Quilt for Andrea

In December of 2016 I started a quilt for my soon-to-be wife Andrea. I got a beautiful vintage ring for our wedding, and she didn't want anything other than the gold band from our engagement, but i wanted her to have a wedding gift too!  Unfortunately other art stuff took precedence, and it was intermittently put on the back burner, but I finally finished it, only a year later!  It's all made from batik fabric, which kind of reminds me of tie dye, which Andrea loves. the back is outer space fabric that she picked out, and I made a label and embroidered it with glittery thread.  Here it is!

Our Ink, Our Stories for KPL

In September I started my dream job at the Kitchener Public Library, as a Library Assistant (helping people sign up for library cards, check in and check out books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, helping people use the internet, the printer, access classes and resources) at the main branch of the library, which is like a beautiful art gallery as well as being a breathtaking work of architecture, as well as a place that houses a lot of very happy personal memories of reading, learning, art and community, but also at the four community library branches (Forest Heights, Country Hills, Pioneer Park and Grand River) which each have their own distinct personality and populations they serve.

In addition to loving the work, I also love the organization and what they stand for. I also work with and for some of the nicest, coolest, smartest people in the area. I honestly enjoy going to work every day and actually believe in what we do. It's so unusual! Unlike some libraries, the KPL is super progressive and forward thinking in it's vision, and in the last year enrolment has increased by 20%! The library is so much more than a place to get any book, movie, or piece of music for free, but it's kind of the true manifestation of democracy - a non-capitalist town hall - where anyone is welcome regardless of where they are at in life, where people can come when they come as refugees to Canada, when they get out of jail after twenty years, when they don't know how to use the internet, when they have five kids and are about to have a nervous breakdown, when they can't read, when they have a disability, when they want to make art or use technology or make music but can't afford the supplies, and they are all welcomed as our customers. Or you can come use the library if you have everything you could want and need in life, and you'll get more than you could ever imagine out of it. You can borrow musical instruments, toys, try virtual reality, make a 3D print, make a podcast, make a video on our green screen.

As if the job couldn't get any better, one of the people I work with - Meg Harder, is an amazing artist and person, and asked me to help her with a really cool project that the CEO Mary Chevreau asked her to take on, and I've been loving to contribute to it. The project is Our Ink, Our Stories, and it is a blog telling stories of the residents of Waterloo Region through their tattoos (or other uses of ink/paint on their bodies).

The Drawings of Andrea Hawkins

Andrea Hawkins turns crayon wax into magic.

Raccoon, With Ketchup Chips, Crayon on Paper 2016 by Andrea Hawkins

Steel Rails 2016 & 2017

Steel Rails 2017 with Myss Taken, Nico Lavender and Andrea Hawkins

Sleeping With You

your eyelashes are still black and gold

even when I’m so scared i don’t know

what to do 

your chin and cheeks and nose are still so quiet 

when you sleep so deeply i get scared,

i get scared.

i check your chest to make sure 

and i feel like dying right now just to 

postpone my awakening

your hair points in the middle like a v

they call it a widows peak

and sometimes when you sleep i want to cut it off

because the idea of being your widow

makes me weep

makes me feel

too weak

inside it’s awakening.

(written for Andrea Hawkins (my now wife) in 2015).