Brandon Brookbank 1
ISSUE 5 - DISTANCE
SUBMISSIONS FOR PERIODICAL SIX
February 2013
The theme for our next issue is ILLUSION.
Welcome to the fifth issue of The Periodical Project. We aim to promote, encourage and excite Artists based in Halifax Nova Scotia. We present to a broad audience Art produced in the HRM to increase its exposure and profile, here and across the country.
Submissions are open to all Artists living and working in the HRM in all mediums fit for print. Submissions for our spring issue are due April 1 2013.
Periodical FIVE features 15 HRM based Artists and their interpretations on the theme of Distance. Works collected here explore the expanse of the
ocean, the passage of time and winding roads of the creative process.
ADVERTISE IN PERIODICAL SIX Please consider placing an Ad or Listing in PERIODICAL SIX to help us fund and expand this project.
CONTACT US Send Questions / Comments / Submissions / Donations! / Advertisements / Listings to theperiodicalproject@gmail.com
FIND US ONLINE This project is funded through Halifax Regional Municipality’s Open Projects program.
Brandon Brookbank is currently exploring themes of disconnection/human interaction with a harsh stark aesthetic through a range of medias including Photography, Video, and Drawing. His photos from a recent series titled “Not There”
facebook.com/theperiodicalproject -Chris Foster & Natalie Slater
Hugh Mater is a visual artist living and studying in Halifax. Originally from Guelph Ontario, he will graduate with a BFA from NSCAD University in Spring of this year. flickr.com/photos/hughmater
brandonbrookbank.tumblr.com Kyle Martens is a NSCAD student who works with elements of chance happening compositions in mediums of performance, video, drawing and collage. These collage works are acting as a false memory of escalators without elevation or coherent direction.
Devin Krupnick might be a radical pacivist. His work explores man’s struggle with the (distant) sea.
kylemartens.tumblr.com
Lauren Bell is from Montreal, but she lives here now. She went to NSCAD, but she does not anymore. She doesn’t have a website, but maybe she will soon.
Katie Hernandez is lured toward the hallucinatory but who knows 2013 might bring new things. katiehernandez.tumblr.com Molly Merriman is an architecture student in Halifax. She is currently trying to turn a pile of old stones into something new, at least in theory. This would not be possible without the ideas of many other people, both living and non-living. She would like to acknowledge Halifax artist Anke Fox, whose 2013 moon calendar has (unintentionally) resulted in much discussion about reinterpreting existing ideas. ankefox.com Kara Highfield is a ceramic artist with no kiln. She is finishing her final class at NSCAD University and marveling in the freedom of not being a full time student for the first time since the age of four. Said freedom is allowing her to discover the similarities between working with clay and making bread. Yum.
Natasha Krzyzewski works from themes of community and disconnection through whimsical drawings and paintings. Her work explores identities and daily interactions as places of self definition by representing the mundane aspects of life. variousactions.wordpress.com Magnus von Tiesenhausen: underground music reviewwer. organ magic. ambient disc jockey. video maker. Drawisst collageisst scuptisst. Aaron Mangle is a Halifax NS Musician and Artist who works in rock n’ roll, photo and print media. His work focuses on travel, love and the formation of personal and social identity. cousinscousins.tumblr.com cousinscousins.bandcamp.com aaronmangle.tumblr.com
Samantha Sternberg spends a lot of time with books. These two poems are from a series inspired by the paintings of Andrew Wyeth.
Bethany Riordan-Butterworth is a Halifaxbased artist. She likes talking to people about ideas almost as much as she likes drawing cats
Originally from the Prairies, Kate Stinson has called Halifax home since 2006. She likes drawing, collage, photography, and printmaking. (Currently, she combines all four).
fullerlectures.com breadandbutterpottery.com
kate.stinson.art@gmail.com
sydneydraws.com
Sydney Smith is an illustrator/artist in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Kyle Martens 2
N O S R E P E N O S I E R E S H I T T I F I , O T N O I S U L L I AN ME
3 Katie Hernandez
E B D L U O H S U YO
Molly Merriman 4
5 Kara Highfield
Maga’s Daughter She watches as you leave, cutting a new path through the field. Last light catching in your hair, a taste of smoke. Time burned with the paper in the barrel out back. She has two tongues, language of a mother and a daughter that will not come together. A kiss, followed only by the song of burrs hitching to the hem of your hand-me-down dress. At the edge of the property you turn around, last look. Her body softens with trust; it wasn’t her idea to bury the placenta, but there you are again.
In the Doorway The shadow ushers her in; a damp sheet on a humid night. She bows her head to enter and exit. Disappointment, salutation. Unbound outdoor energy that has not been made her home; a grown woman tangled in the usual. Displaced from the cold, her body has lost much of its down. The neighbours know she is prone to not dressing, but they are far enough away it is only a story. The white house belongs to MacArthur, who died decades ago. No one has asked where her hand joins the rope of that family. Some stories come from a singular place. Some doors only open one way.
Samantha Sternberg 6
7 Kate Stinson
Hugh Mater 8
Devin Krupnick 9
10 Lauren Bell
Natasha Krzyzewski 11
12 Magnus von Tiesenhausen
Aaron Mangle is one half of the band Cousins. He met with Bethany Riordan-Butterworth to discuss the creative process, touring, and how to keep things together when you’re far from home.
BRB For the past number of years you’ve focused on music but you are also a graduate of NSCAD- do you identify more as an artist or a musician? AM In my recent practice I’ve identified more as a musician, although I think I have in mind that I’m an artist as well, but I don’t often use that title. BRB Can you talk about what you’re currently working on? AM Cousins recently recorded a new record that’s being mixed right now, and since that I’ve been writing new songs even though it’s not really the best thing to do, but sometimes when I’m inspired to do something I can’t help but deal with it. And I recently got two years’ worth of film developed, a lot of it is photos that I took on tours that we’ve been on, as well as some shots from my family reunion in 2011. I’m trying to go through it all at once and I’m just starting to edit it and find the good stuff. I knew that eventually I was going to get to it, so now that I’m going through it I’m planning that as one of my projects for the winter and spring. BRB I’m curious- what is it like to be a musician? AM Some of it is so fun, because it enables us to travel and organize tours that we otherwise wouldn’t do. Once you start getting in the habit of playing music, it’s easy to keep it up because you’re repeating the same things over and over again and adding to the repertoire. It’s exciting to figure it out, and it’s exciting to be able to meet so many people.
BRB How has touring influenced you? AM We’ve been able to meet a lot of different people, and to see how different scenes in different cities interact with each other, and how they interact with the country or the continent or music in general. Especially living up here, we’re removed from everything and we’re often reacting to it. I think that there’s a tendency in music here to try to get in on something that’s happening somewhere else, or to try to emulate, for better or for worse, a style in another part of the country or another part of the continent. Being in a lot of different places throughout the year we see who’s doing what, and what areas have their own flavour or different styles, because they really do. It’s cool to feel like you can actually be an agent in how people see a style- rather than just trying to catch up to what’s popular- if people are hearing you and are interested in it, you become a player in the conversation. And that’s exciting, but it takes a lot of time. I think touring has also put into perspective what kind of energy it takes to be in a band, and just how many people are doing it, and how many people are trying to live a way that I admire, and it’s inspiring to keep it in mind. When you’re at home and you’re trying to do your thing and it’s not going very well it’s easy to feel like nobody cares (laughs). So touring is a reason to do it. BRB What do you make work about? AM The past year I was writing songs that were about mindscape and imagination and lifestyle, and trying to stay happy and positive. I think that part of the challenge of being a musician or an artist is telling yourself that there’s a reason why you’re trying to pursue it. A lot of the songs that I’m writing are selfreferential, about the songwriting process or about being a musician or about being a creative person,
in order to try to figure it out. Maybe that’s one reason why I’ve been focusing more on music, because I have tended to look inward and reflect on what’s been happening to try to figure out what to do with it. The art that I make is outward-looking, and I’m trying to make the music go that way, because I find that inward-looking music is sort of tiring, and I don’t really want to listen to music about people’s feelings, usually, so I try to avoid that (laughs). BRB What is your process like? AM It tends to go in a circle, like it flips back on itself- often I’m looking to an experience to explain something I’m trying to figure out. Especially in the past year, a few songs were dealing with what touring is like, and what traveling is like, and what being a musician is like. And appropriately for this issue I guess, the distance between what you’re trying to do professionally or musically when you’re away from your home- the ability to reflect on it, having the time to just watch the road go by, or watch the landscape change. I still don’t know how that affects the work, but I think part of the process is trying to digest all of those changes while they feel like they’re running away with you. BRB Both your music and your art can come across as being really straightforward, but once you spend time listening or looking you realize that there’s a lot going on. AM Part of my process is trying distill an idea by approaching it from different angles. I don’t really write poetry but I love how concise poetry is, and I love reading someone’s writing that’s able to say things that you’re forced to reflect on, but in a small way that will expand in your thoughts and throughout your day. Because I’m really impressed by that, I try to use that- instead of trying to say everything, I try to figure out how to say very little to imply lots of other things. And it’s exciting to hear from people where they take it, because that’s how I learn about the songs as well as the artwork. If it’s simple enough to hide some of the meaning, then even though you’re the maker of it, you’ll learn from it as you perform it. Sometimes we’re playing a song, and we’ve played the song hundreds of times, all of a sudden I’ll realize something else that it means to me that I should have known but didn’t. And I don’t know how important it is but it is exciting to be surprised by something that you make. BRB Your music is solid but not settled- there’s room for change or the unexpected. How does this work? AM I think partly it works by trying to keep it simple, but I also try to keep the process so that I don’t totally understand what I’ve done until later. We recently wrote a whole bunch of new material for our record and when we’re practicing the songs, or when we’re listening to the recordings, some of the time I’ll say, “This isn’t any good”. And I think it’s because I’m nervous that I don’t understand where we’ve taken it. All of a sudden I realize that we haven’t really thought about exactly how it’s going to sound, and I’m surprised because the process of creating it is over. And once we’ve made the decision that certain songs are on the record, we practice them and we’re like “What is this song about? Why did we make the song sound like this?” I think partly that’s just us being self-conscious, but I think that’s what keeps it fresh.
BRB As a musician and also as an artist, there’s an expectation that the audience will be able to access what’s going on in your brain or in your heart - do you think about this? AM The hardest thing is making people feel welcome to think about what you’re doing- to make them feel like they could connect with you, and that it’s going to be worth it for them. I’m a consumer of music and art and what I ask of people is that they’re willing to share something and that it’s genuine. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s more important that I’m convinced that they care about it and that they’re doing it for a reason. I want to feel like they’re asking me a question, or trying to challenge me to understand something, or telling me a story that I want to hear. I want my work to feel like it’s a conversation- that we could go back and forth in whatever way, because that keeps it interesting. BRB Do you have things that you’re working towards for the future? AM My goals are short-term, I want to be producing more, and I want to be more efficient and more comfortable producing at a certain level. With art, I feel like I haven’t taken the steps to give myself the tools and opportunities to make the work that I want to. At least with music if you’re not recording you can be performing all the time, and you can practice- we can play in the basement and it can be messy and weird, but for the artwork that I want to make, the steps have to be more concrete and planned out. My requirements are much different, and much more difficult, and I need more quiet-time and planning-time, which I’m still working on. BRB Are you excited about anything in particular right now? AM I’m excited to be working on photos and getting my practice back in motion, and having it as a part of my life again, rather than just having it as “Soon I’ll do the real stuff”. The idea that “My life is coming” (laughs) is so stupid; I have to stop doing that. With music we have momentum, and there are people interested in us, and there are places for us to move and grow, whereas with art I don’t have that momentum, I’m still getting going. In some ways my habits of making music happen are much more professional than my habits of making art happen, even though I feel like my skills are the opposite. I’m self-conscious about what I’m making, but I’m not self-conscious about what I’m not making. I’m like “When my life starts, and I’m an artist, it’s going to be really good” (laughs). BRB Do you have anything else you want to talk about? AM I wanted to mention the photograph that I included in the Periodical. It’s not an image that’s specifically of a thing- it’s taken while we were driving, and it’s of this little desert ghost town in Arizona or California. It’s really fuzzy and distant and out of focus. Usually when I’m taking a picture I want it to be focused, I want it to be really simple. If it’s a picture of someone I want it to be about them, or if it’s a scene, even if it’s a landscape I want it to be clear what the focus is. I knew we were going to be talking about music and art I felt like it was a good image for thinking about a crossover of things, a movement of things, and a process. This photo is a challenge, of trying to put these problems together, of music-making and art-making, and of traveling and thinking about the future.
13 & 14 Aaron Mangle interviewed by Bethany Riordan-Butterworth0
WORKROOM IS A NEW SECTION THAT PRESENTS IMAGES OF HALIFAX BASED ARTISTS IN THEIR STUDIOS
Sydney Smith in his studio on Barrington Street photographed by Chris Foster
15
THE BUS STOP THEATRE 2203 Gottingen St. www.thebusstoptheatre.org
Space for emerging artists & engaged audiences. Halifax’ performing arts black box rental venue.
Elsie’s Be Yourself and Have Fun 1530 Queen Street 425-2599 Michael Fuller Photography themichaelfullerwebsite.com rivinus@gmail.com
I Leica You - Pictures of people & places
Chris Foster chrisfoster.ca etsy.ca/chrisfosterart
Halifax based Artist & Printmaker Original prints and books now for sale online.
Invisible Publishing www.invisiblepublishing.com info@invisiblepublishing.com
Independent Canadian books for people who are cool. None of our books are about lighthouses or wheat. Seriously. Promise.
Centre for Art Tapes 902.422.6822 / centreforarttapes.ca cfat.communications@ns.sympatico.ca #220-1657 Barrington St. (Roy Building)
The Centre for Art Tapes supports artists at all levels working with electronic media including video, audio, and new media, through residencies, scholarships, production facilities, the presentation of media art exhibitions and screenings.
Lost & Found Store www.lostandfoundstore.blogspot.com 2383 Agricola St lostandfoundstore@gmail.com 902 446-5986
Art
DIVORCE DISTRO lost & found - 2383 Agricola St. www.divorcerecords.ca SHISO SHOP shisoshop.tumblr.com helloshiso@gmail.com
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Vintage /
Kitsch
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a choice selection of new vinyl
Someday this will be a real shop!
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