Watch now! Episode 1 is a basic intro to art and AI.
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Hi, Art!

Sunday, April 02, 2023

Hi, Art!

Sunday, April 02, 2023

Hi, art lovers!

 
Video thumbnail for episode 1 of CBC Arts series digi-Art. Left panel of image reads:

CBC Arts

 
Have a problem in need of solving? There’s probably an AI for that. I know, I know, I’ve used this newsletter to spam you with AI links before, and here are even more tools to tinker with — platforms that can spit out content in seconds: images, video, sound, you name it. But you know what’s missing from that list? An app that can help me see the full potential of all these gadgets. Just skimming the latest headlines takes time (more time, anyway, than it’d take ChatGPT to write a song you could prompt Boomy to record). So if you’ve got a few minutes, check this out. It’s called digi-Art, a series about new technologies and their ever-changing impact on the arts. The program launched Friday on the site, and Episode 1 is all about AI.  

On the show, you’ll hear from artists who are grappling with the existence of image-generating software, plus Taelor Lewis-Joseph — the series’ wide-eyed host — will introduce you to someone who’s researching the technology: Alexis Morris of OCAD University. If you’re still fuzzy on how exactly something like Midjourney works its magic, the show’s worth watching for Alexis’s primer on the subject. More topics will be explored on digi-Art in the weeks ahead. Watch the site for future episodes.
 

And because we promised you eye candy ...

 
Abstract artwork,k a swifl of pattern suggesting a tempest, or maybe the wide-reaching foliage of a tree. Marks made with paint, ink and other media on a white bedsheet.

Madeline LeBlanc

Mom’s Starry Night by Madeline LeBlanc. Want to know what the piece is made of? Read the caption on the artist’s website. (I LOL’d.) Madeline’s on the longlist for this year’s Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize. She’s nominated for an outdoor exhibition that appeared in Sir Winston Churchill Square last year (Tween).
 
Surreal painted scene suggesting a fiery yellow landscape. A black-skinned blank-faced figure stands in the left side of the composition holding a white card. White dominos form an arch above the figure. To the right, roughly painted sketches of a chair, potted plant and column.

Curtis Talwst Santiago

Curtis Talwst Santiago (previously seen here and here) is another artist with ties to the City of Champions, and he opened a new solo exhibition this weekend at Cooper Cole in Toronto. Moving Through Burning Haze is on to May 13.
 
Digital illustration in a colourful cartoon style. Against a dark orange backdrop, several pink flowers with yellow smiley faces rise. On a pink ladder stands a blobby faceless figure with a brown watering can. It pours pink bubbly hearts on one of the flowers.

Malik McKoy

A still from Botanist (side B), a li’l animated landscape by Malik McKoy. (Watch it in action on Malik’s Instagram, or find it at Trinity Square Video in Toronto. It’s up in the gallery’s Vitrine space through April 24.)
 
Photo of a cardboard sled in the shape of a city bus, sliding down a snowy hill. A man in a red parka and helmet sits in the sled. At the top of the hill behind him stands a row of people in winter clothes.

The Hibernation Project

Remember this old article about the Hibernation Project, a whimsical marathon of creative challenges that happens in Calgary each year? Well, it’s on right now, and this shot is from one of its annual events, Toboggapalooza. (Artist Caitlind r.c. Brown made that cardboard city bus-sled.) Bummed that you missed it? There’s even more fun in the works. The project’s website has info on how to be part of their upcoming DIY challenges, both online and in person.
 
Top-down photo of a hand-made sweater resembling a Maud Lewis painting of black cats in a flowering field.

Grace Tompkins

You’ve probably seen this Maud Lewis sweater on Instagram, but have you heard the story of how it went viral? The Current spoke with artist Grace Tompkins last week.
 
Colourful surreal drawing with a nude female figure (in orange) sitting in a contorted knot. The background swirls with pattern and colour.

Kate Vorona

Pearl by Kate Vorona.
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Photo of a pile of CDs from the '90s, strewn on green astroturf.
Anne T. Donahue

‘I was an idiot to have given all my CDs away’

 
Anne T. Donahue explains why she’s buying old CDs in the age of streaming.
 
Photo of five performers strutting on a grey stage.
Marlowe Porter

Let’s have a kiki

 
The Toronto Dance Theatre, one of Canada’s leading contemporary dance companies, celebrates the kiki ballroom scene in its latest production. 
 
Photo composite of 8 artist headshots, the winners of the 2023 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Canada Council for the Arts

 

2023 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts announced

 
The prize comes with $25,000 plus an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, and the winners include renowned documentary filmmakers, artists and “Canada’s bad boy of photography.”
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

Alex Graff

@alexgraffart
Photo composite of hand-painted snowboards.

Alex Graff

Inspired by a trip to Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park, Alex painted this snowboard. She got the whole experience on video just for us. Watch it here.
 

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

 
XOXO CBC Arts
XOXO CBC Arts
 
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