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Rom Com Book Launch
October 15, 2015

 

Is it raining? Probably. Well, we can help warm you up with friendship and awkward moments and maybe some poetry. Join Dina Del Bucchia and Daniel Zomparelli to help launch their book Rom Com! A book made full of xoxoxo’s and ♥ ♥ ♥. This dream team of smart, sexy, brunette, West Coast poets of Italian descent have passionately co-authored an intelligent collection of poetry that both celebrates and capsizes the romantic comedy. How to tell if you are compatible with this book: Are you equally versed in literature and pop culture? Are you a film-savvy fan of contemporary poetry? Are you an academic with interest in literature and cultural studies? Are you in general a cool, sad person? This book might just be the sassy best friend you’ve wanted. talonbooks.com/books/rom-com

Dina Del Bucchia was born in the Trail Regional Hospital and grew up in the small village of Fruitvale, BC. She spent much of her formative years watching all manner of television and most of her working life has been spent in bookstores, both independent and big box. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She writes a monthly column for Canada Arts Connect magazine, and her writing has appeared in literary publications across Canada, and as art in Old Friends’ exhibition, Funny Business. She is a literary event coordinator and host, performed a one-woman show at the 2005 Vancouver Fringe Festival, and has appeared at comedy events around Vancouver. She has taught creative writing to children and teens at the Vancouver Public Library and as part of the Vancouver Biennale’s Big Ideas program. Del Bucchia was a finalist for the 2012 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. She lives in Vancouver.

Daniel Zomparelli is editor-in-chief of Poetry Is Dead magazine and recipient of the 2011 Pandora’s Collective Publishers of Magazines Award. Zomparelli is also program coordinator for the Megaphone magazine Community Creative Writing Program, which offers free creative writing classes for low-income and homeless people. He writes for and works with several magazines across Vancouver, including Geist, Megaphone, Sad Mag, Granville Online and, formerly, Adbusters. Davie Street Translations is Zomparelli’s first book of poems.

Altered Book Workshop
with Rachael Ashe
September 20, 2014
 

This workshop is an introduction to examples and techniques for transforming old books into one-of-a-kind pieces of art. There is an unlimited potential for creating interesting work by altering books through cutting, folding, rolling, collage, etc. This course will demonstrate a selection of techniques and provide a starting point for creating work of your own. The goal will be to complete one finished altered book by the end of the workshop. Please bring at least two old books you would like to work with, one for experimenting, and one to make a completed project with. Invite your friends on Facebook >

Photos of student work from previous workshops can be viewed here >

 
A multi-disciplinary artist, Rachael Ashe began her career as a graduate of the Creative Photography program at Humber College, specializing in portraiture and toy cameras. Over the past five years her focus has evolved from photography to paper-based work, notably altered book sculpture, paper cutting, and paper engineering. Rachael is process driven, with a belief in learning by doing and is constantly experimenting to push the boundaries of her work as an artist.

Hot Talks: Tod Seelie
July 22, 2014
 
Tod Seelie loves New York, but not the version depicted in postcards. His city is an underground haven for people at society’s edges, people who come alive at night, who make music and art and noise and mess; punk bands and bike parades, abandoned spaces and skeezy clubs, junk-filled lots and sketchy streets, his book Bright Nights is a startlingly beautiful collection of images capturing a gritty culture that belies the city’s glamorous persona. Interspersed throughout the book are texts from Seelie’s friends and fellow artists, along with an introduction by Jeff Stark, editor of the iconic alternative events e-mail list Nonsense NYC. At this Hot Talk, you’ll see photos from his book, hear the stories that went in to the creation and what was going on behind the scenes, and a bit about Tod’s process.

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Tod Seelie has photographed in over 25 countries on five different continents. Originally from Cleveland, he relocated to Brooklyn in 1997. Tod was a founding member of The Miss Rockaway Armada, and continued on to travel by raft with both manifestations of the Swimming Cities. His work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Stern Magazine, TIME Magazine, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Spin, Juxtapoz, Thrasher, Vice, Der Speigel and ARTnews among others. His images also appear in the feature films Perfect Sense (2011) and Empire Me (2011). Tod has exhibited work in solo and group shows around the world and at Mass MoCA and the Philadelphia Art Alliance. His work has also appeared in photography and art books, such as The Vice Photo Book, Hijacked, Swoon, Street World and Backyard Shakedown. In 2013 Tod published his first book of photography, BRIGHT NIGHTS: Photographs of Another New York, with Prestel Publishing. The book chronicles 15 years of living and shooting in NYC, with 10 essays by fellow collaborators and cultural observers.