Progress: March 7, 2009

Though I've worked on this project off and on for years due to sorry finances and a little detour through academia, the timing couldn't be better for completing the Tongue Rug project now in terms of new social media tools. The blog is the perfect medium to make the virtual sladdakavring.

• Each tag (A-1, LE-1, LA-1, etc.) becomes the individual tongues which make up the Tongue Rug.
• At the same time, each tag corresponds to a topographical element (body of water, bridge, etc.).
• The time-based entries allows me to keep track of my cycling logs as well as the associative thoughts and mini essays which surround this project.
• Commenting feature invites the public's participation and has the potential to alter the shape of the virtual Tongue Rug.

I'm looking forward to investigating the possibilities of the blog; playing, exploring, stretching and tweaking it, imagining new uses for it in both a formal and theoretical manner.

Progress: October 2008

Handed in my revised thesis. Should graduate in November. Working full-time now for the Canadian Council on Learning. Spend a lot of time on the computer. I need to work with my hands more: enter cardboard, collage and glue. Finally back to the Tongue Rug project.

Dear Diary: September 3, 2007

… I went to the storage space to get 4 wheels to install on the wood “closet” that Jo gave me. Unfortunately, I rushed the job and the wheels weren’t level. The wood on the ends and the back was not good quality. I decided to take it apart and conserve the good wood only. I didn’t have space in the living room anyway. I still have visions of making “the Rolling Studio” someday when I have access to a studio space.

It was a lot of work to take apart (and noisy! My neighbours must be annoyed). I’m only half way through. I made two trips to the storage space but stopped as the sun went down. It is a secluded area. I wanted to take precautions. The hallways are not well lit. I was so content walking across the canal to my “studio space”. I love that area – it is quite beautiful with the trees lined up and the arch of the bridge. Felt at home in that I could go out in my “mucking out” clothes with a bandana in my hair. And feel quite comfortable. I don’t miss the over dressed pretence of Monkland. It’s a North End Halifax feeling…

 

Progress: June 2007

Moved out of the Décarie dump. Now live close to the Lachine canal in the South-West of Montreal. Found a storage space on the canal: still looking for an affordable studio space for larger works. At least I now have a small space to continue working on the digital aspect of Tongue Rug. I've found a ghost lake in the area: Lac aux Loutres. It used to be where the Lachine canal is now. The thesis is almost complete. Starting to make mental lists of what needs to be done for Tongue Rug. Looking back at the long convoluted art making process, I should call my project Tongue Rug : the blog of defeat, or better, L'Éloge de la lenteur.

Progress: March 2007

Need to find both the time and the space (an affordable studio space) to finish Tongue Rug post-graduation. Artist residency? It's hard to find a good garage space in Montreal. In Halifax, it was easier to make large-scale sculptures. Maybe I should scale down my assemblages. I could make miniatures and blow them up digitally. What I need now is a House of my own.

Progress: February 2007

Having to start over might not be such a bad thing. Working for IBM during my studies, I am seeing firsthand the potential of Web 2.0 (mashups, blogs, wikis, etc.). What I had previously wanted to do on my own (by hiring a programmer), is now possible by using free social media tools. The time aspect of my project can be visualized in a very quick manner. The question is, can I deconstruct readymade blogs to fit my vision?

Progress: January 2007

Apartment broken into. Thieves stole my computer, scanner and all my CDs. Hadn't backed up my work in a while. Lots of art files lost though I conserved the majority of my thesis. Très demoralizing. Had to downgrade from the G5 to an old G3 iBook. Good thing though, is that I'm more mobile now. It reduces the scope - in a technical sense - of the Tongue Rug project. I am forced to make it more low tech which is a good thing. I'm realizing it is less a project about mobile technologies (GPS), than about crafting the space and time needed to create.

Dear Diary: November 22, 2006

… I enjoyed Adam Gopnik’s talk [Concordia Reading Series]. Especially his words at the end when he was answering questions. What he said related to the last two weeks. The need to write physically. Make it concrete – get it out. Make it a feat of endurance and stamina – it will be terrible but it doesn’t matter. It’s out, then you can make it good. Also, you have to write your way out of a problem – work. And it is good to find something you can “usefully attach an obsession to”…

 

Progress: September 2006

Tongue Rug project is shelved until I finish my thesis: La mutabilité au sein de trois œuvres franco-ontariennes : une lecture du Malade imaginaire d’André Paiement, de L’Homme invisible/The Invisible Man de Patrice Desbiens et du Testament du couturier de Michel Ouellette. Though my thesis centers on franco-ontarian theatre and literature, drawing on the notion of hypermodernity, much of the research (politics of language, mutability, performativity) will inform the Tongue Rug project when I get back to it ...

Dear Diary: July 22, 2006

… We talked of all kinds of things: work, literature, art… He had some pretty insightful comments. About Tongue Rug: he asked me to summarize which I did. He said that the German word for bike and for soul were quite similar. He added that the fact that I was searching for lakes was interesting in a Jungian way, as lakes were also close to the soul. I agreed with him saying that a lot of my pieces are about time and process. I might not know what the end result of a project will be at the beginning… Orphan Train was one sort of journey and Tongue Rug another. A pilgrimage but not in a religious sense.