Automata For The People

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Automata For The People

The Cabaret Mechanical Theatre has a wide range of automata from pre-built life-sized wooden models all the way down to palm-sized paper models that you assemble yourself. The price range is equally broad. You can buy their products, instructional/ documentary-style CD-ROMs and books online. And, many of the studio artists, Paul Spooner in particular, regularly exhibit their work for the masses to enjoy. At left, I've inserted one of their quirky animations, "Honeymoon Bed". It comes complete with bouncing sound! (June 2010 update: Sadly, this product doesn't seem to be available any more.)

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Why "Happy Happy Accident"?

A happy accident is a pleasant situation or event that is not planned or intended. A Choleena DiTullio is a happy person who was probably planned (I'd have to ask my Mom to be sure).

In art, I've always loved exploring the surprises that presented themselves when I accidently spilled paint, put an ordinary thing in an unordinary place or when something random occured.

Even as a kid, I couldn't keep my brain from going there. I remember lying on my belly on the pavement outside our house —full array of coloured construction paper, scissors, ruler, crayons and the like fanned around me— where I coloured in the sun for hours one day. When I was finally ready to cut out the drawings I'd made, I picked up the scissors from a piece of orange construction paper and was amazed at the outline left behind. The sun had bleached the paper so that where the scissors were was an intense orange and the rest of the page was a light orange. Over the course of the afternoon the orange had faded so slowly so that I didn't notice it. In the same way, when I lifted the semi-transparent ruler from the page, it left a mark. But this time is was less intense than what the opaque scissors had left.

Years later, when I entered Fine Arts at Mount Allison University, I discovered that this was an art form! My Photography Professor, Thaddeus Holownia, introduced us to the work of Man Ray, which included photograms.

All those years ago, the ephemeral inks in my construction paper made it a light-sensitive paper!

To this day, I don't recall what I was colouring but I do remember spending the rest of the afternoon exploring what object shapes, what degrees of opacity, and what amounts of time produced what results. I'm sure I also spent some time later that day explaining why all my Mom's cupboards were overturned.... (I'll reserve that story for my next blog "bull in a china shop".)

From a very early age, my brain has been drawn to odd, perhaps abstract, things. I can't fight it so I decided to embrace it. My art, my work, my interests and my life are all the better for it.

I hope that running across this site has been a happy accident for you.

Seeking Film Producers (esp. Mr. David Gerson)

I've developed a treatment and written 50 pages of a film script. Anyone interested? Let me know. If I were to pigeon-hole it, it could be called a romantic comedy in the style of "Home for the Holidays". Mr. Gerson, if you're out there, feel free to get in touch. I found your contribution on the film-writing panel at the 2006 Frye Festival (Moncton, NB, Canada) to be so helpful. You encouraged us to get in touch with you to assess our ideas when we were ready. My contact information for you at Focus Features is out of date. I hope you'll consider getting in touch with me. Thanks so much. —Choleena

My Artwork for Sale

Here are a few artworks of mine that are currently for sale. Click any image to enlarge.

Adirondack Fish Acrylic on three stretched canvases (triptych), pieces of an old adirondack chair, bolts, nails. Complete re-use of an old adirondack chair. All components of the chair were integrated -- even the fish's teeth are nails. The whole thing unscrews to make it easy to ship. $6510

12' x 4.5'

Fishtych Glow-in-the-Dark acrylic on canvas. Two paintings in one!

$3000 (SOLD)

60" (5 feet wide) x 38.4"

Inspired by the natural phenomenon where fish of the deep sea use bioluminescent nodes to glow in the dark, this artwork 'charges' in the daylight then creates a whole new painting for the wall on which it is hung after lights-out. The name Fishtych (pronounced 'fishtick' — not accidently similar to 'fish stick!) is derived from the word for a painting that's been produced on two canvases: diptych. The fish lives a dichotomous life hinging on the magical time of sunset -- it's a colourful, playful entity by day, and a dark beast after lights-out.

Plainfin Midshipman Glow-in-the-Dark. Two paintings in one! Acrylic, glow-in-the-dark beads. Professionally framed

$500

25.5" x 9.5"

Marquis de mer II Glow-in-the-Dark. Two paintings in one! Watercolour; glow-in-the-dark acrylic; beads and jewellery findings Professionally framed

$500

19.5" x 17"

Fly Fishing Watercolours with re-used staples and bead Professionally framed

$300

17" x 13"

Fish Stick Acrylic, beads and sewing findings Square canvas is hung on the diagonal as shown.

$50

8" x 8"

Cow Fish Watercolour, clay, recycled beads and wire Professionally framed

$500

19.125" x 16.5"

Fillet Acrylic on canvas with button and wire Professionally framed

$300

20" x 7.75"

Skeleton Fish Watercolour, nails, jewellery findings, and shoe findings from my late Grandfather's shoe-making supplies Professionally framed

$300

17" x 13"

Clay Fish Watercolour on Arches, clay, recycled jewelry findings and beads, recycled string Professionally framed

$275

13" x 14"

See more at choleena.com

Green things done to date

No dryer sheets used in the Spring/Summer/Fall (Winter is the only static season!). The dryer sheets that were in use were unscented so that we're not adding extra chemicals/scents to the air.
Thermostats all at zero in late Spring, Summer and early Fall (during above freezing seasons). Wear light sweaters in the colder evenings.
In shoulder seasons, keeping the thermostat at 12 and wearing a heavier sweater.
Every time I leave the living room (even if it's just to get a snack) I turn the T.V. off.
Make meals that are heavy on the veggie to lower my meat intake.
Changed all our lightbulbs to energy-efficient ones.
Joined CBC.ca's One Million Acts of Green
Toured local Wet/Dry recycling facility
Using dehumidifier water for laundry
Re-used old wine bottles for wine-making
Car-pool once-in-a-while
Mow with a reel mower (no motor)
Eat smaller portions.
Purchased an audio book online to reduce paper.
Buy as many organic foods as we can
Sort all our garbage into blue/green bags.
After dinner, leave the food out for an hour so that it cools off. That way the fridge doesn't have to work hard to cool it.
Run the dishwasher only when it's full of dishes; put it on "Water Miser" setting.
Use a thermos for coffee
Sent the Premier of my Province a letter requesting a provincial-wide ban of cosmetic lawn pesticides through www.DavidSuzuki.org.
Pledged not to buy bottled water. The transportation and plastics involved make it VERY unfriendly to the environment. I have a new SIGG bottle which I refill with tap water.
Pledged not to get newspaper subscriptions; if I want news, I'll read it on their web site!
Met with my landlord to see what we can do about getting our office garbage recycled.
Use cold water almost exclusively to do laundry. It works perfectly and it means that no power was used to heat the water.
Bought reusable bags (made of recycled pop bottles) for grocery shopping to save on throw-away plastic bags.
Instead of throwing out old blankets, pillows and linen we delivered them to the local animal shelter who can reuse them.
Put two bricks in the water tank of my toilet to save 2 Litres of water EVERY flush!
Trying to remember to take tupperware to restaurants to bring leftovers home
Use vinegar in the dishwasher instead of 'rinse' to leave your dishes spotless — works beautifully!
Using only 3 tablespoons of detergent in the clothes washer -- and the clothes still get clean! (Makes me seriously wonder if the cup that soap-makers recommend is simply to sell you more soap.)
Mesh basket for my coffee maker so that I don't have to use paper filters any more
Walk to/from work more.
Installed a Water Miser shower head
Installed blinds to cool the house
Asked a town councillor what is in place for recycling in the workplace
Refuse packaged snacks and drinks in throw-away cups on planes
Changed to unbleached coffee filters (until I can find a mesh one)
Scattered wild flower seeds in the back yard
Sent old clothing to the Salvation Army
Planted vegetables (rather than a flower garden) in the front yard

HappyHappyDog.com

Recently I started a web site called Happy Happy Dog . com to celebrate happy happy dogs and their human companions. My goal is to get people submitting photos from all over the world of their very happy dogs; enough photos that I can put up a new photo every day. I've had great success with it and have received photos from as far away as Australia!

It now houses a "Top Dog" photo contest, a "Wags to Riches" column where people submit their dog's story from rough beginnings to the good life, and advertising specifically selected to suit the site's audience.

Its success doesn't stop there. A happy fan started a Facebook Fan Club where Facebook members can vote on the Photo Contest winners.

Happy Happy Accident — Choleena DiTullio

Saturday, January 19, 2008