| "I like to think of it as getting art off the wall and into the streets," says Jennifer McCaw of Looks Could Kill Boutique (located in Art Central) and her latest art venture, Canvas Envelopes. The spark of her show has Jennifer making 25 canvas tote bags of various sizes and inviting 255 up-and-coming and established artists of any media in Calgary to illustrate, create or re-imagine what a simple canvas bag can become.
McCaw is trained as a textile artist and the pieces she displays in her Looks Could Kill Boutique reflect this esthetic. Clothes and accessories for ready-to-wear clothing as art, is often overlooked as a goal in itself, but McCaw wants to change that perception.
"This is my first group show here," she says. "This is interesting because there are 20-some artists on the wall right now. They are these tiny little pockets of art. Each one uses different media, different ideas and a different approach."
The artists who were invited to take part in the show were very excited by the possibilities in turning a canvas bag into a piece of mobile art, as both challenging and off-centre.
"They put a lot of work into these. Each one is unique, some are painted, some went to graphic artists and they have applied photo transfers, some used wood and Mack-tack," says McCaw. "People love them, the reaction has been great, and they love them as a way to carry a painting."
Among the artists whose canvas tote bag creations are on display are cartoonist and graphic artist Dave Reilander, YBOT, painter Dr. Wedge, Gionni Ha, J/K designs, Julia Totino and many other talented, emerging local artists. Each one of the canvas bags is vibrant and alive, most incorporating a cartoon, or a sense of play and humour. The variety is amazing: inks, graphite, chalk, textile art, paints, multimedia and photography – combining art with the functionality of a simple plain canvas tote bag, each one unique. The show is a very democratic, creative and above all fun approach to the possibilities inherent in art.
Admiring the purses and totes while McCaw is describing the group show are two junior goths, their faces sparkling from the multiple piercings decorating their faces and ears. There are a lot of giggles and "Oh, that’s so cute’s." The first sale of the show is made in just a few minutes.
After the capitalist process is complete, McCaw’s pleasure is evident. "I am very happy with how this has turned out. There is so much going on with this one show. The fact that I can do something like this, and that the prices are so reasonable because they are emerging artists – it’s a great way for them to display their art.
"I think I will do this again," she adds. "I did this once before in Vancouver with skirts and I wanted to find something that I could do to introduce this concept to Calgary and it looks like I may have found it." |
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