Real art like real adults

It seems that ever time I visit someone else's home, I get the feeling like somehow we don't live in a real adult condo.

Real adults have sound systems, not an Xbox 360 and an HD tv purchased just for said Xbox.
Real adults have straight-backed chesterfields placed with care around a coffee table, not plush and lumpy massive couches perfect for napping and watching Joss Whedon marathons.
Real adults have original art on their walls, not posters of DaVinci's City Hall and the Chinese fight against SARS.

Well, let's be honest: none of that's really going to change. If our life together isn't real adult, I'm happy with the fake adult lifestyle we've been living until now.

But, that doesn't mean we can't appropriate a bit from that other lifestyle--that one that seems so proper and refined like wine and cheese.

That's what I was thinking as we walked through this weekend's Box Social event hosted at the opera centre down the street. Local artisans with their wares: clothing, glass, painting, ceramics and random art you just don't see anywhere else... like the stuff created by Colleen Rauscher.

In fact, when we came across Colleen's Polaroid transfer prints, we couldn't help but stop and stare at her display. Her special series on historic Calgary felt like a special glimpse of the city through a much older eye. Photos of the Bay, Herald gargoyles, and early 1900s facades made this city we live in feel suddenly heavy with its own history in a way that is rarely felt in western metropolises.

So we purchased this... we just couldn't help it.


Here's how she describes her unique process:

An image from a 35mm slide is exposed onto Polaroid film using a Daylab slide printer. Before the photo has time to develop, it is peeled away from the black backing, and this negative is placed onto a damp receptor sheet. After a few minutes, it is carefully peeled away from the sheet, leaving the image. During this process, some of the emulsion may lift up with the negative, leaving a unique pattern of bluish patina where the darkest areas of the image were. Each print is an original, and it is practically impossible to achieve the same results twice.

So, yeah, now we have a real adult piece of art. Sort of... it is still a picture of the skeeziest pub in Calgary after all. Yes, a classic piece of history.