Little City

Artist Profile: sketches by Brian Wong

Brian was hired to sketch during a friend’s wedding. When he was done he bound them up in a book for the bride and groom. Take a look they’re truly delightful (you can click on each one to see it larger.)

In retrospect: student film by Jesse Hair

Back in 2003 I made a film on Super 8.

I was in undergrad at U of T, and I was getting a hankering for expressing my creative side. Hart House was putting on a course in Super 8 filmmaking, and I decided to go for it. After a few lessons we were sent out into the wild to make our own movies. Later on I would discover most of my classmates went the serious, ‘arty’ route. Not me though. I decided I was going to make an old-fashioned silent film, complete with slapstick humour.

So, on the coldest day of the winter in 2003, I set out with two friends to make my movie. We made Philosopher’s Walk our set and went to work. With tons of creative input and dedicated acting from my friends (you try rolling in the snow over and over on the coldest day of the winter!), the film got made.

It was a lot of fun to make. It brings back good memories, and it still makes me laugh. I wouldn’t call it “good,” but the way my friends make those faces, the energy they put into performing those ridiculous roles, the sheer absurdity of the whole scenario . . . it all combines to make something wonderful. I know that 10 years from now, 20 years from now, *30* years from now, I’ll still be able to watch this little film and laugh my butt off.

Artist profile: Pipeline Studios Sketch Club

by Marco Bucci


by Brian Wong

Sometimes Marco gets together with other illustrators and painters at his work and they draw on their lunch break. Usually they pick a theme – this time it was “mythology.”  It’s sort of amazing that people  who draw and paint for a living would choose to do even more of it on their lunch break – but somehow that’s how passion works.

Redefining “making it”

As a photographer trying to “make it” I often get absorbed in the ridiculous notion that “I’m running out of time to make beautiful things.” With this idea in mind I recently (and almost magically) found myself at a retrospective of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson’s at the Chicago Art Institute. I stepped into the first room showcasing photographs he took in his “early years” and was awed. It was a poignant reminder that, regardless of our successes and failures, many of us have yet to emerge from this fledgling stage of a lifetime career.

Later I came upon a room that mapped out his life over 70 years. The sheer mass of detail about his travels, the people he met and photographs he took made me feel young. The whole thing made my chest swelled with the possibility that each life holds. A lesson: given the gift of a lifetime, Cartier-Bresson made a lot of influential and beautiful photographs. He put in the time, perfected his craft, coined ideas and inspired generations.

The experience was an up-lifting and eye-opening reminder that “making it well” indeed takes a lifetime. Slow and steady my friends!

Eye candy: Marcel the shell with shoes on

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

A little smile for Little City. I watch this video and it makes me feel all nice. Let’s make something really fun this week.
(Respect to Ben Harris for sending this in.)

Mix tape: Summer in miniature

I hope this mix of old and new feels like a mini summer day off.

You start off with some jittery hot beats, appropriate for sunglasses, swagger, and
parties on patios. Toss in some ice cream, a book by the lake, and by nighttime,
you’re cruising home on your bike, zipping fast under a canopy of trees. The air is
cool, the beats are cool, and so—obviously—are you.

1. Rose Garden—Shad
2. Cliché Hot—Radio Radio
3. XXXO—M.I.A.
4. As Serious as Your Life—Fourtet
5. Feel It All Around—Washed Out
6. I Think I’m in Love—Beck
7. Sure Thing—St. Germain
8. Daniel—Bat for Lashes
9. Intro—The xx

Written by special contributor Ali Symons.

Artist profile: photos by Dar Mustafa

Dar was in Albania exactly a year ago today. She took these photos there.