news

Trap\door Holiday Wish Book – Silent Auction Now Online! Visit the website to view and bid on items, both material and immaterial, donated by Trap\door members. Bids will be updated at 5:00pm each day. Check back often to secure great gifts for that special someone. Bidding closes on Saturday, December 9, and winners will be announced at the Holiday Potluck later that evening.

Annual Member's Show, “No Explicit Content” in collaboration with Artwalk and held at City Hall in September was a success. 17 works were submitted from T\d members and nearly 100 visitors came by on the Saturday of Artwalk. The Button Demo was also very popular.

The first annual Gushul Studio and Collaborative Residency with visual artist Scott Rogers and writer/historian Carol Williams wrapped up at the end of August. Scott and Carol are working on a book titled, “The Haphazard History of the Crowsnest Pass “ which will documents their collaborative work accomplished while staying at the Gushul Studio in Blairmore. Trap\door gratefully acknowledges the AFA for their assistance with this project. As well, Trap\door will be publishing a brochure outlining details of the residency. All members will receive a copy.

Click on the images to view larger versions.

Button Demo at the University of Lethbridge , SUB. Wednesday, November 15 th , 10 AM – 3 PM. Bring your own designs or make them on the spot . 1 button for $2, or 3 buttons for $5. Download the button template from our website (www.trapdoorarc.com/buttons)

Advertise your club or group with 1” buttons made by T\d! Due to the popularity of this service, we are increasing our prices by $0.05 –

50-99 buttons = $0.50/unit
100-199 buttons = $0.45/unit
200+ = $0.40/unit
Prices are reduced by $0.10 for Trap\door members

Printing:
Colour = $2 first page, $1 each additional page
B&W = $2 first page, $0.50 each additional page
*(no charge if preprinted pages are provided)

Standard template fits 24 buttons/page. Please allow one week minimum for orders.

Look for the Trap\door button vending machine at a downtown local establishment. Unique designs by local artists, $1 each.

Prairie Tales 8 – the latest annual collection of short film and video works by Alberta media artists. Presented by Metro Cinema Society, and hosted by Trap\door. Friday, November 24, 2006 at 4 PM, University of Lethbridge , Centre for the Arts, room W731. Admission is by donation.

Trap\door Holiday Potluck – Saturday, December 9 th, 7 PM at Anna's house (1107 30 St . S). PLEASE RSVP to info@trapdoorarc.com by Monday, December 4 th

contemporary art in lethbridge

The Gallery Potemkin Collective is pleased to present the Bad Art Show.  For this exhibition we asked artists to reflect on, and create, a piece of bad art.

The 'BAD ART" exhibition opened last week at the University of Lethbridge STUDENT UNION GALLERY ( from Sunday, Oct. 29 until late November 2006).

What is Bad Art?  We all know it when we see it, but it is a challenge to define or recreate it.  It is a subjective determination.  Propaganda, narrative illustration, sentimental paintings, outsider and contemporary art have all had been labeled as bad by individuals in opposition to the aims and ideologies inherent in their production.

So what is Bad Art?  Perhaps its content defines it.  A work could be bad if it transgresses social conventions of taste and decorum, is laden with ‘puerile' subject matter, is burdened by overblown didacticism, or is suffering from pedantic academicism. 

Then again, perhaps the label of bad is a stylistic determination —a naive and awkward grasp of a particular medium, a sentimental evocation in pastel colors, absurd and silly content, or clichéd images and narratives.

Perhaps there is no bad art, only tastes and choices.  Bad becomes what we as individuals subjectively decide offends us aesthetically, morally, emotionally and intellectually, and we so often assume these qualities hold true for others.  All the participants submitted what they thought was bad art, but as you peruse the gallery you will stumble across at least a few that don't look too bad at all.

Annie Martin and Dana Inkster are hosting a regular half-hour radio program featuring sound art and experimental music, Tuesdays 10:30-11:00 am mountain time, on CKXU 88.3 FM (also on the web at www.ckxu.com)

They hope you can tune in sometime, and also welcome your submissions of broadcastable sound pieces...

* Special note: Trap\door regretfully announces that due to her busy schedule Dana Inkster has resigned from the Trap\door Board. We would like to thank her for all her hard work.

local exhibitions + events

Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge Annual Members' Potluck on Tuesday, December 19th at the Bowman Arts Centre (811 5 Ave S) - all AAC members invited.

regional exhibitions + festivals

ace art inc. in the Flux Gallery
Crumpled Darkness
Haraldur Jónsson and Steingrímur Eyfjörð
Curated/ Organised by Hannes Lárusson and Birna Bjarnadóttir
27 October - 09 December, 2006

Exhibition sponsored by: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Iceland & The Icelandic Collection, Department of Icelandic Language and Literature, Páll Guðmundsson Memorial Scholarship, University of Manitoba

Kenderline Art Gallery
No Word for Goodbye
Riel Benn, Walley Dion, Jamie Warn
October 13 - December 22, 2006

Curated by Felicia Gay Co-sponsored by TRIBE
kag I cbg

Jaime Warn, Nokomis   acrylic on canvas, 2000

Kenderdine Art Gallery
2nd fl Agriculture Building
51 Campus Drive
University of Saskatchewan
S saskatoon, SK  S7N 5A2
Hours:  Mon-Fri  11:30 - 4
t:  306.966.6816
e:  uac@sask.usask.ca
w: www.usask.ca/kenderdine

calls for submission

Trap\door next call for submissions: May 1st, 2007

Submissions must include:

• a curriculum vitae
• an artist's statement
• 10-15 slides or digital images with an accompanying list identifying
  each work
• and/or VHS or DVD documentation
• a project description including any special technical and/or spatial
  requirements

Please send to Trap\door Artist Run Centre, c/o 811 5 Ave S, Lethbridge , AB , Canada , T1J 0V2

Two Calls For Submission: Dare-Dare

1 Dis/location: projet d¹articulation urbaine 2007-2008
2 Mois de la photo: The Narrativity of the Image, guest curator—Marie Fraser
deadline: Novembre 24, 2006

Mandate
DARE-DARE Centre de diffusion d¹art multidisciplinaire de Montréal offers flexibility and openness and is devoted to research, experimentation, risk and critical inquiry. The artist-run centre supports research, values emerging practices and demonstrates a sustained interest in exploring a diversity in modes and contexts of presentation.

Your submission should include:

• a brief statement describing your project,
• a curriculum vitæ,
• ten numbered slides or digital images (max 5 Mg) with a descriptive list,
• audio/video tape, VHS, DVD (NTSC) or Quicktime (max 5 min.),

Please indicate on the enveloppe which call you are responding to.

Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope for the return of your documentation if desired (DARE-DARE does not keep unclaimed dossiers). The centre does not accept submissions by email. The centre pays SODART/CARFAC rates.

1 Call for intentions - programming 2007-2008

DARE-DARE receives your dossier accompanied by your research interests. These interests will translate into proposals of all kinds including/not limited to public intervention, performance, man¦uvre, event. The projects may be of specific or of variable duration, or they may be repeated in time. The centre seeks interdisciplinary projects that will engage the social and physical realms of the city, its public spaces, its commercial, industrial and residential areas.

A first selection will be based upon the artist's dossiers and research intentions. DARE-DARE will invite these artists to further detail and elaborate their projects in view of a final selection.

2 Call for intentions - Mois de la photo (September 2007)

Narrative today is the subject of a major rethinking in the visual arts. The image has become one of the critical fields and finest laboratories of narrative exploration. With the collaboration of the Mois de la Photo, DARE-DARE wishes to examine this phenomenon in all its breadth through the presentation of a common project.

For further information: www.moisdelaphoto.com

DARE-DARE Centre de diffusion d¹art multidisciplinaire de Montréal
Casier postal 130 Succursale R Montréal Québec H2Y 3J6 Canada
t: +1.514.878.1088 daredar@cooptel.qc.ca www.dare-dare.org

Please specify to which call you are responding.

Call For Video Proposals

[Séquence] is looking for video works to be presented during 2007 Trafic'Art festival.

Trafic'Art suggests a reflection about situations, impacts and movements created by climate change, proposing an engagement in the imaginary collective.

• This is a calling for students in arts programs and professional artists around Canada .
• Please send short videos on DVD before April 15, 2007.

[Séquence]
132 Rue Racine Est
Chicoutimi , Qc , G7H 5C2
www.sequence.qc.ca
art@sequence.qc.ca

employment opportunities

workshops + courses

classifieds + miscellanea

Stupid Art and Artist Jokes

Q: Why are so many famous Expressionists German?
A: Because they were born in Germany .

Q: How many performance artists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: I don't know. I left.