Over the Moon!

Last week was the week of good news!

Firstly, I found out that five of my works are runner-ups in Creative Quarterly most recent (33rd) competition in the student/ recent graduate illustration category. As a runner-up my pieces will be featured on their online gallery for four months in the winter.  

Secondly, on September 29th my  film LaCuna screened at the Edmonton International Film Festival and won the Jury Prize for Best Animated Short Film. This project was a huge time investment and is more experimental than most of my works, so the recognition means more to me than most accolades.

And thirdly, two professional creatives, who's work I deeply admire have written quotes in support of my book, Photobooth: A Biography. Illustrator & comicbook artist, Jillian Tamaki and author & CBC's host of Wiretap, Jonathan Goldstein both wrote some kind words for me. 

“Photobooth: A Biography is an impressive and ambitious project. A deep exploration of an unexpected topic that is in turn historical, journalistic, and personal.”
— Jillian Tamaki

“Fitzgerald has created something that’s more than candid personal memoire, more than carefully researched cultural history — she’s created a work brimming with that rarest of things: love. That I should use such a word to explain a young woman’s feelings for photobooths certainly sounds improbable and maybe even a little crazy. And that’s precisely why this book is so wonderful.”
— Jonathan Goldstein

Up top is my "author's portrait" and below is the book cover. More information can be found at my publisher's website. 

On the Mend

I've taken this past week pretty easy while I've been recovering from reconstructive jaw surgery. There have been some bumps along the way but I'm more or less healing on schedule and trying to stay sane inside the walls of my parents' house in snowy Edmonton. I'm eager to get well soon and get back into a routine, especially when it comes to food. Oh goodness, I miss all firm and crunchy foods.

I've taken lots of photos of myself for documentation sake, but decided that in between the bruising, swelling, black eyes, stitches and weight loss that they're are a bit much to share here. Instead, here's a sleepy illustration I did last night. I'm rarely seen without an ice pack accessory these days.

There have been a few really nice highlights. One of which is Lisa Farlow, one of my oldest bestest friends. She's a new resident to Edmonton and it's such a treat to have her in the city.  She is an expert listener and also very good at watching television beside me.

A couple weeks before the surgery I got a really nice email from my Uncle Paul who suspected that I would be spending many hours in front of the computer in the coming weeks. He and my Aunty Celine generously bought and shipped me a new scanner to make my life a little easier. (My last scanner broke in the Halifax to Chicago move.) The scanner is excellent, I used it for the drawing here.

Another highlight has been a daily surprise courtesy of my Aunty Annette. A few months ago my aunt was passing through a small Saskatchewan town and decided to stop in an antique store. There she found several Queen Elizabeth II commemorative tins (which I collect) and she couldn't help herself from buying all of them. (Yes, she is amazing.) She wrapped the tins individually and handed them off to my parents. I've opened one a day, it's been a lovely treat  to look forward too! I've also received some supportive snail mail, for which I'm always appreciative of and I'm happy to reciprocate if anyone would like a pen pal. 

Yesterday I had the stitches taken out, it was a breeze. I start a rigorous regime of physiotherapy on Monday.  My current goal is to be able to eat some sort of holiday feast.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

In my high school yearbook, my quote beside my graduation photo was

"When life gives you lemons, you make orange juice.”

To my knowledge, I made this up, though others have probably thought of it. I almost forgot about this phrase, when recently it crept out of the deep banks of my memory and proved to be relevant again. 

Years ago I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, which is actually a very common disease but not so common amongst teenagers. In some degree or another it does affect my day to day life, but I’m very used to living with it. I really don’t put that much thought into in, but it’s about to be at the forefront of my life.

Unfortunately I have to cut my time in Chicago short to go to Edmonton for surgery to reconstruct my temporomandibular joints. I received a call this past week offering me the surgery on December 7th, I said no immediately, not wanting to pause all the exciting things in my life for this less exciting experience. Then I was informed that if I didn’t take the date, the next opportunity probably wouldn’t be until the late spring.  The surgery requires me to be in Edmonton for a minimum of two months afterwards, so I figured that it’s probably better to be there for the winter and just hibernate my way to health than to miss out on summer fun.

I’m not thrilled about spending that much time in freezing cold Edmonton, or about the side effects of the medications I’ll be on, or that they’ll shave the sides of my head to perform the surgery. HOWEVER, I’m so incredibly fortunate to be receiving this procedure for free under healthcare! And fortunate that my parents are in Edmonton and are willing to take care of me in a very needy state for two months! And fortunate that I get new joints and won’t have to live with the pain and restrictions of my condition (at least in that part of my body) for much longer!

And this is where the orange juice comes in. If I’m stuck in Edmonton for two wintery months then I’m going to cherish the unique situation I'll be in. I've been really busy for the last year, so living with fewer distractions and using my days to work on satisfying side projects could be wonderful. In days when I’m too drugged out to work, I’m going to read that stack of graphic novels that have been untouched for too long. In days when I can work, I’ll have two photobooth animations that require hundreds of hours of editing. And days when I’m feeling better I have a book that I need to finish writing and lots of artwork for it that I’m so excited to tackle.  And on top of all of this, I’ll have endless quality time with my family cat.

I only have fifteen days left in Chicago, which makes me terribly sad, but I hope to be back in the new year. And before I go back to Edmonton, I’ll be making quick stops in New York, Vermont and in Montreal for interviews for my book. It should be interesting. 

Jack'o'lanterns & Phot'o'booths

It had been years since I had the chance to celebrate, or even acknowledge Halloween. During the University years I was too busy making art to make a costume and last year I was in France, where no could understand the allure of dressing up and embracing the dark side for a day. So, naturally this year I was enthusiastic when Mark Meer (a Halloween expert no doubt) asked me if I would do some speciality pumpkin carving for his live late night talk show, Oh Susanna. I said yes, but first I needed a costume!

As per usual I have been busy working on various commissions and on some pieces for my own art practice, so budgeting time for making a costume was tricky. However it only took me about 45 seconds to think of this idea, as it is always on my brain anyway and justa few hours to make it.

Before going to Oh Susanna I practiced carving the show’s logo into a pumpkin and realized that drawing skills and pumpkin carving skills are not the same thing, especially if you took a five year hiatus from Halloween. I was nervous, though I’ve become used to making art on the stop with a full audience watching (check out previous posts here and here about Improv Art) and the show’s cast and audience are as kind as they come. “Susanna” (Mark hosts the show in a drag persona) also gave a drawing I did of Susanna in my Friends as Beast and Creeps series away to an audience member.

Without a doubt my highlight of evening was during intermission when an audience member approached me while I was still carving on stage. She said she had heard of "this girl" who knew everything about photobooths in Edmonton and was wondering, (based only on my costume) if I was her. It felt amazing to be recognized not by my name or face, but purely by my hobby. That means something, right?

All in all, it was a two-thumbs-up evening.

Photo credits: Top photo by Brad Fischer. Carving on stage by Theresa Wynn and the two pumpkins by me.

Improvaganza + Beasts & Creeps

This June brought Rapid Fire Theatre’s 10th Annual Improvaganza, Canada’s largest improv festival. As per usual this year’s festival featured performers from across the globe, which included some of my favourite people. It was a super blast, needless to say. I did some visual consulting for the festival and a drawing project I originally started just for kicks. “My Friends as Beasts and Creeps” is a project I started on Facebook at the start of June. It consists of me “stealing” friends’ photos, re-interpreting them with drawing skills and giving them back to the source from which they came. Amy Shostak, the Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre asked me to do a ‘ganza specific edition where I drew performers from the festival and displayed them in the theatre’s lobby. Here a few of my faves so far (click on photos to be enlarged.) If you have a Facebook account you can view the album here.

June: the sit still mod podge month

I returned from my trip to Toronto a few days ago, I was there for PROJECTproject’s incredible COMBUSTIONfestival. The Tumbleweed Project (cross-Canada improv tour) went extremely well as well. May was a really swell month that involved a lot of moving and shaking- both in the geography and dance floor sense. Though June has brought a drastic change of pace and the way things have worked out I’m going to be in Edmonton for the whole month! This may not sound so outlandish to most but for the last 12 months I haven’t stayed in the same city for more than three consecutive weeks, with an average of one week in each city I visit. I’ve got ants in my pants and one month of sitting still is a lot for me to handle these days. Though I do have good reasons to be here, Rapid Fire Theatre’s Improvaganza is on from June 16-26 and I will be helping out the festival. I’m also collaborating with a retired UofA art professor on a series of photographs (more on this in a future post). For the most part I’ll be doing Go Eat Some Poison commissions and freelance gigs here and there; little things that will be good at occupying my time and putting moneys in my pockets. Which will come in handy because July brings travel adventures in Australia and Japan. All I have to do is ignore the ants biting at my legs for 4 weeks.

The photo is of a banner I made upon my return in order to encourage myself to get through June.

Canadian Winter = Time for Crafts!

I wrapped up my travels by going to my parents’ home in Edmonton for the holidays. I get antsy if I go five minutes without having something to do with my hands so I capitalized on being locked in doors by making some commissioned Go Eat Some Poison products and by organizing some family-fun crafts.

The first project was a Solstice banner (our holiday of choice). On the Winter Solstice every member of the family completed one or two banner pieces by sewing letters I cut out in advance to a triangle of a different material. The level of sewing ability varied greatly but everyone felt very accomplished in the end.

We also made a felt wreath, I crocheted some berries and everyone cut-out different shaped leaves and petals (based on their scissor abilities). I stitched the pieces of felt holly together and glued it to a wire wreath ring.

I was also busy making some more cross-stitched Interracial Sex Sketchbooks (I’m working on some gay couples now), and decided to try out a less controversial image for a sketchbook cover. All in all, it was a restful and productive holiday season.

Die-Nasty Theatre’s Annual 50 Hour Soap-A-Thon

This September was my third time performing in Die-Nasty’s famous Soap-A-Thon (which in the past was known for being the longest in the world at 53 hours). The Soap-A-Thon is a completely improvised play that runs continuously from Friday to Sunday night in mid-September and is how the company kicks off their new season. It’s different from usual improv in that there is a director, costumes and sets. Most improvisers will play the same character for the whole thing or switch back and forth between two characters. (I really love costumes!) The first time I did it was in 2006, I completed 36 hours, then in 2007 I did 43 and this year I did the full 50. That’s not to say that I didn’t unintentionally fall asleep during scenes and whatnot, but for the most part I was awake for 60 continuous hours. The key (for me at least) is having a character that you enjoy to play, is uplifting and isn’t too demanding of your voice or body (because that’s hard to sustain for long periods). I’ve always had a blast playing with Die-Nasty but I realized this Soap-A-Thon that when playing with their cast that I tend to play young girls. In normal improv I pride myself on my physicalization and commitment to any character but because our appearance is created through costumes and not solely through our imaginations, I tend to play characters that I could realistically be based on my actual age and body type. In all three Soap-A-Thon’s and whenever I’ve guested in Die-Nasty’s regular season I’ve played young ladies who are generally naive and very positive, “fix-it” type characters. This hasn’t been a problem but is something that for the next Soap-A-thon that I do (which could be in Liverpool England this November) I’m going to challenge myself to play the opposite sex and a character that is not so good willed.

Some of the highlights for me included the mascot heist, where I got to kung-fu style stage fight all the male cast members (photo by Jana Hove), the “Face Down Dance”, the highest energy musical number we could muster at 6 AM on Sunday (photo by Brad Fischer) and the completion of my “banner for peace in Millwoods” (photo by Jana Hove), which my character was crocheting the entire time and was a great help in keeping me awake.

Edmonton’s Improvaganza, yes it is an improvisational extravaganza.

Kevin Gillese, artistic director of Rapid Fire Theatre invited me to come up with a visual aspect to Edmonton’s Improvaganza this year. I came up with what was so cleverly coined “improv art”. This meant that I had a little studio on stage and was working away during the Theatresports scenes. The work was inspired by both audience suggestions and the content of the scenes themselves. Afterwards the work was hung in the lobby for the viewing and purchasing pleasures of the audience and performers. It was a great experience and I thought of lots of ways to improve upon the structure for future festivals. Check out the website for photos of the art pieces!

Photo by George Basil of Magnet Theater's group Four Track.