Transcending Potash

The cockcade making continues apace.  I am getting a little weary of making cockcades.

There, I said it.

I have one more installation of them this week and then I can temporarily retire as the busiest cockcade maker in Queens.  I don't actually know if that statement is true but I am going to stake my claim, consequences be damned.

This Thursday is the opening event at The Old Stone House for Battle Pass:  Revolution IV.

More on that later.

Today I have been doing some serious brainstorming about an upcoming project that will happen in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in early July.  The AKA Gallery invited me to be one of three featured artists as part of their Street Meat Festival, which will celebrate public and street art (July 5 − 7).  They invited me several months ago, pending funding.  Recently, the funding came through and now they need my project description.

I have been letting the idea of a project for Saskatoon simmer in my head for these many months.  I have a lot of faith in the simmering process.  I don't really look the idea in the eye but just keep it lightly in my brain and sooner or later something boils up to the top.  Sorry if this bursts your bubble about the creative process but that is how I do it.  It does take a good dosage of faith because it involves a large amount of doing nothing active towards realizing the project.  Deadlines can mess with the process but I have had a surprising amount of success with just simmering.

For this one, however, the clock started ticking a bit loudly in my ear and still no project idea came forward.  I decided a more pro-active stance might be necessary.  This being a site-specific piece, I thought it might be good to learn more about the site.  I have been to Saskatoon and I loved it.  I loved Saskatchewan in general, but I needed some more information than just a general warm feeling towards the place.  So, like a good 21st Century artist, I looked on wikipedia.  Wikipedia provided me with some facts - some words - that I threw into my simmering pot of ideas.  One was that Saskatoon was founded as a "dry" community in prairies in 1882 by the Toronto-based Temperance Colonization Society.  Another was potash.

Oh yes, my dears.  It is all coming together now.