpture studio?
I think I brought it around behind the printmaking studio once or twice. Paul and I used to chat up a storm about gas heaters and such. The last time I bumped into him was at the Loblaws on Dupont early one morning in the fall of 1998 while I was working on my interactive site-specific installation performance dealing with consumerism, that incorporated found object multiples. (I was actually re-stocking shelves on the night shift. I think he was delivering something.)
Did you notice how I tried to sneak in two question elevens? That last one should really be twelve.
Sneaky aren't you?
12. NO.
I DID take sculpture though....I loved the blacksmithing part, where we got to make our own stone carving tools! Since then I've taken a welding class throught the TDSB....I like blacksmithing better...it's like having a hotdog roast but you get to hammer things.
I am getting close to just telling you who I am......
Oh please don't... it's much more interesting for onlookers to keep him guessing...
...and I'm getting close to being all out of questions! Please be patient. And Cindy: you could try your own game of twenty questions with your anonymous commentator, but we all know it's your dad!
I agree about the blacksmithing. I still have some old steel rods with their ends hammered into curious shapes. I even kept the prayer manacles that Francis Lebouthillier found so evocative. He thought they were great symbols of religious oppression, having been raised a Catholic, but for me they were really just a reminder to give some positive projecting a shot every once in a while.
So you were a blacksmithing afficianado? For some reason I'm picturing a woman at the forge wearing a grimy blue t-shirt under her leather apron. Here goes question number:
13. Was that you?
I did keep an eye on the forge ladies as there is nothing sexier than a sooty woman shaping smouldering steel, but the only names I seem to recall are Deborah Peterson who graduated in '91 and Annette from Sweden who was a grad student. And of course Kate Buckeridge, who always had great parties with her roommate Garvia in their apartment on Spadina.
By the way, I can't seem to recall the painting of "my room" that I gave you. Could you describe it?
That's two questions!
13. I can't really answer yes or no. I wear a lot of blue. So I think I'll answer "Perhaps".
14. The painting....mainly shades of blues and yellows and some browns...it's a scene of a room...with a big window....a desk with a view out the window and a suitcase.
Hint: I wear glasses. Cat eye glasses.
Now just a moment here. Someone's been kibbitzing (I'm not sure if that's a word but I've heard it spoken).
Twenty questions is supposed to be restricted to questions answerable by yes or no. Asking for a description of a painting isn't exactly one of those questions. I was merely requesting the clarification of a hint!
As for the cat eye-glasses. I'm picturing a cross between a librarian and Eartha Kitt for some reason, and I'm not sure if that's what you intended. The only person I can think of off-hand is Joanne Fishburn but she was a master's student and actually drove me home in a cube van in the fall of '98 if I recall correctly.
Now, do I get number 14 back? I thought 13 might be unlucky, but 14 has been my lucky number for sometime now, which I might explain eventually, and I'd really like to ask a question for it. I'm not even picturing the painting right now. Perhaps it was of my double-sized second floor room at the front of the house on Wychwood where I first had my old beige bakelite wall phone with a fifteen foot receiver cord, but I can't be sure.
I thought 20 questions was "yes/no" too, but I wasn't going to get into semantics.....and I was drinking some wine from Portugal, typing at the same time and one thing led to another and I ended up counting the "clarification" question as 14.
Okay....how's this....you can have two number 14's.....we'll scrap the last 14 and give you two new 14's ......double the luck.....
Thanks for the generosity.
14a. Is the painting an acrylic on canvas?
14a. YES.
14b. Did I give you the painting in the fall of 1995 as a birthday present?
By the way, the new semester just started and I have about 150 new students, if you were wondering why it took so long to come up with this question. Also, Todd Munro still hasn't replied to the e-mail I sent him over a week ago!
14b. NO.
I should apologize too for taking a long time to reply...this semester is exceedingly busy!
Well, no word back from Todd as yet. You mentioned the semester has been really busy, so I'm assuming you're working in the educational field. So out on a limb with the next question,
15. Did you go on to grad school?
15. No, not yet.
I'm studying Landscape Design at the moment and preparing my portfolio ....with the intention of applying to the Masters of Landscape Architecture program.
Sorry! I forgot whose turn it was. That's one of the side effects of having 150 students: you become forgetful about things that aren't connected to your classes. Hmmm. Five more questions. I'd better be frugal.
16. Do you still live in or near Chinatown? (Spadina and Dundas)
17. Yes, we live at College and Bathurst.
Hmmm. Either you've taken back 14b, disallowed the extra question in thirteen, or are answering consecutively instead of correspondingly, but somehow my question 16 is followed by your answer 17. I'm not sure how to number my next question. Let's try this:
17. Is your significant other (you said "we", but of course you might have a cat) a York grad, more specifically someone you were dating while at York?
oops...yes, this is 17.
NO.
I was actually trolling for some more hints there but I guess that was a no-go. For some reason Todd hasn't replied to the e-mail I sent him either. I'm beginning to wonder whether e-mails from "kodeureum" are dumped straight into junk-mail bins by hotmail et al unless people are expecting a message from me. I'll have to be exceptionally frugal here on in.
18. Did you ever go to a party hosted by Cory Doctorow at a studio near King and Dufferin? It was probably in December 1995, or perhaps January 1996. I might have bumped into you on the street there, and/or given you a ride home.
For the previous fishing....I didn't date anyone from York.
Hint:
Todd will probably be your best bet for figuring out who I am. Although I haven't seen him in quite some time...so perhaps he won't remember my name.
18. Hmm...I'm not sure which party you're talking about....there are a few that stick out in my mind. A party where King Cobb Stealy was playing. It was in one of the lofts on Sorauren.
And there was a group show in a warehouse at Queen/Dufferin. Lots of York students were involved in that. Then there was the York grad show above The Great Hall on Queen.
I don't remember getting a ride with you after a party, or running into you on the street after a party.
I'm really clinging to a twig here, but that not dating anyone from York clue certainly helped.
Was the York Grad Show a show of works by grad students, or recent graduates? If it was the recent graduates in '96 I wasn't even invited, as I only had one half-course in psychology the entire '95-'96 academic year and I'm sure few visual arts students knew I was still there. I actually ran into a York student on the way TO the party, but I don't remember her name. She used to hang around with Rob (I think that's his name) who exhibited some of his Kinder toy etched-glass shadow boxes in Moscow.
Number 19 and then one more. I'm down to my last two dimes so I might as well squander one.
19. Would you describe your hair as being naturally wavy or curly?
Do you think maybe Todd hasn't replied on principle, not to meddle with the sacrosanct twenty-questions doctrine?
19. No.
I think you might be right about Todd...I bet he's having fun reading the 20 questions.
Or...maybe he doesn't remember my name either. Hah!
Come on Todd...come to the rescue!!!! There's only one question left.....
I think I've given up on Todd, so this is as good a time as any to throw in the towel. Rumpelstiltskin doesn't begin with an "A" so I guess I'll be guessing something else.
20. Is your name Alice?
20. NO.
But if it's a consolation, most people call me Alice when they can't remember my name. I think Alice is the first "A" name that pops into people's minds.
Well, that was number 20.
So here is the "reveal".
Now the question is, do you remember me?
Of course I remember you! You wore cat eyeglasses and used to work as a monitor in the printmaking studio. You've got one of my paintings and I gave you a ride home in my BMW once. We both lived on Darcy in Chinatown back in 2005! :-)
Seriously, a photo would help. I recognize faces much more readily than I remember names these days. Do yu have a photo site I could look at? If you click on kodeureum just above the Recent posts title at the top of my blog you'll find my flickr site with a lot of photos of my daughter, Ella.
After my next post "sketches from a hiker's album" will disappear from my recent posts list, by the way. Perhaps you should consider providing another way to contact you, so we can let each other know of any printmaking reunions that might come up. By the way, have you heard anything about Kei, our professor? I really liked him because every time I would ask "Can I...?" he would always say "Yes, you can" with a very interesting intonation. :-)
Exchanging email addresses would be great...but I prefer not having to publish mine on your blog.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Okay...you can delete the post.
I'll look around for a pic and send you an email.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving :o)
I haven't received an e-mail yet, or not one from you, April. Are you still looking around for a pic?
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