Phil Irish

This image was used to promote my initial "Meet the Artist" gala, at City Hall. It was a festive event, which claimed some extra space toward the Rotunda Gallery. The Cartographers' Lounge was set up out there, and we put an easle with "Queen of the Forest" to redirect traffic flow, as the administrative tower emptied out at 5:00.

A highlight of the event was the live music, by Duncan Nicholls and Nathan Stretch of Almost the Answer. They were great!! With guitars, bass, and some sublte percussive bits, their songwriting and charm drew us in.

I think part of this gig is bringing spontenaity into a bureaucratic space, and that was happnin'.

Also: the event coincided with the opening at the Rotunda Gallery: Lindsay Chambers, "Familiar Spaces Between Unknown Places." To download an article on this work, click here.

This is a strange place to be making things. I don't know what effect this has on the work, if any. I seem strangely oblivious to all the governance going on arround me, as I zone into the painting task at hand.

Still, I have found myself singing Pink Floyd's "Money," as the cash registers run all day across the hall. As people wait in line to pay their utility bills, they can face the other way and get a good view straight into my studio.

I hope, amid all the regulation and structure of government, that I am able to add a humane and meaningful shock to visitors to City Hall. A way to place the word "City" in a broader context.

Interestingly, most of the maps that people are giving continue to have a nature-element, such as the Grand River.

The Cartographers' Lounge made a voyage to the Starlight Social Club!

It was a special benefit concert night, raising money and awareness of Doctors Without Borders. 5 bands took the stage, including NQ Arbuckle, Shannon Lyon, and Lynn Jackson. I particularly liked Sarah Hallman's ghost-vocal and electric cello thing, and also Luke Doucet's shiny white guitar, antics, and singing into a telephone. Man, could he play guitar.
The blurred out photo is the final jam session, with NQ Arbuckle and Luke Doucet.

The Lounge looked stylish, feeling very at home in that space, with the bar etc. I received some pretty strange maps from people --- especially the map on how to enter the storm-sewer system of Hamilton, and the diameters of the various pipes! Extremely strange! Will I have the courage to follow that one?

Ah: some stolen moments to read a novel!

I found this book compelling, with amazing perspectives on major historical events. It brings the bombing of Hiroshima and the Holocaust into the same narrative, shaping the characters and their relation to each other. It was amazing to read from the point of view of a Japanese girl, Emiko, who lived through the atomic blast. Her stoicism, her anger, and how she was treated as she travelled to the US --- particulalry the TV show --- were amazing.

To bring this character together with Anton Böll, one of the designers of the bomb, brought such complexity and tension to the tale. Neither character is a stereotype: each has their internal conflicts and unresolved issues. And then, the ending is great... I'll say no more ; ) The ethical quagmire of the tale, brought home so personally, left me contemplating the tangled mess of decisions in our broken world.

Oh: another element that gripped me: Sophie (married to Anton) has lupus. A disease that has also touched my family. It was striking to read a fictive account of this disease, that is so close to home for me.

Beautifully written, the book is full of structural parallels and powerful recurring images. The words will sit within me for some time.

I spent the bulk of yesterday at "Re-Create" --- a creative arts space geared to youth in Hamilton's downtown core. Re-Create happens at The Living Rock, which offers meals, food bank, and a whole range of services to these youth.

Betty Brouwer, whose commitment and vision makes "Re-Create" happen, invited me to bring the suitcase of map gear, and a few paintings, to share with the gang. I was there for about 3 hours in the afternoon, and another 3 hours after dinner was served.

People shared some interesting aspects of their lives. Many people, however, wanted to share happy childhood memories, rather than the joys and struggles of their current situations. One person drew me a map to four places to live outdoors in Hamilton. Another to a cemetery, and told me about her cousin dying in a car accident. Another, to the home he was placed in after being arrested the first time. He spoke of the experience as a good one, in that the community service projects changed his direction in life. There were also peaceful places --- to read a book. Or a map of the world inside a book (a map from the story of Dracula).

I was very impressed by the courage and sense of community in the place. My favorite room was the kitchen, where a diverse group worked together making the day's meal. Some were volunteering, but others had received jobs there, encouraging their life skills and work experience. A few people drew me a floor plan of the kitchen, as a significant place in their lives. I think that might work its way into a complex and joyous painting! Most people send me to solitary places, yet so many of our meaningful places are about the people we've met.

Another highlight was drawing dragons, with Dayna and Katelyn. We all worked on one large sheet, drawing a dragon each, with their intertwined tails weaving them together. It was spontaneous and joyous creation.

Thanks to everyone at Living Rock, and Re-Create, for sharing parts of your lives with me.

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Oh, by the way...
I've been having this craving to look at some 19th century paintings. This deep hunger to tie my painting into that long history of perception and colour mud. So, I went to the Art Gallery of Hamilton in the interval between sessions. I loved Kim Adams' crazy Breugel-Bosch Bus, and also an incredible Van Gogh, and some great landscapes... but the puzzler for me was a set of photographs by James Casebere. These myserious, spare interiors with dramatic lighting and -- disturbingly -- serious flooding. I couldn't decide what parts of the images I believed as "real" at what parts I didn't. Extremely beautiful and strange. It turns out that all of the interiors are built as monochromatic models in the studio, then lit, then photographed.
For an interview with James Casebere, click here.