Category: Kyle’s Work

This section deals with my own art practice

Wedding Photos

It’s been a while. I know…

Three weeks ago, I shot my first wedding. I was really hoping to present a 3-part series about wedding photography, but stuff came up, time ran out, and now I’m a week behind schedule getting these photos together. I’m taking a big risk with this shoot, trying something a little new. I am looking forward to telling you all about the process and the results.

Unfortunately, getting stuff done takes time, so it’s going to be a while before I can write this series of posts. Things have to happen before I write about the results.

First Urban Landscape of 2011

It’s strange how as a painter, I go through creative peaks and valleys.

There are times where everything I touch just turns out wonderfully; almost effortlessly. And there are other times where it’s a real struggle to resolve a piece, and even when I do, I’m not fully happy with the result.

During the first quarter of 2011, I was stuck in a fairly deep rut, but I reciently started moving away from that place. I set up my camera for some timelapse photography, and I think I mannaged to capture the point where I started moving towards my next peak!

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End of the Day Wrap Up for Maker Faire

At the end of day one of Toronto’s first Mini Maker Faire, Brad and I record a quick video recap, expressing our thoughts about the event.

I also take a moment to shamelessly plug our photo book, Illuminated Landscapes.

It was a long day, I was very tired, and goofing-off with a camera running always cheers me up. (until I watch the footage several days later and continually shutter at just how bad most of my jokes really are…)

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A Last-Minute Fix Before Maker Faire

One of the things I like about blogging is how it gives people a back-stage pass to the mess that is going on just out of sight to make the show possible. It allows people see just how thin that veneer of professionalism surrounding an artist really is.

I have this theory that artists actually aren’t all that weird. They are just severely sleep deprived whenever they are showing their work, because something always pops up at the last minute and requires a long night of building something so the show can happen.

I had just that experience myself at Toronto’s first Mini Maker Faire. (Really! I’m not always that twitchy, grumpy, forgetful, and out of it!)

The venue provided some interesting and unforeseen challenges for installation. Set-up went on for much longer than expected. When the project was up, I realized that our invisible paintings were being washed out, and I had to do something. I took my project down and moved to a darker spot, which was slightly better, but not perfect.

Upon returning home, I constructed some sun shades for my paintings. My words can’t properly describe the situation and my state of mind. Luckily, I made a brief video documenting the experience (and my sleep vs. caffeine levels).

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Our Lightning Talk from Maker Faire Toronto

Back in October of 2011, Brad Blucher and I were invited to give a lightning talk at Site 3 at some point in the future. After numerous delays, the talk was scheduled to occur during Toronto’s first ever Maker Faire.

On my way to the stage, I handed my camera to a friend and asked him to film our talk so I could post it to YouTube. Here is that talk:

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My New Artist’s Statement

Two months ago, I wrote about writing this. I just realized that I haven’t actually posted what I’d written.

So, here is my new artist’s statement. It says pretty much the same thing my 2009 statement says, but I think this one says it better.

‘Urban Landscapes’ by Kyle Clements
Artist Statement for 2011

My paintings seek to capture the energy and speed of our sensory rich contemporary life.

Although I have lived in Toronto for several years, my rural upbringing still leaves me feeling unaccustomed to this visually dense urban jungle. Filled with buzzing signs and flashing lights, everything in the city screams for attention simultaneously. It’s an overwhelming experience that saturates my senses and fills me with excitement.

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Free Prize Inside

Last week, Brad and I had a few sales of our photo book, Illuminated Landscapes. Through a complicated series of relatives and acquaintances, the purchaser was able to have the books delivered to me, so Brad and I could sign them.

It’s always flattering to be asked to sign something. (well, I assume it’s always flattering, I don’t really know for certain; this is one of the first things I’ve been asked to sign…)

In the last several months, through a series of flukes and random good luck, I’ve had the opportunity to observe several well-known people in action. One thing that struck me was how cool they were. They weren’t arrogant celebrity divas, they were regular people who, upon meeting me, went out of their way to make a tiny gesture to make me feel cool.

This gave me a brilliant marketing idea: don’t be a dick.

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Big Projects and Looming Deadlines.

Hello.

I’ve been a very bad blogger lately. Sorry about that.

I’ve been presented with a very big opportunity. A truly tremendous opportunity. An opportunity I really don’t want to screw up.

I’ve also been stuck in a bit of a creative rut.

I wish I had something interesting or inspiring to report, but the honest truth is that I’ve simply been working a lot, and producing nothing worth showing.

Illuminated Landscapes: Sodium Series

While the Abstract collection was almost entirely my photography, The sodium series is almost entirely Brad’s. (except for this one photo below, which is my only entry into this set)


Kyle Clements: Illuminated Landscape #74

We call it the sodium series because of the deep orange glow in the sky. Although we were shooting these in the wilderness, we were only an hour away from several cities, and the warm glow from those distant sodium streetlights bounced off the clouds and filled the sky with an unexpected orange light.

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Going Through Some Old Photos

I’ve been working on the CV section of the website lately.
When I started building my site 3 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing, and the result became a maintenance nightmare. Lately, I’ve been going through, and cleaning things up, and reorganising the pages.

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