Mooky's voice

 Mooky came in this evening to lend her voice to the protagonist of Gumshoe, the investigator "Ace Pestos". 

Puppet recording

We recorded most of the Gumshoe voices over the past few days but I managed to save one for William. He plays Flaves, the fop of a son of the main character for which he gave a transatlantic accent to. During class I built a very demented puppet for Reese. We also all contributed to the nude sock puppet collection. 

 

William returns

William returned safely from Kyoto Japan this evening. His luggage was quite a bit heavier then when he left, but the souvenirs where not extensive. Bought a Riddler rap lp. Lots of stuff to collage with. He's pretty happy to be back. 

 

Clean fish tank

 For the past six months or so, I have avoided cleaning the fish tank because the cat fish has been very skittish and always hides under a rock. I hoped that it would eventually become acclimatized and come out more. Today I finally cleaned it. Perhaps this is what the catfish wanted because it seemed much more sociable. 

Big sale day

Weather was cold and I am in middle of pre-production so I stayed home with the cat while the Cathedral street sale was on. Cat continues to shed. 
 

Jeannie Mah in Moose Jaw

Drove out to Moose Jaw for the opening of Jeannie Mah's exhibition. Even though it is in the middle of Cathedral Festival and Yorkton Festival, the turn out was really great. 

When I visited dad earlier, they had cake and dad seemed to really want some. However, he then refused to even take a first bite of it. Odd day.

 

The return of YAAG

 I held the first event at the rebuilt YAAG this evening - a screening of the early Mr. Saul films. I painted the north wall earlier this week and just projected straight onto it. The room seemed dim enough early in the day but the clouds disappeared in the early evening and we needed to hang curtains. Didn't advertise myself (it was in the program and no where else) but we had a few dozen people regardless. Talked at length with Eric from the Last Mountain Lake cultural centre art gallery.

Andrea retires

It was Andrea Stachowich's last day with the Film Department today. She was at the university prior to being at Film, but she moved to our department at the same time that I first became department head and the two of us figured out the inner workings of the place together.. This created a unique understanding between the two of us. It's going to be difficult adjusting without her (especially considering that she won't be directly replaced). 
 

Filmpool screening

 Nice chat with Mooky after the Filmpool screening. She has a terrific film about pole dancing in the set, but slipped in late and missed being in the Q&A. 

Building puppets

 Puppets, scripts, and recordings for Gumshoe are high priority if we are to get this project going. This is one of Scott's unnamed characters. 

Cathedral Festival opens

 

I took lots of photos of the parade as the Cathedral Festival began. Still doing prep for Gumshoe so I only attended for a short while. I was in the comic jam room when Gerri Ann entered and suddenly we were collaborating on a comic (2 actually). 

Tags in suits

 I shouldn't admit this, but I've fallen very far behind on my blogging and now I need to use the photos that I've been occasionally dropping into this folder to guide me to reconstruct my past. Today Margaret was showing me a few suits of her dad's and the sometimes strange, sometimes exceptional tailor tags inside of them. Even though she is planning to just donate them away, she also plans to have them dry cleaned first. 

Bank time

 

Was sorting through receipts in my wallet to submit expenses for my class (we need to build sock puppets and props). In my search, I discovered that I've accumulated seven cheques. Figured I should deposit them while running around buying more sock puppet socks. 

Documenting with light

 Did some documenting of a couple of Judy Anderson's works at the Dunlop this morning. Light is strange there and difficult to get it even, so I did everything in time exposures. 

I compiled the first full draft of the script for this term's puppet project (Gumshoe) today. 69 pages. 

This evening William wrote to say he wanted to talk. Bit homesick I think. We tried to zoom but that was rough. Long phone conversation. 

Frans at Slate Gallery

Amazing exhibition with Frans and his metal miniatures at Slate today. 
My allergies seriously triggered from some plant inside the gallery so I snuck out and ended up having a great chat with Mooky who was just arriving, and with Frans who was having a smoke. 

 

Painting with Lori

 My sister was away for the past three classes but is back this week to paint. I did this polaroid from Gertrud's garage - I believe from her sister's estate. 

Chrystene teaching workshop

Chrystene did a great puppet workshop for my class over zoom today. In included her personal history, a history of many types of puppets, some tips about how puppets move, and an exercise in making a puppet. Later I went cloth shopping and got some patterned cloth and some fun fur hair. Prices have really gone up. 

 

Should I paint

 Very busy teaching this week, but if I have time it would be great to paint William's room while he's away. Figured I better document where stuff goes. 

William going to Japan

 William's first big trip on his own starts today. Kyoto with 20 people from the university. 

Early mother's day

As William is going away tomorrow, he gave Margaret a mother's day gift today. Replace her woefully missing Yeti coffee cup. The day was mostly spent packing. Main suitcase is maximum 50 pounds but he is only at 22. Covered it with 70 bucks worth of stickers. 
 

Coffee with Geremy

 Coffee with Geremy and William. They needed to discuss Wario. 

VIewing more Sockvile

 I showed the second of the three parts of Sock-Vile to my class today. Not mixed yet. Don't get too much reaction. Ran it near the end of class so no time to discuss. 

Painting box camera

 Painted a box camera that Deb Potter lent to me. I had to do some research because it had absolutely no brand/model marks on it. It seems to be a Marksman camera, made in Canada, but without the front plate on it that would identify it. 

Chicken

 Changed up my bbq chicken recipe a bit. The pieces were very large but it worked well. 

Visit mom

 With William heading out on his big trip in a few days, mom wanted to have supper and see him off. 

Gertrud's computer

 Gertrud moved her computer and desk into her bedroom. I suggested a larger monitor but she's happy with this one, as it is bigger than a laptop monitor. I connected everything together. Might look at upgrading a few items later in the summer. 

Kevin McKenzie at DAG

Kevin McKenzie's solo exhibition at the Sherwood branch of the Dunlop opened today with a conversation between him and Sherry. Very interesting insights into his work which has gotten away from fabrications out of plastics and artificial substances, and is rather a set of hockey gear made out of leather and other animal parts. 

Visited dad this evening. We had to look for him. The staff call him the magic man. He had gone into someone else's room, locked the door, and gone to sleep in their bed. 

 

Puppet supplies

 Chrystene will be doing a workshop for me in a couple of weeks and asked me to collect some supplies for the students to use. Some of this stuff should also be useful for the big project. 

Sockvile course reboot

 Today I started the class which will (might) create the sequel to Sock-Vile. Class size is smaller, only 8 (possibly only 7). Spent number of months working on the story bible with a huge amount of time this week. Still lots of flaws in it. Overall I'm very nervous. 

Plumber in

 Plumber in today to check for possible leaks. Probably mostly the calking that needed replacing. 

Lunch with Esperanza and Trevor

I took Esperanza out for a celebratory lunch for having defended her MFA last week. We had to do the defense over zoom so she never got a chance to meet her external examiner, Trevor Grant face to face. There were great follow up conversations today as Trevor is well traveled and spend two months in Columbia at one point. Also some advice about Japan and the etiquette of chopsticks.