Desktop image: 12 Hours of Power

The pedal generators have finally arrived! With just over a month before Nuit Blanche, I am starting to feel optimistic about 12 Hours of Power.

I have started a Facebook event page, in an attempt to spread the word about 12 Hours of Power. My sponsor, Live Green Toronto, will also help with promotion in the coming month. A public shaming is pretty much guaranteed at this point so I am now fully committed to the endeavor.

The latest 'desktop image' is a mock up of 12 Hours of Power as requested by Nuit Blanche organizers for media purposes. The cyclist is someone I photographed at University and College during the first Nuit Blanche back in 2006. I hope he feels flattered, and not litigious, by the use of his image.

My favourite type of craft

I am excited about an upcoming exhibition at the University of Toronto Art Centre, Gord Peteran: Furniture Meets Its Maker (September 8 to December 5, 2009). The retrospective will feature non-functional furniture, made both from scratch as well as found objects.

There will always be a market for fine handmade functional furniture but my personal preference is for craft objects like Peteran's that refuse to fade into the background of everyday life.

Peteran's work is described as "quite distinct from craft" but I question the author's definition of craft. Even under the usual definition of "an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, especially manual skill," there is nothing to preclude Peteran's work or any other crafted object that is conceptual or non-functional, from being classified as 'craft'

Perhaps I am overly sensitive about the snobbish distinction that is often made between craft and art. With the growing presence of the hand in many contemporary art works, I believe the distinction between craft and art is increasingly blurry.