Mendelog

Diyan Achjadi’s current work uses print and digital media to explore representations of militarism and violence in pop culture and children’s media. In this audio feature recorded at the Mendel Art Gallery, Diyan Achjadi reflects on the development of her work, how teaching affects her art practice and her decision to minimize the hand made mark.

Download the mp3! (8min 43sec / 8MB)

Diyan Achjadi received a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York (1993) and an MFA in Print Media from Concordia University, Montreal (2002). Her installation and print works have been exhibited across the US and Canada, in solo shows at galleries such as The Richmond Art Gallery, Alternator Gallery (Kelowna) and Access Artist Run Centre (Vancouver), Open Studio (Toronto), articule (Montreal), and AIR Gallery (New York); and in group exhibitions at the American University in Cairo, Malaspina Printmakers Gallery (Vancouver), Romo Gallery (Atlanta), and The Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York). Her short animated videos are distributed by Groupe Intervention Video (Montreal) and have been screened across North America and Europe.

Brendan Tang contemplates contemporary culture, technology, and globalization through his merging of ceramic tradition (using the form of Chinese Ming dynasty vessels) and techno-Pop Art.  In this audio feature recorded at the Mendel Art Gallery, Brendan introduces his work in the Sugar Bombs exhibition and elaborates on his interest in ceramics. He also addresses his position in both craft and fine art realms, and reconciling the ideals of contemporary art with the realities of making a livelihood.

Download the mp3! (4min 28sec / 4MB)

Brendan Tang was born in Dublin, Ireland of Trinidadian parents, and is a naturalized citizen of Canada. Tang has exhibited in juried and invitational shows in Canada and the US, including at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Ottawa Art Gallery, and the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. His professional practice has taken him to India, Japan and Trinidad, and he has lectured at conferences and academic institutions across Canada. Tang’s work has been featured in printed publications such as Hi-Fructose and FUSE, and prominent blogs including Boing Boing. His education includes the Master of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He currently resides in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Ed Pien is one of Canada’s foremost contemporary artists. For over twenty-five years, Pien has succeeded in creating his own unique visual language of tales and myth, of half-human and half-animal figures, plunging the viewer into worlds which spark the imagination. Ed Pien: Haven of Delight features the artist’s drawings, paper cutouts and installation work. In this audio feature recorded at the Mendel Art Gallery, Ed Pien elaborates on the exhibition and the origins of his paper cuts.

Download the mp3! (4 min 12 sec / 4MB)

Ed Pien was born in Taiwan in 1958 and has lived in Canada since 1969. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario, and a Master’s of Fine Arts from York University. He has exhibited in Canada, China, France, Germany, Mexico, and the United States.

The Mendel’s new multimedia encounters offer insight into the exhibitions. Visitors may download the audio program for use with their own personal media player or sign out an iPod Touch from the Gallery Shop free of charge. In this tour, you will hear Marie Lannoo introduce some of the ideas behind her new three dimensional work and discuss her new body of paintings that have emerged from her research.

DOWNLOAD NOW (M4A format. 10 min 27 sec. 9MB)

All digital media is iTunes compatible and suitable for playback on most computers and personal media devices. The content will be made permanently available online and this archive will be a resource for patrons, students, educators, and arts professionals.

Download the Mendel Art Gallery’s first podcast of 2010! In this episode, we sit down with Canadian artist Ed Pien and Saskatoon based painter, Marie Lannoo. We chat with the cast of Sugar Bombs including exhibition curator, Kristen Lambertson, and artists Diyan Achjadi, and Brendan Tang. We also preview exhibitions of work from the Permanent Collection and the Artists by Artists mentorship program.  Music for this episode has been provided by Maybe Smith. Happy listening!

Download mp3 (file will launch in your default media player)
Download m4a (for use with iTunes)

credits (songs in order of appearance)
In the Woods – Maybe Smith (Animals and Architects, 2007)
Bloopers – Maybe Smith (Another Murder in the Morning, 2009)
What are we allowed to do – Maybe Smith (One for None, 2003)
I Fight Birds – Maybe Smith (Animals and Architects, 2007)
Local Man – Maybe Smith (Animals and Architects, 2007)

Links
Ed Pien
Marie Lannoo 
Brendan Tang 
Diyan Achjadi
Iris Hauser
Maybe Smith

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