Every night before drifting off to sleep, most people think about the activities they need to do the next day, such as taking out the garbage, going to the bank or cleaning the garage. But for Amanda Maltais, her imagination begins to spin with different ideas for her next painting.
“I have all these ideas in my head, and it’s so hard for me to pick what to do next,” she said. “Then I wake up the next day and I look at the blank canvas and I know what I want to do.” Continue reading
A look at Toronto creations inspired by mental health Lisa Brown never thought her grandmother was crazy. While she saw the tissue in the window used to keep bugs out, and knew about her trips to the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, Brown says she never felt anything but safe and unconditionally loved by her … Continue reading
How one woman found sweetness through tragedy Ashley Gibson remembers her mom. She remembers her light-green eyes, her big laugh, and her warm heart. She remembers coming home from shopping one day as a teenager, chatting with a friend and her mom in the kitchen. “(I have a memory of my mom) just listening and … Continue reading
In John Berger’s 1972 book Ways of Seeing, he states that “men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. Thus she turns herself into an object- and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.” Jean Kilbourne, creator of the Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women film series, says this idea is … Continue reading
When Sandra Bell-Lundy, creator of the Between Friends comic strip, first introduced children into her series, it was an emotional experience for both her and her readers. Continue reading
In July of 1997, at the age of 42, Deborah Sloss was found dead in Toronto. Laura Clarke, Sloss’s daughter, heard the news through her mother’s friends, 30 days after the body was found.
“In the police report the first line is, ‘The victim was an aboriginal from northern Ontario, a known crack addict and alcoholic,’” said Clarke, 40, “and her whole police report, if you take out the spaces…is one sheet (of paper).”
Although the Toronto Police wrote the case off as an alcohol and drug overdose incident, Clarke believes her mother was murdered. Many of her questions were not answered, she said, and much of the evidence did not fit. Continue reading
Ilene Sova remembers coming home from school one day, feeling speechless as bullies cornered her on the bus, demanding she explain her features.
“The big thing was my lips,” said Sova, now 38. “‘Why are your lips so big?’ ‘Why are your eyes so big?’ ‘Why is your skin so dark?’ That was the constant bullying. I remember bawling because I thought my face was deformed because my lips were too big.” Continue reading
In 2010 Lil Wayne, one of the world’s most popular and controversial rappers, won the Mixtape Of The Year award at MTV’s Sucker Free Summit for his album No Ceilings. Karla Moy, a self-taught graphic designer from Toronto, is the artist behind the cover of that mixtape, which she designed when she was still in … Continue reading
Jo Lalonde’s first introduction to chalk art was in high school, where a motivational guest speaker managed to transform a group of students’ negative thoughts into an artistic picture. “[The guest speaker] spent 20 minutes turning [those experiences] into a beautiful masterpiece out of chalk and when I saw it, I thought that chalk looked … Continue reading
Art Toronto, the 2013 Toronto International Art Fair had its 14th annual gathering last weekend, Oct. 25 to 28, and the rouse magazine team was there, looking for galleries displaying works of art with a message. Upon entering the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, a large art installation was hanging from the ceiling. It represented all … Continue reading
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