Apt Crush: Tom and Lauren’s Adult Playhouse

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Published on Apt 613 on April 24, 2013

At Lauren and Tom’s apartment, there’s a kitchen cart steps away from the entrance that is perpetually stacked with treats and tea or wine, depending on the time of day. The first thing you notice once you’re in their apartment is the drink that’s immediately put in your hands and the focus on good old hospitality. There aren’t chairs and couches pointing at a television, but furniture and conversation pieces that facilitate afternoons of chatter and laughter.

This apartment marks a new chapter for Lauren and Tom. Their previous apartments were furnished with gems from major thrifting sessions. Now Lauren, a graduate student, and Tom, a lawyer, are two months away from getting married. Between long hours of work and study, they decided they don’t have enough time for vintage hunts, and discovered that it’s possible to furnish a flat on a reasonable budget.tomlaur

How would you describe your apartment?

Tom: It’s a mix of modern and slightly industrial with the exposed concrete ceilings. It’s also a little bit minimalist.

Lauren: It’s an adult funhouse. It looks like a playground with the primary colours, like kids have, and playboys, like adults have. It’s just fun.

What was your vision or inspiration?

Lauren: I was actually taking an art history class when we first moved in here. One of the buildings I had to study was a Mondrian, and this building is called the Mondrian. In my readings, they were talking about how all of his design inspirations had to do with clean lines and primary colours, which is why I picked the chairs out in different colours. Then after that we knew we wanted to do the Playboy wall, and everything followed that. We just did what worked with the wall.

What’s your favourite element? Is it the Playboy wall?

Lauren: My favourite thing in the apartment is actually the mural in the bedroom. I really love it because it feels like it’s especially for us and it was done by a local artist (Robbie Lariviere, Owner of Fall Down Gallery). I also really like the desk, which was a great find. It’s the only old timey piece, but it seems to work.

Tom: My favourite’s probably the Playboy wall. I like the desk as well. It’s usually really hard to get an older piece to work in a newer apartment. I also really like the sliding doors, and how that adds to the industrial feel. But it also means the cat can get into every room, which is annoying.

Why a playboy wall?

Tom: We had a similar wall at our previous apartment but with comic books, Gen 13, but Lauren thought it was a little too frat house. So we retired the comic books and Lauren came up with using Playboys.

Lauren: We looked online to see which years were our favourite and we settled on 1973-74. I really loved the Andy Warhol cover and there were a couple others we really liked. Since then we got a few more years off eBay and have switched it up a bit.DSC_0003

Let’s talk furniture. Where did you find these pieces and what are your go to spots?

Lauren: We only really shopped at three places, which makes it easy: The Modern Shop, elevenfiftyfour, and IKEA. We got big pieces like the couches at IKEA, but we mixed it with slightly more expensive pieces, which detracts from the IKEA look. Then we got a couple pieces from west elm. The Modern Shop is really nice and well priced. Except the coffee table was a little expensive. I never told you that, Tom, so I’m telling you now…

What was your biggest indulgence in the apartment?

Tom: Apparently, it’s the coffee table. I’ve always liked it though.

What kinds of feedback have you been getting from visitors?

Tom: Our friends seem to really like it. Older people don’t really get it. They ask us why no one finished the ceiling and why we’d live in a small place downtown when we could live in the suburbs instead.

You have a lot of unique elements, what would be your advice to someone trying to spice up their place?

Tom: Find someone who has a good sense of style. I have no sense of design, so I just defer to Lauren. Find someone who is good at design and get help. It’s way better than wandering around Home Sense and buying a bunch of random shit.

Lauren: One of my favourite things here is the statue on the balcony that we actually found in the condo’s garbage room, so don’t discount the dumpster room. I guess what’s really key is you don’t need to spend a lot of money on furniture. Get your bigger pieces from somewhere more affordable, and accentuate it with something unique. Don’t worry about matching too much, because then it becomes really difficult to find pieces that are in your price range and fit your apartment. Typically if you buy things you like, they’ll end up going together because they’ll just fit into your overall home style.

What’s your favourite DIY project? 

Lauren: My most recent one, which are the wedding invitations.

Tom: The Playboy wall.

Click here to see all of the photos.

Photo Friday With the Russian Tourists Who Climbed the Pyramids

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Published in the Art & Science Journal on March 29th, 2013pyramid 1

This past week, photos and a rather contentious story of a few Russian tourists have been covered by dozens of major news sources. The stunning photos above were captured illegally by a small group of tourists at the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids, who hid from guards for four hours after closing time before climbing the Pyramid of Giza.

Despite breaking the rules and the chaos that would ensue if more people tried to pull this off, I love these photographs. I have had the opportunity to visit the Pyramids a couple of times, and these photos portray the kind of experience that one hopes for but doesn’t necessarily receive. While the visit makes for an incredible experience, and the history and wonder is palpable, I remember the line ups, maze of tour buses, and litter as well as I can recall anything else. These photos inspire the sublime wonder of the Pyramids without all of the distractions.

Since the stunt, one of the photographers, Vadim Makhorov, has publicly apologized, though quite obviously without actually regretting the action. Nor is this the first brush with the law for the team, which included Vitaliy Raskalov, named Russian Skywalker by the Huffington Post . Check out his Instagram account for more photos.

Should the team have apologized? Or are photos like this an example of when rules are made to be broken?

Photo Friday with Luca Zanier’s Space and Energy

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Published in the Art & Science Journal on March 22, 2013

Swiss photographer, Luca Zanier, photographed over fifty nuclear power plants, coal-fired power stations, storages for nuclear waste, and other energy systems over the course of two years. By focusing on shapes and colours, Zanier abstracts these environments and forces the viewer to

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think of them beyond their purpose. In doing this, the artist highlights a complexity, and perhaps even beauty, to these structures that may have otherwise been overlooked.

In his artist’s statement he explains, ” Enormous spaces, endless walkways, wide sluices, cryptic signs; all combined with miles of cables and pipes.They form a technical universe that radiates a cool logic. A hidden world, known only to a few and yet which has a huge influence on our day to day lives, absolutely essential in fact…What I am proposing is to dissipate technology into aesthetics, at least to a certain extent. Only the caption will remind the beholder of what he or she is contemplating: A highly complex system whereof our modern life depends. Energy systems which serve us and, at the same time, can threaten us.”

-Rudayna Bahubeshi

Photo Friday with Christopher Nunn’s “Falling into the Day”

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Published in the Art & Science Journal on March 8th, 2013

The above photographs belong to the aptly named series, Falling into the Day, by English photographer, Christopher Nunn. The ongoing series captures moments of David Blackburn’s life, as he tragically slips further into the recesses of Alzheimer’s. The famous pastel and landscape artist appears isolated, but simultaneously peaceful, as he lives, rests, and leaves notes about his home.

Incongruous household objects suggests he is slipping away, but organized slides and pictures suggests he is, or once was, a fastidious man. The empty pastel box begs the question of whether the once prolific and acclaimed artist remains, or whether the box that possessed his tools of creation was emptied some time ago.

In the photographer’s own words, “What began as a simple character study of an eccentric man and his quiet existence slowly became a story about the confusion and alienation of living with dementia and the subtle ways in which the condition can manifest itself.”

-Rudayna Bahubeshi

What You Don’t Know About Voluntourism

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Published on the Huffington Post on February 19th, 2013

Voluntourism is a rapidly growing industry. We all know people who have participated in these programs, skipping off to a remote village for a couple weeks and returning home wide-eyed, with a dozen pictures of themselves hugging foreign children.

Don’t get me wrong, a desire to make a positive change should be encouraged, but people interested in international volunteering need to get a realistic grasp on the situation.

Last year, I worked in Latin America for a North American company that facilitates overseas volunteer experiences. I reviewed applications, helped prepare volunteers, and followed up with evaluations. When there were complaints, it was most often that a volunteer didn’t feel they were needed at organization X. The vast majority of volunteers I encountered did not make a valuable contribution to their host organization and this is the main problem with these programs. They are not focused on sustainable change.

International volunteer companies are most popular with recent high school and university graduates, who have limited or no relevant experience to the placement they express interest in. In these cases, a volunteer may unwittingly end up fulfilling a role that a local could have been compensated for, or the volunteer’s work might result in a reduction of a paid employee’s hours. Volunteers going abroad who can do meaningful work and provide specialized assistance represent a small fraction of participants.

Some volunteers are looking for an opportunity to beef up their resume, and gain a taste of the work they think they may want to pursue later in life. Others go into their placement for as little as several days and think they are going to change somebody’s life. A few may be aware that their role is minimal, but opt for the experience for the cultural experience. In many of these cases volunteers are extremely dependent on the host organization’s staff, who often end up spending more energy on accommodating the volunteer than he or she is actually worth.

This is, of course, also the fault of the company offering these services. These programs come at a cost, and many of these companies would much rather accept a volunteer lacking skills than turn away his/her money.

From my experiences, both as a volunteer and volunteer coordinator, I would make the following recommendations. If you are deeply interested in volunteering abroad, realize that it is for your own benefit, and that you may not be helping anyone else. Otherwise, wait until you have both the time and skill set to make a valuable contribution.

I would also recommend cutting out the middleman. If you wish to volunteer abroad, consider an area where you know there is need, research local organizations and contact them directly. This makes some people nervous, but if there is truly need in the area you are in, there won’t be a shortage of opportunities to volunteer. A longer time commitment might be expected of you, because making a positive impact at anything, anywhere, requires a time investment.

Taking this route will also allow you to personally find out if you meet the organization’s needs. And you’ll save a great deal of money that you otherwise would have spent on the organization responsible for finding you a placement. By contacting an organization directly and finding out how you can help, you’re also making the important recognition that you need to adjust to the local needs and expectations, which avoids being just another traveling volunteer group that imposes their plans and values on a community. This requires a great deal more initiative, but if you don’t possess the independence that this requires, you’re likely not prepared for this experience. Doing this would increase the likelihood of finding an organization that actually needs volunteers.

Finally, if you’re interested in volunteering and you don’t have any experience, consider volunteering locally. This might be unappealing to those who are particularly interested in traveling, but if you don’t have any applicable skills that you can transfer, you might be of better use in an environment you’re familiar with. If you still want to make an international contribution, consider educating yourself on international causes and fundraising on behalf of one whose mandate resonates with you. The reality is that if you don’t have a particular skill set to offer abroad, your money will likely go further than your time, especially when you only have a couple of weeks to spare.

Photo Friday with Chris McCaw’s Sunburn

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Published in Art and Science Journal on February 15th, 2013

The beauty of Chris McCaw’s photo series, Sunburn, was born out of a mistake. During a camping trip, the artist tried to capture an all night exposure of the starry sky. As a result of drinking too much whiskey, McCaw failed to wake up before sunrise to close the shutter, and the image was burned, reversing the tones of the landscape. It was a failure in that he did not capture the image he hoped for, but it turned into a much more significant perspective: one that changed his outlook on photography.

He explains this on his website: “The intense light of the rising sun was so focused and powerful that it physically changed the film, creating a new way for me to think about photography.”

Since his first, accidental, burnt photograph in 2003, McCaw has spent years trying different methods and timings to make this series. His favourite results can be found in a photobook titled Sunburn released last year

For more of McCaw’s work, please visit his website.

Undercurrents (the art exhibition) at Fritzi Gallery

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Published on Apt 613 February 12th, 2013

The Lorraine Fritzi Gallery at the GCTC is a space dedicated to exploring the relationship between visual art and theatre. For each play that opens at the GCTC, an artist creates a body of work to reflect the story presented on the stage. Last Thursday was the vernissage of Undercurrents at the Fritzi, a companion exhibit to the theater festival of the same name.

Artists Eric Chan (eepmon), Kristy Gordon, Karina Kraenzle, Zoe Hussey, Tony Clark and Betty Liang were each asked to interpret and illustrate a play from this festival. For some artists, such as Betty Liang, this meant a direct portrayal of scenes from the play. Liang used the cartoon style that exists in much of her work to play on and complement the folk tales and children stories that are central to Little Orange Man.

In contrast, Zoe Hussey’s interpretation of Little Iliad creates a less direct representation of the play. She explains that dissecting the play and understanding how to portray it was an interesting, albeit it difficult, task: “It’s someone else’s artwork that you’re also making into your own artwork, and in a way, you don’t want to let them down.” In Hussey’s work, she paints a war helmet covered with an interweaving line that symbolizes, as she puts it, “the convolution of storytelling.”

This was the first curated show for Lee Jones and Erin Saunders, the editor and a writer for The Art and Science Journal. For two writers that focus on bringing together interdisciplinary subjects, a show at the Fritzi that pairs art and theatre makes sense. On curating the exhibit alongside the festival, Erin said:

“I appreciate being reminded of these bridges between art disciplines. It’s so easy to make visual art and theatre productions two discrete camps. And unfortunately in Ottawa we see a lot of it. We have institutions for theatre and institutions for art and we consider them separate things, but when it comes down to it we’re talking about creative processes and performances, and those things come into play in either discipline.”

While a dialogue between theatre and art is fascinating for the viewer to both observe and engage in, it’s an ambitious project. Within an exhibit, a viewer often relies on a unifying theme or technique, but in a series where each piece borrows from a different narrative, it can be difficult to find cohesion. Despite this challenge, Undercurrents at the Fritzi remains a show worth visiting as a stand-alone project, and especially to enrich the experience of the theatrical festival.

This show is open during GCTC hours until February 17th.

Overplanning Your Trip? You Might Be Missing Out

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Published the on The Huffington Post February 11th, 2013Image

Especially with brief trips, an overzealous traveller can make the mistake of creating an itinerary that is so specific it’s nothing but a checklist. The only difference between it and the to-do list he/she keeps at the office is the illusion that this checklist, planned to the minute, is going to be fun. It’s created so fastidiously prior to one’s trip out of the fear of missing anything that it causes one to do just that: miss out.

I’ve never been one to hash out all of the details of a trip in advance, but I used to make a plan of which cities I would visit and when I was going to get there. Only on my last trip through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama did I set out entirely clueless about where I was going to end up. This was the result of very unique circumstances. I had a job contract in Costa Rica that was cut short, and I couldn’t bring myself to go home before doing a little exploring.

I got on a bus to Granada, chose a few tentative stops, and decided that the specifics of the journey would depend upon the people I met, and experiences that would surprise me along the way. It turned out to not only be the most exhilarating way to travel, but also the most relaxing, because it meant I wasn’t binding myself to any plans that I would later feel locked into.

In case it wasn’t obvious, this also meant opting out of keeping a travel guide in my back pocket. Such books are certainly useful, but so many travelers that I encounter sacrifice spontaneity for religiously following recommendations that aren’t necessarily going to suit their interests. It’s rare to not have to be somewhere in our day-to-day lives, so why don’t we seize the rare opportunity to be free from schedules?

I’m not suggesting to skip out on the main tourist sights, some are worth visiting — required visiting even. If you went to Paris for the art, by all means, spend your time in the galleries. But don’t mistake the museums for the city. You won’t know Paris just by memorizing the Louvre.

In my case, travelling without a schedule meant making a new friend in Granada and joining her at her workplace in Laguna de Apoyo the next day, which also happens to be one of the best areas for swimming and kayaking in the country. It also meant staying at a hostel in the middle of the Panamanian Cloud Forest, that I had never heard of before, on the advice of fellow travellers. Travelling without a schedule means jumping at opportunities as they present themselves and connecting with people from all over the world. It means looking back at photos of moments and memories that were too perfect to have planned.

Photo Friday with Olivia Locher

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Published in the Art and Science Journal ImageFebruary 8th, 2013

Olivia Locher’s photos are vibrant, sometimes bizarre, but always full of feeling. That may sound vague, but have a look at her photos and you might understand what I mean. They’re thoughtful, perplexing, free, beautiful, and sometimes look like daydreams mixed with reality. Locher’s photographs are inspirational and her passion for the medium is palpable. At only 21, Locher’s work has been exhibited and published dozens of times, and last month she won the Conscientious Portfolio Competition.

On her range and high volume of work, she states:

“I believe that it is crucial to be constantly producing while also conditioning technique. I set up little shoots for myself at least twice a week to stay in practice. Making photographs is something that feels very natural to me, it has been the best way to express my ideas. All of my individual images start from a single idea and once I have it I let it dictate everything. To find the best ideas you have to go deep within yourself. To do this I practice transcendental meditation twice a day, every day, and by doing so I believe it keeps the ideas coming.”

Find more of Olivia Locher’s work here.

-Rudayna Bahubeshi

Change of View: Mumbai

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Published in Bettery Magazine on January 28th, 2013.

Change of View

The photo documentary series juxtaposes unique impressions of cities around the globe. One local photographer and one visiting photographer show us their visual perspectives on each city’s strengths and challenges. The accompanying dialogue ends with each photographer posing a solution to what the other sees as a city flaw. Enjoy the exchange of photos and opinions between local Tanvi Gandhi and Rudayna Bahubeshi

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Rudayna Bahubeshi: Ottawa

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Tanvi Gandhi: Mumbai

 

 

Find the rest here.