A Room Of My Own

Online shopping has always been easy, convenient and fast – but it just got better! Free shipping? How about delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less? In a service Amazon is calling Prime Air, delivery drones will be able to carry items up to five pounds, which accounts for 86% of all deliveries Amazon currently makes. Amazon offers a myriad of products, including everything from books, bathing suits to a Kindle, and as soon as you hit the buy button, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will pick up the package at the Amazon warehouse center and fly directly to your front door. Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, is no stranger to high tech advancements. His forward thinking entrepreneurial ideas and futurist developments continue to push the envelope. In the 1990’s when most consumers were leery of online shopping, his belief in e-commerce made him a pioneer in the game. Today, living up to Bezos’ expectations, the number of online shoppers has grown exponentially. In the n...

His work has been described as a ‘balance between two worlds’.   AJ Vandrie grew up in Northumberland Hills with his adoptive family. His background is composed of Ojiway/Chippewa and Irish heritage. He pursued his art studies at the White Mountain Academy of the Arts in Elliot Lake, a school, located in an isolated area in Northern Ontario, sought to combine First Nations and European approaches to art, which was a great fit for AJ. After his first year of studies, he suffered a personal loss, with the death of his birth father and mother who died within a sort period of time from one another. It was at this time that AJ began exploring the art style that he is known for today.   Widely considered Woodland School of Art, this style is synonymous with the artist Norval Morriseau , whose influence is evident in the works seen here. One can find definite similarities between these two artists; style aside, they are both deeply spiritual, sharing, through their ...

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is in the news, trending, and on the move north – to Canada! Carrying a slogan of “Ideas worth spreading”, TED and TEDActive are currently held in Long Beach and Palm Springs, with a planned move to Vancouver and Whistler respectively this year. One of the largest movements for our generation (the Gen Xers and Millennials) is the non-profit, free education of TED Talks. With a global audience of billions, one may be hard pressed to find someone that is unfamiliar with the fast paced and growing ideas of these conferences. Just YOUTUBE it and you will see for yourself. Malcolm Gladwell, a past presenter, might say that if it is on TED, it has hit it’s ‘Tipping Point’. With it’s growth, TED has spurred TEDGlobal, TEDxParis and many more, including the TED Ideas Lab. This lab, partnering with The Globe and Mail, is currently debating how much you would pay for better health care, education and other public services Canadians consi...

Dorothy Winter  “These quilts, these time honoured traditions, certainly hold their place in history.” The Seasons (Hildegard von Bingen) The art of quilting holds more history, in particular that of women, than one might initially imagine. We traditionally view quilts as functional bedding, which are decorative and commemorative, even historical, however, the value in the artistic expression of the quilter is often overlooked. We know quilts to be a source of warm comfort, an heirloom perhaps, but most do not think of them as holding historic messages. In times and cultures where women held a quieter place within the family unit, quilts provided a clever medium for females to articulate ideas and to tell a story. To Dorothy Winter, who, for over 20 years, has dedicated herself to producing meaningful works of art, quilts matter. She began making her quilts for practical purposes for her family when they lived in a farmhouse. These family treasures made ...