Janice Wong Studio

2011-10-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

The Toronto International Art Fair
This is the weekend for the Toronto International Art Fair.
Open Studio is an exhibitor this year and their booth includes six of my large monotypes and works by

Barbara Balfour, Nadine Bariteau, Yael Brotman, Sean Caulfield, Susan Collett, Tara Cooper, Joscelyn Gardner, Libby Hague, Brian Hoxha, Brian Kelley, Judith Klugerman, Jenn Law, Jennifer Linton,

Wendy Morosoff Smith, Ann McCall, Suzanne Nacha, Sandi Ralph, Tammy Ratcliff, Bernice Sorge,

Penelope Stewart, Jeannie Thib, and Celeste Toogood.

2011-10-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

journal artwork update

The Fluency Issue of Room Magazine arrived in the mail today.

It's nice to see the final version of the cover with the cover lines.
Here's a full view of Her Thought Bubble, the monotype Paula Grasdal used for the cover.

2011-09-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

a week of spark
I just finished framing a week of Spark. It's shadow-boxed, with a thick 8-ply window mat.

Here's another view of the set of photographs | image size: 21" x 2" | frame size: 29" x 10"

It's also available, unframed, here.

And here are the links to view the original Spark posts :

2011-08-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

journal artwork
Paula Grasdal just sent me this mockup of the front cover for the Autumn edition of
Room magazine V. 34.3. She chose one of my monotypes, Her Thought Bubble, from a series of large-scale monotypes that I finished in 2005. This piece was printed on mulberry paper and chine colléed onto a larger sheet of BFK Rives. It's in the collection of the Canada Council Art Bank. I thought Paula did a lovely job of this cover; it's not always easy to integrate artwork.

2011-08-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

new in the studio

Some quick snapshots of new paintings that I've been mulling over this spring and summer.

The working title for this one is Open. It's 20 x 24 inches, about a dozen layers of fine blue and grey glazes over the stack of colours and a blur of the colour stack, shifting to the right. The background is a softly textured white, with another texture for the "horizon" area.

This one is titled Sound II. It's 24 x 24 inches, acrylic on wood panel. I'm still planning a few more light layers. There are about 40 layers to this point. Small white squares float in the background and there's a subtle blur on the "horizon."

Cairo | 18.5 x 24 inches | acrylic on wood panel
Deep glaze layers, and a variety of different, subtle textures in each of the "grey" blocks. The grey block on the right is actually a view through to the background.

Bits of plum-coloured underpainting open up from the bottom glaze layers.

Sender | 16 x 20 | acrylic on wood panel
I was thinking of a palimsest of marks and shapes with this painting. It is a soft, sage green, with a hint of texture from well below the glazes...a semi-circular form underneath on the right hand side and oblong ovoids on the left, resting beneath the colour blocks.

Threefold | 12 x 12 inches | acrylic on wood panel
An overall sense of texture in the blue/grey background. Balancing bar of cerulean blue on the left hand edge. Crackle forms under the colour blocks.

2011-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

art auction for UNICEF
Unite With Art is the 4th Annual Fine Art Auction/Gala Fundraiser to benefit UNICEF Canada.
It's taking place this coming Saturday, June 18 at the Rocky Mountaineer Station.
For tickets and further information, visit the Unite With Art website.
The Auction includes In the Spring of the Year, a painting I completed in 2009.

2011-05-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

studio sustenance
I thought I'd share some studio sustenance tips, a few favourite locations close to my studio.

• Eve at Fir Street Acupuncture enables me with regular treatments.
Her clinic is associated with CAN, the Community Acupuncture Network and provides service
based on the community model, operating on a sliding scale, making acupuncture affordable to
many more people. And, she's conveniently located at 1st and Fir, right next door to me.
• Chocolate Arts is a new neighbour in my district. They're my hands-down favourite chocolatier
in Vancouver, and their new shop and café is on 3rd and Fir, a block-and-a-half from my studio.
A chocolate a day...if you need an excuse, dark chocolate is rich in polyphenols, those good anti-cancer compounds.
• A great spot for a healthy snack and tea is SAWA Tea Room, on 2nd Avenue in the Waterfall Building.
My favourites are their Sencha and Kukicha and on cold, wet days, the Fireside Rooibos.
Sencha is another top source for polyphenols.
• Two of my neighbourhood java stops, the original Elysian Room, at 5th and Burrard, and the new Café Bica at 2nd and Fir, both conjur the quality of cappuccino that I remember from my travels.
• And slightly further afield...5 blocks or so...at 1340 West 4th, Innocent Coffee. They focus on locally roasted, fresh beans and host monthly exhibitions in their upstairs gallery.
• Epicurean Café, over at 1st and Cypress, bakes our favourite pizza and stews up a restorative chicken soup...no flu this year!
• And speaking of soup, the veggie miso at Oyaji Sushi on 2nd Avenue in the Waterfall Building is another restorative innoculation against the flu!
• Studio weekends often require a visit to Patisserie LeBeau for their tasty stacks of waffles and seasonal fruit. And, I always look forward to their summer plum tarts.
• Sustenance also comes in the form of creative chats with Ralph, Matt, Donna and Peter,
the very talented folks at Aurelia, Tony and Nicholas at Westbridge Fine Art and Malec, our resident French tutor.
• When I'm working in acrylics, Kevin at Kroma Acrylics offers up an incredible spectrum of richly pigmented paint. He's located on Granville Island, just a short walk from my studio.

2011-05-20T08:46:00.000-07:00

colour quirks
I just posted this photograph on spark...some colour tests that I've been mapping out in the studio. When I'm in the right frame of mind, testing colour—the whole gamut of tint, tone, shade, intensity, admixture of hues—can be so satisfying. What is often disappointing is how colour translates on the Web. And the problem of "Web Safe" colours.
Much like viewing artwork in books and magazines...the colour, and the essence of the artwork itself, seldom translate accurately via print or web.

2011-04-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

silent auction
Sakura Saku Nihon e | To the Land of Cherry Blossoms
There's an upcoming Fine Art Auction to benefit earthquake relief in Japan, sponsored by BC Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. It's being held at the Waterfall Events location, in the Waterfall Building at 205 - 2540 West 2nd Avenue, Thursday, May 5, 2011, 4 - 9 pm. Tickets are $10.
The Auction includes work by Malcolm Aiken, Mariko Ando Spencer, Nelly Cesar, Lucie Chan,
Adela Chau, Dana Claxton, Christine D’Onofrio, Antonio E. Fernandez, Yoriko Gillard, Paula Grasdal,
Gu Xiong, Martin Guderna, Kelly Haydon, Robert Held, Annie Hong, Ooya Houen, Tomoyo Ihaya,
Eri Ishii, Joy Kim, Earl Mabaquiao, Donald MacDougall, Ilsoo Kyung MacLaurin, Brenda Mattman,
Kozue Matsumoto, Phil McCrum, Shinsuke Minegishi, my name is scot. Manuel Pina, Marina Roy, Yumiko Sasakawa, Sarah Savoy, Jasha Sokolovic, Nicole Steinbre, Ban Wei, Janice Wong and Yoshi Yamamoto.
The piece that I've donated for the auction is this monotype titled Tree Tops.

2011-04-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

a reblog from Spark...
This quote from Bill Reid has been taped to the inside of one of my old studio cabinets for quite some time. The cabinet found its way into our garage three years ago and I'd almost forgotten about this tiny slip of paper. Seeing it again made me smile...it surely is a Spark.
And, yesterday was Spark's first birthday. I'll put together a few thoughts about that in the days to come.

2011-03-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

spark | a book
April 17th marks Spark's first year in a blog format. A few months into the venture, I thought it would be fun to present a year of Spark in book form. So, I'll be spending the next several weeks assembling the collection, a task I'll wedge in between the paintings I'm currently working on in the studio. You can keep your eyes on the SHOP for a Spark book — coming soon! And, I'll get around to posting some images of the new paintings soon.

2011-02-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

spring comes early
Lajla, Robin and I are making fuzzy cherry blossoms for the yarnbombing fundraiser at Historic Joy Kogawa House. You can take a field trip and see the blossoms. The cherry tree, which Canadian author Joy Kogawa made famous in her book "Naomi's Tree," will be resplendent in woolly blossoms, open for public viewing on March 6, 2011. The woolly blossoms will be in place until the sap begins to run, when the tree produces its own blossoms. The yarnbombing event is being organized to raise awareness for the writer-in-residence program hosted by Historic Joy Kogawa House Society.
You can follow the links to find out how to contribute some blossoms of your own.

2011-02-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

second chance (to start the year)
Happy New Year | Gong Hay Fat Choy!
It's the first day of the Lunar New Year, a second start to a new year, with weather that feels new—weather that's just beginning to feel like spring. Somehow it seems more appropriate to start new projects around this time. A second chance, a new start. And a few sad endings. We've had to say goodbye to a some favourite local businesses that couldn't survive in an increasingly expensive city. Thank you Taka-san, thank you Shin Mee, thank you Brett. We'll miss you and your creativity.
May we all live in more affordable, more supportive, and more curiosity-fuelled times!

2011-01-22T19:28:00.001-08:00

art is long, life is short
I thought I would re-blog today's Spark. It's a fortune cookie aphorism, rendered in silver—a New Year's gift from Donna Leisen, my studio neighbour and one of the many talents at Aurelia.

Ars longa,

vita brevis,

occasio praeceps,

experimentum periculosum,

iudicium difficile. — Hippocrates

Ὁ βίος βραχύς,; ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή,; ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξύς,; ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερή,; ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή.

It's interesting to read "This is one of those rare phrases in which the meaning is more debated than the origin. What is usually understood...is something along the lines of 'art lasts forever but artists die and are forgotten.'
...a misunderstanding based on the translation of the word 'ars' as 'art.' If we accept that the Latin term 'ars' is equivalent to the Greek 'techne' (τέχνη): technique, skill, and that, consequently, 'ars' is better translated into English as 'skill' or 'craft,'...that would lead us to interpret the meaning as 'it takes a long time to acquire and perfect one's expertise and one has but a short time in which to do it.'" and I prefer this idea of craft, preparation, training; the years in the making (of an artist and their work).

2011-01-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

sparks fly
The mini Sparks finally went out in the mail today, one for every kind soul who emailed to tell me about their Favourite Spark.

2010-11-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Orbit
I titled this photograph Orbit on my spark post today; an image and title that anticipates the week ahead....I'll be orbiting a few deadlines.

2010-11-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

The Armoury District
I'm still referring to my studio as "my new studio." After 17 years in the old studio at 1000 Parker Street, 2 years at 1707 Fir Street still feels very new. I like everything about my new neighbourhood. There are some delicious food purveyors, a guerilla gardening project across the street on the old Arbutus rail line, and, with the proximity to the water, the air always feels so fresh. I'm also a hop-skip away from Granville Island, home to my "second studio," Dundarave Print Workshop, and
Kroma Paints, Opus. Even my frame supplier is just halfway down the alley. Since the spring, my neighbourhood has been evolving. A variety of new businesses, many related to art and design, have started sprouting up north of fourth avenue, between Granville and Burrard. There's even a new blog to announce The Armoury District (named after the Seaforth Armoury on Burrard and 1st.)

Ah, looks like I'd better wash my studio window...

2010-11-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

Night Falls | oil monotype | 24 x 24 in | paper size: 40 x 40 in

If You're in Toronto...
Open Studio Printmaking Centre | Print Sales Program | Toronto ON
Open Studio in Toronto has added a few of my large monotypes to their Print Sales Program.
Open Studio is Toronto's primary printmaking studio, located in the 401 Richmond building,
a heritage location which houses the printmaking studio and gallery, along with a micro village
of cultural enterprises. 401 Richmond and the intent of its owners is inspiring.
Here's an excerpt from their website:

401 Richmond is a historic warehouse in downtown Toronto and home to over 140 cultural producers and microenterprises. Aware of the need for affordable workspace in the city’s downtown core, the Zeidler Family who purchased the property in 1994, took an aged building with 40% occupancy, and rather than tarting it up or tearing it down, transformed it into a fully-leased thriving cultural and commercial centre within 18 months. Today the building has an eclectic tenant base that reflects the variety of artistic practices and entrepreneurial endeavours taking place in Toronto's cultural centre. Browsing through the Tenant Directory will give you a pretty good idea of the kinds of things that take place under this roof every day. 401 Richmond is home to 12 art galleries, fashion designers, film makers, jewelers, architects, animators, healers, communications specialists, graphic artists, milliners, charitable organizations and even a Spanish dance school.

2010-11-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

Poppy Copper Dot Heart
This is one of my favourite, recent images from the Spark Project. In many ways, it shares many attributes with my recent paintings. It's titled Poppy Copper Dot Heart. And, just as an aside,
Dot Heart is a translation of Dim Sum. In its finest form, Dim Sum is a repast filled with little morsels meant to delight the heart. And, it's November, the month that brings Remembrance Day, the first
of our winter rains, fiery leaves and...poppies for souls past and present.

ps. these bright circles of pink paint are the work of civic surveying crews, laid down as markers for the construction and reconstruction of our city streets. I'm not sure why they always have a copper disk nailed in the centre.

2010-09-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

Spark Contest #1 | the results are in!
The winners of the Spark Contest have been announced here.

2010-08-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Province Newspaper Article
Thursdays Vancouver Province article didn't have room for the long version of some of
the answers, so I thought I'd put the outtakes here: The outtakes are the green coloured text:

Vancouver Province Newspaper (Vancouver BC) interview:
Portraits of an Artist: Pencil in a visit to Art Beatus and its special works
Hans Ongsansoy, Thursday, August 5, 2010

This week's Portraits of an Artist is a special one because we get to feature work at one of our favourite galleries in the city: Art Beatus. A small gallery with a focus on contemporary Asian works, Art Beatus feels like a secret you can share with your closest friends This is, in part, due to its unconventional location, inside the downtown office building located at 808 Nelson Street. But, once you find the gallery tucked away in Suite 108, the secret will definitely be out.
The gallery's current show is Line Up!, a four-artist group exhibition with a special focus on drawing. Pieces range from pencil crayon drawings and vinyl (intaglio) prints to pencil sketches and sumi ink drawings.
The latter are the specialty of Janice Wong, who uses sumi ink to create pieces that are playful yet meditative. They also bear a resemblance to the symbols used in music theory, which Wong is happy to discuss in our now-weekly Q & A. Enjoy.

What draws you to drawing?

Thinking about how I draw, I would say, I enjoy drawing for the qualities of direct, pure expression, economy of means and minimal tools: pen, ink and paper. My drawings go through fewer processes than other mediums that I work in, and for that reason, they have a simple, clear connection to impulse and action. For me, there's something peaceful and deeply satisfying in that pared-down process.

What are some of your influences?

I'm drawn to many things, from wide-open vistas, to light, weather, colour, maps, music, pattern and code, words, sound, and the subtle relationships between things.

What is this connection that seems to exist between your work and music?

As a youth, I studied a few musical instruments: the piano, the clarinet and the guitar. Many years later, I tried to reacquaint myself with the guitar and it soon proved to be too rigorous. Now long after, I began making these drawings. It was only after making several that I noticed a link to music notation. Then, I began clustering lines in groups of five, like the staff or stave in western music notation. And, I began thinking of how visual art and music are often described in similar terms. We describe composition, balance, tone and form, colour, rhythm and counterpoint. We'll talk about a note "floating on air," or radiating and vibrating, and it seems natural to conjure an image of this in our minds. If we're open to trying, it's not too far-fetched to try to imagine what a sound looks like.

In 2D artwork, there is jointly positive and negative space (the forms depicted and the space around them), just as musical tones have to have space around them in order to be heard. To become music, the tones must combine in some sensitive fashion and I often think that the "empty" spaces, the pauses, between the tones, are as important as the tones themselves. It's much the same with drawing.

While no longer playing a musical instrument, I felt like I was still able to make music, at least in this abstract manner. The drawings also relate to my interest in code. Long before I had an appreciation for non-objective/abstract artwork, I could appreciate the fact that music notation is a code, in other words, a picture for what sound looks like.

If you could own any piece of art in the history of the world, what would it be and why?

Since I'm fantasizing, I'd choose a piece of architecture, a modest-sized home, by Yoshio Taniguchi. I'm attracted to his work because of its purity, grace and delicacy.

He uses materials, light and proportion to create quiet environments, spaces that, in his words, "afford a deep connection with the beauty of nature."
He also spoke of people having become skewed towards wordly spaces soliciting something from them—streets deluged with signs and overflowing with information—and the need for environments that allow people to reflect. Because I often feel like we live in a visually "noisy" world, this sentiment resonates with me. But, if I'm restricted to visual art, then I'd have to have a round-the-world trip in order to make a fully informed decision. I'm assuming this would be to live with and look at daily, which has great bearing on the choice. Maybe I'd choose Agnes Martin's "Trumpet, 1967" but someone already owns that one.

Conversely, if you could choose anyone in the history of the world to own one of your pieces, who would that person be and why?

My answer would be different for each medium I work in, but since we're discussing drawing, and since it can be anyone, I would say Lou Harrison,the American musician who passed away in 2003.

In the 1960s, he improvised his musical instruments from steel brake drums and found objects; he was amalgamating eastern and western music. I like his sense of sound, relationships, subtlety, playfulness and modernity.

2010-07-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Some Things Take Time
I've been meaning to make a proper scan of the George Bowering book cover. It's taken me a while...the book was published in 2004. The upcoming exhibition at Art Beatus prompted me to cross this off of my TO DO list. The cover image is from a series of ink drawings, and a few of these are up in the Art Beatus exhibition. This one is called "Tone."

2010-07-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

A Few Photos
From the opening reception for Line Up! Art Beatus Gallery, July 23, 2010.

2010-07-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Drawing Show at Art Beatus
Art Beatus is hosting a drawing exhibition in conjunction with the 2nd annual Vancouver Drawn Festival. This year's group exhibition presents new works by four stylistically and thematically diverse contemporary Asian artists. Pieces range from pencil crayon drawings to vinyl intaglio prints, pencil sketches and sumi-ink drawings. The sumi-ink drawings are from a series related to my experience of music. The exhibition runs from July 16 – September 10, 2010.

2010-06-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

White on White
Two recent paint film experiments, mounted on portions of "white" colour chips from the local paint store. The backgrounds look more grey than white in these photographs, but they really are a soft white. So many values of white on white.

2010-05-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

Project
I'm working on a visual blog project: Spark.
Spark has been named blog of the week on the Tyee for the week of May 3, 2010.

When I'm not painting or printing, I take photographs. Spark started in 2008, as a page on a test update for my studio website. Earlier this year, I reconfigured it as a blog. I'm enjoying the practice of simply looking and paying attention. It seems like a way of slowing down time, marking each day before they blur, one into another. My last photo project was a month of skies and each of those mornings remains clear in my memory. I hope the images on Spark also lend a bit of insight into my paintings, drawings and prints.

2010-03-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Sun Article
Lucy Hyslop interviewed Shelley Penner about her studio and storefront, P + A Furniture,
and included a nod to my recent paintings, accompanied by this photograph by Martin Tessler.
Vancouver Sun | At Home 26/03/2010, Page E2.

2010-02-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

Chinatown
A view of the umbrella canopy installation by ASIR Studio in conjunction with Bright Light temporary public art projects, Yue Shan Courtyard, 39 East Pender, Vancouver Chinatown. I enjoyed this graceful structure. It appealed to me for so many reasons. It was poetic, ephemeral, lyrical, surprising and mysterious; thoughtful, playful, delightful and generous. With its intriguing qualities of repetition and rhythm, it was sensitive to both the time of year (our rainy season) and to its site, floating atop an historic courtyard in Chinatown.
update: the installation was dismantled at the end of February and the individual umbrellas can be found in a few Chinatown stores.

2009-10-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Commissions
In the last half of this year, I've been busy with a few painting commissions. I'll try to post some images as I go along.

2009-07-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

Summer Show | July 2009
Mid-summer is my favourite time of year. Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate the opening of my summer exhibition. It was lovely to finally make use of the courtyard and it gave me great pleasure to share my recent paintings. Special thanks to Paul Fremes (Stuff 2 Do) for the photos and to Geneve Ottman for keeping the sangria topped and chilled.

2009-07-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

Flying Books + Dear Neighbours
My hometown show, "Notion", opened on April 17, 2009, at the Art Gallery of Prince Albert
the 4-year-old public art gallery that was built as a complement to the Rawlinson Centre for the Performing Arts. It's a nice, lofty space, 1800 square feet, with a ceiling height that spans a range
of 16 to 30 feet at centre. I enjoyed planning the layout of the work; 7 large paintings, 9 large monotypes and an installation of books.
I'd imagined the flying books as a metaphor for both homecoming and migration. The books,
(all authors, titles and subjects based in Saskatchewan) straddle small rooftops. The rooftops have varying pitch and I'd hoped that, seen front-on, they might resemble birds in flight. On a small floating shelf, above a small stack of books, I installed a tiny model of the house I grew up in.
And one of my favourite photographs from the opening shows our dear former neighbour,
Gertie Tennant, gazing up at the old house.

The house model was built by Garry Lundgren, the rooftops were constructed by Derrick Carter,
the roof angles were calculated by Helen O'Toole and the books were borrowed from the
J.M. Cuelanaere Library in Prince Albert.

And, here are a few more photos from the Notion Exhibition.

2009-03-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

Raw Materials
I was just reading about hoarders. Current thinking seems to point to the idea that hoarders aren't really run-of-the-mill garden variety compulsive obsessives. I'm happy to know this as I'm always finding orphaned, "useful" items to haul to the studio. Supposedly, hoarders think in more complex ways, seeing a myriad of possibilities in items that others might simply see as trash. Most of the artists I know tend to keep all manner of "useful" things. Stuff that might one day find its way into a piece of artwork, or stuff that could be handy for corralling the other accoutrements of studio life. Like shoe boxes and jars. I'm particularly fond of those. Sara—123oleary—recently sent me to a lovely blog by Sharon Mount titled Tiny Buildings. For the past 30 + years, Sharon and her family have been constructing tiny fantasies crafted from business cards, packaging, card stock and other materials. Sharon has even initiated a Flickr group for folks who are attempting to construct their own tiny buildings. Here are a couple of Sharon's buildings.
My favourite is the stripey one. One person's trash...

2009-03-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

Recipes + Stuff
Over the years I've received some interesting recipes for grounds and mediums. I keep meaning to try them, and posting them might spur me on. And maybe someone else can give them a whirl and let me know the results.
Here's the first recipe, one for Paste Papers, passed on to me by Tara Bryan, an artist who lives and works in St. John's Nfld. In addition to painting, Tara creates artist books. She often uses Paste Papers in her books. Here is the recipe, just as Tara wrote it:
Cook up some wheat paste and mix it with a bit of acrylic paint. I use yogurt cups to mix in. The acrylic binder makes the surface pretty permanent, and you can brush the colour on and scrape it off or just paint it on. It's LOTS of fun, but you need a drying rack or lots of drying space because it's fast and addictive! I cut plastic coffee can lids into quarters, then cut the point off to make a flat surface that can be made into different "combs" to scrape paste away. Try it, you'll like it! You can use white drawing paper. In schools I have used 11 x 17 copier paper. As long as the paper will stay together wet, it will work.

view of Tara's book "An Angel Takes My Hand"
Unique (1 of 1) artists book. Paste papers, shipping tags, hand-written text by artist
with quotations by famous artists on tags, 5 3/4" x 5 1/4" x 3/8" closed. 1997

2008-12-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

Studio Grand Opening | November 2008
After a long summer of studio renovations, I finally returned to painting in October, just in time to finish some work for the grand opening of the new space. We were so happy that the contraptions
we designed for the studio—the moveable wall/storage unit (built by Laurence Heppell) and the sink divider (cobbled together by me and George)—worked, both in terms of aesthetics and function. Everyone who visited seemed to enjoy the space and the various inventions, and the sink divider was deemed worthy of Ikea hacker!
You can click this link to see more photos from the grand opening.

2008-10-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

Announcing The Big Move
After a busy summer, moving and renovating, we are finally ready to announce the move.
I took this photograph of the front door, reflecting a bit of the new neighbourhood.
We're just opposite a "guerrilla garden" project that runs along the old Arbutus train line, just around the corner from the sea wall walk to Granville island.
And, here are a few more photos of the space before and after our renovation.

2008-03-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Studio Move
After 17 years at 1000 Parker Street, I'm moving my studio.
We're taking over a dog biscuit bakery located in Kitsilano, between 1st and 2nd avenues on Fir Street. And it means downsizing from 900 square feet to just under 600.
This collage of "before" photos shows the bakery paraphanalia, the courtyard, front door and the task we have ahead of us—to ceate a fresh white space that combines a small exhibition space and studio.
To get to that state, we'll be tearing down walls, spraying the ceiling, resurfacing and painting the drywall, scraping and painting the floor and building multi-purpose furniture to make the most of a modest-sized space.

2008-03-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

A New Website
It's been six years since Otto Lejeune and I launched my studio website. In the intervening years, websites have become easier--and more fun--to fiddle with, which means I'll be updating the site on a regular basis.

I just added an inspiration page (Spark) to the site. I always try to have a small camera in my bag; you never know when you'll see something that makes you stop and wonder (and draw a satisfied breath). Now all those wonders can go into the inspiration page. While trying to learn some Italian last spring, my teacher, Paolo, said that "inspiration" translates to ispirazione in Italian, which in turn derives from the Latin word inspirare, which means "to breathe in," with a further poetic inference of infusing the soul with creative flow.
And I found this:
Inspiration derives from the Latin word spirare (breathe) and that likely came from the prehistoric Indo-European base speis or peis, an imitation of the sound of blowing or breathing out. The Indo-European root is also the source of Old Slavonic piskati (whistle), Serbo-Croatian pistati (hiss) and Old Norse fisa (fart).

2008-03-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Work 03/2008
I'm currently working on a series of paintings, varying sizes, the smallest are about 3 x 4 inches,
the largest are approximately 45 x 48 inches.

I'm also in the midst of the language series. This piece is the starting point.

3 layers of handmade gampi and kozo paper, 60 x 90 inches.
The kozo layer is silkscreened (white on white) on the back.

A detail of the piece.

2008-03-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Last Open Studio with Eastside Culture Crawl
At the time, I hadn't realized that 2007 would be the last year that I would participate in the
Eastside Culture Crawl. That was the 11th year for the 'Crawl and the 12th year for the Open Studio event which was started by Louise Page in 1995. Before that, in the spring of 2004, Sophie Fernandez Hamilton and David Pirie launched "Work In Progress" Vancouver Artists in their Studios, a city-wide open studio event.

2007-08-29T07:57:00.001-07:00

Split Graphic Biennale 2007 | Solo Exhibition
Here are a few of my recent monotypes currently in a solo exhibition
taking place at the 3rd Split Graphic Beinnale, Split, Croatia, 2007.
We couldn't travel to Croatia this year, but there are some travel photos
from our 2005 trip in this older post. We hope to get back there soon.

up down
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 11.75 in / 23 x 30 cm

two blue
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 11.75 in / 23 x 30 cm

a new standard
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 11.75 in / 23 x 30 cm

notion
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 9 in / 23 x 23 cm

blue flag
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 9 in / 23 x 23 cm

near far
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 9 in / 23 x 23 cm

it takes two
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 9 in / 23 x 23 cm

a short distance between us
oil monotype : 2004 | 9 x 9 in / 23 x 23 cm

ticket 1
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 9 in / 23 x 23 cm

ticket 2
oil monotype : 2007 | 9 x 9 in / 23 x 23 cm

2007-08-29T07:55:00.003-07:00

Books
Crawford Kilian kindly referenced my website and related blogs in his new book Writing for The Web.

Speaking of books, if you're looking for a copy of Chow, you can find it at your local bookshop, or you can purchase online via the Chow Bookstore. And, if you want to catch up on the latest news about Chow, you can visit the Chow Blog. All the event listings and articles are posted there.

2006-05-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Painting Commission
Commission for a painting based on this previous work: "Average Daily Snowfall."
Commission installed Spring, 2006 | Brent Comber Studio

2005-08-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Kiss | oil monotype | 24 x 24 in | paper size: 40 x 40 in

Janice Wong + Nikola Skokandic Exhibition | Split Graphic Biennale, Split Croatia 2005
"Dialogue", a 2-person show with Croatian artist Nikola Skokandic, opened in Split, Croatia,
Autumn 2005.
The exhibition, held in conjunction with the 2nd Split Graphic Biennale, was installed in the
Music Academy which is part of the Diocletian's Palace old city enclave of Split.
We had the happy opportunity to visit Split, Dubrovnik, Trogir, and two of the Dalmatian
islands—Hvar, Korcula. The beauty of these gems will resonate for years to come.

Pavo's poster for the Splitgraphic Biennale, 2005.
The image of the child is from the Split Municipal Archives. | photo courtesy Pavo Majic

Konzervatorska Galerija, the pink building on the right, one of two locations
for the exhibition.

Janice Wong, Pavo Majic, Nikola Skokandic, Josko Belamaric, Minister of Culture
photo courtesy of Maja Majic

George and me | photo courtesy Lajla Nuhic

View of Hvar from the Citadel

Korcula | these narrow slices between buildings were designed for a practical function.
They serve as protection from the Bora, the strong winter winds the whip over the Adriatic.

Walking the city wall, Dubrovnik | view of the Adriatic

Rooftops | Dubrovnik

Sunlight | Trogir

2005-07-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Janice Wong's works are exquisitely crafted compositions of colour and geometry that look like science and feel like a dream; schematics of systems floating in larger systems; hybrids of light and sound and other things we don't know. They are at once rational and mystical, mathematical and organic, scientific and spiritual, dynamic and meditative. They are calm and beautiful things that seduce and invite the viewer in where the final transcendence happens; we start to think about the relationships between the lines and the shapes and the blurs and the colours and the composition, and by our nature start to organize and make sense of these equations, this code, this language. We stay this long enough to think about these things because the work is curious and beautiful and we feel its sincerity. Curious, beautiful and sincere; there is truth there.

2005-06-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

A Number of Events Exhibition | Open Studio Printmaking Gallery | Toronto 2005
"A Number of Events", a solo exhibition of my recent, large-sized monotypes, opened in Toronto
at Open Studio on June 23, 2005. Open Studio is Toronto's primary printmaking studio, located in
the 401 Richmond building, a heritage location which houses the printmaking studio and gallery,
along with a micro village of cultural enterprises. Here's a bit more on 401 Richmond, an excerpt
from their website.