Introducing Natural Collaborators, a new video series from CBC Arts
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Hi, Art!

Sunday, October 23, 2022

Hi, Art!

Sunday, October 23, 2022

Hi, art lovers!

 
Film still of two people wearing sweaters and brimmed floppy hats in the woods. The person at left has long frizzy hair and a beard and appears to pluck strings that are strung on a tree trunk. Text in pale green reads:

CBC Arts

 

At the top of today’s list of featured stories, you’ll find a Q&A with Diane Borsato, a Toronto-based artist who’s just released a book about mushrooms and her love of foraging. It’s a hobby she picked up long before the current frenzy for fungi, and the book includes chapters on contemporary artists and designers who’ve been similarly inspired by this particular kingdom of life. One Canadian who escapes her mention, however, is Xiaojing Yan, an artist we covered way back in 2017 and who’ll soon feature in an upcoming episode of a video series we debuted earlier this month. Natural Collaborators tells the stories of artists who aren’t merely interested in the natural world: these folks have found ways to actually share the art-making process with wind, plants — and in Xiaojing’s case, lingzhi mushrooms. The first short doc follows Honeypaw, a duo from Ontario who make music on “tree harps” they build in the forest. Curious what that all means? Watch them in action and look for future episodes of Natural Collaborators in the weeks ahead.

 

And because we promised you eye candy ...

 
Dense painting on a peach background, Suggests an overflowing vase of flowers tangled with the forms of pierrot clowns and female figures.

Daniel Barrow

Art Toronto opens Thursday, and because I’m apparently incapable of waiting that long, I’ve been clicking through the fair’s online exhibitor list. Here are a few images that immediately pinged the “ooooooh” centre of my brain mid-scroll, starting with … Madam Bouquet 1 by Daniel Barrow. (If you’re going to the fair, you’ll find it at Galerie 3’s booth.)

 
Painting of two slim women of colour wearing oversized suits in the same eye-searing blue and orange printed fabric. One (standing) cradles the upstretched head of the other (seated). Both of their faces are covered with jewel-like shapes. Their eyes are whited out and their lips are painted bright red.

Emmanuel Taku

Hold your head by Emmanuel Taku (Rochemont Projects).
 
Illustrative painting in shades of blue, peach and yellow. In the centre, a blue oval. It contains a line drawing of two humanoid forms amid the stars and planets. One has five legs and appears seated on the back of the other, who has long ears like a donkey but the face of a person and crouches on all fours, a long tail floating from its rear.

Rebecca Munce

Forever World by Rebecca Munce (McBride Contemporain).
 
Abstract painting of soft and blurry circular forms in sky blue and violet intersected by a vertically aligned powder-pink rectangle.

Élise Lafontaine

Peau(x) de pieces VIII by Élise Lafontaine (Pangée).
 
Black and white painting suggesting a blurred medium range photo of a woman with her back to the viewer.

Hugo Alonso

Double Check by Hugo Alonso (Galerie Youn).
 
Photorealistic watercolour painting of scraps of colourful construction paper neatly arranged in lines on an ecru background.

Hans Wendt

Regnum Animale #1 by Hans Wendt (Michael Gibson Gallery).
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Detail of the cover of Mushrooming, a book by Diane Borsato with illustrations by Kelsey Oseid. Kelsey's painted illustrations of colourful mushrooms are assembled collage-style on the book cover.
Courtesy of Diane Borsato

This trending hobby will transform how you see the world

 
Mushrooming: The Joy of the Quiet Hunt is a new book by artist Diane Borsato. More than a field guide, it’s a method for finding beauty all around you.
 
Photo of the cover of That's Not My Name, taken on a wooden tabletop strewn with crayons and alphabet blocks. The book cover depicts a little girl in pig tails holding a pencil. She is surrounded by colourful speech bubbles with names crossed out.
Penguin Random House

Ever been told that your name is ‘difficult’? This book’s for you

 
Anoosha Syed takes a tender look at an experience familiar to many children of colour.
 
Medium close-up black and white photo of singer Stephane Moraille. She wears her hair in long dark braids and raises an eyebrow, staring at the viewer.

François Nadeau/Audiogram

 

She sang the hook on Drinking in L.A. Because she’s Black, the record label erased her from the band

 
For 25 years, Canadians have been singing along to Bran Van 3000’s breakout hit. Stéphane Moraille, the woman behind that anthemic chorus, appeared on Q to talk about the making of the song and how she was pushed out of the spotlight as the band rose to fame. Read highlights from that interview.
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

Kent Monkman

@kentmonkman
Photorealistic acrylic painting of a prehistoric landscape. Rainbow coloured dinosaurs of land and sky gather around a mountain lake. All the creatures are painted to have rainbow-coloured scales.

Kent Monkman

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, we got a look inside Being Legendary, the Kent Monkman exhibition that’s on now at the Royal Ontario Museum. And if you need further incentive to make a visit, the artist has been Instagramming the works appearing in the show.
 

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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time!

 
XOXO CBC Arts
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