Writing and building

 

While William was writing today, I got to work on a workbench for the book binding machine. It needs a sturdy table top and needs to be 30 inches deep for the paper cutter. Mostly 2x4 construction. Will need to buy some ply for the top later. 

Akimbo hit list

Yesterday I got a message from one of the editors from Akimbo today, asking me to ask William to respond and contribute to their online "Hit List". He worked on it all night (or at least until 3:30am) and got it in. All publicity, no matter how weird, is good publicity. 

Link:   https://akimbo.ca/akimblog/william-bessai-saul-artist-regina/ 

Reception for William "Landscaping" show

Got a pretty good crowd for the reception for this group show. I don't know the people count, but at almost any time from 6:30 to 8:00, there would be at least 30 people in the room but there was a regular coming and going. I'm say there was 60-75 people who came by, which is very good considering it is a summer evening at the university. 
 

Access volunteering

 William has been doing some volunteering at  Access. This is the first time he  has his name in the credits (it is for Talk of the Town shot on June 9).

Regina Beach

Drove out to the gallery with Noelle and Esperanza to see the show before it comes down next week. Had a nice time. Weather is great. Went to the Blurbird for fish and chips then walked the beach for a few minutes. 

 

Dance film discussion

Attended a New Dance Horizons event. Got the time wrong and arrived a bit late, but saw most of a film about a Winnipeg choreographer followed by a discussion. I asked the panel, as dancers and filmmakers, about the inevitable break in authenticity when a live performance is translated to film. Primarily they talked about how authenticity is preserved. 
 

William Convocation

Today William crossed the stage and received his BFA in visual arts. I was up on stage too, donning the robe for the first time in this role. I was able to shake his hand and give me a hug as he passed (the process of "hooding" seems to have fallen by the wayside). He got an additional handshake and hug from University President Jeff Keshen. We'd been stressed out for the past few weeks because William forgot to book his robes and the company that supplies them would not budge on the policy that the only recourse was to arrive early enough to get one of the spares that they'll bring. This left too much to chance, but phone calls and emails to various people garnered no better result. The convocation ceremonies took three days and William was on the third day (today). Two days ago, as we headed to campus for William to be sitting in on his show at the Fifth Parallel, I dawned on me that the robe rending company were there on campus. William went to see them and rented his robe two days early, removing all our stress over the issue. Anyway, ceremony went smoothly. Had lunch with my mom then visited Fred. Back to the grind of applications this evening. 

Finished with super-8 camera

Big shout out to Dianne Ouellette this week for lending me one of her super-8 cameras, a Canon 514XL. It is very much like the Canon 310XL which I have used for years, but this one has a timer and also can shoot at 9fps. This makes it another new camera for me so after William got his film shot and delivered, I painted it. William and Margaret got to the RPL before the courier arrived so his film made it into the shipment. 
 

Super 8-Late

 One Take Super 8 films were supposed to be delivered yesterday. William is working long hours on his but there were too many distractions this week and he still isn't done. Colouring of artwork, with crayon, is underway. Worst case is that we'll need to spend extra money to ship ours separately. 

William super 8 not done yet

 Missing the deadline, William pushes on to try to get his animated super 8 film done for the One Take Event. 

No fire

 At least four fire trucks, an ambulance, and a CTV reporter were down the street this afternoon but there was no smoke in the air and I think was just a minor thing or a false alarm. 

This morning I took mom on some errands and we ended up at Nicky's Diner which I've not been to in a few years. Had a cinnamon bun. It was okay, but not as good as the one from Dad's Diner which I thought was not quite as good as the Green Spot buns. 

Cameras breaking

 This was my first super 8 camera. My parents bought it for me for my birthday in 1975 or 1976. I haven't been using it as much lately because it doesn't have a macro lens, but it as always been reliable. Until now. I lent it to Sandee and it started to stall near the end of the roll. The electronics still work (light meter and so on) but the motor no longer does anything. Sad day. I have four super-8 cameras and three of them don't work at all any more, and the fourth is unreliable. I need to purchase something. 

William's art

 William hung his work at the Fifth Parallel today. The photo prints were large and fragile so I helped him. Only took a couple of hours. Time for his to get home a draw and prep for his super 8 film.

Hoe shoot

Shot 2/3 of my super 8 film today, mostly alone in my back yard which is how I like to shoot them now. 

 

AGR opening

Cindy Baker's giant duck and other oversized stuff at the Art Gallery of Regina is fun and cool. Weather was also nice enough for the reception to take place outside. Talked with Gary Varro about Kiju suits and with Carle Steele about art and stuff as she's in town for a couple days on duty with the CC. 
 

Nuit Blanche team meeting at Dad's Diner

 Tried out Dad's Diner today. Schnitzel is their thing, so if it isn't yours, don't go. But if it is, the portions are good and the service (Emma's brother Andrew) was great. We talked about the Nuit Blanche project that Geremy secured for us for the end of August. 

Food pix

 William and I baching it today. Made bacon and egg sandwiches with green onions and pepper. 

Photo enlargements

 Dal printed two works that William has for his show that installs later this week. More when the day comes. These are five feet high and seven feet long. 

Boots got big

 We believe that this is the cat that last year we called "boots". However, it is probably twice the size it was last year. It hisses a lot, but is less timid and will come close and be petted a bit. 

Dunlop opening

 I missed the talk for this show but am not too excited. I was told that that artist said she was painting on large paper, was  unhappy so she crumpled it and threw it on the floor, then discovered she liked it better that way. I am astounded that it is curated. The video projection is interactive and is supposed to be very cool, but even though it has only been running for a few hours, it had crashed and no one could fix it. 

Smoke and drains

 Had a bit of water backing up in basement. They will check the sewer line sometime, but as of this event, the problem was in a hose from the washer and not anything to do with the sewer. Meanwhile, smoke is thick from the northern fires which are getting bad. 

last day of painting

 I always enjoy painting the polaroid cameras. Yesterday was the last session until fall. Everyone wants to know what I'll do now that my show is up. This assumes that this body of work is complete. Is it? Perhaps I should experiment more. Perhaps I should try different things? Perhaps I should stop? I don't know. 

Samantha at Regina Beach

 Drove out to see my exhibition with Samantha today. She bought a vehicle so we road tested it. 

Ordering grad photos

 I don't believe we ordered this one. 

Sunshade a birds

Got the sun shade up this week and were sitting under it, enjoying. I brought a box of stuff from our garage that had been in Gertrud's garage for 15 years from her Toronto sister. It contained a lot of photos and slides and vacation things related to Germany. It also contained a set of bird prints in an envelope that was only partially opened (not enough to remove the contents) that was a purchased set of bird images from the ROM, I think from the early 1980s. 

 

Dandylions

 Not much to say about these, except there are a lot of them. 

Street fair

 Somehow I walked the whole street fair, bought nothing, shook one hand but otherwise entered no booths, ate no food, but had a very nice time of it nevertheless. Outside our front window, a bird perched on a stick that was no longer attached to a tree. Seemed very odd. 

Missed the films

William and I headed to the Artesian to see the 16mm film screening at 7:00 this evening but found that when we arrived, the screening (which was advertised some places for 6, others for 7) had screened at 7:00 and now music (with films) was underway. We exited and talked about new book projects outside. Solid conversation and very worthwhile. 

 

Lunch with mom from Sharon

 Sharon, unable to be in Regina, treated mom (and her two guests - me and Lori) to lunch at Skye today. Food was nice. Coffee was a disaster. 

Cathedral Festival under way

Margaret headed out to the festival this evening. We had been thinking we would do our pop up gallery tonight but it was cold and rainy (8 degrees high) and we were not in the program and no one reached out to confirm us, so we just skipped it. Will do something later in the summer. 
 

King Ludwig in the parade

 

William as King Ludwig XI of Aviatrica as part of New Dance Horizons section of the parade for the Cathedral Village Festival. 

Preparing to be king

 William has been working for days on his King Ludwig III costume for the parade. While the mask and crown are just prototypes, the whole thing is looking good. 

Lunch with mom

 Mom was full of energy today. Lori took her to Costco first thing in the morning, but it was still a zoo. I came over at noon and took mom book shopping and toy shopping and for lunch.