Toronto Craft Alert

Thanks to all that participated in this book giveaway for Hoopla.  We’ve drawn the winning number:

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3

Timestamp: 2011-10-01 13:23:57 UTC

CONGRATS TO SHANELL!!!

Following the success of Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti, Vancouver’s Leanne Prain is about to release her second craft opus, Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery, published by Arsenal Pulp Press. I recently got a chance to flip through Hoopla, and it is truly fascinating; the book not only features gorgeous full-colour photographs of [...]

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Celebrating a crafty victory with Awards For Nothing by the sweetie pie press

I am tardy in sharing this with you, but there is still time to get together your application for the Ontario Arts Council’s revamped Craft Projects grants, due October 17, 2011.

As some of you may know, I had the privilege  of conducting a review of the craft sector for the OAC so that they could gain a clearer understanding of present-day craft practices and re-evaluate their Craft Projects [...]

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I recently mentioned that I have a few crafty zines lining the shelves of Toronto ex-pat Leah Buckareff‘s Reading Raum in Berlin.  A fair number of Torontonians and Toronto-based publishers contributed original works to this project, and I wanted to connect with Leah before the exhibition is over to explore what motivated her to take the Wunderkabinet project in this direction and some of the discoveries she has made as a result.

What is your background in zinemaking and indie-publishing?

I was never a serious zine-maker.  [...]

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When packing up to move to Hamilton I uncovered a stack of  craft related zinery amongst the sewing machine manuals, old copies of Selvedge, and Japanese craft books.  I promptly (ok, maybe not so proptly, sorry Leah) shipped these off for inclusion in installment 3 of the Wunderkabinet project: Reading Raum.  Here are a few of the golden oldies I sent, snapped by Leah on location in Berlin.  I remember very distinctly my heart swelling as I read these zines for the first [...]

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I spotted this exhibition listing yesterday featuring a trio of TCA’s favourite crafty superstars, Grant Heaps, Sonja Ahlers and Alexx Boisjoli. Not only is Niagara File an exhibition, but the reception will double as a catalogue launch for the exhibition, which will feature the work of additional talented folks on top of the three exhibiting artists. I can’t wait to treat myself to a copy!

Installation detail by Alexx Boisjoli

NIAGARA FILE

TYPE Books [...]

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I just came across these incredible embroidered book covers by Canadian illustrator Jillian Tamaki thanks to a link on Broken Pencil’s website. Tamaki illustrated the acclaimed graphic novel Skim, written by her cousin Mariko Tamaki in 2008, and her practice as an artist spans comics, editorial illustrations and much more. She also has had collections of drawings published by Drawn and Quarterly and Conundrum Press.

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