CHINATOWN REMIXED
it's all i'm thinking about right now.
art is installed.

promos done.
(the ottawa sun/ now open with denis armstrong)

it's going to be SUNNY for the festival - first time in three years!

i am so grateful for to the Chinatown Remixed  Board of Directors - they've been all over it,  handling, organizing, managing, liaising, spreading the word - they are champs!

i am also thrilled to pieces to be paired with Karen and Leigh of High Jinx.  these are smart, savvy, powerful women.  this wonderful second-hand furniture/ curiosity shop is their vehicle for funding their own community and homelessness initiative - helping people in the community find homes and furnish their homes.  in their own words, "the way it was done in Little House on the Prairie" - neighbours helping neighbours in need.  i am inspired and in awe of their philosophy and business model.  (i've also purchased a side table and a set of mid-century steak knives in the past 2 days, this place is a treasure trove!)

i've got tomorrow off & i'm ready to party.
look out Chinatown!

you were awesome, MCA.
thank you!

it's may again and that means:
mother's day (gifts and flowers please)
and
Chinatown Remixed!

consider yourselves cordially invited.
i will be posted at High Jinx - a wonderful second-hand furniture shop - my works will hang in the picture window facing Somerset Street.  the lovely and talented Natalie Fournier will be just out front with her special brand of thought-provoking and visually arresting performance art.

i'm working with white zip-ties this time around - and attempting to capture the essence of deep sea creatures, phosphorescence, fluidity.  this material means murder for my fingertips - endless burns and cuts, like paper cuts but worse - but i seem to love the challenge of pieces that involve repetitive, labour-intensive construction.

sneak peek:


so, again:
Saturday, May 12th 130-5pm
Somerset Street West
over 40 artists of all disciplines
40 local venues
music, arts, community, vittles, bubble tea and sunshine (fingers crossed)


see y'all there!

My friend, Chris Mullington
shot this piece for CBC Bold TV's Creative Block 
in December 2011.  I love his work and I was honoured to be featured!

did some press for chinatown remixed early in the summer.  twas fun!

for Ottawa's A Channel - A Morning Weekend Edition

Saturday May 14, 2011


In Town and Out interview with Michael Bhardwaj
Saturday May 14, 2011 on CBC Radio One:

dare i declare that summer is over?
despite the balmy temperatures here in ottawa, fall is in the air - it stirs up melancholy in me, fall has always been a time of big changes for me...and every autumn brings recollections of the beginnings that found their start during this time of year.

but a moment to look back on the past few glorious, blistering months:

we moved!
it was hell.

 trae did a bunch of cool stuff:  graduated from grade school, won the league baseball tournament, donned a tux in calgary for his cousin's wedding, went to nova scotia for three weeks with his pal, zach.








we went to movies, grew things in our garden, visited with old friends, ate like vikings, (new bbq...oh the scent of grilled meats!) rode bikes, cruised around in a chartreuse dune buggy, swam a little, and sauntered around the wonderland that is ottawa in the summer.

my attempt at pesto was a collossal fail

this one was particularly delicious

cap'n amrca

 

pat's vintage meyers manx buggy




big up cruickshank crew

  

we made these!





smoque shack offerings


it was a good season...and now, onwards!



the kid's got a mouth full of metal



thanks for the kisses, sweet summer sun



let's do it



Today was the third annual kick-off to the Chinatown Remixed Art Festival - what an amazing event - 40 artists showing work in 40 different local venues, mass vernissages today between 2-5pm, live music, live dj's, taiko drummers, installation art, performance art, visual art, sculpture...amazing multi-cultural food and vibrations.



My assigment was #5, Aline's Hair Design.  All my window dressing dreams come true - i am grateful to have been given this space: a fabulous old- fashioned storefront, many windows and a few metres of non-wall space in which to suspend my pieces, horizontal surfaces to scatter my creations.








this is pretty much what it all looks like.  pieces are for sale, please contact me if there is any interest in taking one home at askmarmar@gmail.com.

so overwhelming -  the quality and quantity of inspiring and gorgeous work.  of the works that i saw today: Britta Evans-Fenton's chopsticks semaphore installation piece at Double Happiness BBQ Food... Tanis Dennis' whimsical and inquisitive ink and watercolour works at Fuschian Vietnamese Restaurant...Joa Keur's super-saturated photographs of hawaiian blooms at Co Cham...Dan Martelock's graphic canvasses depicting bold pilot-birds layered over textured backgrounds at Tin Bo Travel... Don Kwan's luminous photo-transparencies which can be viewed perfectly from the Kowloon Market's checkout lines...Guillermo Trejo wows us again this year with his kitchy and humourous screen prints which fuse mexican wrestling with asian soup at Pho Bo Ga King...Karina Bergmans' enormous and show-stopping kanji soft sculpture at Shanghai Restaurant...the list will continue over the next few weeks as i discover all 40 venues and their delights therein.

mama nature spared us the rain today, which suited me just fine as i was stationed out on the pavement in front of my art.  the Chinatown Remixed Collective reigned victorious today, the event was a huge success and i am thrilled and grateful to have been able to participate again this year!

more details at http://chinatownremixed.ca/

more soon...
xoxox