New Photobooth Art

Whoo. So much has happened in the month since I last posted that it will take me some time to catch up with it here. June was a fun whirlwind of events of projects. I was in Chicago for three weeks, and amongst many things I shot some new pieces of photobooth art at A&A Studios.

In the days after the International Photobooth Convention (more about this in posts to come) I had five chemical photobooths all to myself. I was just like a kid in a candy shop- with an unlimited budget and a giant stomach. The different photobooth models and paper types gave me a lot of freedom for the projects I wanted to execute.

Using four sheets of magnifying plastic in a Model 17 with standard paper.
Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014.

Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014

Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014

Taken in a Model 11, running on colour chemistry and paper. The sides of this image are white
because the  roll of paper had been exposed to light at some time. I used a gel on the camera lens.
Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014.

Part of a new Grotesque series, taken in a Model 17 with standard paper. Gradient gel on the camera lens.
Used plexi glass against face. Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014.

Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014

With a mirror in a Model 14 with out-of-production high gloss paper. This paper with this machine
produced beautiful high contrast photographs. Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014.

Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014

Part of the Swamp series, taken in the Model 11, with paper with exposed edges. Used a purple gel
on the camera lens and a lime green gel on the glass. Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014.

 

 

Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014

From the Grotesque series, in the Model 17, using wooden props and with a gradient gel on the
camera lens. Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014.

Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014

Copyright Meags Fitzgerald 2014

Tauro Tauro Animation

In February of 2010 I was drawing a lot of mystical bulls. I was doing a self-made residency of sorts in Northern Saskatchewan and I came up with an idea for a stop motion photobooth animation using the imagery. Fast forward to May 2012, I shot the photos for the animation at the Auto-Photo Warehouse during a visit to Montreal.  Over the last year I edited it in my free time, and finally two months ago I asked Aaron Read, an incredible multi-disciplinary artist, to score the animation with his dreamy sounds. 

It's been four years in the making and Tauro Tauro is finally finished! I've submitted it to a couple of film festivals, but honestly, I don't know if that's the best route for it. (It is a very experimental and niche little film.) So, pending on the success or failure of those submissions, I may just post the full video online for anyone to enjoy. For now, here's the poster!

And for anyone in Edmonton, my animation LaCuna is playing at the Edmonton International Film Festival this Sunday at 1pm at Empire Theatres downtown.

Shooting the B&W Photobooth Animation

A couple weeks before leaving Chicago I shot a stop motion animation in the Model 11 photobooth at A&A Studios.  Leading up to the big day I shot some of the simpler sequences by myself and saved the more complex sequences (which required me in costume and make-up) for that day. Two wonderful friends, Elizabeth Archer and Rachel Winslow helped me immensely with the slow and time consuming process. This post here shows some of the test shots and gives you an idea of the imagery I was working with.

Here are some tests and out-takes from the big shoot. I'm really happy with how the final images look and I'm excited to work on it. Next I have to sit at my computer for a couple hundred hours to scan, align, crop and put the one thousand or so images in sequence. Fortunately I'll have lots of time post-surgery to do just that.



















 

  

Paint and Brush

Despite what it must seem like, I have been working on things that are not about photobooths. I’ve had a handful of commissions in the last few weeks; some fine arts, some editorial and personal illustrations and some illustrations for a website and some for print (which I’m excited about but unfortunately can’t share until the clients do.)

These three paintings, each 6x6 were commissioned by a psychologist’s office.

 This tiny pair was commissioned by a friend.

  This design is for printing on tote bags and t-shirts for a concert series in Edmonton.

This was a personal illustration, designed with the client’s specifications. 

 And these are some of the pieces I did for the Coast’s summer guide this past week.
 

Capacity of Home at Habourfront Centre

Jubilee: The View From Here, a group show at Toronto’s Habourfront Centre opened last night. I made a new piece for the show and haven’t shared it with anyone until now (with the exception of all my friends who witnessed me crocheting madly for last four months.) My piece is titled Capacity of Home, if you’re curious about my thought process you can read my artist statement and see the other artists' work on the gallery's website, http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/2012/jubilee-the-view-from-here/

Friend and photographer Lindsay Duncan was kind enough to spend a morning in the studio with me, documenting how the piece is meant to be utilized. Here are some of my favourite photos taken by Lindsay.

Custom Cross-Stitch & Crochet

My life has mostly been about photobooths as of late, but I have snuck some time in to work on non-photobooth related endeavours. A few weeks ago I was asked through my Etsy Two Hands Two Crowns shop to do this custom piece. It was a fun break to work on a needlepoint again because I’ve been doing lots of graphic design, illustration and crocheting lately….

Speaking of which my piece for The View from Here, a show happening at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto from April 21 to July 15 is 99% finished. It’s a large crocheted wearable sculpture. I have a photo shoot on Tuesday with the talented Lindsay Duncan to help me document it before I ship it off to the show. I will wait until the show opens to share the fruits of the photo shoot, needless to say I’m really excited by it all!

Three Cheers for February

February for me has always been one of those months you just have to tough through. Not much exciting stuff happens and the weather is usually poor. On February 2nd the transit system here in Halifax announced they were going on strike. I normally rely on transit pretty heavily as I live a little far from the action. In the first days of the strike I complained about all the time I was losing by walking to my friend Rosalind, who is wise in many areas but especially wise on matters of health. Rosalind reminded me that the increased amount of exercise would actually reduce stress and improve my energy. I may have rolled my eyes when I heard this.

But of course, Rosalind was right. Nearly every day of February I walked between 8 and 15km, powered solely by my legs and audiobooks. And with all that time walking, February still turned out to be a highly productive month! It was a particularly stimulating month because all of my interests were engaged. Here’s a recap of my February:

-I started work on a fine art piece for the show A View From Here at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, which excitingly just received a grant in honor of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. (The photo to the right is a detail of the unfinished work.)
-I’ve collaborated with the CBC on a story about photobooths and I started building the official Fotomaton website (a photobooth-art initiative that I started last year with American artist Aran Graham.) I also built the props for the next photobooth animation I’d like to shoot this summer (a blogpost on this coming soon.)
-I designed and got my first two ever tattoos!
-I accepted a few commissions, including an emblem for Bad Dog Theatre Company in Toronto (top photo), a custom cross-stitch through Etsy and two a couple of posters for a band in Halifax.
-I’ve just started collaborating with Lisa Amerongen on a children’s book she’s writing and that I’ll be illustrating this summer.
-I spent a week volunteering as a judge for the Canadian Improv Games and kept up my regular volunteer shift tutoring kids at the public library. And I’ve kept up top-notch grades in my five classes and still found time to attend my regular yoga class.
-And perhaps most excitingly I’ve decided I’m going to attend the 2012 Photobooth Convention in Venice, California from May 18th to 19th. I haven’t got the resources to go yet but I’ve got a few ideas.

Thanks February!

Anything but Idle Hands

In the last few weeks I’ve been crocheting-away at the blanket I’m working on. However I encountered two hurdles, firstly I misplaced my 6mm hook and both yarn stores in the city were sold out, so I took an involuntarily two week break from the blanket. (I did eventually buy a new hook and then found my old one immediately afterwards.) Secondly, the Halifax Transit service has been on strike for the last ten days meaning I don’t have that time during bus rides to work on it and more generally I have less free time now that I’m walking everywhere.

All this brings me to say that I’m actually going to put the whole blanket project on hold. I recently accepted an invitation to participate in an exhibition at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto that runs from April 21 to July 15. The exhibition theme is the exploration of Canadiana through craft mediums. I have a piece in mind I’ll be making especially for the show, and you may have guessed it, it will be crocheted. I’ll be using Canadian wool to make a three dimensional form which will be shown in a display case. I don’t want to say too much more about the piece but I’ll definitely blog about the finished work.

Here is a picture of about half of the blanket triangles I was able to get done.

Duck Duck (Canadian) Goose

I promised at the start of December that I would post the finished piece of photobooth art that I made for Fotomaton: Selections, a show in Miami showcasing photobooth art. I meant for the piece, Duck Duck (Canadian) Goose to be a fun and visually simple piece based on the idea of a Canadian artist sending their work South for the fall.

I planned and made the piece in a short time frame, and I’m happy with it though if I had more time I think I would have retaken the strips with the bad hotspots… but then again those kind of characteristics are just part of the charm & frustration of working with chemical booths.

(Click to enlarge the image)

The times are a changin’

Well, after an exciting whirlwind of projects, holiday festivities and a 5000km move across the country, I’m finally ready to dust off the blog. On a personal note the holidays were a very exciting time, I was in Edmonton with my parents and one brother and got to see my sister and bro-inlaw who live in Montreal, my brother who lives in Scotland and my sister and her family who live in Japan. I also made a quick trip to Saskatoon to say hellos and goodbyes to family out there.

On the professional front, my new website and product line, Two Hands Two Crowns will be ready this month. Stay tuned for a contest giveaway I’ll be hosting on the blog to coincide with the launch. I also had pieces in Love and Money (see the post below), I was happy to sell three of my five pieces and additionally I was privately commissioned for two more pieces. To the right is a picture of the ten dollar bill once it was hung. Again, it was a pleasure to work with the lovely ladies in the Toronto craft scene, so my many thanks so all the City of Craft organizers!

In December I was very flattered and excited when I was asked to contribute to a book that is being published on photobooth art. (As the book is still in its early stages I won’t go into any details quite yet.) In the small window of time I had between the holidays, the stomach flu and the move I executed a new piece for the book in a black and white booth. This was done with much help from my mother and brother who didn’t complain for the whole hour and a half that they stood outside the booth (my brother patiently holding the storyboard and my mother endlessly feeding loonies into the machine.) I won’t post the finished piece here as it’s reserved for the book but as a teaser I’ve posted this one frame and will say that afterwards I was covered in bruises.

The biggest change though, by far, has to be my recent move to Halifax. I’m still getting set up in my very cosy and lovely home with lots of help from my roommate. The house was built after the Halifax Explosion in 1917, and being the historical appreciator that I am, I feel very content in this home and neighboorhood. I live a few minutes walk from some lovely little coffee shops and a yarn store! I’m in awe by a city where you can walk from one end to the other in an hour.

I’ve also had a good response to the Photobooth Drawing Swap, I’m waiting for a few more pieces to come in the mail and I’ll post scans of what I’ve sent and what I’ve received (with permission of the senders, of course.) As I have just moved, you can email me at meagsfitzgerald@hotmail.com to ask for my address if you would like to participate!

City of Craft, Love and Money

A strong suggestion for those in the Toronto area, City of Craft, a wonderful event that I had the pleasure of being a part of last year is happening Dec 18 & 19 at The Theatre Centre. It only happens once a year, so don’t miss out! It's a great chance to support local crafters and buy some one of a kind holiday gifts. If you aren’t in the Toronto area, check out their website, it has lots of nifty stuff on it, including an artist interview I did this past weekend for an upcoming exhibition!

In conjunction with City of Craft, Tara Bursey has curated Love and Money, it's on from December 16 to 31st at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery. The opening is Thursday, December 16, 7-10pm. This group show features lots of stellar artists working with the themes of craft, fine art and commerce. Unfortunately I'm not able to make it out to Toronto this year for the show, but there will be a long list of awesome people in attendance. To read more about the exhibition visit here and to read the ongoing artist interviews visit here.

I’ve finished and shipped off my piece, which is compromised of five cross-stitches of the former Canadian dollar bills. I posted an image of the 50 dollar bill a while back and I won't share the other bills until the show is over, but as a little sample of the work here is a close-up of the two dollar bill laying over the ten.

"Fotomaton: Selections"

A few months ago I was happy to be approached by Miami-born artist and photobooth connoisseur Aran S. Graham for an exhibition he was putting together. The show, "Fotomaton: Selections" is the first of many in a series of small exhibitions that feature photobooth art. I’m pleased to have two pieces in the show, other artists include Odile Marchoul from Austria and Verdi Yahooda from England.

Here’s the show information if you happen to be in Florida:
Location: Andy Gato Gallery at Barry University, 11300 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695
Opening: December 17th at 7pm

For more information, including how you can submit works for future exhibitions, contact Aran Graham at aran@aranphoto.com. The website (which is still under construction) is www.fotomaton.org.

As a teaser here is one frame from the 20 frame piece I submitted to the show. I’ll post the final work here when the exhibit has finished.

A Long Overdue Update!

My blog has gone neglected for almost the last two months as other projects have taken priority. I’m up to my ears in new projects, commissions and collaborations. This is great, but does mean I have a few more balls in the juggling act than usual. The primary project that has consumed my time is my new website design, which is correlated to launch at the same time as when my new production company and line of crafts are ready. Here are some samples of the things I’ve been working on. The banner is part of the new craft line and the cross-stitch below is one of six old dollar bills, the series is titled Tender Tender (click to enlarge). I’m making them for a show in Toronto in December. The show, at the Ontario Crafts Council is curated by Tara Bursey and is titled Love and Money, more details here.

p.s. I was a judge for The Art of Waiting's Photobooth Contest and it was a real treat to see all the submissions! The very creative winning entries were announced at the end of September and can be found here.

Adventures over the Pacific!

I’m stationed beside the only free electrical socket amongst the hustle and bustle at the San Francisco airport, not because I prefer the city’s airport to the city itself but for the practical reason that I’ve got a layover before I fly off to Sydney, Australia. I’ll be teaching improv at the Australian Institute of Performing Arts at their Winter Improv Intensive. I’m going with three other representatives of the Canadian Improv Games to help bring the format we teach in Canada to the Australian school systems. With just a little bit of down time after the Intensive, I’ll be flying back into the Northern hemisphere to Tokyo! I’m going mostly to visit my sister and her family but I’ll also be teaching a little bit of improv (to English speakers). I’m excited and nervous for the cultural differences and the language barrier (I plan on using my six year old niece as a translator.) I’m particularly excited for all the paper and stationary stores. I love handmade paper and thematic stationary kits. (Speaking of which, I’m still taking folks for the Anonymous Pen Pal Matchmaking Service.) After Japan, I’ll fly back to Sydney to visit with some friends and then fly to Edmonton from there. I’m really excited for the trip, I’ve got loads summer reads packed, a few illustration gigs to work on, some Beast and Creep drawings to keep up with and some final details to work out with the storyboard for Arc in the Sky. I’m also putting the final touches on a blog entry I’m writing for Art of Waiting. Their Summer Photobooth Contest is on now until September 1st , this is a super fun way to win some swell prizes. I took the photos above (collaged together for from different strips, click to enlarge) to help inspire some creativity.

Anonymous Pen Pal Matchmaking Service

UPDATE: (March 13, 2012) I'm no longer operating this project.
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Who doesn’t love snail mail? Who doesn’t get enough of it? I thought up this simple, low commitment project to make the most of our postal service and to brighten our days. Here’s the project:

1. You send me your current mailing address, the number of pen pals you want and an alternative name for yourself; it can be a code name, alter ego, anagram or anything you’d like to go by. Send the info to go.eat.some.poison@gmail.com

2. I reply to your email with another person or persons’ information. (I will only match up people that I know will not use other people’s info to harm them in anyway.)

3. You and your new pen pal can send each other letters, drawings, recipes, quizzes, stickers, postcards, pictures, crafts, lists, compilation CD’s, article clippings or anything else. A good way to start is by committing to each send one piece of correspondence a month. If you’re afraid of forgetting about your pen pal, pick a day of the month that you will always write to them on, like paying your bills, but more fun!

4. The rest is up to you! You choose how many pen pals you’d like, how long you’d like to be pen pals for, and if you want to remain anonymous to each other.

I will be running the Anonymous Pen Pal Matching Service as an ongoing project, so there’s no deadline, but why put off a good thing?