design

Talkin’ About My Generation (Nextfest 2016)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

It’s Thursday time! it’s Thursday time!

And you know what that means… personal updates, calendar occasions, or local events!

Let’s spin the wheel and find out. Tick, tick ticktick tick tick tickticktick ticktickticktickticktickticktick ticktick tick tick tick tick tick

And the wheel stops on local events!

Which is fantastic because I want to write about a local event today – it’s an event that started exactly one week ago and which will be wrapping up this Sunday, an event called Nextfest.

Nextfest is a multi-disciplinary event which showcases the talents of dancers, musicians, actors, writers, and visual artists. It has been around since 1996, which means this year marks the 20th anniversary of the festival.

Founded by Bradley Moss and now run by festival director Steve Pirot, Nextfest is a celebration of the next generation of artists. Those up-and-comers who are undiscovered and just sorting out their individual voices. It is a well known festival in the Edmonton arts community and if you are talented & lucky enough to be selected to participate, you just might be one of the 700+ artists that gets featured in the event.

To top it off, if you are a visual artist, you might even have the tremendous opportunity to grace the cover of the festival program. Which is pretty dang cool.

I’m probably going to date myself somewhat by writing this, but I remember when I think about this event I am transported right back to when I graduated from the UofA in 2007. 4 of my friends and members of my graduating class were invited to showcase their work in the exhibition and that was my first exposure to the festival. It was a lot of fun and the parties were fantastic. Then a couple of years past by and then my girlfriend at the time was also invited to exhibit her work, which gave me even more exposure to how the production worked and incredible amount of time spent by the artists and the festival organizers.

So when it came time to see my little brother participating on the theatre side even more years later, I had a deep respect for Nextfest and a belief in it’s inherent significance for the Edmonton landscape.

Which is why I decided that this year would be a great time for my re-entry into the mix and an opportunity to attend the Nextfest Visual Art Niteclub, a gallery event hosted within the larger framework of Nextfest and tonight happens to be THE best night to attend the gallery.

the Nextfest Visual Art Niteclub features art making all night, a play, live music, and performance art pieces for small audiences of 1 or a few. The event is licensed, all ages, and FREE. I’ve already been down to meet with the curator Steven Teeuwsen, and meet with one of the artists, who MAY be doing an interview with me shortly.

So come on down to Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre tonight and enter in the west door between RBC and Bonnie’s Lounge – It’s gonna be awesome. And that’s all I’ve got for this week folks, I’m out of theories, so I’ll see you on Sunday!

Tim!

Professional Theorems

What’s In A Name? (Defining The Term Artist)

Gallery | Posted on by Tim Kuefler

The visual arts are probably the most complicated of the creative fields to pin down. I mention this because it can take many forms from two-dimensional examples of drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography, to three-dimensional with ceramics, sculpture, video, and filmmaking, with fashion, crafts, design, and architecture existing in both realms.

Then you have your visual arts which also exist as theatre – performing arts and conceptual art.

You see dear readers, there was a time when the term artist represented fine art only (painting, sculpture, and printmaking) and anyone interested in handicraft or applied art was considered a craftsperson but not an artist.

This distinction existed until the 20th century, and it has taken over a century for it shift so that artist and art applies to multiple disciplines. Which can lead to some strange conversations among artists, with elitism still on the minds of fine artists and prejudice existing in all camps.

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As a graduate of a fine arts program myself, I’ve witnessed the distinction that professors, graduate students, and art historians make between fine art and other arts. What is even more difficult to swallow is that all the while that the older forms have a history and perception of “artist as genius” to them, the modern world laughs at the usefulness of such a profession.

There is a social stigma that if you are an artist you are naive, irresponsible and very likely financially poor. Morally too in some cases.

This conveniently happened around the same time that the “artist as genius” phase fizzled out, and the definition of artist began to broaden. As fine art became a commodity which had to be traded and in demand to gain recognition, it fit in very nicely with the already established forms of craft and applied arts (design, fashion, architecture) which business owners would pay for and have direct input in the results.

So where does timotheories fit into this landscape you may ask? I say why not both? Why can’t we elevate all art into a realm of marketable worth as well as recognizing the unique qualities required to create any sort of work, whether it be fine art, craft, theatre, or applied art.

I have this theory you see, that we’ve moved out of a post-modern mindset (one of deconstructing everything around us to see how it works and showcase intellectual superiority) to an age of modern craft. All artists need to become experts in their chosen form(s), and learn the proper marketing skills, finance skills, and communication skils in order to share their work with the world around them.

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timotheories supports the rights of artists to be successful at the profession of creating social value and entertainment for all people, and getting paid to do it.

I personally have always been driven by a myriad of artistic vehicles, so I can’t even favour one over the other because I don’t want to. I love drawing, painting, sculpture, filmmaking, writing, and performance art all the same. And I know that dabbling in photography, printmaking, design, and craft are ways that I express my ideas and creative ability just as well.

So for the sake of furthering the ambitious nature of this blog, I’m going to start sharing my own artwork with you, my friends, so showcase what I’m creating, receive critique, sell my work, and especially provide some insight into the entire art-making process.

Expect some cool collages in the coming weeks and if you’re lucky a powerful painting or two!

And in case you’ve been following the March schedule and noticed a couple of things out of order, I haven’t released the Paige Knickle interview yet, and that’s my bad. Due to some communication issues, the interview isn’t quite ready yet, so I’m going to publish Cross Talk Ep.3 next Sunday as planned, and then the interview will be ready for the 27th. We’ll have to bump the routines of famous creatives to April.

But I bet the wait’ll be worth it.

And that’s all he wrote. Please leave comments, follow/subscribe, and check in tomorrow evening for a Melodic Monday post.

Tim!

The Pursuit of Purity (Andrew Wedman, Minimalism)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Andrew Wedman, of Andrew Wedman Design, is both an illustrator and a graphic designer – he doesn’t like to limit himself to one media of expression. But don’t let that fool you into believing that he has no discipline, no code of honour which he adheres to.

Like the TV show Community (read:one of my all-time favourite shows), Andrew is one of those rare individuals who is both succinct and clever in his approach to life and to his pursuits, casually sharing of himself and his interests in ways that are hopeful and genuine. On the off chance you have not watched The Wire before, I’ve provided the original clip(s) that the above Community clip lovingly parodied from, to further drive home my point.

So, as you will come to see, Andrew is very much of the mindset that how you conduct yourself defines who you are, and he works very hard to ensure that his internal compass points him in a direction which is healthy and conducive to his belief system. That of a minimalist.

Dear readers, we are in for a treat, because believe it or not (if you haven’t guessed at this point), my second timotheories interview is with Andrew Wedman! I feel incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to sit down over iced chai and milk with this gentleman – When I met up with Andrew a few weeks back to discuss why he chooses to be a minimalist, I was very excited to have learned what makes him tick by simply talking through some basic questions like what he does with his possessions, to covering some more complex topics like how he develops his concepts from inception to completion.

I will tell you this much, it is an exciting 30 minutes that you won’t want to miss!

Please click on this link to be transported to a world where topics like the auto industry, the movie Demolition Man, and material possessions are all on the table for discussion. This is a great interview folks.

I think you will really understand what I mean about his dedicated discipline as you watch the video and get to review some of the work from his portfolio.

Running at about 30 minutes, we go through the pursuit of purity.

And so we’ve discussed some of my theories on minimalism and that’s about all I can ration this week. I would love to know what you think; please leave some comments. Lastly, a very big thank you to Andrew for being awesome, available and altruistic.

Tim!

Introduction To Theory (timotheories presents)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Hello and welcome to my blog! This is my digital platform, soapbox, gallery, lounge, theatre, and studio.

My primary intention with this blog is that I can inspire not only myself to keep making art and putting it out into the world, but to provide a forum for others who care about the arts as well, whether they need a push or maybe some comfort in reading another artists journey. This blog is about finding health and happiness within the arts, and as the tagline at the top of the page suggests, whatever tangent it goes off to at any given point, it will always be digital curating at heart. I say heart, because I am passionate about art, and I don’t think you can have heart without art, now can you, dear reader?

Moving right along… I should introduce myself. My name is Timothy, but most people I know call me Tim. I am an Edmonton Alberta born and raised guy, and for those of you who live here or have lived here, you know that Edmonton has an interesting relationship with the arts.

Just look at this snippet, which is my favourite part of the Wikipedia entry on Edmonton.

Edmonton is a cultural, governmental and educational centre. It hosts a year-round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname “The Festival City”.[14] It is home to North America’s largest mall, West Edmonton Mall (the world’s largest mall from 1981 until 2004),[15] and Fort Edmonton Park, Canada’s largest living history museum.[16]

We Edmontonians have lots of potential to make cool art because of already existing attractions and because the terrible weather months give us focus whenever the snow dumps down. I kinda timed my first entry with the start of winter to illustrate exactly this point. So we should look at West Edmonton Mall (WEM or The Mall to lots of us) and Fort Edmonton Park for a moment. I grew up within walking distance of The Mall and have been fascinated by the hustle of malls ever since. I attribute a great deal of my interest in pop culture to the weird whims and details of WEM. It is an ever-changing behemoth that features items like an indoor amusement park, an indoor water park, a massive theatre that once hosted a fire breathing dragon, and even a dinner theatre. The other tidbit of that Wikipedia entry I really enjoy is about Fort Edmonton Park, nestled alongside the North Saskatchewan River in the SW quadrant of Edmonton. Fort Edmonton happens to have a very vibrant group of interpreters who all seem to be involved in the Edmonton theatre community in one capacity or another. What is even better about this place is that both of my brothers work here in the summer months and so I’ve learned a lot about the character of that hub.

I am also hoping that the more I write about my local community, the more this blog will turn into an arts lifestyle view (guidebook?) for the creative sojourners out there. And so I believe that I must talk about the arts! But the more you get to know me, the more you will see that while I personally cannot live without art in my life, we all benefit from it in one way or another.

Mind you, I am not just interested in the goings on of Edmonton, I mean I love Edmonton, otherwise I wouldn’t have stayed after I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Art and Design) from the University of Alberta, but I am also interested in Canadian culture and whatever is going on in the world at large.

Even more so, this blog is not just going to be an academic piece where I write about the goings on at the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Jubilee Auditorium or independent sources like Vue Weekly, though I do love all of those things. No, I am going to get into pop culture too. I am a huge movie buff, love all kinds of music, and game with the best of them (board and video), oh and dancing too. Dance is amazing.

Now I am going to tell you how you can get involved! Please leave comments! I am no stranger to criticism and encourage healthy discussion. I went through 4 years of professional art criticism, so your feedback is appreciated, and encouraged.  What if you want to email me? Please do, you can hit me up at timotheories@outlook.com.

That’s all the theories I have right now.

Tim!

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