CADMIUMThe Shocking Issue: November 2011

Free Volume 3 Number 2

OF OCADUOUR STUDENTS OVERSEAS REALIZE OCADU IS HOME

A NO GO?PRAISE OR RAGE YOU GET TO READ BOTH.

LIFE OUTSIDE

NEW LOGO,OCADU’S

CADMIUMEDITOR: Christina WhiteIn-House Writer: Izaak Kooiman

WRITERS:

ARTISTS & DESIGNERS:

COVER:

SEND YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO:

publication@ocadsu.org

CONTACT US:CADMIUM c/o OCAD Student Union100 McCaul StreetToronto, ONM5T 1W1

publication@ocadsu.org

Front: Lina AliBack: Quintin Clarke

Jos Theriault Stefaine ChowJamie McMillanMegan KeenanMaya Cheryl BermanWendy Lisa NicholSean CollinsAlanna MuleRebecca WilsonRie MaktabiCassidyMarcela CalderonDevin O’BrienClaire Sch

Cassi Wong-LeeIzaak KooimanClaire ScherzingerCaitlin MartinMatias BernasconiMarco BertuzzoMatt MorelandJazeen Hollings

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

am writing to discuss the “How to: Make friends at OCAD U” article that was published in the Welcome Back Issue: September 2011 of CADMIUM. As an upper-year student

with first-hand experience in the awkwardness of making friends, I was surprised when I read this article describing how smokers, people at bars, at the LCBO and at parties are the best locations to make friends with students at OCAD University. I am sure that the author was not intentional in illustrating a derogatory stereotype of art students, but these are the facts I would like to correct:

(a) That this article’s negative portrayal of students at OCAD U seeming to be smokers, drinkers and partiers all the time (apparently this applies to commuters??), only propagates the stereotype of the art student even further and is false;(b) That the article fails to mention joining student groups/clubs, volunteering for Campus Life/OCAD U events, attending OCAD U events and even meeting others through mutual friends are also good ways to meet people; (c) That first year students are comprised of mature students, slightly older than high-school students and, more importantly, fresh-out-of-high-school students, who are still underage and unable to drink and go to bars… not that they may or may not have other ways of circumventing this issue, who still cannot attend.

While I appreciate that the article only further proves how friendly OCAD University students can be, and how we can learn to relax after a hard week of school and work, it is simply disrespectful to clump all OCAD University students into a stereotype that does not reflect the unique, diverse and creative-minded individuals at our school. The blunt truth is, we’re not the art student stereotype, but we seem to let it define us anyways.

- Brooke Wayne

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

his is my now second issue of Cadmium that I’ve had the pleasure of creating and can I just say its been quite an experience. As you all can tell Cadmium has changed

significantly. But I couldn’t have done it without all of you who contribute and read this. We’re constantly looking for people to contribute and lend a helping hand. So drop us an email and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. I really want Cadmium to expand and become this huge publication that encompasses all of the OCADU underground news.

For this issue us at Cadmium wanted to create the Shocking Issue. We wanted to show all the shocking issues that are going on around OCADU.

- Christina White

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CONTENTSCADMIUM | September 2011

FEATURES

OPINIONS

EXTRAS

The Times are ChangingOCADU’s new logo is a unwanted change for some and a exciting one for others.

RecipesPasta with Butternut Squash Sauce, Corn, and Tomatoes.

The Grange Park LightingPreposed lighting design for the Grange.

A Wallet for Harley-DavidsonA proposed design for a Harley-Davidson wallet.

Student Art WorkWorks from current OCAD U Students from various programs.

GamesThings for you to do during class.. I mean at home.

My Summer & September at LE GalleryA sweet summer full of gallery hopping and the reflections made from said visits.

Paris Isn’t Always BlissStudents overseas realize that yes the studios may be better but OCADU is home.

MASH

personally went around OCAD the other day asking anyone and everyone what they thought of our schools new logo. “OCAD

has a new logo?” questioned Dave, “It’s very creative and I like coloring in boxes.” Said Samantha from 4th year, “For a school so full of creative people our logo is incredibly uninspired.” Said Rachel who’s a second year student. Yes, OCAD-U has a new logo. Long overdue and necessary, since our school received its degree-granting status in 2002, and In 2007, the Government of Ontario invited OCAD to make a formal proposal for a name change from Ontario’s Collage of Art and Design to: OCAD University. The new logo is a necessary progression because of the name change. The reaction to the new logo is a topic that got our students wondering if it’s for the better or the worst. Change is never easy and this article is an opinion piece in which I asked on campus what students thought. Some students are simply indifferent, others like it, and some even detest it. The way the logo works leaves it very open to criticism and praise, this is because it has an empty canvas for students or the school to draw whatever they like inside and outside of the box. The beautiful Singithi mentioned that she likes it. “On one hand it’s aesthetically bland, but on the other its very welcoming to the impulses student have here”. It’s true, students at OCAD have a tendency to vandalize walls and washrooms, our new logo does give an outlet to those who need self-expression. Yet, is this really a good change?

“OCAD needs a mascot! A unicorn seems appropriate because we are the school of Imagination!” Joked Jamie. Funny thing is, Jamie from 2nd year does have every right to do exactly that. The OCAD-U logo is what you make of it. “It’s interesting how we can include what we like into it” Said Shantel from 1st year. “It’s very flexible, fresh, dynamic and exciting. I’m a big fan of it.” Smiled Tim Bettridge from the Book Store. “It’s open minded, I like the canvas idea” Astha in first year told me. As students in an art school we all know that everything starts from an empty canvas, students are free to put their own work in it, they could put others people work into it or they could not use it all. “It’s confusing how it’s always different.” Pointed out Opolla Karim, and she has a point. The Brand Equity of the logo is at risk, it will look slightly different all the time and this is why the opinions on it are scattered.

“It sucks it looks unprofessional, its too plain.” said Chen Cao, and he’s not the only critic. “It’s kinda lame, I don’t like how its boxed up, its too traditional It lacks spunk its plain.” Said Jessica, “For an Art university we could have done better, also the lack of color is upsetting” said a student who wanted to remain anonymous. He’s right, compared to our old logo, without a colorful doodle in the canvas it’s black and white. Which is very different than our old logo which had solid color. “I prefer the old one, the color added to the type of school we, the colors represented the students” Chris Nzekio from 2nd year mentioned with detest. Which brings up the point of what we lost, it looks nothing like the old logo. “ It’s kinda weird how the “u” is just added on, it feels displaced and like it doesn’t need to be there” Spoke Anna from 1st year. “ I like it as an open canvas, but by itself it simply doesn’t work,” Mentioned Kimberly Lee from first year.

Some students were personally insulted that OCAD went out of its way to hire an institution to make the logo. For a University that might sometimes struggle with debt, the idea that they would outsource the Logo and not have students make the logo is a missed golden opportunity. “We should have designed our own typeface, and it’s too similar to the Ringling school of Art logo.” Addressed Sabrina. Indeed we’re not the only school with an empty canvas in its logo. And OCAD-U does give degree’s to students to make their own type face. The logo ended up using a simple Gotham font. Which is popular and used worldwide leaving our schools letters unoriginal.

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OCADU’s new logo is a unwanted change for some and a exciting one for others.The Times are ChangingBy: Matias Bernasconi

Student Work

Jamie McMillan

Stefanie Chow

was lucky enough to spend the four glorious months of summer living in the city while doing courses, working and of course seeing lots of art. I find that when you’re in your second year of

studies at OCAD U, you don’t really get the feeling that just around the corner is graduation. You don’t get the feeling that your third year at OCAD is going to be just as important as your fourth. About halfway through the summer I finally realized I needed to see more art, get acquainted with galleries around the city and give myself a crash course on how all of these galleries operate. Enter LE Gallery, started in 2003 by Criticism and Curatorial Practice student, Will Kucey. Whenever I make the trip to Dundas West I am never disappointed. Will has a sensitive eye for what pieces work well together. Often there are two artists opening their shows on the same night and every single time I find that their paintings compliment one another perfectly. During the summer I saw the exquisite works of Mitsuo Kimura, Eliscser Elliot, Megan McCabe and Bogdan Luca. This past September I was introduced to the beautiful digital work of David Trautrimas. For those who haven’t made the trek down to Dundas and Ossington there is no better time than the present.

Element and Interval, September 7th—October 2nd, 2011David Trautrimas

One of the prominent galleries on Dundas West is LE Gallery, known to represent young, emerging and mid-career artists on the local Torontonian and international scale. I find that when I’m taking the streetcar to what is also known as Little Portugal, the Dundas West art scene is full of life, just as much as Queen West. Kucey, is known to line up exhibitions featuring artists with acute emotional depth in their work, while the paintings, on a superficial level, create visual feasts for the eyes. When I walked into the space, with the initial glance at Trautrimas’ work, I felt a sense of being awash in steel water. The experience was purifying, looking at the five large digital prints. The

prints in their physical appearance are like topographical maps of a body of rippling water. Most importantly, the sheer size of each print, the largest being fifty by forty inches, allows for an intimate experience with the viewer, but also allows the viewer to be consumed by the flowing texture of water, rock and sky. What is seen in each digitally drawn piece is the variability seen in nature. A ripple in a body of water or a moving cloud in the sky is something that only happens once in a certain manner, and while the water in a certain spot may ripple, it may never happen in that same spot again. Trautrimas’ work is very conceptual in his approach. His work with digital technology and dematerialization of the art object is what fortifies his visual thesis, showing fleeting moments of observation in nature. In essence, Trautrimas has stripped down these fleeting moments to their bare structures of a simple ripple in the water or movement of a cloud, creating a juxtaposition of nature versus artifice. He has created these scenes of the natural world while physically creating them in a highly structured digital format. This brought me to the question, which I think is at the core of Trautrimas’s work, which is, are these seemingly random acts in nature, of water dripping and skies moving, really random—or are they part of a larger intelligent design? I found that as I was standing in the middle of the gallery as more people poured in to the intimate space, that each movement can be seen as either a completely random act, or that the random act was part of a larger structural design. As I stood in the room, it being towards the end of the opening and people were packed into the gallery with their glasses of wine, I thought about the implications of creating digital art that can easily be mass-produced. The idea of buying a digital print can be considered a risk by art buyers since there is no guarantee that many copies will be made after a print is bought unless the file is destroyed. However, after having the pleasure of watching Trautrimas’s process of creating Element and Interval V online, I realized that looking at the image in the flesh was all that really mattered. In the digital age the medium of digital painting is part of the zeitgeist of the 21st century. It is the only medium I feel that Trautrimas could use to prove his visual thesis and create a breathtakingly emotional connection between the artist and viewer.

A sweet summer full of gallery hopping and the reflections made from said visitsBy: Claire Scherzinger

My SummerSeptember&

at LE Gallery

Mistuo KimuraNooks, 2011

Acrylic and ink on paper, mounted to board

60’’ x 36’’

Mistuo KimuraNooks, 2011

Acrylic and ink on paper, mounted to board

60’’ x 36’’

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After graduating from OCAD in 2003 he has since shown all over the world in places like The Hague, California and has been reviewed or featured online and in print in Canada the US, Germany, Russia and China. His innovative work with digital painting has, in my mind, put him up in the ranks along with fellow Canadian artist Mitsuo Kimura.

Go Into The Deep Forest, July 20th—August 4th Mitsuo Kimura

A forest can be a metaphor for the theatre of the mind. Mitsuo Kimura’s most recent body of work examines exactly that. Upon stepping into the gallery I was overcome by waves of colour that made me want to sing “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” I brought a few of my University of Toronto friends to the opening and they had very similar opinions. I found myself in a trance by the beauty of line and colour in Kimura’s work that I didn’t even think about the theme until the end of the reception. We were all in shock at the vivid beauty of Kimura’s portfolio, my friends saying they were reminded of memories from their childhood in suburbia and vacations walking through forests and mountains. The centerpiece of the show Nooks is the piece in particular that conveys this concept of the deep forest being a metaphor for the crevices of the mind. The flowing lines of the work and the contrasting orange and pink against a dark steel blue draw in the viewer. The forest monster-like figure in centre-left of the panel is the focal point, it’s vines spreading throughout the panel, drawing the viewer’s eyes in all directions. The little white balls of what I thought to be either dandelion fluff or forest sprits were dispersed throughout the composition. Countless pop culture references ran through my head from James Cameron’s Avatar to Princess Mononoke. I realized then that the interesting part of the show is that Kimura’s approach to such a piercing and intellectually deep concept is not comical at all. Rather, his style appears to reference Hayao Miyazaki’s light-hearted narratives that have undertones of larger worldly issues. Kimura’s style is full of juxtapositions in this sense. While his style is pure and evokes memories of childhood, there is a darker underlying theme of the forest being a place where we metaphorically relive our best and worst experiences. Above all I felt that I was looking at anime otaku culture through a Westernized lens, and it was very accessible. Kimura’s style is a perfect union of eastern and western styles. This dyadic relationship of east and west is reflected in the light-hearted tone of his work, contrasted against darker, more substantial themes. I find juxtapositions to be interesting since they are intellectual puzzles that reflect the artist’s psyche, and Kimura’s work is no exception. The Deep Forest represents Kimura’s way of communicating his emotional spectrum of fear, doubt, and anticipation in a visually stimulating manner, especially with his newly acquired English sometimes hindering his ability to tell his Western audience what he is feeling in words. As such, Kimura has created images for his North American audience so we may experience not only asian otaku culture, but the theatre of his mind.

Student Work

Megan Keenan

RECIPESINGREDIENTS:

1/2 of a medium-sized butternut squash, cut into chunks

2 small potatoes, cut into chunks

1/2 cup of corn

1/2 of a tomato, cut into chunks

1/2 a package of pasta (whatever you like)

1 tbsp of tamari

salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put a pot on the stove with some water and bring it to a boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, put the butternut squash and potato chunks into the water. Boil the vegetables until they are fork-tender/mash-ready. Drain the vegetables and put it aside in another bowl. Mash the vegetables with a potato masher until it is creamy.

2. Put another pot of water on the stove and boil the water. Once this water boils, add the pasta to it. Add the corn into the water halfway through and boil the pasta and the corn until the pasta is ready and the corn is bright yellow. Strain the pasta and corn and set aside.

3. Take the mashed vegetables and put it in a pot over medium heat Add the tamari and any other seasonings you want. Add water to create a saucy texture to the vegetables and heat over the stove for about 5 minutes. Add the corn, pasta, and tomatoes and continue to cook everything over medium heat for 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and let it cool for 2 minutes before serving.

Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce, Corn, and Tomatoes

By: Cassi Wong-Lee

Maya Cheryl Berman

Wendy Lisa Nichol

The Grange Park is used throughout the year by thousands of Torontonians, as it is situated behind both the AGO and OCAD University, at the base of Queen Street, China Town, and Dundas.

Through observation, the way people utilize the space is informed by time of year. In the winter the park is primarily used as means transportation for pedestrians, while the summer months bring more recreation. My work looks to address the function of this space on a seasonal scale, and incorporates solutions around safety and the use of space.

I chose to work with lighting as the existing fixtures create problems around safety, and do not address the aesthetic of the site. The lights I designed adapt to the parks program though rotating clockwise, slowly changing the light source’s position (one rotation per year). This is an abstracted response to lighting problem areas, such as paths in the winter, and dark areas in the summer. The form is painted varies tones of green as a playful extension of the ground they occupy. My work is meant to invite people to engage in this prosperous environment, and enjoy it in new ways throughout the year.

The Grange Park LightingSean Collins

Student Work

A Wallet For Harley-DavidsionSean Collins

The Wallet for Harley-Davidson was a study of form in relation to brand. My solution to this brief is meant to grasp the essence of

Harley-Davidson, while progressing their brand in refreshing ways.

he thought of an exchange has always exhilarated me. Fling yourself into a foreign country that you’ve never been before,

be adventurous, experience the world a different way, learn. It was this logic that compelled me to turn my thought into a reality last year as I signed up for the OCADU exchange program. I carefully considered the schools listed, and since there were no such things like “the amazonian school of skydiving and arts” on it I chose the Parsons Paris School of Art. The reasons why I chose it are self explanatory: Parsons is a big name in the game and would probably look great on a resume, and hey, it’s Paris, that’s the one thing a place like RISDI does not have going for it. Within a few months I was touching down in the Charles DeGaulle airport and the excitement coursed through me. As my bus flew down the Parathétique, and the city came into view I couldn’t help but wonder: What would the city of love, lights and splendor have in store for me? Apparently, what it has in store for me is, what appears to be, a scrapped draft of a National Lampoons Vacation Movie. The dormitories that I arrived at were the first punchline: A small room, a quirky and over the top roommate, a rat infested kitchen, and the most tantalizing view of the last 2 feet of the top of the eiffel tower. The rooms weren’t good, but they weren’t bad either. “This is student life” I told myself and tried to get over it. This was surprisingly simple actually, despite the over-hype and the feeling that “La Belle Cité” would let me down Paris is actually quite the astonishing city. It’s full of beautiful history, architecture and sights to see if you go exploring. You never have to plan your explorations either, because all you have to do is try to get to class on time and you will end up completely lost. Paris is, unfortunately, a maze compared to the North-South Alignment of Toronto. I found that the best thing to do is just embrace it and walk around enjoying while you look for a Metro stop. You always end up finding a little park, full of people relaxing no matter what time of what day, or a

vintage book store full of books craving to be thumbed through. At the very least you find a Crépe or falafel stand. I’m never disappointed when that happens. Finding the station can actually feel like a pain sometimes as it whisks me away to class, away from the innards of the city. Parsons school had it’s own interesting spin on it. Calling it a small institution is a little bit of an understatement. With classes with an average of 5 people in them, and a facilities that looks a little too small and too swiss-family-robinson at times it took me a little bit of getting used to. The Academia of it was strange too. OCADU tends to be more product based, pushing students to present a finished product, and succinct statements to follow it. Parsons however has a surplus of teacher-student time, so a lot of what they teach is process, they are more interested in what you think that what you do. Also, because of the size of the school, the course selection is a little slim, especially in concerns to liberal studies courses, so you end up sharing classes with students from every year. Because of this the coursework covered can never be that advanced or difficult. At first this seemed great, but I have found that without the push of stress I accomplish very little. I find that this holds true for the other Parsons students as well. When I talk to the students, whether it be their 1st year or 4th I can’t help but thinking things like “why don’t you know that? I we learnt that forever ago”. I also started to play a fun game called “where does the money go?”. With a yearly tuition of around $34,000 the studio spaces should be a little more staggering than one painting classroom and a space the size of the OCAD student lounge filled with plaster dust and a couple of old drills. Although that was a heap of negativity I’m not trying to say that Parsons paris is a bad school, it’s quite good in fact. The teaching staff are usually quite impressive and it’s community is more tight-knit than anything I could have imagined. It does, however, just make me appreciate all the things that we have going for us at OCADU that we take for granted

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Student overseas realize that yes the studios may be better but OCAD is homeBy: Marco Bertuzzo

Paris Isn’t Always Bliss

Alanna Mule

Student Work

Rebecca Wilson

Student Work

Rie Maktabi

Stefanie Chow

By: Claire Scherzingerhe day before Nuit Blanche I told a few of my friends from the University of Toronto not to go to OCAD’s exhibit since

they would only be disappointed and ultimately left with a feeling of perpetual confusion. I believed that too, and had convinced myself that this year’s Nuit Blanche was just going to be a multitude of people running around through the streets and sidewalks of Toronto. Drunk, some would be stoned, but it would be the volume that would make me shake my head and turn in early.

Well, suffice to say I was surprised. I went out early this year and was back at my apartment at about midnight. However, I can say that I probably saw more art than most. My friends and I started out at City Hall standing in the middle of the laser light show and had the joy of signing a petition to stop Rob Ford from slashing arts funding. The night only got better from there.

From there we went to the second floor of City Hall to the open-air garden. I am personally a fan of any artwork that has lights built into it and as such was amazed by the contraption bobbing up and down in the garden. It appeared to be a spine-like fabrication. The tips would change colour from blue to orange as the bones waved up and down, down a central axis. Kids and adults alike spent turns pumping the different vertebras up and down, reveling in the changing colours and the magical power lights can have on a person.

Our next stop was OCAD and I already determined that I was going to be disappointed with the exhibition. Was I ever wrong. I was in awe at the huge screens depicting what appeared to be like a post-apocalyptic landscape in the desert underneath a deep

blue starry sky. There were trees. More literally, they were ghost trees. These trees swayed in the wind and the only sounds in the room was the low murmuring of people’s voices against the transient noises of the wind moving through the atmosphere. I felt short of breath. I turned to a friend of mine after ten minutes and said, “Let’s move on, because if we don’t I’ll stand here all night.”

Next up was the Art Battle at the AGO, along with a strong dose of Starbucks. I had never seen an art battle before, but I had an idea of what it was like. The spectators looked at the battle from above on a balcony while a Neil Young cover band churned out the music and the artists threw their paint at a canvas. It was an interesting experience, considering that I was tall enough to look over the horde of people to see what was actually going on. What I can say about this year’s Nuit Blanche is that it was really about the time you went out and the people you went with. Of course, that is a given about any outing. The weather can be bad and the streets can flood, but as long as you’re with the people who matter to you then these bad events make for a good story over a beer years later. The art this year, however only made me love this city more. It made me love my school again. The art I saw at OCAD, the art battle at the AGO, and the lights I saw at City Hall reminded me why I was here, in this city, studying at OCAD U. This feeling I had was warm, which I can only describe as feeling of extreme happiness and joy that I live in a wonderful city. I felt so happy that I get to see what all these talented artists are capable of and share this experience with my good friends. For those of you who didn’t go out this year, try and make next year’s Nuit Blanche. Go and see what this great city is capable of producing.

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A look back on how our city comes to life during the yearly art extraveganza.

Nuit Blanche in Review:Lights, Camera, Coffee, ART BATTLE!

he Student Union Project Grant applications for OCAD students are now available.

Application Deadline: December 2nd, 2011 at 4pmGranting Period: January 10th 2011 – April 15th 2011(Note: retroactive projects are NOT considered) Grant CategoriesPublicationGallery ShowSpecial ProjectStudent Group

Student project, show or event must be relevant to the OCAD community. Applicants must demonstrate in their proposal how their project/show/event will benefit the student population. The decision of the Grants Committee is final.

Grant Packages can be picked up from the SU office at 51 McCaul St. Please check the door for open office hours. If you have any questions, please contact: operationsandfinance@ocadsu.org

Grant Writing WorkshopThursday, October 27 · 12:00pm - 2:00pmLocation: Room 187, 100 McCaul St. Every year the OCAD Student Union requests grant proposals from OCAD Students. Our Grant Committee reviews all submissions and decides how to allocate funding. In the past, we have funded things such as group exhibitions, student publications and Student Group activities. The OCAD Student Union is providing a workshop for students to learn effective grant writing tips from external guest speakers. Each

of our speakers is from an interesting background within the arts and design, and offers a breadth of knowledge for students to consider when writing a grant proposal. ---------------------------------------- Speaker Bios-DEREK LIDDINGTON Derek Liddington is a professional artist and curator working in Toronto, Ontario. He holds an MFA from the University of Western Ontario and BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. In his practice forms of mimicry, appropriation and translation are displaced in an attempt to deconstruct contemporary narratives - those close to him call him a pomo. Derek has received project support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and the London Community Foundation. In 2011, Derek was shortlisted for the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Artist Prize.

AMBER LANDGRAFF, Director XPACE Cultural CenterAmber Landgraff is an artist/critic/curator interested in collaboration, education, and social and political interventions. She completed her Masters of Fine Arts in Criticism and Curatorial Practices at the Ontario College of Art and Design, and has facilitated, co-organized, and collaborated on such events as Building Together, an artist residency about shared learning and building, FEAST (Funding Engaging Actions with Sustainable Tactics), a community dinner and funding event, and The Bridge series, a monthly speaker series that uses the format of a sit down dinner as a site of engagement and conversation.

Please bring with you your proposal for some feedback if you have already begun writing one. Grant Packages are available in the Student Union Office- 51 McCaul Street, and will also be available the day of the workshop.

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Student Project GrantsOCADU can help make your dream projects come true with their grant program

arlier in the summer OCAD made headlines when Caroline MacFarlane, director of our student gallery, painted an

abandoned bike outside the gallery. Not too surprising, a few days later the city left a notice on the bike saying it would be removed because it was waisting public space. Thanks to our city’s leftist publications (NOW and The Grid), the bike became a poster child for the art side of Rob Ford’s war on public art. Thankfully city council was convinced by all the press to leave the bike, they also started an initiative to leave painted bikes all over the city. Sounds like a win for public art right? Sort of; sure we get a little more colour on the sidewalk, but it’s happening at the same time murals all over the city are turning into grey walls. The city even painted over a mural on Dupont that it commissioned artist Joel Richardson to do a few years ago. The tags and murals lining Queen west alley ways, iconic to Toronto’s cultural centre, are already painted over or are in serious risk of being removed. Private enterprises such as Goodbye Graffiti are raking in the cash while we lose Toronto’s manifestation of youth and art culture. Sure a couple monochromatic florescent bikes are nice, but I hope I’ve convinced you to go grab a couple cans of paint. Might as well grab some spare bike parts while you’re at it.

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Bike GirlsBy: Izaak Kooiman

’m not quite sure what to expect as the OCAD athletics team and I wait for a limo to pick us up in front of the school and take us to

Dundas Square. It’s more than half an hour late, about three times as long as it would take us to simply walk, so the team plays some warm up chin lone. The advantageous petit-bourgeoisie in me is a little disappointed the limo isn’t equipped with mini-quiches and champagne, but I suppose it’s only 11am. After a lap around the downtown core we’re dropped off at Dundas and Yonge. The square is filled with inflatable castles and Koodo Mobile advertisements, a capitalist circus. A film crew asks the team captain, Matt Del Degan, a couple questions about ‘micro-volunteering’. My guess is it’s something to do with a corporate tax-break or swindling kids into data-entry for a cheaper phone bill. ‘Why is micro-volunteering important?’ Matt is asked. He has a quizzical look on his face, ‘Because it gets people involved in their community?’ Good guess I suppose… The fact of the matter is none of us has a clue what micro-volunteering means, and I respectfully refuse to look it up, as I’m a Koodo customer who’d rather staple-gun my forehead than help out this up and coming mini-corporation. Oh well, the team looks sharp in their Koodo shirts, they seem to be having fun frolicking in the bouncy castles, and I’m really enjoying the free coffee and the cute girls from Niagara College. Apparently the winning team gets to choose a charity that Koodo will donate $15000 to, kudos Koodo, but you’re still just tax-cut seeking, and I still hate you.

By: Izaak Kooiman

CapitalistCircusI

Student Work

Wendy Lisa Nichol

Devin O’Brien Jos Theriault

“…oh, what kind of job are you going to get with that?”

“…so like, do you have homework or do you just draw?”

“…haha oh. Don’t you ever worry about making money?”

’m sure that by this point, we’ve all heard every possible response to “I go to art school”. These responses have always

been a personal frustration of mine, mostly because the most critical people of art degrees are usually people who are majoring in something like world literature. No comment.

But this article isn’t going to be a rant about the condescension of the average university degree getter or our parents inescapable fear of their child’s bachelor in f*** all. No, I’m not going to make some big negative hissy fit about how misunderstood we are as artists and how we should be valued and respected for being brave enough to take on a career based entirely on our creativity, ability to sell ourselves and a whole lot of luck.

I’m not going to write that article because you’ve all written your own version in your head – and isn’t an article written in your head already perfect? And wouldn’t that make any other version of that article unavoidably inferior? Yeah, I just turned this paragraph into a conceptual art piece. Dwell on that one for a bit then move onto the next part.

This is an article for you, the pressured art student, scrutinized by parents, peers and poli-sci skeptics of your talent and potential. I’ve found the reason that those obnoxious questions about our future are the most frustrating because we’ve asked ourselves those questions a million times and still haven’t quite found a solid answer to reassure our insecurities.

The truth is, we’re not promised work, we’re not guaranteed placement, we’re not going to be handed a career launching deal with a major art gallery and honestly, that’s the way it should be. Both the appeal and the plague of a creative career is the gamble that someone will hopefully, but might not, feel like you’re a good

bet that will put some money in their pocket. Be it a gallery, a design firm or a magazine, everyone’s looking for the next little art or design student to bring something new to their business.

The good news is, you go to a school that has every kind of opportunity to make you a perfect candidate for your dream job. The bad news is, no one is going to find you between classes and hand you those opportunities. If your greatest asset is your creative mind then your greatest task is to get the credentials to prove yourself.

The school offers proposal workshops, student arts grants, exhibition spaces, internships, work placements, calls for submissions, exchange programs and volunteer positions. They hand us all of these great opportunities on a regular basis and the worst part is, the major problem with these opportunities is the lack of applicants.

By the time you graduate, you could have shown your work three times, worked at a big name design firm for a semester, had your work published twice, spent a semester in Europe and received a few hundred bucks to make an installation for something like Nuit Blanche. The only thing stopping you is that voice in your head saying, “well, I don’t know if I’m ready, maybe I’ll just apply next year”. What’s the worst that could happen? You don’t get accepted, you don’t get approved or you don’t get hired? Okay, that’s a shot to the pride but you’re in the exact same place you would have been if you never sent in the application in the first place. Get motivated, get inspired, get involved but most importantly, get yourself a head start on that career you’ve always dreamed of. It’s a lot easier to work for your favourite magazine if you were their most recent intern, received a grant for your own publication and got hired as the editor of a school publication.Stop stressing about your future and start taking the opportunities offered to you every day. They can only offer us the tools to make us the perfect candidate for our dream job, we have to be the ones who take those tools and make our ideal career.

I

By: Matt Moreland

Your Future On A Silver PlatterIs Inside The Black and White Box

By: Cassidy

Stranger 1& 2: Let’s take a photo hereStranger 3: Come on! Let’s goStranger 1: I wanna take a picture with this building!Stranger 3: Who cares. Let’s go!Stranger 1: ( pointing at Mr. Sharp with a pair of admiring eyes) But...isnt this part of U OF T ??

Mr. Sharp: WTF?! Rumble!! Rumble!!!!

A shocking yet still true story about a student encounter with “Mr. Sharp”.

OCADU’s New Identity??

Student Work

Sean Collins

Megan Keenan

Marcela Calderon

Vicky Avramopoulos

Student Work

By: Jazeen Hollingst began in grade two. My teacher told me it was unacceptable to write in purple pen. That it was not uniform, that it stood out

negatively. My 7 year old self told her that purple made math interesting but, wanting to please her I stashed it away and brought out the same HB pencil as everybody else. As I battled on between being creative and “academic” I soon found myself being convinced that purple ink does not make anything better but, in fact, makes it wrong. Being told that artistic talent is less important than math, science, economics and politics eventually convinced me to banish the gifts that I was blessed with and in my last year of high school, decided I wanted to take the first steps to becoming a lawyer. I left my paintbrushes, my cameras and my imagination at home as I began my first year of what was to be the rest of my life. I applied to Ryerson, York, University of Toronto, and our very own OCADU. I checked the mailbox everyday; I eagerly awaited an acceptance letter and dreaded rejection. Finally, I was accepted to York, then Ryerson. But, I was aiming for the University of Toronto. Waiting to be accepted by one of the most academically prestigious schools in the country, possibly the world. If I were, by their standards, good enough to attend, I would be happy…Right? The letter finally came and with shaking hands I ripped the envelope that donned the intimidating navy blue crest of the University of Toronto. “Dear Ms. Jazeen Sarah Hollings, Congratulations!” I didn’t have to read any more to know that the many nights in high school writing essays, struggling with math problems and listening to droning teachers paid off, and I was accepted. Being accepted to an academically prestigious university was so important to me that I did not show up to my OCADU portfolio interview but, decided to shove my sketch book, my paintings and my sculptures into a box for my mother to put into storage, where they belonged. My first class at the University of Toronto was Philosophy 100, a broad range of theories and philosophers from Plato to Sarte. Instead of a heated discussion encompassing philosophers’ arguments and own personal opinions, I took a seat in the lecture hall of 500 first year students. I was confused. Did we really have to listen to this guy talk for an hour about a practice that was meant to be discussed? Whenever any body raised a hand to confirm or deny a theory the professor simply said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have time for that right now, we have to be moving on.” Philosophy was his passion and I was astounded by the lack

of interest the professor showed. The lack of curiosity that was, I am sure, there at one time. But, I accepted this form of education, because that’s just what you do. Weeks went by, then months. Five classes of, “That’s the wrong way to think about it…Don’t write with too much flare…Do it the way I want you too.” A school that accepted me was rejecting me. By second semester I found myself skipping classes, wondering around Toronto looking for graffiti, galleries and street performers. My roommate, who was a first year OCAD student, was always drawing, painting, creating, thinking the way she wanted to think and I envied her. I would look over my computer screen or my textbook and see her hands creating something that was so much bigger, so much more tangible and real than the words on my page. It was by the end of the year that I could not take it anymore, and I was tired of doing what my institution wanted me to do. I was tired of essays, writing not in my own words but the ones in which I would get a better mark with. I was tired of being tested on the amount of knowledge I had crammed into my head, which was forgotten shortly after I walked out of the exam room. Doodling characters of my professors, writing creative short stories about theories and incorporating ideas of infamous sociologist and philosophers into drawings took over my formal academic education. That’s when I decided to make the switch. This type of education has its place but it was not for me. Sure it’s overbearingly large campus posed many opportunities with various clubs, scholarships and sports, but at the cost of my imagination. If you can’t do what you imagine, then what is imagination to you? My first studio class at the OCADU was Communication Design. Communicating ideas, words, thoughts and expressions in a way that the public would appreciate them on a large demographic scale intrigued me. This is how ideas are supposed to be shown. I stepped into the classroom and greeted by my professor with a large smile I took a seat in small class of about 30. Our first assignment was to create a logo that represented the way we viewed ourselves. Looking around I saw my fellow students doodling in sketchbooks. I looked down at my sketchbook, blank pages stared back at me and I was about to make the first sketch of my design career. You bet your ass I used a purple pen.

I

A former UofT student talks about the shock from transferring to OCADU design

Always Write in Purple Pen

 

The Final Result of the “Self-Logo” Project

AROUND OCAD

CADMIUM CALL FOR SUBMISIONS

Are you an avid writer that needs to get something said to the masses? Are you looking for a free place to showcase your artwork?Do want to publish your comics?Do you have any beef with OCAD you want to spew?

Well then you best be getting in contact with us. We’re constantly looking or people to submit their work and leand a helping hand.

Drop by the SU office or drop us an email:publication@ocadsu.org

Or like us on facebook!

Here are a list of dates for the Hallway Cafe: Sept 22 will be the first one of the semester Oct 6, Oct 20, Nov 3, Nov 17, Dec 1, Dec 15 is the last one for the winter semester

Time: 12:00-3/4:00ishWhere: Lobby of 100 Mccaul

If any one would like to get involved and volunteer to cook or serve for a session feel free to get in touch with me at outreachandevents@ocadsu.org or check out the facebook page at “The Hallway Cafe aka OCAD U potlucks”

GOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO SELL?HELP US CREATE A CADMIUM CLASSIFIED SECTION.

EMAIL US FOR FURTHER INFO:publication@ocadsu.org

Student Work

Claire ScherzingerRie Maktabi

CONTENTSCADMIUM | September 2011

FEATURES

OPINIONS

EXTRAS

Nuit Blanche in Review:Lights, Camera, Coffee, ART BATTLE!

Student Projects GrantsOCADU can help make your dream projects come true with their grant program.

OCADU’s New Identity??A shocking yet still true story about a student encounter with “Mr. Sharp”.

Your Future On A Silver Platter Is Inside The Black and White BoxOCADU students have hit a new level of lazyness.

Student Art WorkWorks from current OCAD U Students from various programs.

GamesThings for you to do during class.. I mean at home.

Bike GirlsThe dish on the Toronto Bike Project.

Capitalist CircusA look on the OCADU’s atheletic’s special event that they participated in.

MASH

Questions:

1. You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat?

2. What goes up and down the stairs without moving?

3. What can you catch but not throw?

4. I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?

5. What’s black and white and red all over?

6. What goes around the world but stays in a corner?

7. I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water. What am I?

RIDDLES:

Answers:

1. An ear of corn.

2. A rug.

3. A cold.

4. A nose.

5. An embarrassed skunk.

6. A stamp.

7. A sponge.

CADMIUMThe Shocking Issue: November 2011

Free Volume 3 Number 2

MOTIVATION AT IT’S FINEST

PURPLE PENTHE STORY OF A TRANSFER STUDENT

WRITE INALWAYS

PLATTERON A SILVERYOUR FUTURE