Last fall I entered a contest with Nightingale Music. This is the film clip of penguins that they wanted people to write music for. I have just added more instruments, faded out the location sound, and remastered my composition. It was hard to find a good sound for these critters, as it’s not a clip with specific emotions or dramatic action. So, does my music add any feeling for you when you watch it?
The time has come to nominate your favourite Eagle and you could win 2 tickets to The Great Eagle Gala and Auction, a copy of the “Orcas, Bears & Eagles” hardcover book, and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory chocolate eagles. Of course I would love you to nominate my eagle, titled “It’s Our World“, but hey, no pressure. Your vote must be received on the BC Lions site or email by January 27. So get going! Head on over to the site to check out pictures of the eagles (address below), and the best way to vote seems to be to send an email to info@lionsbc.ca Thanks in advance for your support! 
Tiana
It Starts With A Pencil ATC by Kathy and Tiana
Last month I was given the chance to complete an ATC “Jam”. Misti Ko’s latest mailart project has her sending out a series of ATC “jams” – artist trading cards that she has started and then asks other artists to complete and send them back to her. “Jam” cards are something like the visual equivalent to a musical jam.
All the cards she sends out for this project will start in roughly the same way, with a pencil. Where they go from there is out of her control.
Kathy turned the pencil print into a hedgehog drawing. I contemplated a few ideas and then settled on making it a giant hedgehog along Vancouver’s English Bay. I drew from a photo of a peace march I was on in the 80s.
Get in touch with Misti if you would like to play. ko (dot) misti (at) gmail (dot) com And have a look at her website for more examples:
Cover art by Tiana Kaczor for song "Tangled Garden"
“Tangled Garden” is Tiana’s New Year’s present to you. You can download it for free on her Reverbnation site.
Last fall I wrote several piano compositions. It seemed that every time I sat down at my acoustic piano a new melody came up and I had to run upstairs to my studio, turn on my computer, hit record, and then try to play the melody again on my keyboard. I feel many can stand on their own as solo piano pieces, but I also wanted to see what I could do with adding a little orchestration. It is an improvisation, a musical idea. The vision I got while playing it was of a garden, tangled and overgrown, waiting to be tended and loved.
The photo I’ve used for the cover art is from when I was in Bella Bella. This was a lovely walk in the forest near a salmon stream, that unfortunately had a lot of garbage dumped in one spot.
Education Stamps Poster by Tiana Kaczor for Mail Art Olympix
If you are on Vancouver Island between now and December 31 drop in to the Comox Valley Art Gallery for the Mail Art Olympix show. Self-portraits, Artist Stamps, and Artist Manifestos from over 350 artists, from 46 countries are on display. I submitted the Education Stamps poster pictured here. Like stamps collected during WWII to raise funds for the war effort my poster refers to the current funding needs of our education system. Could we solve it with education stamps? Let’s hope we don’t have to resort to that! The text was directly inspired from a WWII stamps booklet.
If you can’t make it to Comox the show will also be traveling to The Penticton Art Gallery, opening January 22, and will be in Vancouver at The Havana Gallery opening February 21. Thanks to Ed Varney for organizing and curating this egalitarian event.
Analog Wench cover art by Tiana from a photo of Mushroom Studios
Well it’s not such a new song, but it’s the latest I completed and uploaded to my sites a few weeks ago. At that time I didn’t have time to promote it fully because I was busy writing the film clip score for the Nightingale contest and doing some home renovations. So if you haven’t had a listen yet, please do, and let me know what you think. It’s long, but I like my keyboard slide at the end so I hope it keeps your interest for the full 7 minutes. Comments I’ve had so far have been great. Thanks!
I recently found out that I am #6 out of 313 on Reverbnation’s band charts for the category of “Other” for the area including southwestern BC and it seems at least northwestern Washington State. Sign up as a fan, if you’re not already, and hopefully I’ll reach #1!
Click on the link to watch a short video from Telus TV about Artist Trading Cards at the Richmond Art Gallery. I didn’t get interviewed but you can see me in the background and there are several shots of my hands looking through the cards.
The final trading session at the end of the show was very energetic and I got a wide variety of international and local cards.
http://www.mztvfiles.com/files/TELUSCOD/OCTOBER09/ARTISTCARDS/index.html
One wall of ATCs at the Richmond Art Gallery
Awhile ago I responded to an email call out for volunteers to help Sarah MacDougall with a video for her song “Cry Wolf”. I met my friend Chris for brunch in Gastown, and then we headed into an alley to do our silent acting in the mini crowd scenes. Great song, and fun video. At the time it seemed hard to dance without music, but as seen here, it worked!
Artist Trading Cards at the Richmond Art Gallery
Tiana Kaczor invites you to the 4th annual Artist Trading Cards Exhibition at the Richmond Art Gallery. ATC’s are miniature works of art created on a 2 ½” x 3 ½” (64 x 89 mm) surface. (Like hockey cards) This show has original artworks or small editions self-produced by artists from all over the world. There were no restrictions on art materials, meaning the possibilities for creativity are endless, from collage to manga to fabric art. Tiana has 9 cards of animal head patterns done in watercolour and pen.
18 September to 30 October 2009
Richmond Art Gallery – 7700 Minoru Gate
Closing Celebration & Trading Session: Friday, 30 October, 7–8:30pm
Recent events in British Columbia’s political landscape confirm my belief that we should be increasing education, not cutting it. Numerous organizations will be receiving less, or no money this year. Parent advisory councils are getting $8.5 million less. BC sports will be without $14 million. At first glance it looked like arts and culture groups were getting more, but of the $23 million given for grants $10.9 is marked for the BC Arts Council which last year received it’s money from a different source. So my calculations say that the arts are actually getting about $5 million less. The craziest cut seems to be the $130,000 to fund BC school sports. This miniscule amount could surely be taken from elsewhere. Those in power just do not seem to understand that arts and sports offer so much more to individual lives and society than just a pretty picture or a fun game. It is ironic that a government that strongly supports the big business of the Olympics does not support the encouragement and training of future atheletes and sports fans. Or that they are willing to give approximately $12,000 to any school that wants to organize an event around the Olympic Torch Relay, but if a school wants to produce a play, or fix a leaky roof, or hold a music performance that does not connect to the Torch relay there will have to be numerous bake sales, raffles, and door to door chocolate almond sales.
Perhaps the government is hoping for more volunteers and donations to fill the gaps left by this decrease in funding. Lately I have had no trouble finding places to donate my time and expertise. But volunteering does not pay for my living expenses. And anyone who knows me knows my needs and wants are small. It just doesn’t seem fair that I gave up a full time teaching job so I could move back to the Lower Mainland to help by parents get through some major health problems, and now I cannot find similar work here. But these recent cuts are more than just a personal gripe I have with the government because my chance of finding a job has just been made harder. I believe our society as a whole is being hurt. The test for a good government is how it manages the sick, the young, and the poor. They do not have the energy, the voting power or knowledge, or the money to help themselves through all the trials of life and thus those in power must help them.
It can’t be easy balancing the government’s budget, but I know from balancing my personal budget that I can’t spend money on a party if my rent isn’t paid, and paying for a college course today is an investment for my future. My decisions are based on knowledge I’ve gained through the people in my life and the well rounded education I have received, and continue to pursue. Perhaps if our elected officials were more knowledgable in the area they are governing, and those at the top had a more well rounded education, then budgets would be better administered.
Below is a letter by Julie McIntyre, Artist, President, CARFAC BC. People are encouraged to use it as an example for what they can write to their MLA. Raise your voice, because a province without art, and sports, and schools, and the environment, will be a province with a dismal future.
To the Honorable Kevin Kruegar, Premier Gordon Campbell and Honorable Dr. Margaret MacDiarmid,
How do we get the Liberal government to recognize that with arts funding we are not talking subsidy, but deep and enduring investment? We’re speaking about protecting jobs and raising tax revenue in an unlimited growth potential market currently estimated at 80 billion dollars a year. The true investors of the arts are the artists themselves who have always subsidize their work, but that passion and commitment should raise the value of art, not diminish it. Our major municipal governments, all other provincial governments in Canada and even the Federal Conservative government are maintaining or increasing their arts budget funding during this recessionary year, because they understand the measurable and incalculable benefits of the cultural sector. What will it take to get this Liberal government to build on past funding and let the creative sector build a new, sustainable economy? One word: Vision.
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