It’s the last full week of July and summer is truly here. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and art seems to be popping up everywhere, including the dump. There are projects in the air and exhibitions on the go. Here’s your Arts Round Up this week Calgary. Check it out.

DUMPSTER ART: These fantastic dumpster murals were painted by Waste & Recycling Services employee Spencer Willis using materials brought to the Throw ‘N’ Go area at the Spyhill Landfill for disposal.
Photos by Blair Riddle, courtesy Waste & Recycling Services, The City of Calgary

Spyhill Gets Colourful
If you’ve been by the Spyhill Landfill recently you’re bound to have seen the bright, fun and colourful dumpsters painted by Spencer Willis.
Blair Riddle, Communications Team Supervisor for Waste & Recycling Services, said the dumpsters were completed in late spring by Spencer, who works at the Spyhill Landfill.
“[It] was inspired by the employees at the site who wanted to turn something plain that they see every day –the dumpsters in the Throw ‘N’ Go area– into something artistic, colourful and beautiful that could be enjoyed and appreciated by landfill customers and employees alike,” he said.
They’re fun and eye catching. They’re art in a place you don’t expect and proof that public art can (and should) be spearheaded anywhere it can. And the best part – all the materials used were recycled from items and spray paint brought to the Throw ‘N’ Go for disposal.
“For the inspiration you could say, I drew from my artistic background in Impressionism, but also my love for tattoos,” said artist Spencer Willis. “Certain themes were used to perk up the place, with colour and life. Being a scale operator, seeing the side of brown bins were pretty dull, so thankfully someone had the great idea to add some colour. Spray paint and markers are the medium, and each bin took a day to complete.”
For more information about the Throw ‘N’ Go areas at our landfills visit their website.

UPPERCASE’s new book needs your help
Crowd-funding is a great way to get creative, innovative and cool projects off the ground and a local publishing company launched their very own campaign to get their next book made.
UPPERCASE is a Calgary based publishing company that puts out stunning magazines (UPPERCASE Magazine) and beautiful books loved worldwide for their design excellence. Last week they launched a site dedicated to raising funds to get their newest project, The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine, into production.
“All of my UPPERCASE projects such as the magazine and past books are basically crowd-funded,” said Janine Vangool, UPPERCASE publisher and editor. “In fact, with my first book The Shatner Show, initiated in 2006, I had a very similar pre-order concept in which different levels of support garnered various rewards when the book was published. It was before social media and sites like Kickstarter really made this sort of funding concept more mainstream.”
Their campaign goal is simple – raise enough money to cover the physical costs of the production, printing and freight. They’ve set a $25,000 preorder goal but regardless of meeting it The Typewriter will be produced. It’s just a matter of making life easier for a very small publisher.
This is how crowd-funding works – get a great idea, explain why people should care, lay out your plan of attack and where the money raised is going, set some awesome perks for investors and scream it from the roof tops to get buzz. For The Typewriter project, UPPERCASE is doing it a DYI approach, hosting it themselves and getting the word out through their supporters and social media.
“The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine is going to be quite an expensive hardcover book, so in this case I am asking people to help the project along by supporting it prior to publication rather than waiting until the book is printed,” explained Janine. “The momentum is encouraging and I am committed to producing an amazing book.”
If you would like to support the project or just find out more, check out their crowd-funding page here and follow them on Twitter.

Back Alley Art Cafe Invites you all to Chinatown’s Alleyways

ART FOR CHINATOWN’S BACK ALLEYS: On August 11 the Calgary Chinese Community Service Association’s Back Alley Art Cafe invites you to come down, check out some local art and take part in revamping two of their murals behind the Silver Dragon Restaurant (106 3 Ave SE).
Photos courtesy of the Calgary Chinese Community Service Association

The back alleys of Calgary’s Chinatown are not the first place you think of when someone mentions a popup art gallery and cafe. But that’s exactly what they’re going to become on August 11 as part of the Calgary Chinese Community Service Association’s Back Alley Art Cafe.
“Chinatown’s back alleys are often seen as dark, seedy, and not a place people would hang out. In 2011, CCCSA with help from local artists and community members was able to complete four unique murals inside one of the back alleys in Chinatown,” said Derek So, Back-Alley Safety Project Coordinator. “This summer, we will revamp two of our murals inside the back alley, extending one from 40 feet to 60 feet and redesigning another.”
The Back Alley Art Cafe on August 11 is an extension to the mural projects he explained. It’s part of the back alley clean-up initiative and they hope to get people thinking about the space beyond the stereotype.
“We are inviting local artists to turn this unique back alley space into a community art gallery. For the artists, this will be an excellent opportunity to network with the public, their colleagues and friends. For the community, this is an opportunity for civil engagement. Through this event, we hope to bring great attention to the back alley and get people to start thinking about the space in a different way.”
“We are still looking for local artists to help us decorate and transform the back alleyway,” said Derek. “I believe that creativity is a collaborative process.”
For more information email Email derek@cccsa.ca or swing by the back alley of the Silver Dragon Restaurant (106 3 Ave SE) on August 11 from 10am to 6pm.

Surrealistic Sculptures Sprout at Glenbow in Critical Mass
Haunting and fantastical at the same time, Shayne Dark’s Critical Mass exhibition has rooted at the Glenbow Museum. The show consists of seven recent sculptures by the Ontario-based artist and at first glance they could be trees, animals, or something organic growing out of the floor. They leave you with a sense of whimsy, but at the same time are creepy and off-putting.
Critical Mass runs until September 3, 2012 at the Glenbow Museum and was organized by the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

Do you have something cool and great coming up and want to be part of the Calgary Arts Round Up? Drop me a line at calgaryisawesome@quadrophonicimage.com!