Well, Canadian Style is now officially over. I will be posting a last round-up of the event, probably tomorrow, but for now I just want to announce that as far as the tees go, there are now only 6 left, in the following sizes: 2 red Smalls, 3 white Smalls, and 1 white Medium. So if you still want one, and one of theses sizes suits you, this is your last chance. All the info on how to order them can be found here.
Update: The count is now 1 red Small, 3 white Smalls, and 1 white Medium.
Our red wall (part of the “Red + White/Read + Write” interactive installation) has gotten quite the makeover over the past week, and it’s going to be a sad moment to have to paint it over (back to white) on Sunday night (which will mark the end of Canadian Style).
I’ve created a Flickr photoset that includes all the material I created for the Canadian Style event, including the two placemats that you see here.
I’d like to do a roundup of places on the web that have mentioned Canadian Style, so if you have mentioned the event on your site (or have seen a post about it somewhere), please leave a link in the comment section (or email me). I know that it’s been mentioned at the Shift blog (where I’ve now picked up the Mr. Maple monicker), TSiG, Archinect, Tokyo Art Beat, LDK, Kissui.net, and Groovisual Diary.
Groovisual Diary’s Toe makes it out to Cafe Pause to have a look at Canadian Style and puts up a few images. I was supposed to meet her there, the first time I’d meet her face-to-face, but I’ve been hit by a cold (I think I was probably holding it back mentally throughout the CS preparations, and after the opening party my body finally let out).
One thing I wasn’t really expecting with the Canadian Style event — or rather didn’t really think about — was the fact that there might be some interest from the Canadian press. Last Friday I did a phone interview with a Canadian reporter, with the article appearing in Saturday’s edition of Canada’s NATIONAL POST newspaper (the article was also carried in a few city papers, like the CALGARY HERALD, the WINDSOR STAR, and the EDMONTON JOURNAL). Also, this week I’m being interviewed by another Canadian reporter at the cafe itself. Makes me realize that I should have prepared a proper press release for the event to be sent out to Canadian news outlets. There’s always next time…
I just got back from the cafe after the Canadian Style party, and already Yuki has a bunch of pics up on Flickr of me. I am so happy with the turnout — I think we even beat the turnout for the Mamma Gun party, and we also sold out of beer! Huge thanks to everyone who came and helped make the evening a memorable one.
Last post before the opening party at Cafe Pause for Canadian Style (from 19:00). I just added a few pics to the Canadian Style photoset, including the one you see here, of the “Red + White/Read + Write” installation (where you are invited to leave your markings with white chalk on the wall). Hope to see many of you at the party, and please add to the wall!
You can read all of my Gridskipper posts here.
As mentioned in the previous post, Marc Xavier LeBlanc compiled 8 great mixes of Canadian artists for the event, all under various themes. It’s basically an amazing collection of the Canadian independent scene, and here are the mix titles: CANADA… ELECTRO POP, CANADA… FRANCO POP ROCK, CANADA GOES INSTRUMENTAL, CANADA JAZZ… READY OR NOT, CANADA… POP FRANÇAIS, CANADA… POP ROCKS, CANADA… POP ROCKS 2, and CANADA… INDIE POP.
You can view the complete playlists here. The playlists are also listed on placemats at the cafe.
The other main participant of Canadian Style is photographer/DJ Marc Xavier LeBlanc.
Marc Xavier LeBlanc is a photographer, artist, graphic designer, music promoter, musician, DJ and radio show host. He’s been nominated for the third year in a row as “photographer of the year†at the East Coast Music Awards, and has won numourous competitions and prizes with his photography on the internet. With a meticulous spirit, he seeks simplicity in all that surrounds him. His medium of choice is photography, though he experiments with other forms and methods such as sculpture, video, graphic design and mix media. He draws much of his inspiration from music, travel, and anything else that soothes his ear, pleases his touch, or happens in front of his camera lens.
Marc’s pieces on show include: 6 large prints from his “Lomography Series,” another series of smaller lomo prints called “(((echo lomo echo))) [the making of],” and an installation of light switches that goes by the name of “The Minimalism Series.” Also, he compiled the 8 mixes of Canadian artists that are being played during the event, and a Mac is setup to project a slideshow of some of the cover ideas, and general “Canadiana,” he conceived for the project.
Also part of the photography aspect of the show are 4 prints (on silver paper) of Heather Eve Sproat’s “Eastern Sea Studies.”
One of the main participants of Canadian Style is Tokyo-based Canadian designer Sonia Chow.
Sonia Chow is a multi-disciplinary designer based in Tokyo. Her achievements include 19 professional awards for graphic design and furniture, and a poster in the collection at the National Gallery of Canada. Her work has been shown in numerous publications, including ELLE Deco Japan and I.D. Magazine’s (USA) 50th Annual Design Review. She has a Bachelor of Design from NSCAD University (Canada). To see more of her work, pick up the March 2006 AXIS magazine and look for “Creators’ Works.”
Included in the show: the “UNILIGHT” (pictured above) floor lamp, the “TWO BITS” block print, and the “KAMO KEN” sculpture, as well as an interactive installation called “Red + White/Read + Write,” where you are invited to add your white chalk markings on a section of the cafe’s red walls (specially painted for the event).
I’ve put up a Flickr photoset of 35 pictures taken earlier today of the Canadian Style event. Still missing are pictures of Marc Xavier LeBlanc’s “The Minimalism Series” and Sonia Chow’s “Red + White/Read + Write” interactive installation (I’ll add those tomorrow).
Canadian Style is officially on at Cafe Pause! I just have time to post one quick pic, but I’ll be updating tonight with plenty more, including lots of info on the various installations. For readers who are a bit tired of my Canadian Style promotion, skip reading tonight and come back tomorrow.
For Canadian Style, I’ve also created plenty of signage. Above are the profiles for the two featured artists (I’ll post the text in another post): designer Sonia Chow and photographer Marc Xavier LeBlanc (who also created all the Canadian Style music mixes — more on that later). Marc’s card is actually at the same scale as the others, but a bit longer. As with the menu, fonts for English text are in Helvetica Neue 75 Bold, with Japanese text in Osaka.
Another component of the event is an interactive installation, “Red + White/Read + Write,” that was conceived by Sonia. More on that in a separate post. What you see here is the instruction card that will be put on the wall.
As you all know, we have some Canadian Style t-shirts for sale (which you can of course purchase online), and so a small card for that.
Finally, anyone who has been to Cafe Pause has probably noticed that they usually keep one or two 4-seat tables reserved for larger groups, and so I made a sign for that also.
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He will be contributing to the upcoming fifth editions of 
