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Lisa Anita Wegner

“I make stuff and sometimes write about it”

Tag Archives: Toronto

July 13, 2022 Stretching Through Dimensions Like Lions Tied by Spheres

WE are driven to push forwards, innovate, change, contribute to a questioning of old, outworn modes and to bring in new perspectives on the higher levels of consciousness – faze out the systems of separation and work to introduce new, inclusive ways of operating in unity. 

As spirit we know that there are no true boundaries between human beings, there is no separation. We all come from the same source, and we have incarnated as any imaginable variation of human being throughout our long existence – we have all been black and white at different times, we have all been women and men – and spirit wants us to remember this. From their perspective war and conflict on earth is due to the illusion of separation – based in the idea of one group of human beings as essentially different from or superior to another. In spirit we are all the same. 

Two perfect pieces of the most beautiful creation ever seen – the whole, you together in harmony like up and down, back and front, sky and earth, fire and water. 

Stretching through dimensions to each other like lions tied by spheres from star to star. Animalistic yet angel-winged. We come together. Brutal/soft. Hard flying. Comedowns nowhere. We stay up, fly together. 

Time means nothing in spirit but I’ve never been the patient type. I am a man/I am a woman/I am spirit/I am time/I am an eternally fading/exploding star. She is herself yet she is me. I am her yet I am myself. We are ancient yet children. Thousands of lives. Always each other. 

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September 1, 2016 Canadian Performer Refuses To Show Face

In Toronto Canada, an arrogant performance artist declares themself amazing while refusing to show any facial expression.

Photo by Ashley Hurlock for Akhilanda Collaborative
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by Angela Chao
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by audience member at Black Cat Artspace
Photos by Angela Chao
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by Haus of Dada
Photo by Steve Weiss
Photo by Anandam Dance Theatre for Body Break
 

When we reached out to the haus of dada for comment we received the following message in German via telegraph from curator Fritz Snitz. “The Ubermarionette only does private performances for close friends, artists and cherished audience members and is not interested in speaking with you peoples.” -Ritzy Fritzy

Artist Would Rather Give Ownership of Her Work to Those Who Inspire, Than Those Who Can Pay.

Performance Artist’s Perceived Gender Affects Audience Reaction 

 

 

 

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August 31, 2015 Reel Fashion – Paula John’s CELLULOID DRESS

“One hundred new revolutionary materials riot in the piazza, demanding to be admitted into the making of womanly clothes.”           -Volt, Futurist Manifesto Of Women’s Fashion (1920)

Gallery 1313 is excited to have Paula John’s Celluloid Dress on display in the Windowbox for September 2015.

Celluloid Dress plays with the relationship between two technologies that creator Paula John uses in her art practice – sewing and 16mm celluloid filmmaking. Inspired in part by Volt’s “Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion,” this wearable dress is made from over 250 feet of exposed 16mm film from one of John’s own films and nylon mesh. LEDs stitched into the skirt illuminate individual frames and project the images onto nearby surfaces for a truly stunning effect.

This amazing piece will be on exhibit in the Windowbox for September, during the period when the city’s attention turns to film with the Toronto International Film Festival. Celluloid Dress will provide viewers with an entirely different twist on what film can be, and stimulate their imaginations to consider other uses and convergences for familiar technologies.

Paula John is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto. She has been exhibiting her work (including photography, film, textiles, installation, and performance) since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Culture from York University. Some of the themes explored in her work include, gender, sexuality, feminism, and performance. Paula is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.

Paula will be giving an Artist’s Talk at the reception on Sunday, September 13th from 3-5 p.m. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet a unique artist and view one of the results of her creative vision.

-Lisa Anita Wegner, Windowbox co-curator for Gallery 1313

Artist Statement

Celluloid Dress is a performance-based installation that combines the mediums of sewing and 16mm filmmaking to explore the numerous similarities between the two technologies. I was inspired by the early twentieth century Avant-garde art movement Futurism, and in particular the 1920 Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion by Vincenzo Fani (Volt). In it he declares,

Women’s fashion has always been more or less Futurist. Fashion: the female equivalent of Futurism. Speed, novelty, courage of creation… Fashion is an art, like architecture and music…Women’s fashion can never be extravagant enough… The reign of silk in the history of female fashion must come to an end, just as the reign of marble is now finished in architectural constructions. One hundred new revolutionary materials riot in the piazza, demanding to be admitted into the making of womanly clothes. We fling open wide the doors of the fashion ateliers to paper, cardboard, glass, tinfoil, aluminum, ceramic, rubber, fish skin, burlap, oakum, hemp, gas, growing plants, and living animals.[1]

The Futurists valued speed, dynamism and new technologies, and were interested in transforming all sensory aspects of life. This extended to art, literature, music, food, architecture, and even fashion. In the spirit of the Futurists I developed a project in which I could combine two technologies that I use in my art practice: sewing and filmmaking. I merged the two technologies by first sewing a dress out of film. The handmade dress was sewn entirely out of 16mm celluloid film and nylon mesh, using approximately 250 feet of one of my films. I stitched LEDs into the skirt, which illuminate individual frames and project the images onto nearby surfaces. I then physically linked the two technologies in a performance, using a film loop to connect the sewing machine and the projector.

There are a number of similarities between sewing and 16mm film making, the most explicit being that Singer, the leading manufacturer of sewing machines, also made 16mm projectors. There are also parallels between the machines themselves. Both a sewing machine and a projector are threaded; both machines have a spool and a take up; both machines make similar sounds; tension is important; and the presser foot and the film gate serve essentially the same purpose on their respective machines. Even the movements of the machines reflect each other with the spinning of the reels and of the balance wheel. The process of editing a film is also similar to sewing, where shots are stitched together. The type of 16mm filmmaking that I personally engage in shares strong similarities with the act of sewing. Both processes take place within my home at the kitchen table. Both sewing and analog filmmaking are highly tactile and laborious practices where the physicality of the medium is emphasized.

For the performance aspect of the piece I project a copy of that same film through a 16mm projector on a continuous loop. The film loops through the projector and physically moves throughout the space through the use of pulleys attached to the ceiling. Approximately fifteen feet in front of the projector sits a sewing machine, which has been modified to add a film gate, allowing the film to pass through it on its loop. During the performance, I sit at the machine while wearing the film dress and sew the film as the projector drives it forward. The film is projected on both the sewing machine and my body, and as I sew, holes are punctured in the celluloid abstracting the image. Eventually through this process as more and more holes are punctured in the film the filmstrip is completely destroyed and breaks apart.

Bio

Paula John is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto. She has been exhibiting her work (including photography, film, textiles, installation, and performance) since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Culture from York University. Some of the themes explored in her work include, gender, sexuality, feminism, and performance. Paula is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.

[1] Volt, . “Futurist Manifesto of Women’s Fashion.” Trans. Array Futurism: An Anthology. . 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. 253-54. Print.
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February 23, 2015 Canadian Artist Misses her Own Art Opening, Forced into (mī′grān′) Performance.

February 23 2015 Fritz Snitz for the haus of dada

Canadian Filmmaker Performance Artist, Lisa Anita Wegner was curiously missing from the opening party of Phil Anderson’s Sex Show V at Gallery 1313 on Queen Street West.

Still from Eva Gets a Better Job (2008) Still from Eva Gets a Better Job (2008)

This group art show includes Eva Gets a Better Job (2008) a short film of Wegner’s. The opening on January 19th was a booming success and it was a shame the artist wasn’t there.

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Curator Fritz Snitz announced was forced to perform  (mī′grān′) at haus of dada in Toronto and was unable to make the Gallery1313 event.  (mī′grān′) performance poster

The Following day Ms. Wegner performed as The Ubermarionette “Tech Scout for The Fall and Rise if The Queen of Jupiter” at Walker Court at The Art Gallery of Ontario. Afterward she teleported to The Artist Project. Photos by Angela Chao.

IMG_2942 The Artist Project with Adrienne Dagg

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Coming soon: Thin(k) Blank Human BadAss.
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July 2, 2014 The only thing missing is you #WINDOWBOXSELFIE

 

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To embrace the high angle and tall shape of The Window Box I found myself looking up into the empty Gallery 1313 Window Box space while contemplating what I wanted to fill it with. While I was contemplating someone took a picture of me. I have been fascinated by the fact that so many Smart Phone users now choose to interact with the world through the lens of their phones, constantly taking photos and video of everything that they experience and interact with. Even more fascinating is their desire, at events such as concerts, to take pictures of themselves with the action in the background, with this seemingly as important a part of the event as witnessing it firsthand. As an installation and performance artist, I have been struck by how a good 80% of the audience opt to look at my work through their phones.

 

The installation #windowboxselfie that will be in Gallery 1313’s Window Box during July of 2014, is designed to play on this compulsion, creating an invitation to its viewers to create a self-portrait while they take a picture of an art installation. The round mirror angled toward the viewer shows their face while jewel-tone film gels create a halo around their face. Mirror film with RoscoFlex S lighting gel creates a surreal reflective surface, giving the viewer a playful saint-like self-portrait created from their own reflection, in a celebration of the self made possible through new technology.

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The title #windowboxselfie is printed in on the glass front of the Window Box so that it will be captured in each photo taken; and this will result in the Window Box exhibition space itself proliferating in self-portraits posted on social media.

 

Through the artist’s and Gallery 1313’s online social media, there will also be opportunities for viewers to see the best of submitted selfies, and vote for those they like best in various categories, continuing the interactive nature of the installation.

 

#windowboxselfie was created by Lisa Anita Wegner, and continues the trends of her recent art practice in its use of found objects, and the theme of reflection. This installation in particular focuses on using film expendables for the majority of its construction, creating extra layers of meaning in using film supplies to create a ‘set’ that then encourages people to make their own ‘filmic’ records.

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Construction and design expertise was provided by Nikolai Berda of Longbranch Design, a company which specializes in providing design solutions for professionals in various creative fields. This is the third collaboration between Lisa Anita Wegner and Longbranch Design, with their design and fabrication skills having previously brought her installations for ScotiaBank Nuit Blanche 2013 and ARTrageous Art In Motion 2014 to life.

 

Materials for the installation have been supplied by The Haus of Dada, Lisa Anita Wegner’s film and art collective, with additional funding provided by Partners In Art.  Process video by Lisa Anita Wegner

 

We encourage taking and tagging of #WINDOWBOXSELFIE selfies. We will choose from the most interesting ones and prizes will be awarded and at the end of the month. So come to Gallery1313 at 1313 Queen Street West, take a look into the mirrors and take a picture of yourself.

 

The only thing missing is you.

 

Here is a short video of how we made it

 

 

Taking a Selfie Has More to Do With Self Worth Than You Realize: Read what Molly Fosco at Huffington Post has to say

 

#WINDOWBOXSELFIE

instagram @gallery1313 @lisa_anita_wegner @longbranchdesign

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May 15, 2014 Life on Jupiter? Me & Ziggy

I tell people all the time that I meditate but so far I’ve laid pretty low about my meditation buddy Ziggy Stardust.  It sheds light on my fascination, for those interested in such shedding.

Lately in my meditations when I look in a mirror I see a mashup of myself as/and Ziggy Stardust. It feels like the most natural thing in the world to have him lounging emanating pure pleasure and joy. This is in a meditation space where usually there is blank slate. I have a wild imagination but have tamed it diligently over the years- I’m pretty good at clearing my mind and creating a blank scene.  When outside chatter quiets and I’m able to hear myself Stardust is there I let him sit. Sometimes he offers a comment but often is silent looking at me knowingly.
lawofziggysmall
I’ve been compelled into creative action by this character more than an I ever expected.  I dig Bowie but it’s his 1973 spaceman rock god that has my imagination hostage recently. I started to get a sense that somehow I was seeing an unexplored aspect of myself.  I became compelled to try him on for size.
At Andrew Williamson’s gallery The Black Cat on July 31st 2014  I will perform a live transformation. Wanda MacRae hair and makeup artist will make the magic while I experience it. She will dye, cut and make me up replicating the Life on Mars video. Ouchy eyebrow removal also onsite. Of all the awesome  upcoming work, I am the most excited about his.
After we have some matching footage of the LOM video I’m going to figure out the next step. The rest of the week I’m editing live and filming in the gallery basically moving my art practise into a public space. Want to know how I make what I do, here’s your chance.  I just now realized I want to set up a go pro all week. I also have a second Stardust transformation happening on a lovely fellow in my life who looks like Bowie thus we will shoot Stardust on Stardust, the crescendo of the ultimate creative wank. Incidentally one of my dogs looks like the canine from Diamond Dogs album over so some half dog half human action is terrifyingly in order.
In 1973, the year that I was born David Bowie lived as Stardust for one year. I love that he knew the perfect length for an alien rockstar to live and killed him off in his prime. So somehow in 73 that poked into my imagination’s DNA.  I  have no idea where this is going to go, but I can’t wait to see the world treats me sporting the Stardust.

I declare myself officially part of the huge pool of artists inspired by the space man himself. Thanks Zig. Thanks Bowie. I am so excited to see where this door takes me and I’ll see you on the other side.
Now back to prepping video content for a group show UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT and then dodging raindrops with the diamond dogs.
LalalalaLisa
LAW of Transformation:
Stardust:
Life on Jupiter
the law of ziggy

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November 12, 2013 OCAD Student Request: A Day in My Life

Last week I got an email from an OCAD student who was doing a project on daily creativity and asked me to blog about a typical day in my studio. I am happy to oblige and documenting today November 12th. I was going to wait until a day where I had an interesting meeting or something extraordinary, then I realized that was missing the point. I think it’s more important what I do on a more typical day. I have no meetings, no phone calls planned. A regular work/ creative day.
I woke up at 9am without alarm, I’m proud of that. I’ve worked to become an early riser lately. I’m sure I’ll go back to a late schedule at some point. But this busy fall/winter I want to catch all the daylight I can. I get up and first snuzzle with my dog Tanner who sleeps on  next to my bed. I open the window to air out my bedroom, make my bed, put on my robe and head upstairs to my kitchen and studio.
Upstairs I greet Aqeel my young dog who sleeps in the living room, he guards the place. I kiss the top of his hot little head and he runs outside. I put on coffee, pour some blueberry juice and sit down to schedule my day. Today is my dad’s birthday and I will write on his Facebook wall, pour my coffee in my favourite snowman mug and give him a quick call. Actually I took a snapshot of a framed picture of us and posted that to his wall. I then check my Wunderlist Application, I have all my project listed there and I do a scan to refresh my brain on the status of my current work. I am making my morning list (9:30am).
Having my studio at home for the first time I take advantage of being a mere fifteen feet from my stove all day long, to simmer some super spaghetti sauce. Tonight I have one carnivore and one vegetarian friend for dinner so I’ll simmer two sauces for six hours or so for heavenly blended taste. First step is all the chopping which I like, I do this to music and do my best to be present and lose myself in every moment I can.
I sent a thank you email to folks who helped with research. I am always thrilled that folks want to help my storytelling. (9:30am)
I am doing Internet Movie Database updates (9:45am): Queen of the Parade went up on IMDb as the first feature length film co-directed by Carl Elster and I. I’m having some difficulty adding the folks who aren’t yet on their service- the art/theatre folks. And finally the Canadian Comedy Awards Nominations have gone up on their site which means I can finally add them to my profile. I was nominated three times for best actress in a film. One year I lost to Catherine O’Hara (bragging and name dropping is the lamest but I am very proud of this). Plane Crazy a feature doc in a tortuously long post production, will not go up on IMDb as we don’t have a release date. Submitted updates and got emailed receipts for the Canadian Comedy Awards.
I open the window for a bit of fresh air and lay out my camping mat and put on an 18 min relaxation muscle relax guided meditation from Youtube. Headphone, dark, quiet, incense. Ahhhh. (10:10am) I Birthday skyped with my Dad. We were both drinking coffee. Cute. (10:30am)
Now to prepare the chopped vegetables (10:35am). I’ll put on Diff’rent Stroked on Netflix during the chop. I will dance to the opening theme, it is inevitable. During this time, my ideas come to me, projects solidify and by imagination plays hooky from being an adult. I decided to grate the carrots for the vegetarian sauce, for heartiness. Also second cup of coffee. I had a little Quisinart chopper that Ben gave me awhile back. I got it all loaded up to chop finely and no go, the appliance didn’t work. So I chopped by hand and grated the carrot. Now it’s 11:30am and the sauce is on time. I have to remember to stir with either the meat or vegetarian wooden spoon. It took a whole hour to chop by hand and prep two sauces.
11:35 I checked LinkedIn and the new folks who added me. I don’t focus much on this site but it is a great way to directly connect. Got a call, my christmas present couch from my parents is on time for delivery tomorrow. I lent my neighbour some of our location traffic cones. Neighbour is waiting for a dumpster pick up and needed the spot in front of her house clear. Four cones are better than two chairs and a string.
I got an email through my site, a brazen young filmmaker declaring his talent in a misspelled email and threatening that if I don’t use his script it will be my loss. It sure will be. Also a synopsis of a script despite the clear message on the page that we don’t accept unsolicited screenplays. I got a reasonable intern application, my last intern Rob Small finished officially in September from Loyalist College Film and stuck around until just recently. He feels like one of the team. I could take someone new for the winter, I’ll think on it.
I have been pondering and meditating on my large scale video/performance/projection mapping installations for next year. I have been able to conceptualize and visualize roughly what I want to do. Working title is MAGICK. I want to reconnect with Vincent John Vincent of Gesture tek and let him know the the first project I spoke to him about (3d projection mapping installation for a Buddhist Temple) is something I decided to move away from and MAGICK is what I’m moving toward. I will find out next years Nuit Blanche themes (chosen but not announced) and start to craft this idea in order to mesh with the city’s idea for next year. I also want to investigate the other company interested in sponsoring our venture. My sponsor, friend and cinematographer Carl Elster brought in AVW TELAV as someone we might partner with. Exciting!
There is a magician I might bring in for MAGICK, I feel the theme of Victorian magician and classic magic tricks might be the way to go. I do a google search of Victorian magician. Google image searches are a big part of my work process. I’m very visual and that is a great way to give my brain stuff to chew on. I’m going to do another 8 minute meditation now after stirring sauce.
(12:15am) I am trying to find a contact phone number for the curator’s assistant for Fashion Arts Toronto, we are looking to possibly put Queen of the Parade into this event in the spring but I’m not sure if their set up can physically support our 25 foot dress with video legs. It was made for Nuit Blanche 2013 and I am happy that it might have a Toronto gallery show before it gets sold.
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queen of the parade
I want to talk to someone in person at FAT to explain the weight, size and my plan on how we can hang it in a gallery. I’ll write a quick email to them to find out who I can talk to in person. Much better for me than emailing sketches back and forth.
(12:20am) I just had another inspiration for the new sound and image video study series I’m doing.I’m going to work on that for a bit, I’ll post the one I made two days ago, for those interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxGNQ6L5LXc
I am looking at projector specs, LED projectors are really coming down in price. I’m getting one for Christmas from the awesome John Taylor. There are these really cheap awesome little ones from China but the shipping isn’t awesome. John doesn’t want to risk that.

I stir the sauces. Woah they already smell and taste awesome. I just got sauce on my keyboard. I was going to make some apple carrot juice but after chopping vegetables for an hour I can’t look a carrot or apple in the face. Diff’rent Strokes is switched to a documentary called First Out of Africa. I find when I’m working I like something running. 1980s sit coms are great for the danceability every 22 minutes (the Alan Thick theme songs are the bomb). Or I like to learn things so topdocumentaries.com is great. I was tickled when last year they featured a doc that I worked on Tales of the G20. I also like to have Eddie Izzard stand up running when I’m working too.

I am tweaking the master list of projects on mightybraveproductions.com. This is the first time I’ve put all my projects in one place. Not needing traditional resumes (the closest was an actor CV) I’ve never done this before. I keep remembering projects and art shows that I have forgotten. Someone I want to work is skyping me… i’m going to take the video call. I’m tickled for the unexpected contact! (12:30pm).
My mind is buzzing from the very quick online story meeting. I need to think for awhile, let this stuff cook. (12:50pm) It’s strange writing everything down as I think of it or do it. It’s actually like having an intern- I speak everything out loud that I’m thinking so they can get a good sense of my process.
(1pm) I just sent my street address to my dinner company. Turns out I got the dinner day wrong- it’s tomorrow. But the sauce will actually be better tomorrow. So now I have a free evening to do anything I want. I might venture out with my new camera and shoot the alley art, which I am obsessed with. Ok back to story thinking. I think I will lie on the floor with my dogs, stretch and think about story structure.
(1:11pm) I actually re-arranged my studio a little bit. I’m always figuring out how to make my space better for the things I do. I have my video editing area, my easel (dabbling in painting with nail polish) my table and my meditating space (mat on floor with space to starfish my limbs out). I realize that perfecting a space is an ongoing process.  Thinking about it, I do this at least 10 minutes every day I’m here. This blog is very interesting for me to write, seeing exactly where I put my focus in a day. Now going to think and stretch. And eat some meat sauce.
I stretched, with my dogs and now I’m choosing a 6 minute and then an 8 minute meditation in the tub. I love turning my phone off and being unreachable. Its feels so free to be able to jump full force into a moment. and not be distracted. I just remembered two more art shows that I had pieces in at Buddies in Bad Times. Instead of adding them to my site and possibly get pulled back into my computer, I jotted them down on my paper list. At this point, I will meditated in the tub and then I think the sauce is far along enough to turn it to the lowest setting and head out to High Park with the dogs. This walking time is my second specific creative thinking time during a day. Sometimes I listen to music, Sometimes guided meditation. More often than not silence is the way to light my imagination on fire. Ok now the hot bath water will help soften my muscles for deep relaxation.  The calmness is intoxicating and the way forward creatively for me. The excitement comes natural, the energy comes when I’m excited. It’s the calm grounded feeling that I strive for every day. This feeling is how I know I’m doing the right thing. I ate some sauce on the way to meditate- the veg is tastier than the meat. What?! (1:43pm)
(2:48pm) Woah my thirty minute meditation bath turned into an hour- the ideas were flowing so I didn’t get out. As well as the meditations I did two guided hypnosis, also from youtube. Now I’m a bit of a prune but a relaxed energized one. I also had insights into my own create process and how I want to refine it. Thanks Student from OCAD for asking me to do this. I think I might adopt a streamlined version of this to keep track of my process to keep it fresh.  I like to document through art and video, I can do words/ process too. I just stirred the sauces and ate some more. Now I am heading for about 1.5 to 2hours to the trails in High Park with my dogs. The best time of the day for my body, heart, soul and brain. After I’ll write down a streamline of my process from bath/ meditation and dog walking. I was going to jot some notes, but I am going to trust my brain to remember and synthesize my thoughts when I get back. Brain, I trust you’ll spit it out even better after it cooks. Like my sauces.
(4:15pm) I got home from the park with a cool hardwood picture frame. I stirred the sauce and am now sitting at my work table with my laptop. I just Googled “longest simmering spaghetti sauce” and found a lady who simmers her sauce for 24 hours. That sounds like a euphemism but it’s not meant as one. I do little upkeep bits on all my projects and while I’m doing other stuff my actual creative work gets done.  Here are a few notes on the status of my current projects. I nurture them most days. At least to look at the list and keep the to-do items fresh in my head.
My Favourite Mistake:  My first feature film in the white tragedy style (a name that I have given my flavour of storytelling -it borrows much from black comedy). I have made 12 short films with this story telling mandate and I’m ready to move into long form. The characters are alive in my mind and after meeting with friend and adoption agent Maureen last week for research, I got some more authentic ideas based on her experiences from families in Toronto. It’s a story that involves adoption and I wanted to check the facts. I’m starting to see the shape of the overall story and scenes. And the ending is clear to me now too. I feel like these characters are friends that I care deeply about and I think about them often.
Jazz FM TD Bank Project: I am meeting with Ab Boles and hopefully Lorraine (of underground jazz joint)  to pick their brains for a good match of jazz musician for an upcoming project at The Revue Cinema. Jazz or Swing I think is the way. I’m keen to hear their thoughts on a kind of music I know nothing about. I would be making art videos that play on the silver screen if this project lines up.
I want to re-watch footage my intern shot of The Queen of the Parade going up running. It is still tricky to really explain the installation even with photos. So I think cutting together a few minutes of video is the way to show. The footage is shaky and blurry. I do wish there had been a bit more time put into this aspect. Luckily there are hundreds of videos posted online- I might do a collage of other people’s footage to show the 25 foot Queen off to her full glory and ten foot video legs.
Website tweaking, LinkedIn and IMDb are three ongoing picky things I do on a lot of days. I also really benefit from making something every day. Digital art/ pixel painting/ self portrait/ video study or art video. I find that my creative flow eking out little bits here and there, really adds up. The first two years I was sick I created more hours of therapeutic video art than I did whilst running a small production company.  A little bit every day. I guess I’m really understanding why it’s called an art practise. And a meditation practise. There is a such a benefit to the consistency. Since 2008 I have spent countless hours editing photos and video and now I am proficient in Final Cut and Photoshop, two skills I never thought I’d have.
The Brazil US Canada Project is an ongoing online collaboration with Luiz Barcello a Brazillian filmmaker, Steve Weiss a filmmaker/programmer and Lesie Barton and artist/filmmaker like myself. We haven’t had a meeting in awhile because of our schedules, but Luiz is coming to Toronto in December and I suspect hashing him here will freshen the interest. I’m keen to see where this goes.
Art installations in the works: MAGICK (projection mapping/ performance/ interactive) NEVERWET on WHITE (technology/ performance) WE CAN BE HEROES (performance with Lisa McKewan) and this idea I have about a tin bird man.
In writing this especially, I realize my days are full of millions of moment nurturing my creative process, body, mind and projects. I used to feel a rush in my work- like I should be farther along or have done more. Now I realize that I’m exactly in the right place and the very nature of the ease of a relaxed day is where I need to be to move forward with worthwhile work.
So that what I do on the most usual boring day that I have here at Haus of Dada in the dada laboratory. For me, it’s about stretching and nurturing my brain, spirit, imagination and physical body. And a commitment to myself to continually strive to find my most authentic voice.
I’m going to read this over and call it a day. At least I think so right now… I do like to keep regular hours to not burn out. Making only films I used to think “regular hours” were 12 hours to 18 hours a day seven days a week. Six to eight hours a day will ultimately yeild more creative output than pushing hard and crashing periodically like I used to.
I just remembered another two performance based art installations I was involved in. I can’t believe I forgot about Kent Monkman’s The Art Game. I was the most prolific artist in the world. Fun! I think every artist/ craftsperson/ maker of things should make a master list like I am to remember all their work no matter how big or small.
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Yours truly and appreciatively
Lisa Anita Wegner.

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