QAF - Random Acts of Queerness Map

what's new with you?


my big news is that i finished my piece for the Queer Arts Festival Curated Art Exhibition, barely. i was finishing the last touches 10 minutes before the VIP/Press period of the opening, but it got finished, and now that i'm not massively irritated with it, i LOVE how it turned out.

i have no idea what i'm going to do with it after the show, or even how i'm going to get it home, but it's awesome.

SEEE???? PICTURES!








i'll write more about it, with more detail shots and info about how i made it, in another post, but here's the whole thing. mostly.



my artist statement, which isn't to long, really -


What constitutes an act of queerness? Are all parts of our lives queer, or are some parts neutral or heteronormative? Is an act of queerness different if performed in a potentially hostile environment compared to one where you are among the majority? If I’m queer when walking down Commercial Drive among my peers, I am also queer when walking down the street in a small farming community where I am an oddity, but are the acts equal? Does the potential fallout of the act make one more queer than the other, or more courageous?

Do we create queer ghettos to reduce that potential for hostility or even violence, for reinforcement of our own value or for companionship, or do other people create them for us because they fear us? Do we stick to our ghettos, or will people, once they think about their random acts, realize that they occur all over the city?

The definition of a random act of queerness and its location are as individual as each person’s life experience. It might be where you had queer sex for the first time, or the best time; one-night stands; your first kiss; where you worked when you first came out on the job; where you were bashed; where you’ve volunteered, marched or protested; where you’ve held hands in private or in public; where you parked your U-Haul or took your tofu dish to a potluck; the scene of Queer as Folk marathons; where you danced your ass off; did blow in the bathroom stall; sang karaoke; supported queer artists, or bought the groceries for the first meal you made for your partner. It might be anything else.

Do you have to be queer to perform a random act of queerness, or can support from an unexpected source or in an unexpected place qualify as a random act of queerness?




the unofficial theme for the piece was apparently "running out", because that's exactly what kept happening.



i ran out every thread that i was using, except my aurifil 50wt grey, but even that was super close. i ran out of the blue that i used for the water (twice, actually), i ran out of the green threads that i used for the parks, i finished up every uhu glue stick in my house and had to go buy more (my obsessive hoarding of back to school supplies was totally beneficial for that!), i finished 3 cans of 505 spray adhesive and started on my 4th, i got close to running out of the aurifil 12wt black that i was using and totally freaked out because my only local source had discontinued it, and ended up switching to sulky 12wt that worked way better anyway, i ran out of the blue fabric that i used for the water, i ran out of the stitch witchery tape that i used to finish the edges, i didn't buy enough hooks from ikea and had to run there at 5:55 on a sunday, i ran out of straight pins two or three times, and i ran out of the glitter that i used for the straight pins twice. dudes, it was ridiculous!

part of the problem was that this turned out to be my most expensive project ever, by far, and i didn't want to buy more than i thought i needed. it also didn't help that i was doing this on such a tight deadline, because buying out all of the straight pins in stock meant that i had to wait for more to come in!

and i swear to god, next year i'm going to get wholesale stuff figured out. this is the second year now that i've paid WAY more than i should've, because i bought all of my supplies retail. i probably spent more than $70 on ADHESIVE alone, when you add in tax and consider all of the glue sticks!

also, i am TOTALLY starting next year's piece asap. i've already starting searching for the fabric that i want!




and in other news, I HAVE A FLOOR!!! AND BASEBOARDS! all that's left now is for a plumber to come lift up my sink, sterilize it and reseal it, but frankly, i'm not holding my breath. the floor is kind of ugly, but it was the least ugly option they gave me, and it actually suits my kitchen, cause my building was built in the 80s, so the kitchen was ugly to start with. i'm so beyond the point of caring!

(if you're a newer reader, you might not know that back in november the guy two floors above me decided to take out his grudge on the strata by flooding my kitchen on purpose. it was stressful, and it's taken a million years to get it fixed because everyone involved is an idiot, apparently)