This week, we discuss David Lynch’s “The Art Life.” Mark thought it was interesting to see how much Lynch’s painting explained a lot about his movies’ dark looks and feels. We loved watching Lynch paint with his hands. I thought that Lynch’s paintings were very strong, I loved how he shaped clay on wire to write words and integrated that text in hi…

Episode 50! Wooohoo! We looked at the work of Elle Pérez today. This photographer is interested in showing images that question the boundaries of gender, fragility, inside and outside. Their work fleshes out detailed visual cues, a drop of water, a tiny scar, to evoke in the viewer feelings of empathy. The question the artist poses in the Art 21 vi…

Spring will never arrive! Sault Ste. Marie saw the most snow this year, Isabelle can see 5 ft tall snow banks out her window while Mark can see grass out of his in London Ontario. Isabelle would rather forget this past Winter. Talking about memory, there was in ancient Roman time a social behaviour called “Damnatio Memoria” which caused Romans to w…

Isabelle welcomes two special guests today, Yves Larocque and Mónica Márquez, owners and facilitators of Walk the arts, an artistic company that oversees the administration of BRAVO-ARTS, in Ottawa. We met on International Women’s Day at Algoma University where we recorded this conversation. This special episode then, marks the end of a long proces…

Mark and Isabelle are back after a long pause. Glacial temperatures have kept Isabelle inside, this week we saw -30 C pretty much all week in Northern Ontario. In this episode, we discuss artists that we know a little bit in order to develop some familiarity with them. https://art21.org/watch/extended-play/gabriel-orozco-spanish-lessons-short/ http…

Last Saturday September 29th, I had an exhibit on board the MS Norgoma but I did not want to miss the opportunity to speak with Ryan Amadore before he left with his amazing work for Kapuskasing where he lives with his wife Sophie and son. For the past month, I worked in my studio space, right beside the gallery where Ryan’s work was exhibited. I ke…

Jason, Mark and Isabelle continue their meandering conversation. It take us to many places: Lola festival, talking about Yoko Ono, Bus Shelter pieces, Prince Trivia, Undiscovered Facts, Roberta Bondar , 180 Projects, so many things lined up, the realities of being an artist/breaks, Basquiat, Ben Portis, the future of podcasts as archives, Deep Colo…

What a treat ! Mark sat with Canadian Artist Jason McLean who was visiting from Brooklyn last Sunday. Jason is a multitalented artist who is currently showing at the Michael Gibson Gallery in London Ontario. I was a bit jittery meeting Jason via Skype and felt little mini tiny butterflies in my stomach at the start of recording but almost immediate…

Why do we torture ourselves reading about Trump ? Mark talks about his reading habits and recounts memories of the last time he played a video game. Perhaps video games have changed to allow more fun instead of being all stressed out. Mark met a new artist with Natalie, a patron of the arts. They met her at The Arts Project in London. We might meet…

Sally Mann's talent is indisputable. Using her own children, to create that amazing series, was perhaps a bit exploitative. Where are your limits as an artist ? As with most of our conversations, we go a little bit everywhere. This week was no different! Lately though, we've spent a bit more time talking about our families and the past. Mark and I …

This week, Mark has some bad news, he lost a dear friend, Ben Portis. Luckily, Mark had a chance to spend some time with his friend back in April. They went to see an orchestra. To his family, colleagues, friends, and all the artists who knew him, we wish to offer our deepest regrets on this tragic loss. http://canadianart.ca/features/ben-portis-19…

In this episode, Isabelle has a conversation with a musician friend from Toronto. Sam was the co-owner of the Gore Street Café, in Sault Ste. Marie (2015-2016). In this episode, I reconnect with him through the magic of social media. He talks a little bit about some of the shows he saw recently in Toronto; Jessica Karuhanga does performances based …

Why are clowns so creepy? It could be the ambiguity we feel about these characters, are they safe or not? Is it the fact that the brain is wired to find average features attractive and therefore trustworthy? Is it something learned socially about jesters and characters that have populated our childhoods ? Maybe all of this together ? However, Cirqu…

Micheal Snow and Richard Prince, two artists who have a different idea of intellectual property. Snow VS Eaton, read about it here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_v_Eaton_Centre_Ltd Read about Richard Prince here: http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/richard-prince--june-12-2015 Intro music: Bob Marley, Three Little Birds.…

Christoph Niemann talks about his work and his process. He designed many of the magazine The New Yorker front covers. There is a new series on Netflix Abstract : The Art of Design which we are watching. We talk about when is the time when kids start not drawing emotionally and instinctively but according to standards set by whoever around them. Why…

We watched an Art21 movie on three artists. Katarina Grosse makes gigantic sculptural paintings involving trees, dirt, and the space of the art gallery itself. Joan Jonas makes performance drawings involving dancers, musicians, and herself in her installations. Omer Fast makes experimental/journalistic-like movies about Drone Pilots or Porn Actors.…

Mark suggested we watched Diana Al-Hadid, a young artist of Syrio-american artist on Art21. Al-Hadid gives a tour of the Venice Biennale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqZ9B5L_5vY . I worked on self-publishing my paintings in a book, it's not perfect but it's cute. http://www.blurb.com/b/7656667-kow-and-zibra Happy New Year and Bonne Année 2017…

Mark did some computer programming and he liked that, it's a creative program solving that he likes. Stan Douglas of Vancouver brings us inside the old neighbourhood he grew up in. He did a show called "Les détroits" of photography and prints of Detroit. He is focussed on Urban Decay. Diana Thater produces installations that are movie based, or inf…

Today we watched the Art21 website and we both picked an artist to view and we discussed these artists. Mark went for the work of Matthew Barney who made a film series called "The Cremaster" which he started in 1995. I believe he made 4 movies based on his study of Male Sexuality. We also watched Liz Magor talk about her gloves that she is casting …

Pixels and technology have inundated our lives. Charles Baudelaire said that urban living or the city was "an immense reservoir of electric energy." in his essay "The Painter of Modern Life" (1863). In the rise of industrialisation and mechanisation, "the eye was never allowed to rest." (Geiger, Rutsky, 2005) The same anxieties felt in the fin du s…

Mark's new phone works, which is good. We discuss my projects in Advanced Studio and in Painting IV. The mixing of drawing and digital work in in my mind, where is it going? I am not sure. Mark used Corel Draw in the past to help with his studies of paintings. We both find zebras fascinating. Join us in our meandering conversations. Do you want to …

Summer meanders led the wheels of our Jayco Tent Trailer to the Bruce Peninsula then to London where we visited family and with co-host Mark. The first part of this podcast is a free conversation we had at Kelsey's and the second part is a Skype conversation about a visit we made to the Thielsen gallery in London on Adelaide street. Frank Caprani's…

Isabelle and Mark meet at Kelsey's in London Ontario and share impressions on recent exhibits they recently saw. As it turns out, they both saw the work of Barbara Astman especially the exhibit Clementine. The Amy Friend exhibit Dare Alla Luce is amazing, the stars shining over sienna coloured photographs as little fireflies was so good I could hav…

This Sunday, Mark and I talked about Kiki Smith and the Uber Organ. I didn't understand installation art but after having made a mini one for my Advanced Studio class, I am starting to understand how things come together with installation. One of the most incredible installation Mark ever saw was the Uber Organ at the MassMoCa. As always, I am amaz…

As an art student, I find it humbling to listen to the passion in Brian Saby's expression as an artist. Brian is from Windsor, he studied at Fanshawe. As you are listening, you will hear that he is a zero bullshit kind of guy. I guess this sharpshooting and clarity of purpose shows up in his amazing paintings. Looking forward to meeting that dude!!…

Mark wishes he could travel to Europe and see the Louvre. I came back from a 48 hour video-making challenge hosted and ran by the Gore Street Café in my town. I presented a 4 minute video for the first time and it was pretty freaking fun!By Isabelle Michaud and Mark Helsten

The holidays brought in a lot of interesting stuff, then the return was pretty busy. Mark went to Cuba and I was busy with schoolwork. In this episode, we talk about stuff in a general way. No real topic, just chatting!By Isabelle Michaud and Mark Helsten

Today we have a treat!! London-based artist Jeff Willmore joins Mark and me on our crazy chats about the art world. I very much enjoyed our discussion about his life as a seasoned artist. I especially enjoyed the story about the birchbark suit! Jeff doesn't think painting is fun: it's work for him. We discussed drawing, painting in Canada, abstract…

It's good to be joined with Mark again. We discussed Art and Science. What does it mean to be making art in 2015? Does painting have a place in the Canadian art scene? Young Canadian artists are influenced so much by science, it does seem that exhibits are becoming increasingly oblique. How can the viewer understand the meaning of the exhibit? Also…

This last Friday, I had the pleasure to chat with Aryen Hoekstra. We discussed his exhibit Above the clouds which has been showing at 180 Projects and which was closing that night, in Sault Ste. Marie. As a Third year undergraduate, my artistic language is still somewhat limited, so it was an amazing opportunity to sit down and listen to Aryen. I a…

I was so lucky to meet a great art teacher and artist last Wednesday. Shawn Serfas is a Canadian artist born in Saskatchewan who creates 3-D, multi layered, textural paintings about landscape and about many other topics related to Human interaction with the environment. Shawn graciously agreed to allow me to record our talk together. The song clip …

Inspired by Mark's posting of a video of Ellsworth Kelly, now 92 years old, we went on talking about our childhoods and our understanding of art at that time. It was a great little video which I would recommend you watch. https://www.sfmoma.org/watch/ellsworth-kelly-explains-abstraction/By Isabelle Michaud and Mark Helsten

This week we have not prepared anything to talk about specifically, so we let our previous posts on our Facebook page guide our conversation. Isabelle could not remember if Renoir was an Impressionist because of his more "realist" or "classical" tendencies... But he indeed was an impressionist and hung out at Manet's studio. I got my categories and…

Mark and I met at Milos pub on Talbot Street in London Ontario. Mark recently returned from a visit to the Detroit Institute of the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (MOCAD) as well. We had a two part conversation about what he saw and about my work as a student and how things tied together. At the Detroit Institute, Mark and his g…

The Fluxus manifesto asks artists to purge from Europanism and to make anti-art that all peoples can understand. What if people only like traditional art? Are some artists able to make universally understood Fluxus art? Mark identifies a few.By Isabelle Michaud and Mark Helsten

At Marks's suggestion I attended last night's opening of Paul Walde's Exhibit currently showing at the Art Gallery of Algoma. This is a raw recording of the opening. The first voice is that of Jasmina Jovanovic, the gallery's Director and the second voice is that of Walde. Paul Walde was Andrea Pinheiro's art professor at one point in her career, A…

In this episode, Mark and Isabelle talk about Isabelle's return from a 3 day workshop on Manitoulin island. Mark argues that everyone is capable of creativity, as it is part of the human experience. Isabelle talks about her infatuation with cows.By Isabelle Michaud and Mark Helsten

Photography for me is simply a way to archive my life. For others, it's a means of artistic expression. Lynne Cohen is an amazing photographer and artist. Her exhibit Faux Indices was super cool. She created spaces that one might have otherwise overlooked. Her compositions are decontextualised so as to create a cold, clinical, odd and distorted out…

Lately, I have noticed an influx of artisanal art into the current multimedia and hybrid art movements. Crochet has escaped Aunt Midge's livingroom and taken to the streets in the form of yarnbombing. It is also found a new home as organic sculptures or great installations in art galleries. It is just fascinating how the art of crochet has been tra…

Les tapisseries du musée de Cluny are lush, sensual, repetitive, heraldic and bright. After all these years, the colours still dazzle my eyes. The figures are strange and funny sometimes, especially the leopards. Art and Nature intertwined. Fabulous!! Photo: Broderie aux léopards, Musée de Cluny.By Isabelle Michaud

Hodgkin is super neat because he paints in lose, large, and strong strokes over the frames of his paintings. So in effect, the paintings are about the paintbrush and the frame first and then about colour. Or you could argue that it's all about colour, too... His minimalist way of painting brings the painterly to the maximum, it overtakes all the sp…

Henri Matisse is perhaps the most often cited painter by my professors. His Fauvist style has no equal still today. He has the unique ability to place elements in his paintings. His compositions are super fantastic; he might be the master of colour in the 20th-21st centuries mindset but in my view, he is the master of composition first and then of …

While Mark is away doing super important family activities and other cool summer things, I decided to keep the recordings alive until his return which I hope will be very soon. So the next series of podcasts will be about a wide array of topics, from Matisse to the use of crochet in art. Each episode will be short, 7 minute podcasts about stuff I l…

After a three week break, Mark and I discuss the business of art, the way in which art is evaluated, and everything we can think of around this subject. We argue that collectors are central to the valuation of artwork and wonder if some artwork will hold up well in 200 years. Will Mark pick up his paintbrush again? I do hope so. He's a good artist!…

Abstraction is vast, people often hate it, but Mark and I love it in our own specific way. Why is this so? We're not quite sure exactly, we're figuring out. Maybe some questions can't really be answered. Mark went to the AGO and Museum London and talks about what he saw there.By Isabelle Michaud

The art that was created through the ages fascinates us. From the cave paintings of Chauvet to the Byzantine mosaics in Greece. We cover a lot of ground today but there is still so much we wish we knew.By Isabelle Michaud

In this episode we cover a huge amount of topics: Algoma Blue by Llewelyn Davies, Frank O. Gehry's Gugenheim in Bilbao, Serra's UN Square entrance piece, Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial, amongst a few. As usual, our conversation meanders to what we've done and liked. I have since found what the pick up stick game is called, it's called Mikado sticks! T…

Artist Stephanie Babcock a.k.a Geordie joins me on a discussion about our time together at Algoma University. In this episode, we talk about her end of the year Thesis show, about Conceptual art, and Expressionist art. We also talk about Jack Bush and Kazuo Nakamura. Expressionism is one of those categories that we find difficult to define. But wha…

I came upon the Group of Seven when I came to live in Sault-Sainte-Marie, Mark learned to see art through the eyes of a friend who initiated him to the vastness of art in Southern Ontario. Mark's sensibilities were closer to the Automatistes, Paul-Émile Borders and Jean-Paul Riopelle. My parents loved Jean-Paul Lemieux and the Automatistes of cours…

Mark and I are starting our weekly conversations about art. Where to start? All roads lead to New York somehow. It's always hard to start anything new, what to chose? Here's our first step! We discuss Hyperrealism, Pop Art and Andy Warhol, Chuck Close and other artists. Next week: The Group of Seven, can Canada move beyond? Here are some links of p…