I wish I was a pirate…

For those of you who didn’t already know, Bike Pirates rocks. hard.

Bike Pirates is an organization that aims to empower cyclists and make bikes accessible. Like Art Spin, they are volunteer run and organized and are a collection of an amazing group of people who are willing to share their knowledge and passion with their community. Their location on Bloor just east of Lansdown is a do-it-yourself bike shop, where you can stop by and have a Pirate guide you through basic tune-ups , to full blown bicycle builds. But prepared to get dirty – you’ll be doing all the work yourself and learning how to do it on your own next time. They also fix up old bikes and sell them, and collect old parts for you to buy at a discounted rate, along with their new bike parts also sold a discounted rate compared to many other bike shops.

As someone who organizes a bike event, I was feeling quite foolish about my lack of bike knowledge – but after several visits to Bike Pirates, I can change a tube, tire or wheel, take apart and rebuild a wheel down to the ball bearings, tighten or replace my brake cables and pads and true a tire.

Bike Pirates somehow got dragged into helping out Art Spin. Geoff was the first to join, and soon the other pirates followed. They are our sheepherders – they block intersections, protect us from cars, lead us in the right direction and keep us together in a pack. Art Spin is so grateful for the major support we have received from all of the Pirates  - we are lucky to have developed some friendships too and we are thrilled to see the connection and relationship grow. Thank you Bike Pirates for sharing your passion with all of us!

Like Art Spin, Bike Pirates runs entirely on donations, so don’t forget to stop by their shop, tune up your bike, and leave them some cash so they can continue doing the amazing work they do! check out their site for more: bikepirates.com

Cheers

-Casey

July was a hit!

WOW. We have had such an amazing summer and our tours have been so fantastic that I haven’t even had a chance to update our blog, and it’s looking kind of sad. The guilt finally got to me, and as it’s a rainy day today, I have decided I shall do my very best to get this thing up to date – I should document some of the amazing art we have had on our tours before it all slips my mind. I know I’m skipping the June tour – which was amazing – and I’ll come back to it (I promise, there are artists certainly worth mentioning!), but first I’m going to jump into July.

It rained all day. We were worried, and I was updating the hourly fourcast almost every minute and was thrilled when the afternoon cleared up. Art Spin is a rain or shine event, but we have never before been confronted with rain (knock on wood!). 160 amazing participants still showed up in the damp park for a hot and sticky evening on bikes. It was amazing.  Things started almost immediately in the park where Hayley Imerman and Angel Chen invited participants to plan a flower in one of their oh-so-clever retrofited gatorade bottle planters. They were then gracefully attached to the tops of bike lock posts, to bring greenery to the streets. The installation, called “My Street Has No Trees” was sponsored and made possible by our amazing friends at Blacksmith Cycle, and was so simple, beautiful and clever. I hope that when you see one of their plants on the street it will bring a smile to your face. Also, we would always appreciate passer-by’s to keep their eyes on their local plants, water on hot days and a little tender care does a long way!

 

 

 

Waterloo based creative research collective Dodo Lab were also on site, picking people’s brains about their version of a Canadian Icon. They brought major bike flags proposing a raccoon, a car with a canoe strapped on top, or a squirrel eating a donut as a replacement for the beaver. Their installation is on now at theHarbourfront Centre, or you can learn more about their unique projects at www.dodolab.ca.

From the park we headed off led by Michael Lewis Johnson –our trumpeting cyclist and MC, to take in the “This is Paradise” exhibition at MOCCA. Brett Despotovich from MOCCA was kind enough to speak to us about the exhibition which celebrates the art and artists surrounding the Cameron House – a haven for the arts and culture in the early 80s.

After a rather unpleasant encounter with some very angry drivers, we took in a dance performance by Cathy Gordon and two of her colleagues from HUB 14 dance studio, choreographed specifically for Art Spin, using the fire escape on the exterior or their warehouse building. We were able to bike up and stay seated to enjoy “Joy Experiment #3″ before sneaking down a side street and taking over most of Bathurst to get to the Factory Theatre  for a showcase of video works by Nicholas Kovats, Evan Tyler and Carolyn Tripp selected from the Parkdale Film and Video Showcase.

Throughout the tour, we kept seeing these terribly nerdy and hilarious speed walkers, praticing or racing it seemed, and the reactions from those on the tour was priceless – because little did they know it was all part of our plan. Everything was made clear when we pulled into Alexandra Park to see Miko Sobreira and Manuel Rodriguez Saenz battling it out for their very entertaining performance piece.

To finish things off, Art Spin headed up to a rooftop in Kensington market to be serenaded by The Lemon Bucket Orkestra. It was a pretty magical moment – we spiraled up the parking garage in the market and when we finally broke out onto the rooftop, we were confronted with an amazing skyline view of the city with the setting sun and were met with amazing music. It wasn’t long before people dropped their bikes and started dancing! The spontenaity of the moment was amazing, despite the fact that I knew what was coming next – it’s nice to be pleasantly surprised on your own event.

We zoomed down and headed to the final stop which was a preview evening of the Trash Art Festival presented by Whippersnapper Gallery. The trash art installations, stage for music and a bar were all tucked away in an amazing alleyway/courtyard space behind “El Gordo’s”, and Adrian and Josh from Whippersnapper did a stellar job putting together the evening. The installation trash art work was created by   Urban Trash Art – visiting from brazil – and Felix Kalmenson and Sasha Foster. We were also lucky enough to have a musical performance by Septeto Tabala from Columbia as the perfect soundtrack to the final activities of the evening.

 

The final stop’s are always my favorite – people relax and connect, and it makes the evening feel so magical. At Art Spin we are so lucky to continually work with amazing artists and administrators, performers and musicians, and we could not do what we do alone.  Thanks to all of the fantastic artists and musicians who participated in this month’s Art Spin. A big thank you to the support provided by the Ontario Arts Council and Blacksmith Cycle, and another shout out to our friends and supporters at Bike Pirates – they are so good to us! Thanks to Whippersnapper Gallery and Alfonzo from “El Gordo” for hosting us and organizing such a fantastic final stop. Thanks to the Community Bicycle Networkfor their help and to Johnny for being DJ on the road with his “Empress” sound system.  Thanks to Will and Leah – our amazing volunteers – and last, but not least, thanks for all those who came out to support Art Spin! Our event would not be possible without you.

Check back soon, I am going to be updating more often – i swear!

-Casey

our first tour of the season is almost here!

We are getting ready for our first tour of 2011, coming up next week on Thursday, June 30th! We’re really excited to get things started with a bang, and we hope you’ll join us and show your support! I’d also like to send out a gentle reminder that Art Spin is a not-for-profit group, run entirely by volunteers and this year we did not receive the grant we were counting on to cover our operating budget. With this in mind, Art Spin is still a free event, but there will be a donation hat passed around at the beginning of the tour and we so appreciate any kind of contribution you can make! Any donations will go towards covering our costs like printing posters, paying for our web domain and hosting, and most importantly paying artist fee’s so that we can continue to bring you unique performances and installations.

 

Here is our press release with some more details about upcoming events!

Art Spin Magazine!

Check out our new online magazine!

click above to view the magazine!

Call For Submissions!

Art Spin, the hugely successful bicycle led art tours, is gearing up for its third season this summer. In preparation we are holding crEATe, a creative and interactive fundraising event, very much in keeping with the community minded spirit of Art Spin itself. crEATe is a communal dinner during which artists will have a chance to pitch their art project proposals. Dinner guests will vote on the project proposal they like best and the winner will receive the profits from that dinner to fund their project which in turn will be included in one of our Art Spin tours this summer. The winning project proposals may receive funding of up to $1000.

crEATe will be taking place on Wednesday, June 8th, at 7pm and will be hosted at Lula Lounge.

Art Spin would like to invite artists to submit their proposals for art projects. The goal of this fundraiser is to create a self-reliant arts funding strategy, whereby the arts community becomes more empowered to support itself.

Artists interested in pitching an art project proposal should make their submissions to: info@artspin.ca

Submission guidelines are as follows:

 -  Art Spin is a multi-disciplinary art event, therefore, this call is open to artists in all fields, be it visual arts (2-D, installation or new media) or performance arts. We are looking for creative, experimental, quirky and playful work – nothing is off limits!

- provide a one page cover letter describing your art project, and the amount of funds required.  (in a Word .doc)

- one page CV and contact information (in Word .doc) 

- if applicable, support material in the form of five to ten jpg or pdf images (no larger than 300kb each), or video files (i.e Quick Time, no longer than 5 minutes) pertaining to the specific project being proposed or images of past work that are representative of your practice. All support material must be compatible with both Mac and PC.

- if the project is site specific please provide details on where and how the project would take place. (please note that site specific projects in alternative spaces such as parks, laneways & abandoned spaces etc. are highly encouraged but should be contained to the west end of the city since all our tours depart from Trinity Bellwoods park).

- any time based performances should last no longer than 15 minutes.

- deadline for submissions: Monday May 23, 2011

- any questions or comments should be directed to:  info@artspin.ca  or call Casey @ 647-215-9919 or Rui @ 416-532-5274

- artists whose submissions are chosen to be pitched at crEATe  will have 10 minutes to pitch their proposal. Audio and visual equipment (ie: computer, projector) will be provided.

- artists whose submissions are accepted will be required to pay the 45$ if they wish to join crEATe for dinner, if they wish only to present, the fee will b waved.

- artists whose submissions are accepted will be notified by May 27th.

- winning submissions will be included in one of our three Art Spin tours which will be taking place on:

June 30th, July 28th and August 25th

Tickets for crEATe (a three course communal dinner) are $45 so even if you’re not interested in presenting a project pitch, we welcome you to join us in support of Art Spin and participating artists. Please contact info@artspin.ca or visit www.artspin.ca if you are interested in purchasing a ticket. Tickets must be purchased in advance and all profits go towards funding the winning proposals.

Feel free to visit  www.artspin.ca to learn more about Art Spin.

Art Spin would like to thank and acknowledge The Soup Network as the inspiration for crEATe.

Video Overview

Thanks to Cheryl Rondeau for making this video with footage from  Art Spin 2010.

Summer 2011: Here We Come!

After several months hibernating, waiting until the snow melted, Art Spin is back and up and running for the 2011 season! The rain will be letting up soon, and then it’s full on bike season! We’re really excited for this summer, and have already been planning, researching and getting things in order for an amazing season.

Some of the biggest news already is our new addition to the Art Spin team. With Layne off living in Paris and galavanting around Europe,  (though still working as our brilliant designer and  offering as much support as she can, you know, between croissants and walks through the Louvre) Vanessa – a chipper BMX biker, artist and our resident social media guru has joined us to help us out as our tours grow bigger and better.  We would like to welcome Vanessa aboard – we’re lucky to have her and excited to see what brilliant tactics and ideas she’s got to share!

Keep up to date with our blog, website, twitter, and facebook if you’re interested in information about upcoming tours, submitting a proposal for an art project, or volunteering on one of our tours. We’re an open minded creative bunch, always looking for collaborators. Don’t hesitate to get in touch – we would love to hear from you!

Art Spin returns for our August outing!

Art Spin – a series of bicycle led art tours – invites participants on an adventure through Toronto’s west end art district to see art galleries, artist’s studios and installations or performances in interesting places.  This interactive and exciting community based art event allows participants to experience established and emerging artists in unique settings, with performances, installations and other site-specific works prepared specifically for each Art Spin outing; each tour has a different and unique itinerary.

With a range of artistic experiences, the upcoming Art Spin outing will include everything from the annual Square Foot show at AWOL Gallery to a performance and installation by Alize Zorlutuna and will be led by trumpeting cyclist extraordinaire Michael L. Johnson. Other stops this month include: a visit to Edward Day Gallery, C1 Art Space for an interactive mural activity, an experimental music performance by Michelangelo Iaffaldano at Pia Bauman Dance School, Dieter Janssen’s Sky at Convenience Gallery, a performance by Helene Vosters and a visit to Joe Fleming’s studio General Hardware with an after party to follow.

Art Spin meets at the gate to Trinity Bellwoods Park at Queen St. & Strachan Ave. The tour departs at 7pm sharp, and wraps up around 9:30pm. Join us at 6:30 to Art-Up your bike and participate in the fix-it session courtesy of Bike Pirates. The tour is a free event, and anyone regardless of age or cycling ability is welcome.

Grab your bike and join us for the next Art Spin on Thursday August 26^th.^.

For more information visit www.artspin.ca or email us at info@artspin.ca

Art Spin Video

The Neighborhood Arts Network, run by the Toronto Arts Council, created this video documenting Art Spin. It gives a nice overview and some images from the tour, so check it out!

extra! extra! read all about!

Our second Art Spin outing was a huge success, and we’ve been mentioned all over the place which is very exciting for us!

Check out some links, and I’ll be posting pictures and artist profiles soon!

Now Magazine

Eye Weekly

Blog TO

Detourist Guide