We talked with a few of the participants to get their perspectives on one of the largest free festivals in Ontario.
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By: Hess Sahlollbey
Whether you’re a Trekkie, an aspiring cosplayer or simply hoping to meet others who share your interests, this weekend belonged to the fans as they took over the downtown Toronto core. Punisher, Batman and Superman all have big releases this month and made their presence known from the moment I got off the subway and headed to Toronto ComicCon. An annual convention, Toronto ComicCon takes over the city center for a three-day affair full of comics, cosplay and everything in between.
What some fans may not realize though is that attending these conventions could result in your passions and hobbies one day becoming a career. That’s how it went for Michael Walsh, one of Marvel Comics’ biggest rising stars whom I had the pleasure of interviewing at the convention. We talked about his career, what he’s working on next and what knowledge he’d most want to impart on those who want to create comics for a living too.
While Batman’s home may be Gotham City, one of the biggest rising stars in comics actually calls the Hammer home. “I almost went to McMaster,” Walsh first tells me when I introduce myself to him having noticed my press badge and white McMaster T-shirt. As an alumni of OCAD, he’s familiar with touring the whole portfolio circuit when he was first trying to get published.
With a heavy, murky use of black ink, his art is difficult to describe. His substantial use of blacks is interlaced with cartoony elements. While the style may look simple, on a deeper analysis one can quickly surmise that it’s a stark juxtaposition to the emotional weight that his art carries.
While others on the Toronto ComicCon floor had booths rammed with books, art-prints, merchandise and T-shirts, Michael Walsh sat behind his desk with his portfolio of black and white art in front of him. He quipped that he doesn’t like travelling with his books, referring to all his illustration work that fans are always eager to buy straight from the creators at conventions. “They’re too heavy and I don’t want to lug them around, I’d rather put my art on full display.”
It’s that same art that has made him so prolific in all of Hamilton’s comic book shops. Whether it was Comic Connection, Big B Comics or Conspiracy Comics, the staff at all the stores held Walsh in the highest regard, eagerly describing his art style with all manner of positive superlatives. Walsh is also equally famous among his peers for his down to earth personality and eagerness to meet fans and talk shop. Even the staff at Mixed Media, an art store on James St North, pitched paintbrushes and inks to me by saying they’re the same ones Michael Walsh uses, long before I had the chance to make his acquaintance.
Walsh first work was Comeback, a comic that he looks back on fondly. Written by Ed Brisson with art by Walsh, Comeback told the story of two criminal agents, who could undo the untimely demise of a loved one, for a large nominal fee of course. “Comeback was my first professional work, it always gets compared to Looper, because of the timing of the release, but they couldn’t be any more different. Yeah they both had time-travel but Comeback was more sci-fi street-level crime. It was bad timing, but I’m always happy when it makes a Comeback [editor’s note: pun is Walsh’s own] and a fan brings it for to me to sign,” said Walsh.
These days however he’s one of Marvel Comic’s most prolific artists. His first job at Marvel was Hank Johnson: Agent of Hydra — a one shot that came out late summer. “Right now, I’m doing this X-men series, its called X-Men: Worst X-man Ever and it’s a five issue mini-series.”
Walsh’s next project will be a collaboration on The Vision with another rising star at Marvel, Tom King. King is a former CIA counter-terrorism agent and has been writing an ongoing based on the eponymous member of the Avengers. Filling in for art duties, he praises his collaborator, saying, “If you haven’t read Tom King’s work its so good. You need to check out his other work because I’m so happy to be working with him.”
His charisma and passion for talking about comics is easily contagious. Before he could get any work in comics however, Walsh was creating posters for concerts. Now he’s happily looking forward to what the future holds.
“I’m in such a good place right now, if I went back and I did something differently back then who knows where I’d be. I went through some really hard times with being unhappy with my output and thinking that my work was just not of a high quality,” he said.
“If I could impart one thing of advice on those that are coming up it’s that you won’t always be happy with what you’re doing. But to be at peace that you’re not always going to be happy with the stuff you’re doing but know that you can get better so keep striving and working for greatness in your own work.”
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By: Yara Farran
I’m currently sitting in a near-empty classroom. Some students are participating in an impromptu calculus study session. I can hear the anxiety in their voices as they discuss inverse functions. But I can tell that they’re curious, too — maybe even a little excited.
Calculus is a world of its own. Learning about functions and derivatives unlocks some of life’s mysteries. Calculus is a special language, and these students are speaking their truths through numbers and algebraic formulas. But, this is not a piece about calculus. Not really, anyway.
This is a piece about poetry. Slam poetry, more specifically. And in this moment — me in this near-empty classroom with a group of first-year students fumbling their way through unfamiliar math — I am reminded of the sheer strength and beauty of slam.
I now want to write a poem about my broken ties with calculus, and tell an audience just how good it feels to be understood amongst the clutter of numbers, letters and decimals. Slam is a language too.
If you have yet to be introduced to slam poetry, let me be the first to introduce you. I used to be in your position, but then I was warmly welcomed by Hamilton Youth Poets (HYP). HYP is a community-focused organization that supports emerging young writers, poets and emcees by providing them with leadership opportunities to develop their literary and public speaking skills.
Like calculus, slam poetry makes magic from moments; it’s a delicate balance between literary and performance art. Slam is rhythmic, having an intimate relationship with hip-hop and rap. It’s narrative-based, using the art of storytelling to intervene in the world. Most importantly, it gives a voice to its speaker and creates a space in which the poet and their audience can contribute to critical conversations that lead to tangible change in their communities. In short, slam poetry is a tool — it’s a methodology.
There’s also a competitive undertone to slam poetry. A poetry slam gathers performers under one roof where they present their best pieces of work during multiple rounds. Judges will typically give each performance a score from one to ten, and the audience will make it known whether or not they agree with the scores dished out. They’ll protest to give the poet the love they deserve with extra snaps, claps or comments. Slams are fully immersive and communal experiences. Everyone gets a say.
Ultimately, though, the competition is a means and not an end. We applaud the poet, not the points. We use this forum to celebrate and debate one another, in a respectful and safe environment.
Anyone and everyone can slam. Poetry is a universal language through which people can speak about their unique experiences and contexts. There’s no right way to write, and every poet has their own performance style. Find your voice. Hell, develop your voice and then own your voice. It’s okay if you don’t know where to start. There’s a community of people excited to support you in HYP. If you’re not from Hamilton or the surrounding area, be sure to research local groups dedicated to the literary and performance arts. Slam culture is thriving, so there’s likely a group near you. If not, who’s to say you can’t be the person to start one?
Now, as I finish writing this, the calculus study session is wrapping up. While scribbling on the chalk board, the instructor looks at his students and makes an unexpected comment: “Always allow for serendipity in your life.”
I heard about HYP for the first time during a chance encounter. Four years later I took the plunge and got involved. But, this is not a piece about serendipity. Not really anyway.
HYP is active all-year round. Every third week of the month, we host a poetry slam at the Spice Factory — and the energy is contagious. Around 100 people attend with a mix of familiar and fresh faces. During the upcoming slam, on March 20, HYP will be featuring Winona Linn, a tour-de-force of a spoken word artist that you don’t want to miss. Alongside the competition, there’s also an open mic providing slam-goers with another avenue for poetic expression.
As the spring roars to a start, HYP will host the largest youth poetry festival in Canada, the annual Louder Than A Bomb Canada Poetry Festival (LTABC) from May 5-14. During the 10-day festival, LTABC offers different workshops and competitive events with the goal of fostering creativity and community, by bringing young people together across racial and socio-economic lines. The festival promises to be a massive occasion for all parties involved.
Two special events that take place during LTABC are the University Slam, which is specifically geared towards engaging post-secondary-aged artists, and the Emcee Olympics, where 16 rappers battle in four rounds of competition.
With both events, there are great prizes to be won (like money and an opportunity to record on HYP’s mixtape) and great friends to be made.
Cover Photo Credit: Yara Farran
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By: Crystal Lobo
The “SHIFT: Environmentally Responsible Print Practice Exhibition,” is currently on display at the McMaster Museum of Art. Professors Judy Major-Girardin and Briana Palmer present this exhibit, which displays work from applicants across North America.
Printmaking typically consists of heavy chemical use and other toxic substances. This exhibition aims to approach this art form from an environmentally responsible perspective.
78 artists across Canada and the United States applied to have their work showcased. Only 28 were chosen.
“We really wanted to maintain a high standard of quality. So all along this initiative, the idea has been that we can do things in a more responsible way without sacrificing quality,” said Major-Girardin.
The exhibit served as one part of the greater movement towards environmentally responsible art. The second component was a symposium held on Fri., Feb. 26th. This symposium consisted of workshops displaying the processes used by the artists of the exhibit in creating their works. It also included a discussion panel, as well as showcasing of faculty and student work.
“It was a really kind of lively day of exchange. Everybody was able to talk to people who had like interests and really begin to build the network … We felt like we got the word out in a short amount of time with art pieces and the symposium,” said Major-Girardin.
The exhibit shows the McMaster community that meaningful change in society stems from small circles, something Major-Girardin takes great pride in.
“One of the quotes that I always reference is one from Margaret Reed that goes something like ‘Don't ever doubt the power of a group of small individuals in changing the world because really that's the only way that the world has ever changed with a group of small committed passionate individual.’ So I guess that's the message. We really are empowered to make change here and it starts with a small group but that builds and can build a whole movement,” said Major-Girardin.
Judy Major-Girardin would like to recognize the Forward with Integrity President’s Grant for funding this project.
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For Amber Wilson, Vice-President of Internal Affairs with the McMaster Humanities Society, art is a huge part of her life — and everyone else’s. “There's art everywhere. I know it's corny, but there is,” the fourth year Philosophy student said.
The universality of art is something Art Matters Week aims to draw attention to. A collaboration between the MHS and Humanities SRA members, Art Matters Week offers a variety of free events for students in all faculties to enjoy. “This year we've really opened it up to the whole school, which is really important so we've changed the focus from humanities to art and the arts,” Wilson explained.
Running from Mar. 7 to 11, Art Matters Week is made up of a diverse array of activities and events. These include a panel discussion involving a member of each faculty explaining how they use art in their teaching, workshops led by Humanities-affiliated clubs, an arts alumni mixer and a wine and cheese night at the McMaster Museum of Art. Wilson and the Art Matters Week planning team hope these events will appeal to students in all faculties.
Wilson is most excited for the events of Mar. 11, however. Between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. the MUSC Atrium will be transformed into an art gallery. “We have students from all faculties submitting their art. We're bringing Art Crawl to us. So we'll have tables set up with Mac student art and at the same time the Jazz Ensemble and the Flute Ensemble will be playing,” she said, adding that student art submissions are welcome until Mar. 10.
The exhibit will also feature Robbie J, a well-known live painter. “He's going to bring all of his materials and you can just come and watch him paint ... In his 'artist's requirements' he said it's required that he have a fun atmosphere. So however whatever's going inspires him, he's going to put it into that piece. And then he's going to be donating that piece to us.”
This year marks a new chapter for Art Matters Week. In the past, the week had a minimal presence on campus. Events were sparse and quiet, the highlight being a coffeehouse at Bridges. “Gauging interest is what we're trying to do this year, so if people are excited about it, we're just going to keep making it bigger,” Wilson explained.
She added that she was inspired to revamp the event after giving a campus tour. “One of the parents of the tour I was giving asked if I liked living in Hamilton ... There’s so much culture in Hamilton and a lot of people don't realize it.” As this is the first year the events have been planned to have a greater reach on campus, most of the events are tied to McMaster. However, Art Crawl and other off-campus events will also be promoted throughout the week.
Wilson hopes the events will entice students to look at all the ways art factors into their lives and the Hamilton community at large. “People don't realize how amazing the arts community is in Hamilton ... it's just sitting there and it's waiting to be realized.”
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By: Jennifer La Grassa
Escape rooms, ping pong bars, board game cafés and now paint lounges — unique social activity locations seem to be in great demand.
Over reading week, myself and a few friends went to one of Paintlounge’s downtown Toronto locations. My housemate and I had become obsessed with the idea of social painting after watching fashion blogger Tess Christine vlog about her painting experience. Within the short time that I discovered Paintlounge, I began to see friends on my Instagram feed posting about their adventure.
Paintlounge is exactly what it sounds like, a small lounge area with a café and a painting section filled with easels, brushes, paints and fresh white canvases, all ready for the beginner or expert painter to get down and dirty. The walls, stools, easels and painting smocks are splattered with paint — whether deliberately done or by mistake, the ambiance it created assisted my ability to immerse myself within the role of a creatively troubled painter.
We had signed up online for the “Winter’s Night” class, a moderate level adult painting workshop. Right at the beginning, the instructor told the class that she would not be walking us through the painting process step by step, which was great as it allowed everyone to work at their own pace. Instead, the instructor provided us with her expert advice, like which section of the painting to start with, the paint brushes we would want to use and the colours that matched those in the sample piece. Her words of advice were to get creative, the end goal didn’t have to be identical to the sample painting. My internal mantra was “you paid $40.00 for this Jennifer, don’t screw it up.”
Even without an artistic bone in my body, the final product didn’t turn out as bad as I feared. By the end it wasn’t even about the painting, it was about the experience as a whole. Performing a creative activity within a social setting was extremely therapeutic. After the first few brush strokes, I suddenly felt at ease and became fully absorbed in the painting process. The many mistakes I made along the way were laughed off amongst my friends and after almost three hours we stepped back from our easels to admire the paintings that we had collectively created.
Looking back, the experience has helped me appreciate the current fad of adult colouring books serving as stress relievers. Colouring and painting engages areas of the brain that deal with problem solving and organizational processes, along with the motor cortex. As well, it’s known to help reduce anxiety and employ positive thinking.
If Toronto is too far, a number of similar sessions are hosted in numerous cities, including Hamilton, called “Paint Nite.”
So McMaster, I urge you to put away the books, the phone, the laptop and the problems of your everyday life and sign up for a therapy session at the Paintlounge in exchange for the bar or pick up a colouring book if you lack the motivation to go to the gym. Creative or not, your mind will thank you for the artistic break.
Photo Credit: The Urban Craze
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This semester the McMaster Museum of Art is infusing art and healthcare onto the same canvas. On display until March 26, Picturing Wellness is a two-part exhibition that concentrates on using a health-humanities perspective as a guide in understanding resilience through treatment, care and social action.
The first segment, Picturing Wellness I: From Adversity to Resilience, is currently on display at the museum. Coordinated by Christine Wekerle, Associate Professor of Paediatrics at McMaster, the didactic exhibition examines how visual literacy can be used by health professionals to develop their observational and empathetic skills.
The exhibition developed out of two collaborative courses at McMaster, offered by the Faculty of Health Sciences: “Engaging and Educating in Child Maltreatment” and “The Art of Seeing.”
“We really wanted to have that opportunity to engage the student community in what really is social action,” said Wekerle.
The scientific basis of healthcare is often thought of as being strictly separate from the arts. Yet, as Wekerle hopes to demonstrate with the exhibit, there is considerable overlap between the two fields. “Both in [visual] arts and in sciences, we rely on systematic observation, natural experiment, and interdisciplinary methods,” she explained. “Even when considering something such as surgery, the process of determining which actions to take and where to make incisions, these decisions can certainly be considered artful.”
The fact that art can enhance evidence-based healthcare practice is due to the observational skills gained from visual literacy. Specifically, visual literacy entails for perceptual accuracy of details and a template for systematically moving through a visual.
“[The exhibition] aims to show that art and science both have a lot of emphasis on detail,” explained Wekerle, “because much of the details [in healthcare] are open to interpretation, education in visual literacy provides practice in a no right-or-wrong situation.”
“Visual literacy means that you develop a language and tolerance for ambiguous situations,” Wekerle added, “when you encounter a distressful situation and you are capable to have a very systematic method which mimics the scientific method, you begin to realize that science and art are very closely aligned.”
Picturing Wellness I features a number of works from the McMaster collection, including those by David Blackwood, Blake Debassige, Michelle Bellemare and Betta Goodwin. The pressing issue of mental health and child-abuse resonates from a significant number of these works.
“Collectively we can play a part in alleviating the stigma for mental health, especially in men. The MSU Mental Health Strategy has a vision of different ways to encourage McMaster students to reach out, and reinforcing the notion that reaching out is resilience,” affirmed Wekerle.
“We know that child abuse is unfortunately also a common experience, and one that should be disclosed as soon as possible, to ensure better mental health as an outcome,” she added.
Picturing Wellness II: Museums and Social Engagement reflects on broader issues concerning trauma, body, memory, medicine, history, health and the museum. The opening reception will take place on Jan. 14 followed by a panel discussion on Feb. 25.
Photo Credits: Jon White/Photo Editor
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By: Nicole Vasarevic
Do Ho Suh’s art installation, 348 West 22nd St, Apt A, New York, NY 10011 (bathroom) is currently part of the Are You Experienced? exhibit at the Art Gallery Of Hamilton. The first time this piece caught my attention was in my media critique course last week. I am not a contemporary art freak. Going to the AGH to see Do Ho Suh’s installation was the first time I’ve stepped foot in an art exhibit that was not a required class trip.
The piece is a life scale model of the bathroom where Do Ho Suh grew up and is part of a larger installation of the whole apartment 348 West 22nd St, Apt A, New York, NY 10011. I have never stepped foot in this said apartment, however the reasoning behind his installation is all too familiar.
Moving away from home is a shock, whether your home is four hours away or, as in my case, 45 minutes. You leave behind your place of childhood and transition into a new “adult” life. Moving out means leaving behind that security blanket that is being a child. The idea that your actions are thoughts do not have a permanent effect on your future has been left behind.
Do Ho Suh’s installation leaves you feeling empty and unprepared. The blueish transparent walls allow you to look into the most private room of a home. The piece stirs the nostalgic and uncomfortable feelings that come when thinking about childhood. The quiet and stillness of the art exhibit amplifies that uncomfortable feeling that resonates off the piece.
I felt as though I shouldn’t have been looking at this bathroom – I was peering into someone’s private thoughts. A bathroom is so much more that just a small space with a toilet and a bathroom. It is the only place while growing up where you are completely yourself, by yourself. The bathroom is where you can hide and be alone with your thoughts.
Do Ho Suh’s piece turns an everyday space into a case of loneliness, nostalgia and the unsettling truth that you are not a child anymore.
Radiation and art history are typically not disciplines that feed off one another, but a new exhibit at the McMaster Museum of Art does just that.
The Unvarnished Truth, which opened on Sept. 5, seeks to find the hidden secrets of renaissance paintings. The exhibit uses modern screening and radiation technologies to examine painting technique, materials and even the hidden works of art under the famous paintings.
Nearly 30 researchers were involved with the project, from engineers to historians. Brandi Lee MacDonald is one of these researchers.
MacDonald conceived the idea for the exhibit in 2010. She studied anthropology throughout her undergraduate and graduate degrees at McMaster, eventually focusing on pigment and its use throughout human history.
Over the course of her work on the exhibit, she was also able to work with radiation. By combining radiation with anthropology and art history, she was able to discover the secrets of paintings within McMaster’s collection. MacDonald began working in the university’s nuclear reactor during her undergrad, and was excited to put that experience to use.
Through the exhibit, her painstaking research has finally come to life. The nine paintings in the exhibit all yield exciting new information about the work and the artist. MacDonald’s personal favourite is a Van Gogh painting which, when scrutinized using radiation, showed an earlier, incomplete portrait. “It was obvious he had scrapped [the portrait] and painted the landscape over top,” MacDonald said.
While the hidden treasures have been rewarding, MacDonald has also enjoyed seeing the real world applications of research techniques she was taught. She believes her research is important in the way it makes this newfound information accessible to the masses.
The Unvarnished Truth will remain in the McMaster Museum of Art until Dec. 19, after which it will tour other galleries across the country. While it remains in Hamilton, there will be numerous events focusing on the initiative, from tours to guest lectures to panel discussions, many of which will be lead by MacDonald.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
The Museum hours are as follows:
