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Literature
Stumbling upon a reading: “Up the Ottawa Without Despair”
It’s Thursday, December 17th and I find myself at the Raw Sugar Cafe, it’s on Somerset, half a block West of Bronson. Mary Clayton’s soul infused version of “Southern Man” pumps through the room at an agreeable volume as crisp dressed women and men settle and chat in this cozy, eclectic room.
Tonight launches the fifth chapter of local writer Brendan McNally’s novel, “Up the Ottawa Without Despair”. Scavenging the internet for fun things to do tonight, I stumbled upon this event listing on Ottawatonite.com and know precious little about the show. However, I had the honor of being a member of the first musical act to grace this cherished venue, so I’m always game frequenting this cool establishment.
Familiar faces start to pop out of the crowd and I recognize one of the names on the poster. I’ve seen Amanda Abdelhadi perform comedy before and she was quite funny. Dave O’Meara, it turns out, is the same lanky, lovable Dave who serves at the Manx. A few years ago I worked at the Manx and while slicing a bucket of potatoes I happened upon a news clipping about the Gord Downie using some of Dave’s poetry as lyrics. We had a good chat about it and my esteem grew for this warm and humble man.
I see a distinctive gentleman standing in the middle of the room, he must be Brendan. He has one of those faces like Vince Halfhide, not esthetically speaking, but in the way that it’s so recognizable, it’s a pillar of the Ottawa arts community, like a living totem pole.
The peppermint tea soothes my smoke and coffee ravaged throat while approving glances fall from this community of writers as I scribble away in my black leather bound notebook. Right on time, the show starts and Sandra Ridley goes up first. Images of lush vegetation swirl with feminine body parts, all being grounded by the thick roots and good love of an old tree. Her words conjure instances of spontaneous growth intertwined with brittle death, sprouting from ragged decay. I wish I had the written version of the work in front of me, so I could pick it apart with a dictionary, meticulously cherishing each delicate beat. Soon her smooth delivery carries me away, I learn to sit back and allow her jagged yet soothing atmospheres to be formed in my mind. Ephemeral environments and mythic characters sway to bouncing rhythms, creating gritty and fantastic moments, then they slip away as she starts her next poem. The crowd gobbles up every morsel and I wish she was on for longer.
Dave is up next, apparently he has a hearty list of laurels and as soon as he goes into his first selection, the deservedness of his recognitions is made apparent. Dave echos the simple mastery of Denis Leary, if Denis were taking on all forms of perturbing and sometimes volatile subject matter. “Power Boat” is about a real life English boat racer who had a horrible boating accident, went into a coma, legally died twice, got upset when paramedics had to cut open her brazier and then went on to do more racing. His work is inspired by things he reads and the result is a varied examination of individual struggles and triumphs from all over the world. His work offers moments of dissonant thought patterns framed by the tempestuous anxieties of teenage reality. Every thursday between 6:30 and 7pm, you can hear Dave on CKCU, he hosts a show called Literary Landscape. Chatting with Dave, I find a man sustaining a high level of creative output. The result is ever improving work and increasing visibility. He tells me that being a poet doesn’t always pay very well, but it has it’s perks. He was invited to read at a writers festival in Orkin, found in the Yorkie Islands of Northern Scotland. A recent highlight was an on-stage interview with Nick Cave at the local St. Brigid’s writer’s festival.
Seeing Brendan’s face around the city for so long, it’s a pleasant shock to hear a soft but striking Irish accent escape from his lips. The reading series was created to expose his new novel, Up the Ottawa Without Despair and to raise money for a much needed dental operation. His demeanor is of measured exuberance, cracking one cornball joke after another as his stories expose us to the beautiful aspects of all things low and dirty. The first selection hits a nerve with my personal history; it’s a first person narrative about a young, poor but intelligent and sensitive man hitchhiking up from Ottawa to Wakefield and back, before that quaint little town was the tourist destination it is today. A reference to “The Outsiders”, is paired with the brutal reality of the entrenched violence in poor Lowertown. Flowery writing this is not, gritty displays of raw, bright life are juxtaposed with bleak hopelessness and sorrow. His dismantling of the Santa Clause myth is a piece of disgruntled holiday magic. The debunking of St Nick’s soft power culminates as a hung over, self-described hater of children takes on the roll of mall Santa. Amanda Abdelhadi contributes back-up voice acting, creating much appreciated layers of comedy. I liked it when the stoned elf was giggling.
DJ Eric Komosol playes tasty tracks as a musical bed to Brendan’s dynamic performance; smooth jazz and deep soul are the grooves of the evening. Enlisting DJ Eric for the party was a wise decision, he made excellent song choices, had smooth transitions and helped created that quintessential book-party atmosphere. If you ever need a good DJ for a party, look him up.
All and all it was an enthralling and thought provoking evening with plenty of humor and good tidings.
There’s something special about accomplished and talented authors presenting a vocalized rendition of their written work. Hearing distinctive emphasis, interjection and pauses, creates an über-intimate, utterly unique experience. Nadia has created an inviting environment of the Raw Sugar which nourishes and encourages all varieties of artistic expression. So go to the Raw Sugar whenever it’s open, especially next month, when Brendan presents chapter six of the house band series.
I look forward to seeing you there.
-Maxim
Maxim also blogs: http://maximk7.blogspot.com/
House Band Reading Series – Behind a written scene: “Loeb.”
The “Loeb” scene (video below) was presented at the May edition of the House Band Reading Series, which featured the launch of Chapter 2.
Riding the #2 bus
photo by R. Dupuis
Boarding the number two at Rideau and Nelson, the bus driver warns me not to swallow the two quarters I have pinched between my lips. Adding cheerfully, “you’ll get sick to your stomach and then I’ll have a mess to clean up!”
At the Rideau Center, a woman dressed in generic work clothes she probably doesn’t like very much, is reading The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. She’s only on page eight, and judging from the look on her face, she’s not enjoying it very much. Occasionally, she looks up from the book and checks her Blackberry. She sighs as she does this, as if disappointed that somebody forgot her birthday, again.
Turning down O’Connor, two professional looking women talk about the virtues of CBC radio and NPR. The one who’s doing most of the talking looks like she votes NDP and proudly frequents nude beaches. While speaking, she deftly integrates her affection for foreign films, The Economist and the Sandinistas into one sentence. The woman standing next to her nods her head, a tight smile on her lips.
On the Somerset portion of the route, there are lots of haunted looking men. They look lonely, like the have demons. Day after day, they return home to empty apartments, their hours stretched thin, they dump overflowing ashtrays into the toilet.
In Hintonburg, a man carrying a pack of Peter Jackson cigarettes and a Coke gets on the bus. He has a shock of white hair and a soul patch on his chin. He walks with a limp and wears mismatched clothes that almost look cool. He tells the person he sits beside about a horse that came in on Sunday night that paid out $75. He speaks slowly, as if it’s difficult for him to locate the words he wants to use.
Pimped out kids loiter in front of the Community Center. They look dangerous, like you wouldn’t’ want to watch them play street hockey, frightened to see how they might use their sticks.
Passing through the fashionable Westboro district of the city, the #2 emerges onto Richmond, where the demographics change. Here, on the bus, there are only women. Sitting quietly, they all stare straight, holding their bags carefully on their laps they look like they’re on important missions.
At Bayshore, a large woman in a hijab reads a tiny chapbook about half the size of a baseball card. Her thumb obscures the entire page of Arabic text on the opposite page to the one she’s reading. Her lips move slowly as her finger traces the words on the page.
Two girls share an iPod. One listens attentively, like a studious music geek, while the other girl bops about playing air guitar and snapping her fingers. Eating from a bag of Hickory Sticks, she shouts, “I have to pee so frigging badly!”
Plump and happy, a man wearing a Dave Matthews concert t-shirt decorated with the buttons of all sorts of not-so-cool rock bands gets on. He looks like he collects action figures and has an informed opinion about which Star Trek franchise is superior, like he’s dying to talk to somebody, to anybody.
A woman, who has made a point of carrying all of her groceries in cloth rather than plastic bags, answers her phone. At first, her “hello” is neutral, a question. When she finds out who’s calling, she relaxes, “oh, hi,” she says, warmth now infusing her voice.
It’s raining now, and as the 2 returns downtown an Asian man runs like the wind to catch the bus. He flashes by The Plant Bath, where, through an illuminated window, you can see dozens of children in karate outfits doing jumping jacks.
mmurray also blogs here: http://www.michaelmurray.ca/blog/
Behind a reading scene:
David O’Meara and the Plan 99 Reading Series
“I never thought we’d celebrate the tenth anniversary,” says David O’Meara of Plan 99, the Ottawa “gold standard” reading series he co-founded with Chris Swail in 1999. “I’m just saying so,” Dave adds, “because at the beginning we weren’t sure we knew what we were doing.” Dave points to the name of the series itself as an example of this. “The name came partly from the year we started, and partly as a play on the name of the sci-fi movie Planet 9 from Outer Space.”
But figure things out and celebrate they did, marking the milestone this past October with a special reading hosted by the Ottawa International Writer’s Fest.
When Dave isn’t pulling pints at the Manx Pub, he’s busy writing poems that have established himself “as one of the best contemporary poets in Canada” according to Canadian Notes & Queries. He’s also organizing guests for his timeslot on CKCU-FM’s Literary Landscapes, and he’s planning Plan 99. “I carry my notebook with me, pencil ready.” Dave says, recently returned from a reading tour of festivals across Canada to promote his most recent collection, Noble Gas, Penny Black. Doing out of town readings is a great way to keep my ear to the ground. Like when I pencilled Karen Solie in after she told me she had a new collection coming out.”
Poet David O'Meara organizes the Plan 99 Reading Series.
Unlike others reading series around Ottawa, Dave and Chris decided to focus only on out of town authors to begin with. This was so Plan 99 wouldn’t just repeat the success or format of other series. Modestly, Dave tells me, “We wanted to add something new to Ottawa’s literary scene.”
But saying that Plan 99 has added something new is an understatement. Over the past decade the series has brought celebrated Canadian poets, novelists and authors down the steps to the cozy atmosphere of the Manx Pub on Elgin Street. It’s one thing to pack a bar on a busy Friday night, quite something else to jam it packed on a quiet Saturday afternoon, when readings are usually held. There is nothing like being in a small bar with sixty other people, all quietly listening to the eloquence of Robyn Sarah, the insights of Carmine Starnino, the raw power of Ken Babstock or the drama of Lisa Moore.
“The nature of reading is that our stories, our narratives, are read, in private. It’s a very solitary thing,” Chris tells me when we have time to chat, after he’s finished helping his kids with their homework. “And what I’ve always liked about Plan 99 is that it’s one of those rare occasions where people can publicly acknowledge, validate and personally thank the writers who have greatly influenced who we are, and how we think about being Canadian. It really is an honour and a privilege to be able to help present that.”
Dave and Chris didn’t just choose the Manx as the location for Plan 99 because they work there. “Though it helps,” Dave laughs on a quiet afternoon in the pub. “But really, it’s the perfect space. Not to big, not to small. Aside from the financial support of the Pub, which is very important, the staff is very culturally engaged, so they give a huge amount of moral support to Plan 99.”
David O’Meara reading “The Game” from Noble Gas, Penny Black. Brick Books.
Plan 99 is also supported by Canada Council for the Arts. Which means Dave has to organize the readings up to six months in advance, making sure he’s got all the proper forms filled out for the funding to help him welcome the cream of Canada’s literary crop to the Manx.
On the day of the readings Dave is busy organizing the incidental things, hooking up the microphone, coordinating with the kitchen, which closes for the reading. The Manx doesn’t play piped in music, or have televisions sets, which is a great feature for people who want to have quiet conversations. So another job Dave has is to gently inform those patrons there is a reading coming up, inviting them to stay, but pointing out the sign that says, “Shhhhhh….reading in progress.”
As far as a personal motivation, Dave has, “always had a deep and abiding interest in literature so I’ve enjoyed hosting the series and it’s been a great ten years.”
Another understatement, because it’s been way more than great.
photo courtesy of fieldtrip
The Plan 99 Reading Series continues, hosting two more excellent readings before Christmas at The Manx Pub, 370 Elgin Street.
This Saturday, November 28th, Kingston writer Mark Sinnett reads,
followed by Toronto based Karen Solie next Saturday, December 5th.
Both readings are at 5pm.
Thanks to the Manx and the Canada Council, readings are free.
For more information on the series, email Chris Swail at chrisswail@rogers.com
David O’Meara’s next reading in Ottawa is at the House Band Reading Series, Thursday December 17th, 9-11pm, at Raw Sugar Café, 692 Somerset Street West. $5.00, or pay what you can.
Brendan McNally is a graduate of the Humber College School for Writers, Creative Writing Mentorship Program. He also runs the House Band Reading Series.
12 or 20 Questions – with author rob mclennan
From September 2007 to June 2008, to correspond with my time in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, I asked some two hundred writers from North America and beyond a series of similar questions, to see what their answers might be.
Being that I an engaged with a number of writers in Ottawa, I tried to interview as many of them as possible, and as many in Alberta as well, working to learn the community around me in Edmonton, during my tenure west. Much to my surprise, some of the first series of interviews have been taught in University courses, and a couple were even reprinted in a recent issue of Montreal’s Matrix magazine, thanks to editors Andy Brown and Jon Paul Fiorentino. Some have suggested there should be a book version of the series, but why, I wonder, when they’re all already online? And who would want to publish a collection of literary interviews that could run into the hundreds of pages?
This second series, created to correspond with an upcoming period of Toronto activity, is an altered version of those same questions. The goal is the same, to see the range of answers from poets, fiction and non-fiction writers, aiming for a completely different set of authors from the original series, as well as a variety of new questions to replace the original “non-sequitor” question thirteen, provided by Lainna Lane El Jabi.
The original question thirteen was lifted from Ellen Degeneres, speaking to David Letterman on his Late Show in late August 2007 about being a talk-show host, and not necessarily caring about their new movie, new television program, new project; sometimes you just want to ask them, she told him, when’s the last time you ate a pear? To replace this question, Lainna has provided a series of about a dozen new questions, which will change randomly from author to author.
Newly published: Slide. Check it out at http://www.signature-editions.com/xbslide.htm
Since the late 1990s, Barbara Myers has published widely in journals and anthologies, and has won literary prizes including Other Voices (first place, 2000) as well as Arc’s Poem of the Year (HM, in 2006). For six years, she worked as an associate editor at Arc, Canada’s Poetry Magazine, to which she continues to contribute reviews and essays. She has published a number of chapbooks, both her own and collections compiled from the work of students in a poetry group she facilitates.
A community activist, she lives in Ottawa.
1 – How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
This is my first full published collection. It’s a triumph over procrastination – and a kind of rite of passage.
2 – How did you come to poetry first, as opposed to, say, fiction or
non-fiction?
Although I wrote poems sporadically all through my life, poetry fully claimed me about ten or so years ago. Why? its music, its scope for imagining, its compression and depth, the constant challenge to dig deeper, the fact it can never be mastered. It not only felt like a step up from the kind of prose I’d written to make a living, but also held more meaning for me than my tentative attempts at fiction.
3 – How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does
your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first
drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come
out of copious notes?
Slow, slow, slow, like seeds germinating, sprouting, maturing – then being shaped into bonsai. On the occasion that a poem comes more quickly, it still gets knocked around quite a bit before being let out of the house.
4 – Where does a poem usually begin for you? Are you an author of short
pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a
“book” from the very beginning?
Usually the inspiration is for a series or even a book, but the outcome, more often, is a single poem or a short sequence. I admire other poets who can sustain longer pieces.
5 – Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are
you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
It depends. I love to hear other poets read and I do enjoy reading myself if the stars are aligned and the audience responsive. No matter how much poems may be written for the page, they can never disown their oral heritage.
6 – Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds
of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even
think the current questions are?
Mostly it’s wonder and pondering – on what we all wonder and ponder about – what are we doing here? Sometimes it’s the “here” that I wonder about, other times the “doing” – as in heating up the planet. I try not to find it intractable because that only leads to a sense of helplessness, and as Sina Queyras said last week, “we must imagine our way through this mess.”
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture?
Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
The only role the writer has is to speak.
8 – Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or
essential (or both)?
Good question – and it’s both, of course. Difficult in the sense of letting in someone else’s sensibility and weighing their responses and recommendations without muttering, they just don’t get it! Beneficial (perhaps not essential) because there’s always something you haven’t thought of, some unintentional ambiguity, or blooper, or infelicity, that another person can feed back to you. Show the same piece to ten editors and you’ll get eight different takes on it – which makes you think harder about the work, not a bad outcome.
9 – What is the best piece of advice you’ve heard (not necessarily given
to you directly)?
“Fool,” said my muse to me. “Look in thy heart and write.”
— Philip Sidney
10 – What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have
one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
Irregular, spasmodic, but filled with good intentions. Deadlines of any kind are helpful.
11 – When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for
lack of a better word) inspiration?
First, to poems – old, new, formalist, experimental. Canadian, American, all nationalities (in translation). Second to poetry criticism – Helen Vendler, Stephen Dobyns, Terry Eagleton, Jane Hirshfield, Robert Pinsky, etc etc.
12 – What do you really want?
Trusting we are in a irony-free zone, the answer is I just want to say my piece as well as I can. Otherwise, as Kathleen Jamie writes, to be “The Queen of Sheba”.
13 – David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there
any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science
or visual art?
Books do come from books but even more they come from the world, as we perceive it. Also from the news, space, dreams and childhood…
14 – What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply
your life outside of your work?
Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, Americans Wallace Stevens and Charles Wright, Canadian/American Anne Carson, 6th century B.C. poet Sappho, and many Canadians writing today, more and more as time goes on. For relaxation I like police procedurals (e.g. Peter Robinson) and cozy mysteries (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, for example).
15 – What would you like to do that you haven’t yet done?
Perhaps write a whole book on one theme; also more travel – Turkey and Eastern Europe especially.
16 – If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be?
Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you
not been a writer?
It would be grand to be a musician – perhaps in another life.
17 – What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
No choice, really, it was always there in one form or another. Unless I had had musical training (see above) I’d have felt I wasn’t doing the right thing if I had not been writing.
18 – What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Sorry, these are unanswerable questions for me. I don’t say “great” anymore, I say “good.” There’s such a discourse around us in our own day and age and, through books, from times past, we hear now one voice and then another coming through, and many are valid and often troubling. But FYI, the Canadian novel I read most recently is Exit Lines by Joan Barfoot; the last film I saw (on DVD borrowed from the library) was Red Road, a British psychological thriller set in Glasgow
19 – What are you currently working on?
A book about the exotic and the alien – and fear.
This is part of Ottawa writer rob mclennan’s 12 or 20 questions series, up at http://robmclennansindex.blogspot.com/2009/06/12-or-20-questions-second-series.html
Nominate an artist for a big, fat award
Expanded local arts awards amount to $14K
Detail of the Victor Tolgesy Award
It’s satisfying to see a great idea bear fruit.
Four years ago, I sat at a bistro table at the Novotel’s Café Nicole with other motivated members of the outreach committee of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa (CAO), drafting an ideal arts awards scenario that would adequately celebrate and encourage the work and careers of local artists who made the seemingly insane decision to make Ottawa, in place of T.O. or Montreal, their artistic base. Four years of lobbying work later (and two years after I amicably stepped down from the board to pursue motherhood), we have that scenario.
New emerging artist and expanded mid-career artist awards
This week, the CAO announced the expansion of its Mid-Career Artist Award program as well as the creation of a new award for emerging artists and an arts award lunch.
Beginning in 2010, instead of a mid-career award and a $1,000 cash prize going to one recipient, three mid-career awards will go to one winner who receives a $5,000 cash prize with two finalists receiving $1,000 each. The same formula will apply to the new RBC Emerging Artist Award co-founded by the CAO and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Fear not, the CAO will still be adjudicating the jewel in its awards crown, the Victor Tolgesy Artist Award given to an individual whose contribution to the local arts community has been significant. Its recipient list reads like a who’s who of Ottawa artists and arts champions: Penny McCann, Julian Armour, Jennifer Dickson, Ian Tamblyn, Paulette Gagnon, Tom Henighan, the list goes on.
All three sets of awards plus the Council’s Business Recognition Awards will be presented in a new format at the CAO Arts Award Lunch presented by RBC.
So how can you celebrate this good fortune?
Nominate an artist. Heck, nominate three. It is one of the greatest compliments you can give them.
But before you nominate, please read the criteria for each award which are available on the CAO’s website. (Because I know you’re asking yourself, “What the heck is a mid-career artist, anyway?”)
Nomination forms are available by calling (613) 569-1387, emailing council@arts-ottawa.on.ca, or by downloading the nomination form.
The deadline for all three awards is December 15, 2009.
Good luck. Merde.
Nichole is an Ottawa author and e-communications gal who also blogs at http://www.nicholemcgill.com and http://www.twitter.com/nicholemcgill
Chez Lucien, Sunday night
Overhead fans are rotating at different speeds and a 65 year-old man, looking for friends, wanders from bar stool to stool.
He’s holding a pint of beer and telling jokes that he memorized 40 years earlier. He puts a song on the jukebox and goes over a couple sitting at the bar.
They’re both in their mid-50’s, and have likely been driven indoors by the rain that’s plaguing the jazz festival. The old man puts his hands on their shoulders–a beneficent presence– and begins to sing along to the jukebox—It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a serenade, a gift to the lovers.
The woman wears a t-shirt the colour of jewelry, of perfume. The man drinks from a rock glass, the festival pass swinging from around his neck. They’re happy with themselves, that they were selected for a song, that they were cool and charitable enough to indulge the old man as he teetered around them. The old man slaps them on the back, releasing a smoker’s laugh, and moves on to the next person.
They both watch him as he leaves. The man puts down his rock glass and runs the back of his hand over her cheek, down the side of her neck, his fingernails lingering on the spot where skin meets shirt and her cleavage disappears into suggestion. She’s staring into him, exactly like she’s supposed to.
A younger couple, but not that much younger, come arm and arm into the bar. Dripping wet, they shoot tequila, swagger like cowboys back into the night, the sounds of jazz echoing through the parking garage across the street.
Michael Murray also blogs at: http://www.michaelmurray.ca/blog/
Literary Landscape On CKCU FM
PRESS RELEASE: Local writer Brendan McNally will guest host Literary Landscape, CKCU FM’s weekly program of literary affairs, on Thursday, November 19th, 6:30-7pm EST. Listen live: http://ckcu.magma.ca/listenlive.html
“A Letter to Virginia” was the first piece I ever had on the radio,” says McNally. “And it was on CKCU, so I was thrilled to be asked to guest host. I’ll focus the show on D.I.Y literary events, self-publishing, blogging. That sort of thing. And replay the letter.”
“A Letter to Virginia” is a humourous chronicle of McNally’s adventures with Santa Clause over the years.
He will be joined by guest Amanda Abdelhadi, of the blog Bovine Voodoo Magic.
Chez Lucien and The Manx
Waiting for friends at the Manx on a Friday night, I realized that the place has always had a knack for making me feel either very included, or very excluded. Sometimes, I walk in and am swept up into things, becoming a part of an ever- expanding table full of people in excellent moods. On nights like these—with a three pint buzz– everybody seems witty and at the top of their game, and I feel like I’m at a terrific party where I’m making all sorts of brilliant friends.
The Manx is one of the undisputed arts hubs of the city, and all the people who work there carry with them a sort of hipster celebrity. They’re not waiters, they’re artists and musician and poets, and I always find myself hoping for their approval, which is an utterly demoralizing thing to realize.
The bar itself was designed to facilitate conversation. There are no TV sets, nor is there any ambient music playing, save for the fuzz of death metal pushing out of the kitchen. If you’re there on your own, there are no distractions from your solitude, and looking around at the clubby atmosphere, it can be easy to feel like a customer sitting amongst a bunch of friends. When this happens, I always feel needy and awkward, like the last person being chosen in a game of pick-up basketball.
Chez Lucien, on the other hand, was designed to be a safe haven for people who are used to feeling that way. It’s just off the beaten path, and it’s simple in its’ ambition. It’s not seeking to consciously establish a home for the Ottawa arts community, but to provide a place for black sheep to go and have a drink. There’s an effortless honesty and lack of inhibition to the place, and you never feel judged there. While The Manx may make talking easy, Chez Lucien actually makes being comfortable there easy, and in the end, that’s why it will always be my most trusted port in the storm.
Michael Murray also blogs here: http://www.michaelmurray.ca/blog/
Dave Cooper’s latest inspiration
When a pomegranate isn’t just a pomegranate
Painter and illustrator Dave Cooper might very well be Ottawa’s best known visual artist whose international reputation seems to, sadly for Ottawa, overshadow his local rep. His paintings of pillowy women that are, at once, erotic, innocent and can veer into the mildly disturbing, sell in New York, Los Angeles and Paris while his current hiatus from the graphic novel world is also mourned internationally.
In “Nice Ottawa”, his work is occasionally on display in “one-night stand” format at Ottawa’s black sheep of the visual arts scene, Galerie La Petite Mort or recently at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
But perhaps his latest series will be found to be more palatable to the more conservative in Ottawa.
When a pomegranate isn’t just a pomegranate
Cooper’s latest mini-series could loosely be termed as “the erotic innocence of fruit”. Pomegranate A (below), B (left) and C (top) were originally conceived as a triptych with “A” being unabashedly lush, B” a balance of age and vitality and “C”, a literal balance of opposites.
Luckily for me, “Pomegranate C” is snapped up. (Yes, I’m the culprit. It was an extravagant birthday gift paid in sweat, paint and affection.)
Still, it’s worth following Dave Cooper’s visual arts site and sniff around the galleries in town to see if Dave will explore this new concept further or return to his “pillowy girls”.
Dave Cooper is accepting commissions. You can contact him at dave [at] davegraphics [dot] com.
Images all © Dave Cooper. Republishing available with permission.
