sally mckay and lorna mills

Lorna Mills and Sally McKay

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Lorna Mills: Artworks / Persona Volare / contact

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I've been lax about posting lately, due to arguing with Tom (see link below) and my new job: art book publishing at a venerable artist run centre in Toronto. It's fun and hectic. The lineup for this year is exciting (more about that later). I'm scrambling to learn everything I need to know in order to run things smooooothly. Anyhow. That's where I've been. I'm starting to get a grip, so I'll be back onto the blog thang very soon.

There's an interesting "but is it art?" thread going on here.

Thanks to Ben for sending me this link to funny movie reviews a website called Exile for English-speaking, currently-living-in-Moscow, ex-pats from around the globe.The reviews are a larf and there's a great rant about Kill Bill.

Thanks also to Joe for running the stunningly popular prereview site. Some recent posts include Stepford Wives, Scooby Two, and Cheaper by the Dozen. Write 'em and read 'em cause what's good for one is good for us all.

These are my 'whatever, I do what I want' years. No progeny bugging me for shoes or college funds, parents healthy and independent, hormone levels basically stable. I'm sittin pretty in a plethora of bachelor girl delights. I am aware, however, that there's a tradeoff: my geriatric years will be spent without any guilt-ridden younger people to do things for me. But I'm a responsible adult - I have a plan! I'm gonna need internet, a toilet, a bed, a window, booze, and some neighbourhood kids I can bribe to get me smokes and tins of beans. For the past ten years I've had my eye on the Parkview Arms (above) as the perfect seedy downtown rooming house for my sunset days. Imagine my concern when all the other biggish buildings in the neighbourhood have turned into $400,000 condo blocks! Where are we losers supposed to go? But check it out - the Parkview Arms just upgraded their image to match their fancypants neighbours with a classy new neon sign, and a lick of shiny brown paint. Hang in there Parkeview Arms, my retirement plans are still a go!

This image above is part of a great digital slide show from the launch of Spacing, the new magazine pubished by the Toronto Pubic Space Committee. The images were by Kevin Steele, and comprised of extraordinarily familiar, unglamourized shots of downtown Toronto. I liked the gratuitious hanging-sheet-backdrop very much indeed, as well as the fake telephone-poles-with-posters made out of cardboard tubes.

The TPSC is opposed to billboards and corporate ads, much in favour of postering and under-the-official-radar public art. The pole full of staples is a recurring theme, and makes a nice visual metaphor for public interaction. Unfortunately the articles in this first issue tend toward the overly-ernest-and-slightly-boring end of the urban activism scale. But there's a lot of talent on the Spacing team, and I suspect these problems will get worked out over time.

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