East-end arty things
[attach]876[/attach]Since I’m not a handy person by any stretch of the imagination, I have a great admiration for people who conceive and create things — beautiful things — that people can use to adorn themselves and their homes.
Here’s a shortlist of only a few of my fave east-end artists who have forged businesses out of their talents. Their creations, by the way, are all on my wish-list of pieces I hope to own one day.
Based around the Danforth and Broadview Aves. area, Victoria Feistner is a graphic designer by day, sculptural-art-for-the-head creator by night. Translation: she makes wicked hats and head accessories.
She’s always been a crafty chick but started making cute fleece hats a few years ago for friends. They were so well received that she’s slowly building a custom business under the name The Emporium Esoterica.
It all started with a toque that looks like a piggy, made as a going away present for a pal whose nickname was The Little Pig. With button eyes, a fleece pig nose and fleece ears sticking out of a pink fleece toque (check out her website for adorable pics), this little pig should have no probs looking darling when heading to market.
There are also bunnies with long droopy ears, kitties, and a hilarious squid hat. They range from about $25 to $40 Kid versions are available.
My ultimate faves: Victoria’s new fascinator head pieces — essentially retro inspired head accessories made with feathers, silk flowers and netting.
If my rather paltry description doesn’t tickle your fancy, consider this: Victoria’s pieces are truly wearable works of art. I donned one with green peacock feathers sprouting over my head to a TIFF fundraising hat party and was unofficially selected as a top hat wearee of the evening.
Prices start at about $40 for a one-of-a-kind fascinator — remember, they’re custom so the sky’s the limit. If you want to stand out at a holiday party, consider getting one made with the long fluffy feathers; Victoria tells me she can often turn a piece around in a week or two.
If you’d rather look fab in an understated way, the barrettes with flat feathers, starting at about $25, could take you from day to night and back again.
[url=http://pamopro.com/tee/]www.pamopro.com/tee[/url].
I’ve been longing to spruce up my walls with an original work of art by Riverdale artist Joanna Strong — except the piece I love, one of the few from a particular series that hasn’t been sold, is out of my price range, alas.
A visual artist with a diverse portfolio, Joanna paints everything from landscapes to figurative work (check out her website and you’ll see her range of painting styles). But whether she’s depicting a flower or a rubber band or a mango, Joanna has a way of instilling every object with pure magic.
Her latest series, mostly oil on canvas, builds on the success of her Entanglement series, a corpus of 37 paintings — all but one, have been sold. Essentially they’re colourful rubber bands in different configurations, and rubber band balls on black backgrounds.
Her new batch of work that plays on the rubber band ball theme is more sophisticated and not sold out — yet. When I see Joanna at the launch of the Queen West Art Crawl at the Gladstone Hotel a few weeks back, she tells me she’s graduated from plain rubber bands to written-on bands.
According to her, it was a big step.
One piece, a painting with a mass of red, black and white rubber bands, is called “the News”. It has various symbols on the rubber bands, $3,600.
The painting I gravitate toward is called “Gone Shopping, Back Soon” — go figure, huh? The rubber bands here do indeed have words on them, like “trade” and “Peru”. The work is meant to symbolize globalization but for me it has a more personal shopping message.
Check out the Elastic series showing at the Campbell House Museum on Queen St. West until Oct. 31.
[url=http://www.joannastrong.com/]www.joannastrong.com[/url].
I invite my man to the first-ever fashion show of Riverside designer and business owner Christina Bergström.
My reasons are manifold: I love fashion shows; I always lust after the clothing Christina sells in her Queen St. East shop, Bergström Originals; and I want my guy to consider doing a shopping trip with me so I can appreciate them at a closer range, if you catch my drift.
The show, held Sept. 16 at the Rouge Concept Gallery just a few doors over from her store, showcased Christina’s fall 2009 collection.
As far as fashion shows go, it didn’t disappoint. It had a retro go-go feel — no doubt helped along by the three models who struck a Charlie’s Angels silhouette pose at the beginning — crossed with a contemporary, slightly bohemian vibe.
The Swedish-born designer is known for her simple designs, beautiful fabrics and lush jewel-toned colour palettes. The Origami Dress in black, plum or chartreuse is made with a thick jersey fabric and features an angular floppy collar. For $198, it looks fab with the Obi-me belt in bronze or bordeaux, $62. Better yet, it can be worn as a dress or a tunic.
I’m crushing on the Equinox Top, $138, a shimmering polyester spandex scoop-necked fitted tunic with gorgeous ruching on the sleeves and bodice. The one in magenta goes wonderfully with the grey Swingtime Cape, $129, and the charcoal Grace Kelly Pencil Skirt, $174.
Christina handcuts much of her pieces and produces them in small runs (the largest being 20–30 pieces and the smallest about 5). That means you can be practically guaranteed of not bumping into someone wearing the same dress.
I hope to go shopping with the man yet.
750 Queen St. East, 416-595-7320, [url=http://www.bergstromoriginals.com/]www.bergstromoriginals.com[/url].