Artistic Spotlight - Jocelyn Catterson

Jocelyn Catterson is just finishing up high school but already her photographs are showing the eye of a pro. In the fall she's going to be going to school for environmental photojournalism at the University of Montana and I couldn't think of a more fitting program for her. Her photos involve a fascination with nature. Growing up in Colorado the natural world inspires her and she spends as much time outdoors as she can. Her photographs are really truthful in terms of the way they are without pretense and appear to be a look into the everyday life of a beautiful world.

But back to her photos. She enjoys using film and especially the aspect of working in a darkroom and the way film receives light. As she states "it's much more hands-on and authentic to me than digital photography." I completely agree! Her photos have that diary feel because of the use of film For the past year or two she has been using her grandpa's old Canon Rebel 2000 but she's not against a little digital. "I do edit my photos: I try to take out a lot of the scratches on the photos after I scan in the negatives, and maybe lighten up areas that turned out darker than they were suppose to. That's all." Jocelyn just finished up a project called "This Wind", which is a handmade, multi-media book that is currently on display at her school. It has writing, paintings, and tons of photographs all put together in about 50 pages. Essentially it's a product of her love for nature. She's also working on a project called "Saving the Outdoor Lab," which is a project to bring awareness to the recent suspension of the Outdoor Laboratory School in her county and hopefully help to raise money so that the school may continue to run in the future. To check out Jocelyn's artwork and her current project be sure to check out her website by clicking here.

Artistic Spotlight - Christine Jones

Christine Jones, a graphic designer from Scotland with a Bachelors in Fine Art, makes incredibly peaceful works that just calm your mind. When asked about the themes in her work she talks of love, romance, the banal, loss and memory. At the moment her favourite medium is pencil but she also enjoys oil paints. When asked about her art school experience she has good reviews. "Loved it, pretty much all positive. Studying with really great peers and basically 4 years of self indulgence and access to great facilities, workshop, studio, lectures, library, etc. Challenges were and still are, talking about about my work."

When she's not doing design work she tries to concentrate on her own art practice, which is at the moment drawing. A project she's consumed with right now, that will also be taking her to spain soon, is Still Cause - a reinvestigation through drawing of Gerda Taro's heroic photographic reporting from the first year of the Spanish Civil War. When she's not doing that she loves to wander around with her camera and, as she states, "doing a lot of nothing". Perhaps something the rest of us are in need of! Her pencil drawings, and the simplicity of her work, are really captivating and I suggest you check out her website for sure! To do so click here.

Blogger Spotlight - Lisa from Sweet Salting

Diamond Rings' makeup artist, Lisa Howard has recently founded a website worth checking out. SweetSalting has gained momentum and popularity these days. This attractive and polished website includes daily posts on music, fashion, art and beauty. Lisa also keeps her readers interested by updating them on her latest adventures with Diamond Rings. She is one of the luckiest girl I know. Her job enables her to travel across the continent with the singer and attend the best shows at the most amazing music festivals.

[Credit - Chris Laputt, New York, Radio City Music Hall]

Lisa's interest in makeup art began at a young age. It must help that her entire family is artistic. She realized a few years ago that makeup was the best creative outlet for her. However, other art forms have also been very influential. "The music and fashion industry is fluid and exciting. It has a unique energy that you can't find anywhere else. Two words - totally addictive." Lisa has definitely found her passion and the response seems to have been highly positive. She states "The Diamond Ring's project has been a really unique and positive experience. We change things quickly and are constantly moving forward. [John] pretty much lets me do whatever I want. People are excited about the freshness of his look and style. I love the buzz before he takes the stage. There is so much anticipation about what he's going to be wearing and how he will be presenting himself."

[Credit - CBC radio 3]

When asked about where she sees herself in the future, Lisa confirmed that she will continue to work with Diamond Rings as the project takes the "next level". She will also keep developing her website, although she's hoping to write for bigger publications one day. It all sounds super exciting. The Fashion Press wishes Lisa the best of luck and will continue to follow her path to success. Click here to check out SweetSalting and get updated on the latest news on fashion, music and beauty.

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Ps: John O's side-project Matters (formerly known as The D'Urbervilles) will be playing at Café Nostalgica this friday evening along with many other acts. To get more info on this event, click right here.

Interview with Artist Howie Tsui by Sarah Tue-Fee

Check out this video of Howie Tsui being interviewed by Sarah Tue-Fee. Sarah is a student in the visual arts department at University of Ottawa who also happens to do awesome interviews! So be sure to check out the video.

Here's a snippet from Howie's website. Ho Yan (Howie) Tsui is a Canadian visual artist based in Ottawa. Born in Hong Kong (1978) and raised in Nigeria and Thunder Bay, he holds an Honours BFA in painting from the University of Waterloo (2002). His recent project, "Horror Fables", uses imagery from traditional Asian ghost tales, Buddhist hell scrolls, ancient bestiaries, Hong Kong vampire films and the Sino-Japanese War to satirize the climate of fear in contemporary culture. In 2005, he was awarded the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts for most outstanding young visual artist. His work is held by the Canada Council Art Bank, Le Centre d'exposition de Baie-Saint-Paul and the City of Ottawa. "Horror Fables" has been exhibited at Carleton University Art Gallery (Ottawa), Ace Art Inc (Winnipeg), the West Vancouver Museum, the Ottawa Art Gallery, and MAI (Montréal, arts intercultural), with an upcoming show at Centre A (Vancouver). His work has appeared in Beautiful/Decay, Border Crossings, Color Magazine and Mix Magazine.

Click here to check out his artwork.

Artistic Spotlight - Teagan White

Teagan White, a freelance illustrator living in Minneapolis, is currently finishing up her third year at Minneapolis College of Art & Design and, though it's early in her career, her work is definitely worth checking out. When asked about her art school experience she states "The range of classes and amount of techniques and theories you can learn at art school is what really pays off. I've tried to take advantage of that, taking courses in papermaking, bookmaking, typography, oil painting, philosophy, etc. A challenge for me is to fit the type of work I want to do into class assignments within my major (illustration), which tend to have a lot of specific parameters which feel limiting to me. However, my instructors tend to be very understanding about it and I enjoy the work that I'm able to produce." Her favourite medium is always changing but she has continuously come back to ink and graphite as well as the look of charcoal though she does not enjoy how messy it is. "More important to me than the medium itself is how I use it -- I tend to work slowly and build up a lot of detail, so any material that allows me to work at the right pace and achieve fine detail satisfies me."

Broadly speaking a lot of her work is inspired by elements of nature. She tends to focus on life cycles, decomposition, sub-terrestrial life but she is also interested in antiquities, anything man-made that has been discarded because it is no longer relevant in an ever-changing world. For the past nine months she's been focusing on a body of drawings entitled "Everything is a Cycle" that explores life cycles and relationships between different organisms. Currently she's working on some children's books. I find her style aesthetically please, especially her typography work featured below. How much I would love to have that Braided font below. To see her portfolio for yourself click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Alexander Blackburn

Alexander Blackburn, a freelance illustrator, makes some of the quirkiest illustrations I've seen to date. He uses pencil drawings as well as digital composition in photoshop to make his works. The stuff on his website is quite different. As he states "the current work on my website a lot of that work was done with winsor newton water mixable oils and liquin medium. I have a great opaque projector that I use to project my drawings on canvas. It help avoid getting wonky drawings or making a grid on the canvas, so it saves a lot of time."What struck me most about his work is how characters from children's fiction become caricatures of themselves. The exaggeration used creates a really interesting effect. When asked about his Wizard of Oz theme he states "For a while I had a strong focus on the tinman from the Wizard of Oz. I wanted to rewrite his life story into a musical. But that was my thesis project at OCAD so it was never fully completed." Either way, it's always fun to see characters we're used to suddenly remade.

To check out more of Alexander's work click here.

Updates about the next issue of The Fashion Press

The Fashion Press Issue two will be for sale on our website starting April 30th but if you're interested in buying one in person, and coming to an awesome party, you should check out an event we're attending at Ritual on May 14th. Here's a message from Hands Down Your Pants, the vintage sellers who are running the event:

Friends,

We are proud to invite you to an outstanding celebration of local talent, inspired by young entrepreneurs of Ottawa. This showcase of creative minds will be exhibiting a diverse selection of art, photography, clothing, and music. The night will commence at 8pm on the upstairs level of Ritual Nightclub, with Ottawa’s Matt Tamblyn DJing his heart out. The event will feature unique, individual displays from each exhibitor so that you may browse the fabulous collections of Ottawa’s very own.

The Event will run until 11pm, followed by drinks and entertainment.

Tickets are $8 in advance; sold at Top of the World (158 Rideau St) and The Record Shaap (209 Gilmour St) or by contacting the contributors.

Tickets will be available at the door for $10.

So come meet the people behind The Fashion Press, Cleo will be showing her beautiful photos too, and enjoy an awesome party with cool folks! To see the facebook event click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Julie Lansom

Julie Lansom sounds like the coolest cat ever. She's 23 and currently living in Paris finishing her master's degree at the Institut Français de Presse. For cameras she uses a Minolta XG-M, Canon A1, Olympus mju II and a old Foca her grandma gave her. What I admire about her work is that she doesn't edit, as a matter of principle. "I only scan them. It would be like "cheating" for me. No ok it's a bit strong but if I wanted to edit them I think I would do digital." I'm always so impressed by those who are able to take good photos rather than make good edits. Either way, her shots are amazing. When asked about the themes in her photos she states "I basically take my friends in photos in our everyday life. With my friend Amandine, who is on almost all my photos, we always complain about how not photogenic is Paris and how lucky are all these people surrounded by amazing landscapes. We're just jealous actually. Sometimes we set up "photoshoots" but it's only when we're really bored, have already smoked too many cigarettes, don't have any money to spend and don't know what to do with our day."

When asked about her current projects she states "I need to get my arse to work and write my dissertation. That should be the most important project. But i'm planning to go to Amsterdam, Switzerland, North Italy. I also wanna go and live in the United States, or Sweden, take my friends with me and keep taking photos. And no, I never include a real job when I plan things for my future. I'm gonna have problems later, I know that. I have to find a rich husband soon." haha! Sounds like a plan. To check out Julie's awesome photos please click here! They are worth the visit.

To the Streets - Chuck N.

I met Chuck at Ottawa Fashion Week last month and thought you guys should check him out too! Chuck dresses simply but his choices are impeccable - and he's 16. We were chatting about his outfit and I found out he's another diy-er. The vest above was a blazer turned into something new. His blog named The Aloof Hipster (he's actually really sweet and not one bit aloof) is about substance and style. As he states "I always try to include my thoughts through prose, the only thing that is authentically of my own creation." But his style is a great part of the blog as well and it's refreshing to find someone whose okay with being a "hipster".

Chuck recently started a magazine called Aloof that's going to be published soon. Can't wait to see the result! We'll be posting a review here but until then you can check out the online version on his blog. And where does he see himself in the future? "Ideally, I'd love to either be in New York or Paris in the future either working for a working for a magazine (maybe even ALOOF) or owning my own boutique. Yes, I know, my dreams are very utopian, but what can I say? You gotta dream big, eh?" To see more of Chuck's style click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Fionn McCabe

Fionn is a freelance illustrator, designer and fine artist who just moved from Boston to LA. Previously he attended the Massachusetts College of Art for printmaking. "Art school was great, though even a state school like the one I attended incurs too much debt. Aside from some amazing professors I would say the best thing school does is put students in contact with talented peers. That is certainly the thing I value most, I still work with a number of artists from school including Nate Wellman and Arthur Henderson who I run the Oh Nancy Collective with." Fionn's favourite medium is drawing with ink, just black ink, and silk screen as well.

When asked about the themes in his work he states "My work tends to focus on social roles/interaction, often times within the art world itself. The formation of ideas is another theme in my work, an attempt to illustrate a creative process rather than one idea in particular (though that does happen on occasion). My work is fairly self centered so most of the issues I address involve me directly. I am also happy to draw without any plan at all and just see where my brain takes me." Clearly his brain takes him to cool places. His artwork seems like a combination of every aspect of life, cartoons and astronauts to name a few, but it always becomes somewhere new. Currently he's working on a graphic novel, which is definitely something one would expect from his artistic style. He's also working on some pieces for a show in Brooklyn and a number of "ideas/drawings/short stories/sculptures". When asked where he sees himself in the future he states "Here is just fine. There is good to". To check out his artwork click here.

do it yourself - the bolt bracelet

I saw this bracelet on NeedSupply and got instantly inspired. Went over to the hardware store and bought me some bolts. They're so cheap, I spent about 4 dollars on 18 of them. Then I cut up an old shirt into strips to make the string, braided the bolts into the string and voila! Awesome bracelet.

Video - Chloé Spring/Summer 2011

This video is pure genius. The new collection by Chloé is inspired by classical ballet and is rendered beautifully in this short clip. The female dancer is Janie Taylor who has been a prima-ballerina for New York City Ballet for the past 15 years. The dresses are soft and flow oh-so-well as the choreographer, Justin Peck twirls her around. He wanted to capture the multi-dimensionality of ballet, he states: "You always see ballet from the front. Here was an opportunity to show it from the side, from the back, from every angle, and create a really unique viewing experience." This video was found on the website Nowness, to check out more inspiring posts click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Lauren Treece

Lauren Treece is a gallery artist from Minneapolis who likes to work with polaroid film. As she states "The unpredictability of this medium can be both rewarding and disappointing. It's the balance of this that makes polaroids so exciting to work with. It ultimately produces a single photograph that is much more precious and rare when it turns out the way you want it to." She doesn't use editing programs but manually manipulates 35mm film during processing. With her polaroids, she manipulates them by adding cold or heat while they are developing. When asked about the themes in her artwork she says "I think I am drawn towards photography that looks like it shouldn't be possible or tangible. So hovering on the brink of lucidity and dreams is probably what is seen most throughout my work." She's currently working on other mediums alongside her photography. "My biggest project is a touring puppetry performance, building marionettes and gypsy carnival acts to take on the road. We started a new theater group called Silent Bell Theater that will consist of mostly puppetry and music, as well as some stop motion animation movies." Sounds like the coolest side project ever. To check out Lauren's artwork click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Ania Stypulkowski

Ania attended the OCAD program in Florence for a European education. "My peers in Florence became like a family, I have never received such constructive criticism and had so many intense discussions about religion, art, and the meaning of life. Not to mention the fact that I got a chance to see Renaissance artwork in its home and context." The ability to see what your studying up close sounds like the best of all possible educations. She likes to combine mediums and this has been one of her greatest challenges at school. As she states, "I never understood the boundaries between drawing, painting, illustration and material art. I just want to make everything: dresses, comics, murals..." The themes in her artwork are anything that makes her happy. "Right now the best thing I can do for the universe is to create more positive things instead of nihilistic work. As Oscar Wilde wrote 'It's perfectly easy to be cynical.'" I agree, the upbeat aspect of her work, and her ability to create humour, are what make her works stand out. To see more of Ania's artwork click here.

Artistic Spotlight - Jackie Musial

Art school has taught Jackie Musial that she can thrive on very little sleep and that poutine and potato chips are acceptable before 10am. The life of an illustrator ain't all easy, that's for sure. When asked about the themes in her work she states that she has to be flexible. "As an illustrator, one is required to create artwork based on any provided theme. This is challenging, but extremely rewarding when you come to a strong visual soltuion." She likes to employ subtle humour into her assignments and in her free time she likes to draw polar bears and bicycles.

Having a website has got her an internship at Team Macho and has served as a visual bookmark to see how she has grown and changed as a artist. In the future she wants to be working in Toronto and living with fellow artist Erin McPhee (click here to see our article on Erin). She also hopes to eventually move to Montreal. A very cool city indeed. To check out her artwork click here.

Behind the Scenes - The Fashion Press Issue 2

Today through the rain and cold I shot the photos for the second photoshoot for The Fashion Press. These photos are behind the scenes shots taken by my sister - Nancy Jones - she's awesome! You can see more of her behind the scenes shots by clicking here. Thanks to all the people involved - Chris, Tomek, Brandon, Karyna, Candice, Nancy and Victoria! I got most of the clothes from Value Village and made some fun diy projects such as feather headbands and flower fun. I'm developing the film shots this week so be sure to check out a preview of the real deal soon. xx

Springtime is in the air

Even though most of us are stuck inside the library due to an overload of exams, it's still getting warm outside and the sun is starting to shine! These photos were taken last year at the beginning of the summer with my good friend Michelle Poitras. Hopefully they can remind you that freedom is right around the corner and it's no time to give up. So good luck everyone and see you on the other side!

p.s: this is such a pumping song while writing essays, try it out!