Tin Can Forest

2012-01-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Spring 2012. Published by Koyama Press.

summer

2011-07-20T12:51:00.001-07:00

We recently did an interview for the first issue of KOSHKA. " KOSHKA brings you the best in art, culture, and ideas from an Eastern European perspective."
Many thanks to the editor Kaitlin Kostus, and we wish her great success with the magazine. KOSHKA is available through Kaitlin's website, as well as Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago.

I have a six page comic in the most recent issue of AARGH!, a comics anthology magazine from the Czech Republic edited by our friend Tomáš Prokůpek. Great issue, featuring a spotlight on contemporary German comics ( this issue was launched at the Goethe Institut in Prague ), with a cover and comics by Mawil, and also features comics by two of my absolute favourite artists, Anke Feuchtenberger and Moki Mioke.

I'll have a new comic in issue #11, and AARGH! #12 will feature the entire Baba Yaga and the Wolf in Czech translation.

Below is my story Noc (Night) as it appears in the pages of AARGH!
Also, a little while ago we were featured in Open Book Toronto's Whazamo! Profiles. Check out our drunken rambling here.

2011-06-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Joe Shuster Awards

2011-06-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I must say it was quite the surprise, not to mention a great honour, to have won a Joe Shuster Award this past Saturday night. I thought it was quite a feather in our cap to have been nominated in the first place, but considering the other nominees in our category, I really didn't expect it would go much further. Just goes to show you what a little incantation over candle wax during a lunar eclipse can accomplish !

Huge congratulations also to Koyama Press for winning the Outstanding Comic Book Publisher award. Anne Koyama has been a great publisher to work with, Baba Yaga and the Wolf would not have seen the light of day without her encouragement, support, and patience ( and she definitely needed the latter when dealing with us ! ).

Big shout-out to Komiksarium, the premier Czech comics blog, for such a nice post about our win at the Shusters. Thanks Lukáš !

Někde hluboko v Lese Plechovek

2011-06-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

2011-05-13T10:14:00.001-07:00

2011-04-14T05:17:00.000-07:00

2011-04-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

2011-04-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

Wowee Zonk exhibition opening Friday, April 1st at LE Gallery. Check it out.

2011-03-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

We've been nominated for a Doug Wright Award ! Very honored. Congratulations to all the finalists !

2011-03-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

Geoff Berner's Victory Party out now on Mint Records

2011-02-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

Baba Yaga and the Wolf and Grey Supreme #1, by Mark Laliberte reviewed on Death To The Universe.

Here in winter wonderland, we're working on some new animation and comics, so stay tuned.

2011-02-04T06:39:00.002-08:00

2011-02-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

Even in a snowstorm our mail carrier is undaunted. Just received a copy of this beautiful little book : The Little Otsu Living Things Series Vol 1 - A Guide to Eastern European Wildlife by Lizzy Stewart. Highly recommended.

2011-02-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

2011-02-01T15:30:00.001-08:00

We've been nominated for a Joe Shuster Award ! As has Koyama Press. I'm off to the bar !

2011-01-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

2011-01-15T17:24:00.001-08:00

2011-01-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

2011-01-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

Here are a few panels from NOC (night), a six page comic I did for AARGH! Eastern Europe's finest comics anthology magazine. This upcoming issue of AARGH! hits the newsstands in the Czech Republic last week of January.

The editor of AARGH!, Tomáš Prokupek, is also currently writing a history of Czech comics. We visited with Tomáš last summer when we were in Prague, and he showed us scans of the comic art he's been assembling from various library archives. Really fantastic stuff, including some hilarious pro-communist comic strips by a beloved children's author that depict potatoe beetles as imperialist parasites! Tomáš also sent me some copies of early comics by my hero Josef Lada that I had never seen before, I don't think they've been reprinted since they first appeared in the 1920's.

Our friend Jaromír Plachý recently put out Koule a Krychle. The comic is really funny and witty, I particularly like Jaromír's use of Czech slang. Besides drawing comics, Jaromír is also an animator and game designer. Check out his stuff here.

2011-01-14T04:53:00.000-08:00

Some reviews of our Koyama Press book Baba Yaga and The Wolf : Avoid The Future , The Great God Pan Is Dead , Sequential | Canadian Comics News & Culture

Baba Yaga and The Wolf is available at many fine comic art emporiums throughout the land, ask your local sequential art merchant if they carry Koyama Press titles. You can also order a copy from us, right here

This past December Pat and Steve Wilson curated the KRAMPUSNACHT 2010 group show at the Resister Gallery in Toronrto. The exhibit just wrapped up on January 10th, but you can check out some of the work in the latest issue of Steel Bananas . More photos here courtesy of Olesya Muhaylivna, Jessica Fortner, and Steve Wilson.

Victory Party

2011-01-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

An evening spent with Geoff Berner’s music is, in the words of the good Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, “a wild combination of menace, madness, and genius… fragmented coherence that wreaks havoc on the mind of any listener.” – Vue Weekly, Edmonton

Geoff Berner's upcoming album Victory Party will be released on March 8 by Mint Records. We did the design and artwork for the cover and a 24 page booklet that includes illustrations for each of the ten songs on the record. Animated music video is in the works as well.

Geoff Berner
Mint Records

Around The World In 50 Comics and Carousel Magazine

2011-01-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

We were part of the "LE MONDE diplomatique: In 50 Comics um die Welt" exhibit during Literaturfest in Munich. Photos courtesy of Karoline Bofinger.

The exhibit moves next to KOEPPENHAUS, runs 21. 1. 2011 - 19. 3. 2011 . Opening night : 21. 1. 2011, 8 pm. The "LE MONDE diplomatique: In 50 Comics um die Welt" book can be purchased from the publisher REPRODUKT.

I have a few drawings in the latest Carousel magazine (#26), out now! Great wraparound cover by our friend Aaron Leighton, an extensive feature on Koyama Press, comics by Drazen Kozjan and Michael Deforge, and soooo much more.
Below: Poetry by Liz Worth, Jessica Moore, and Shelagh Rowan-Legg. Ink and brush from Tin Can Forest. Carousel is available at fine bookstores everywhere and here .

2010-12-22T20:20:00.000-08:00

2010-12-04T12:03:00.001-08:00

2010-12-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

2010-11-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

KRAMPUSNACHT 2010

2010-11-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

Local 416

2010-11-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

Looking for Baba Yaga in the metro Toronto area ? Run over and visit Magic Pony and The Beguiling. Both of these groovy stores carry our Koyama Press book.

2010-11-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

Baba Yaga in Alhambra

2010-11-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

Nucleus Gallery in Alhambra California stocks our Baba Yaga and the Wolf. I really like the thorough and elegant presentation of the book. Nucleus also stocks many other fine Koyama Press titles.

2010-10-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

2010-10-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

Baba Yaga in Montreal

2010-10-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Drawn and Quarterly store gave our book a generous shout out on their 211 blog . Thanks Rory and Yaniya.

kocouři

2010-10-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

ink ghost

2010-10-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Černý Medvěd

2010-10-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

about us

2010-10-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

We just did an interview with Squidface and the Meddler, a beautifully designed online arts and illustration magazine out of Toronto. Many thanks to Jessica and Michael for the doing the piece.

Also, a review of Baba Yaga and the Wolf on Sequential.

Ба́ба-Яга́

2010-10-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

impoverished sobriety drowned in silk

2010-09-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

word on the street

2010-09-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

We'll be at Word On The Street fest this Sunday, at the Koyama Press table (Booth 245).
Come on by and check out the new book !

painting

2010-09-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Pat and I did this piece for the "WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?" group show at the Resistor gallery.

church

2010-09-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

WOWEE ZONK 3 & BABA YAGA AND THE WOLF DOUBLE BOOK LAUNCH!

2010-09-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Patrick Kyle from Wowee Zonk put together these groovy posters for the launch. Look for them in your neighbourhood !

Baba Yaga and the Wolf

2010-09-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

Our new comic Baba Yaga and the Wolf is home from the printers ! We'll be be having a launch party on October 7, together with Wowee Zonk, who'll be releasing their Wowee Zonk #3, also published by Koyama Press . The launch is hosted by the Beguilling and will take place at the The Central, 603 Markham St. Toronto. Come one, come all.

2010-09-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Pohádky embroidered and in glass

2010-08-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Our good friend and master glass engraver Pavel Vydra, gave us this wonderful slivovice bottle as a parting gift when we were in Czech Republic this past spring. He engraved the bottle with images from our book Pohádky.

Back in Canada, our friend, photographer Olesya Muhaylivna, made this beautiful skirt for Pat that she'd embroidered with Pat's designs from Pohádky.

Koyama Press

2010-08-14T18:49:00.001-07:00

kořalka

2010-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

čert, čarodějnice, sedlák s pirohama a vínem, a vlk

2010-07-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Print Show Thursday Night !

2010-07-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Electric Company Print Show 2010 tomorrow night ! Posters & beer ! Resistor Gallery ! Pat and I have a couple of prints in the show. Looking forward to seeing new work from the EC crew.

2010-07-28T07:55:00.001-07:00

2010-07-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

2010-07-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

2010-05-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

First thing we did in Czech Republic was visit the castle Houska, the doorway to hell.
So nice to be home, kicking back in my favorite chair.

2010-05-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

Good-bye forest, I miss you already. After six months of hilltop isolation, I was in the city two days ago on business. What a hideous landscape of highways and parking lots. Has humanity collectively lost it's mind ? Obviously.

2010-05-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

So it's May 1st and Pat and I are celebrating our anniversary by drinking and packing ( cannery brewing anarchist amber ale and vodka on one hand, suitcases on the other ). Monday we're leaving our island mountaintop stronghold and returning to my home planet... in other words, leaving Salts Spring BC and heading to the Czech Republic. Beer, fried cheese, garlic soup, here we go!

For the dedicated few of you who were looking forward to picking up our new comic Baba Yaga and the Wolf at TCAF, I'm sad to say that it won't be available until later in the summer. But I urge all of you to visit the Koyama Press table at TCAF, where our good friend Aaron Leighton will be debuting his groovy new book.

Hopefully we'll be able organize a soiree sometime this summer in Toronto, where you'll be able to pick up a copy of our comic along with a pint or two of some fine Ontario brew.

Playlist that took me from the depths of winter into the radiant arms of the summer sun : Darkthrone's new one: Circle the wagons , new Burzum album: Belus, Disfear: Live the storm, Alcest: Écailles de Lune and Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde, Hellshock: They Wait For You Still,
Fela: Zombie, Claws: Absorbed in the Nethervoid, Excoriate: On Pestilent Winds, TK-HiFi Meets The Congos & Friends, Toots & The Maytals, Lee Perry...
There ya go, I both praise Jah and hail Satan .

see ya guys later.

2010-04-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

We have a new comic book coming out this spring ! Baba Yaga and the Wolf will be published by Koyama Press and will debut at this year's TCAF. We're also featured in Le Monde diplomatique: In 50 Comics um die Welt, an anthology published by Reprodukt in Europe. This is a collection of comics that have appeared in the German edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. The book will debut at Erlangen International Comic Salon and will be accompanied by a gallery exhibit in Berlin at Neurotitan.

2010-03-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

long time no post... been sick. Working on new comic, should be ready for spring. Watch this space ! We've also got some art and comics in a brand new publication put out by the fine folks at electric company. Also, check out this trailer for our friend Sean Wainsteim's short film Lost for Words ,coming soon to a theater near you.

2010-01-31T18:55:00.000-08:00

Check out a preview of AARGH! #9 here. The last one's my contribution (along with the cover), a comic about Vodník and Rusalka.

2010-01-27T16:08:00.001-08:00

2010-01-26T17:09:00.001-08:00

Medvídek pohádkový ... I was very sick last year when I drew this bear, and I'm wretchedly sick once again.

2010-01-26T11:33:00.000-08:00

2010-01-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Malanka 2010

2010-01-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

click

2010-01-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

2010-01-13T18:07:00.001-08:00

A treat in the mail. Our friend Chris just sent us his new comic A Very Kraftwerk Summer, a memoir by Christopher Hutsul. It's very funny, and printing and presentation is great.
Get one from Koyama Press

2010-01-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

I did a cover and a four page comic for the 9th issue of AARGH!, Eastern Europe's finest comics anthology magazine. AARGH! is published in Brno, Czech Republic, and this upcoming issue spotlights contemporary comics from Poland. AARGH! editor Tomáš Prokůpek suggested the cover image of a Syrenka (mermaid), based on the coat of arms of Warsaw. The fellow in the background is a Czech Vodník.

This issue hits the stands end of January in the Czech Republic.

On a related note, I'm very honoured to have our book Pohádky featured on the Czech Literature Portal (http://www.czechlit.cz). The site is an incredible resource, and is presented in both Czech and English.

Lastly, here's a review of Pohádky from last summer by Richard Bruton. It was originaly featured on the Forbidden Planet blog in the UK.

2010-01-05T20:26:00.001-08:00

2010-01-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

2010-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

A good omen for the new year

2010-01-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

Visitors on new year's morning outside our front door.

Pohádky tattoo

2010-01-02T12:07:00.000-08:00

Martin Mathers from Middlesbrough UK with a Tin Can Forest Wolf.

2009-12-31T18:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from Pat & Marek . Šťastný a veselý nový rok od Marek a Pat.

2009-12-30T18:48:00.000-08:00

TCF at the Edinburgh Art Festival 2009

2009-08-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

We were invited to participate in a group show curated by Perennial art (Edinburgh) and Nekojuice (Berlin) presented at the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Montrose at the Comic Con

2009-08-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Our short Montrose Ave screened at the San Diego International Children's Film Festival July 26 through August 16 at the San Diego Comic Con.
-Pat

TCF in Berlin

2009-06-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Well, not us, just our work. We're very pleased to have been invited to do a piece for the Berlin-based arm of the Le Monde Diplomatique.

Wolves In The Throne Room!

2009-05-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Awesome show yesterday in Toronto. 4 great bands, headliners the amazing Wolves In the Throne Room. We bought a song from them a few years back as a soundtrack for the animated film we are presently working on this summer in the woods. It was great to see them live, say hi and give them a copy of our book.
Thank you Wolves!

-Pat

Daytime Emmy nomination PBS ARTOPIA

2009-05-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Over the last few years Marek has been working with PBS WNET 13 designing ARTOPIA, a new educational show for children about art. We just learned the show has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the "New Approaches - Daytime Children's" category.

-Pat

TCAF!!!!TCAF is fantastic!

2009-05-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, held at the Toronto Reference library. We were there with posters, prints and our Drawn&Quarterly book POHADKY. The festival was amazing! Christopher Butcher and Peter Birkemoe, the festival's directors and founders did a fantastic job. The venue, the Toronto Reference library, was perfect, and guests included some of the top creators in the field from Japan and Europe. It was inspiring- we met tons of nice people, stocked up on some awesome books, and our table was in a excellent spot beside some really fantastic table mates.
Thanks very much to all who came by to say hi, we had a great time and we're looking forward to TCAF 2011!

Yoshiro Tatsumi interviewed by Adrian Tomine at Harbourfront.The translator did an amazing job! filmed by samehat.com
-Pat

busy month! back to TO, back to the Island

2009-05-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

So, April was a very busy month- crazy work schedule and deadlines, but the upshot is that we've rented another place on the Island, and will be there until end of Sept. Yah! We spent a few days in Vancouver before heading back East, and we fell in love with the city's proximity to nature. VANCOUVER RULES!

Last year in Toronto, I recalled looking at google maps, and how close Vancouver seemed to be to the mountains. With that idea vaguely in mind, we set off on a random run from Stanley Park, and asked people along the way for general directions/ideas.

We started here, in Stanley Park.....

and ran here....

and over this bridge.....

ran up this road.....

saw these pretty flowers....

and arrived here! Capilano River Regional Park/ Cleveland Damn! We were amazed, we didn't expect such an incredible vista, so close to the city.

Inside the park- awesome trails, rushing river.
yah, Vancouver we heart u.

-Pat

Geoff Berner on SaltSpring

2009-03-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

We had the best evening out here on the island.
One of our favorite performers, Geoff Berner came to play at the local dancehall, conveniently located just down the street from us. Yah!!! It was pretty awesome to see him out here (Thank you SaltSpring promoter), as opposed to Toronto. We heard the show in Toronto had a conga-line going, which is pretty cool, but we had an actual dog on the dancefloor.

Opening act Ora Cogan was great too. She's a local, and her music really sounds like it was created here on the Island contemplative, haunting and cool.
-Pat

TCF in Vancouver

2009-03-31T10:15:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who came out the Pohadky book launch at Lucky's, extra thanks to Gabe for hosting the event ! We had a great time meeting local comic artists and catching up with old pals.
We also checked out Stanley Park, which was absolutely amazing. You guys in Vancouver are seriously lucky !

I really appreciated the Park's approach to leaving the dramatic looking trees blown over by the storm a few years ago in place to decompose.
In High Park in Toronto,the bodies of dead trees are mysteriously "disappeared", preventing the natural cycle of decay a forest would normally experience.

Marek looks down,

Pat looks up!

The Magical Fern Tree!!! We've never seen ferns grow on trees.In Ukrainian mythology, there is a fern which blooms only once a year at night on Kupalo's eve, and if you find this magical flower, you will be able to understand the language of plants and animals.
If I lived in Vancouver, I'd probably give this tree a try come July 7th eve.

We were pretty happy to find this place.

Yesssssssssssss!!!

InkStuds Interview

2009-03-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to Robin McConnell for inviting us onto his radio show and podcast Inkstuds to talk about our book Pohadky, our art, and tomorrow night's book launch at Lucky's Comics in Vancouver.

You can listen to the whole interview here: http://inkstuds.com/

If you live in Vancouver, swing by Luckys tomorrow night!

-Pat

POHADKY book Launch at Lucky's Comics Vancouver Friday March 20th 2009

2009-03-04T23:39:00.000-08:00

Lucky's Comics in Vancouver is hosting a book launch for our Drawn & Quarterly Petits Livres POHADKY, Friday, March 20th, 5 pm to 8 pm, 3972 Main street. We'll also be showing posters and artwork at the gallery. Come on by and we'll tell you how awesome we find the rainforests of BC !
-Pat

Marek draws bears

2009-03-04T23:16:00.001-08:00

Marek has been sick, so, to get better, he's been drawing bears.
-Pat

•Pushpa Chandra Ultra Marathoner•The Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada

2009-03-04T22:39:00.000-08:00

Here is my contribution to the 2009 Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada- Ultra Marathoner Pushpa Chandra.
On Dec. 13, 2008, Chandra became the only Canadian to run 100 kilometres in the Antarctica Ultra Marathon. Inspiring ! She's also a Vancouver based holistic sports-med doctor. Read all about her here.

-Pat

TCF new show reel!

2009-02-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

Check out our new TCF Demo Reel. Click the image above, or see the animation page of our site.

cheers,
Pat

TCF in Jerusalem

2009-02-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

above: Curator Vered Ganchrow

Our good friend Vered Ganchrow, head of animation at Musrara art school, recently invited us to participate in a show she curated at the Morel Derfler Gallery in Jerusalem.

We especially enjoyed Vered's poetic recap of the opening, in which she recounted, beyond the usual illustrators, artists and students one might expect, "A few neighborhood cats were at the opening too. Mostly around the goat cheese."

Thanks for including us Vered, looking forward to our next meeting at an animation festival or some other awesome location in the not-to-distant future.
-Pat

Montreal Pohadky Launch on youtube

2009-02-20T11:55:00.000-08:00

Salgood Sam of Montreal, aka. Max Douglas was kind enough to film and edit our POHADKY book launch at the Drawn&Quarterly store in Montreal, nov 2009.

We had a really fun time, thanks very much to our publisher Drawn & Quarterly, the awesome DQ staff, and all those who came out. An extra huge thanks to Salgood Sam for surprising us with this great memoir of the night.
-Pat

It's awesome here

2009-02-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

We've been absolutely loving it out here on our Bc gulf Island. The rainforest is extremely inspiring, and work is going well.We're also loving the farm animals we're taking care of. The ducks especially are very feisty characters, and the chickens
take no guff either.

Skulking in the orchard- look closely... you'll see..

a cat mousing....

some ducks lounging....

some hens pecking.....

and not far off.... deep in the forest....
...some petrified deer....

-Pat

RIP Lux Interior

2009-02-05T23:16:00.000-08:00

Lux Interior died of a heart condition yesterday at 62 years old.
Sad.

-Pat

DOMOVOI - Show Online

2009-01-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

Our show DOMOVOI is now online - click here to see the work. I'll be in Toronto for the show's last day at the Resistor Gallery, Saturday, January 31st, 1pm-4pm. Drop in, say hi, and if anyone is interested in prints, let me know, and they can be picked up then.
-Pat

Hoping not to be eaten by COUGARS!

2009-01-23T10:59:00.001-08:00

I've recently learned there are cougars lurking amongst the trees, as proven by the recent removal and messy consumption of a goat on a nearby farm. This is making my off-road forest running slightly challenging, or perhaps better said, frightening.

On a slightly different note, the appearance of the cougar is greatly adding to my study and appreciation of THE FOREST. Experiencing the untamed possibly deadly forest versus the my usual haunt of the city park has added a world of insight when doing the research of slavic mythologies/folklore, which is part of my practice as an artist.
- Pat

Marek gets the horns

2009-01-23T10:37:00.000-08:00

Our boy sheep, felt the need to show his appreciation for our care by means of the head-butt, a well known tradition amongst boy-sheeps, hence the name "Ram".

Fortunately, Marek was quick to positions a metal watering can betweenst himself and the aforementioned boy sheep, said can bearing the brunt of "greeting".

We are now feeding said boy sheep and his lady friends without going into the enclosure.

We're all friends now though.

Ukrainian Christmas Eve ! (Jan 6th)

2009-01-09T16:03:00.001-08:00

Ukrainian Christmas is a very beautiful tradition,
full of ritual and fantastic food. Actually, you can
catch us eating borsht, perogies, cabbage rolls, etc.
pretty often, just not usually not all in the same meal.
We're in the perfect place to celebrate Ukrainian
Christmas this year. Traditionally, it's the one night
of the year the farm animals can speak. The animals
are given a special snack, thanked for their service,
and wished a long life and good health. They are then
left alone to jabber away to their hearts desires.

Just before midnight we went out to give the animals
their special treats. We were surprised to see
they were all up, and a very strange thing happened
during our rounds. For about three minutes we
felt a very warm wind. All of the sudden, it felt like
summer - and then it was gone. We're not really
familiar with the weather out here - maybe it was
a chinook? It was strange, but exciting.

Of course, Marek had other ideas about what
a warm wind which appears on the stroke
of midnight whilst performing an ancient ritual
on the winter solstice really was.

-Pat

The year round-up and Happy 2009!

2009-01-09T15:57:00.001-08:00

It's been a pretty busy year here in the Tin Can Forest.

In December our new art show DOMOVOI opened at
the Resistor Gallery in Toronto, running until the end
of January. In September Drawn & Quarterly published
our first book POHADKY, with launches in Toronto
and Montreal as well as signings at Word on The Street
Toronto and Expozine Montreal Festivals. In June our
film MONTROSE AVENUE joined the ranks of the NFB.
The film spent the year touring the festivals, including
the New York International Children's film festival, The
San Francisco International Film Festival, and the from
the San Francisco Women's Film Festival where it won
Best Animated Documentary. A highlight for us with this
film was receiving some very wonderful letters from
people who grew up in the Montrose Avenue neighbourhood.

In September PBS WNET THIRTEEN New York aired
ARTOPIA - a pilot for a new animated series about Art
for kids, which Marek designed and art directed. It was
a pretty perfect project to work on. We loved the series
mandate. What could be better than teaching art to kids?
Watch the pilot here - http://www.thirteen.org/artopia/watch.html

We ended the year in the snow-filled rainforests of a
beautiful British Columbian gulf Island.
It's good. We're happy.
Happy 2009 !

THE FOREST !

2009-01-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

We've temporarily relocated to a beautiful Island
in British Columbia. We're working on new art
about the forest, so we thought the woods of BC would
be ideal for inspiration. It's working! We've got an
amazing rainforest in our backyard, as well as sheep,
cats, ducks, and hens, bunnies and an organic apple
orchard to keep the inspiration flowing.
And snow !!! We're really lucky to experience
something very rare on this island-
snow ! Ay ! The beauty !

snow marek

It flies!

Yes, for the next four months, we are shepherds.
These are our sheps. Barbados Black Bellies.
They are well suited to wet climates.

Chickens. Some of these chickens are actually retired -
this organic farm has a no kill policy for it's elderly chickens!

Dacha

Duck in Dacha

-Pat

Merry Solstice!

2008-12-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

ВВ - Галю приходь/ VV

Yeh! Traditional Ukrainian Xmass song....for those about to rock....Yeh! I'm feeling it!
-Pat