Monday, June 30, 2025

William's art comes down


 William's show was supposed to come down while we were away. Fortunately we were not the only ones with a scheduling problem with that, so the closing date changed to today. 

Sunday, June 29, 2025

From Calgary to the farm

William and I drove home, getting on the road shortly after 8 am. After a short break at the house, we ventured back to the farm. Margaret had gone back to the city, I guess five days of conversation is the limit. Carl, John, Frank, and Tom were there, along with some of their kids and a few others. George and Samantha hosted. Samantha's son Charles was also there. 



 

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Calgary day 3



 We dropped Margaret off at the airport so that she could spend time with her family who are doing a film screening in Regna today and a memorial for Dianne tomorrow. William and I went with Sean and Al and Tate to the Calgary zoo. There was a thunderstorm so they didn't let people into the wide open areas so the huge crowds were cammed into the smaller indoor spaces. Fun though. Drinking and talking and eating until late with family. Gabrielle came with her family. Chris Corverei came today but not yesterday. Chris Miller came yesterday but not today. 

Friday, June 27, 2025

Calgary day 2

Today we took in a couple art galleries and book stores and a used record store. Very pleasant day. This evening lots of family came over, so more talk and food. Margaret and William have basically had enough of all that I think. 




 

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Calgary, day 1


Drove to Calgary today. Sharon had both her hot water heater and her water softener broke yesterday but she got things fixed and hosted us this evening. Luna's parents and grandparents (from Netherlands) were over. The weekend is intended to celebrate mom's 90th year (her birthday is in the fall). 
 

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Books, paintings, stage


William finished his maquette. I took down my show at Last Mountain and met a photographer named Sky who liked the paintings. I took mom to the big book sale and found her 18 books representing 8 of the authors on her list. 


 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Planning the stage


We spent some time measuring and discussing the stage and area at New Dance. At first, Robin didn't seem concerned about the timeline, but I think by the end of today she realized that this needs a lot of work if it is to be presented in just three or four weeks. William went straight to work on building the maquette. Cold had crept into our bones and the weather had shifted considerably so we took a fire break. 



 

Monday, June 23, 2025

Jana house paintings


 Margaret hired Jana Katarna to do a watercolour of Kristin's house. Jana is doing these for a lower cost as a limited promotional project to stir up business for creating larger house paintings. Kristin is very happy. 

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Planning for stage


 While Sylvie watches (and waits) William draws plans for the Secret Garden stage. 

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Book binding bench



 Over past few days I built this bench for William to set up his book binding machine. I had a few frustrating moments, particularly related to needing to move so many things around in the room I built it for, but in the end I got it to fit. Wood prices have gone down for some reason for an eight foot 2x4 costs about 4 bucks. The whole bench cost about $100. 

Friday, June 20, 2025

Comics and Nuit Blanche spaces

William recorded a radio show (or two) with Teagan today. Later we went walking the park with Geremy to figure out where to set up for Nuit Blanche. This space is right across the street from Victoria Park, where the Novia used to be. It would be perfect, but it is not on the list of available spaces.  

 

Thursday, June 19, 2025

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. 

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Akimbo hit list

Yesterday I got a message from one of the editors from Akimbo, 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/ 

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

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. 
 

Monday, June 16, 2025

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).

Sunday, June 15, 2025

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 Bluebird for fish and chips then walked the beach for a few minutes. 



 

Saturday, June 14, 2025

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. 
 

Friday, June 13, 2025

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 lending 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. 


Thursday, June 12, 2025

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. 
 

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

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. 

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

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. 

Monday, June 9, 2025

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. 


Sunday, June 8, 2025

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. 

Saturday, June 7, 2025

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.

Friday, June 6, 2025

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.