Indian activist calls upon cleaner, more natural alternatives to petroleum
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Condemning “oil-based agriculture”
Author: Leah Batstone
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Your arts, crafts and designs, locally- made
In the basement of St. Michael’s Church in the Mile End, Oliver Stenberg reaches over a table for his five-week-old daughter, Cotton.
She finds comfort on her father’s shoulder as he rocks and bounces her amidst the hustle and bustle of the craft fair. Customers pause in front of Stenberg’s table to look at the traditionally made soaps in scents like lavender, rose and vanilla.
Each product is engraved with “c44”, for Carriage 44, the family business run by Stenberg, his wife and his mother.
For little Cotton, it’s the first of many future appearances at Puces POP; an indie and eclectic craft fair for people of all ages.
Held by POP Montreal since 2004, Puces POP has been a platform for artists and craft makers of all media to showcase their work, expand their clientele and meet loyal customers.
The fair is held three times annually, with each show bringing different artists and a different vibe to the tables.
“It kind of came about naturally. There are all these people around making interesting things, [we got] them all together in the context of this festival,” said Puces POP director Tessa Smith. This is Smith’s third year as director and the position keeps her incredibly busy.
“It’s kind of non-stop. I’ll sleep Tuesday but then I get right back into planning the next one. Applications open up in October and the fair is in December,” said Smith.
Puces POP is held in September, December and June. The fall fair runs simultaneously with the annual POP Montreal music festival. It brings in many out of town visitors and has the highest amount of customer traffic.
This year, it hosted 75 artists, but the number per each fair varies. Out of the 300 to 400 applications Smith receives for each fair, there can be anywhere between 60 to 90 artists chosen.
“We look for a certain quality of work as the first thing. It’s nice to have a mix of people who are really new, who just started their business,” said Smith during the opening night of Puces POP. “But also people who have been coming to the fair for years and are kind of established, familiar faces. It’s nice to have a balance of the two.”
There is also a collection of different merchandise present at each show. From artwork to jewellery, beauty products to food, every artist brings something unique.
For Kerri Westlake of Westlake Designs, Puces POP encouraged her to transform her knitting hobby into a full-time job. Westlake started knitting when she was six years old. Today, she sells her items in six Canadian boutiques, at craft fairs and on the popular craft website, Etsy.com.
“I think it’s really valuable and I think it’s a trend among a lot of people that sell at Puces POP,” Westlake said as she knits behind her table. “Especially where it’s really hard to get a job as a youth right now, with the economy the way it is. So it’s really wonderful that Puces POP allows people to make their own work, doing something you love too,” she said.
Westlake Designs and Carriage 44 products can both be found at General 54, a store in the Mile End. But Stenberg finds something very valuable about the Puces POP experience, for crafters and shoppers alike.
“I think meeting customers and seeing what people like, seeing how people react to things and getting feedback is crucial to developing your business. And we love POP Montreal and Puces POP.”
The December Puces POP dates and location have yet to be confirmed, but check out popmontreal.com/segment/puces-pop for updates.
The scent is unique outside Camilla Ingr’s little shop in the Mile End: warm lemon, sharp ginger, traces of honey and hints of bourbon. The soothing aroma trails from her cozy headquarters. Inside, Ingr gently stirs the unusually scented liquid in a large pot. She’s making Rhume Rx, one of the many preservatives sold at Preservation Society.
Originally from Alberta, Ingr moved to Quebec to study pastry making at the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec. For about 10 years she switched between working as a pastry chef and playing keyboard in a band. During this time Ingr also taught herself how to make jams, jellies, marmalades, chutneys and pickles.
A little over a year ago, while Ingr was working at her friend’s restaurant making $12 an hour, she discovered her band had broken up, leaving her with a decision to make.
“It was either going to be a pastry chef or [making preservatives]. This afforded a better schedule, it was a little cheaper to start up and was something getting a lot of interest in the press, so I thought I’d take that as a sign,” she said, periodically stirring her warming concoction.
Ingr found a small space she’d share with private wine importer La QV and started her one-woman business.
All of Ingr’s recipes are her own creations. Her products range from sweet pink grapefruit and honey marmalade to salty wasabi green beans. “I think the jam ‘Fall Sweater’ has to be one of the most popular. It’s hand picked Quebec apples and pears in St-Ambroise pumpkin ale caramel, with orange and spices,” said Ingr. “I actually ran out of it this year. I only like to use the Flemish Beauty pears from Quebec so I have to wait until those are back in season.”
The ideas for Ingr’s recipes come from her favourite foods and flavours. “I worked at a lot of fancy restaurants where they do molecular gastronomy. I like taking one flavor and transforming it into another substance. Like, I have Caesar Celery, Piña Colada Marmalade, and Margarita Marmalade. Apparently I like to make cocktails,” said Ingr with a laugh.
Besides citrus fruits and sugar, all ingredients in Preservation Society products are local. If Ingr isn’t buying fruits and vegetables at the Jean Talon market, she picks them herself at Quebec farms. She also uses locally produced eggs, Quebec honey and St-Ambroise beer.
“People are intrigued. It’s a new product, so people don’t know it that well, but the response has been good,” said Lindsay Davis, owner of Fait Ici on Notre-Dame West St. It’s one of the nine locations that sell Preservation Society products. “I think her products are so special because of her story and the way she combines flavours to make jams you can’t find anywhere else.”
Davis and Ingr are in the process of discussing holding canning workshops at Fait Ici in the near future. Ingr already hosts workshops at her own location twice a month.
Each black-capped jar has a brown, vintage style label which Ingr individually sticks on every jar and stamps with the product name, batch number and date. On her own, Ingr makes approximately 200 jars a week.
Ingr will be sharing her Preservation Society products at the Holiday Puces POP Fair from Dec. 14 to Dec. 16.
Preservation Society is located on 29 Beaubien Rd. East.
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Creation in progress: Don’t miss HOT MESS
For those of you who find yourselves wandering Concordia’s campus in the coming week, the HOT MESSexhibit at the VAV gallery will definitely lure you in as you pass by the Visual Arts building.
Passersby will be stunned by the earth-like tones of color and the sheer size of this mixed media exhibit; a mix of sculpture, painting and drawing that will attract both the art aficionado or the debutant, and that acts like a magnet for sidewalk spectators walking down René-Levesque blvd.
The HIVEMIND collective is a group of three fine arts undergraduate students at Concordia: Maya Cardin, Leigh Macrae and Stephanie EM Coleman. They have been collaborating for the better part of the past two years building two select exhibits. The first, Home Paralleled, was shown at the Ctrl Lab art house on St-Laurent blvd. two years ago. Then, earlier this year, they received a grant to use the space at the VAV Gallery for their second exhibit, HOT MESS. The exhibit, unlike most, allows spectators to see the artists build onto their work in the gallery, rather than exhibiting it as a “finished” product.
The point of the exhibit is to really immerse the spectators in the artistic process that would normally occur in a studio.
The trio explained that they wanted people to be able to witness art as a celebration, not see it in a “traditional” or “sterile” way.
The members of HIVEMIND feel that the process of working together is mutually fulfilling. In the gallery it’s impossible to truly differentiate where one artist’s work begins or ends.
In the dynamic workspace that these artists have created, it’s clear that what they are looking to do is create an impact on their audience.
Ultimately what is so impressive about the HOT MESS exhibit is that, because the work of all these artists is so closely correlated, it simply takes on a life of its own. The artists work with neutral objects, like their signature hive stamp, which, being a recurrent symbols in the work becomes a “transition” piece that embeds the diverse parts of the exhibit together. “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts” seems to be the mantra for this particular collaboration.
To view samples of HIVEMIND’s work visit their site planetoidruins.tumblr.com.
Check out a video tour of the HOT MESS exhibit filmed and edited by Leah Batstone:
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This Siren Spell really is a ‘tease’
Prince Edward Island’s music scene exists. No really, it does. With bands like Paper Lions, Boxer the Horse, and The North Lakes, PEI indie bands are making a name for themselves now more than ever.
Indie pop-rock quartet Two Hours Traffic has been pounding out addictive tunes for over a decade. The band has been nominated for a
Polaris Music Prize and several other Canadian music awards. Their song “Heros of the Sidewalk” was featured in an episode of The OC and Little Jabs won Alternative Recording of the Year at the 2007 East Coast Music Awards.
After a three-year production hiatus, Two Hours Traffic released Siren Spell on Sept. 11. Several significant changes occurred in between albums; Siren Spell features a new band member, new producer and a new musical influence — Motown.
“The album is basically songs we’ve been working on for the past two years. It was a bit of a different process this time obviously, because Alec [O’Hanley] is no longer in the band, so Liam [Corcoran] and I did more of the song writing. It was a good challenge,” said guitarist Andrew MacDonald, who formerly played bass, but took over guitar after O’Hanley left in 2011. Nathan Dill, the lead singer of The North Lakes, now plays bass, while original members Liam Corcoran and Derek Ellis stick to vocals and drums, respectively.
Two Hours Traffic also parted from past producer Joel Plaskett to work with Darryl Neudorf, who previously worked with Neko Case and The New Pornographers. Neudorf’s rural recording studio, outside of Orangeville, Ont., rests by a large field and pond, and includes an apartment for band members. The setting came as quite a change for the band that had always recorded in downtown Halifax, but MacDonald sees it as a beneficial adjustment.
“It is kind of interesting being in such an isolated area. There was nothing around. We just sat in the studio all day, everyday,” said MacDonald.
As far as sound goes, Two Hours Traffic retained its catchy, feel-good melodies, but was able to add more electric guitar and rock ‘n’ roll rhythms, giving their sound a newfound maturity
“[Neudorf] had cool ideas about the sound of the songs. In “Amore Than Ami,” which is the original demo and was a bit more traditional rock sounding, we fooled around with some things between the drums and the bass, turning it into something totally different,” said MacDonald. “It’s great when you’re working with someone who can bring something to the table you’d never think of.”
When Two Hours Traffic recorded in Ontario this June, the band successfully completed an entire record. Just to tease what is yet to come, they decided to release Siren Spell, which includes two songs that didn’t make the final album cut, and two songs that will be heard again on their upcoming, full-length album.
“[The final album] is all done, it’s just sitting at the apartment right now, waiting for artwork,” said MacDonald, who had his roommate and close friend, Phil MacIsaac, design the cover.
At formation in 2002, Two Hours Traffic was just learning how to play their instruments properly and perform on stage. Now, with ten years under their belts and six albums released, the Maritime rockers are back in action, proving that Two Hours Traffic is a long-standing contender in the Canadian music scene.
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There’s nothing like a fresh coat of paint
Unfortunately, Gallery X isn’t convenient to meander into. Secluded on the second floor of the Visual Arts building, it goes unseen by most students, despite the affordable coffee shop and art-filled walls.
However if you’re feeling up for the venture, Gallery X’s first show of the year, The Staff Show, started this week, and it’s sure to entertain your eyes after long hours of staring at new class schedules.
“It’s always good to have something broad for the first show of the year. You don’t get a lot of work at the beginning, because people don’t have any ready this early and they usually don’t want to show stuff from last year,” says Amanda Craig, a studio arts student and co-curator of Gallery X. According to Craig, The Staff Show is made up of artwork done by artists who work and run Café X.
“For at least three years, the first show of the season is work by Café X staff. It’s great because students see them on a regular basis, serving coffee, but the show helps give a better idea of who they really are,” says Clinton Glenn, an Art History student who is back for his second year curating Gallery X.
All shows at Gallery X last two weeks, so Glenn and Craig recently called for submissions in preparation for the second show. Submissions are generally accepted at the beginning of the fall and winter semester, but they take art submitted later as well.
“When people submit their work, we look at the content, theme, and medium of what it is, and see if we can pair it up with other submitted works,” explains Glenn. “It’s kind of backwards from normal curating but it works.”
Gallery X also received a modern makeover over the summer. Last year’s teal and red walls, which Glenn describes with some distaste, have been repainted in warm beiges and spicy greens. With perfectly matched furniture that’s comfier than it looks, the space is looking sharp for the upcoming school year.
The Staff Show will have their vernissage on September 11 from 6-8pm. Snacks, drinks, music and fun will be plentiful.