Giveaway 30 Days - Choice of Print

The last giveaway of the 30 Days of Giveaway Event is one sponsored by my best friend Greg. 

The giveaway item is your choice of either of these brand-new prints from our Studioahimsa shop: 

Coffee Coffee Coffee 8"x10" print on cloth

OR

Lake Waikeromoana print

Limited Edition Signed 1 of 12 with black matte 8"x10"

Greg is a Vancouver-based artist who works in a variety of mediums. 

Here are a few works by Greg that are in the Studioahimsa shop:

2 Tiny Bears Against the World Set of 5 Cards (or as a single card)

Northwest Coast Animals card

Oryx and Crake Letter Set

1) Tell me about your artistic background

Yikes! I'm not even sure where to start. I ate a lot of paste as a kid, a quantity shadowed only by the amount of salty home-made play-dough that went along with it. My mom is a huge crafter and taught lessons in a thousand-and-one things— from toll-painting to beaded-kercheif making, so I come by it honestly. When I went to college out of high-school, I studied graphic arts and printmaking before leaving to work in the new-media industry, maintaining a fine-art practice on the side. I've done websites for yoga-studios and car dealers, performance art, made a few video pieces, and painted with showings in Vancouver, Calgary, and Auckland! I'm a little schizophrenic really. A few years ago I went back to university to study Art History and Anthropology, and now, just a few credits short of a degree, waiting for "that one course" to come around, I'm just looking forward to getting back in the studio.

2) What is your favourite medium to use?

Being an art-historian, you know how it goes—that is to say that I love it all, but I'm almost embarrassed to answer—drawing. It's not that I think that 2d representation is either 'dead' and I need to apologize, or that I think that it's the be-all-and-end-all of artistic practice, but I think that it's where I express myself most freely. It's just a great way to start. For me, it always starts out with "the idea" which sometimes metamophosizes into something articulable, and sometimes not, but it doesn't get any further unless I start to draw (or write—can I have words as a second favourite medium?). I'm not too fussy about how the drawing is accomplished. I really like charcoal except that it always ends up on my nose, and then a second favourite would actually be digital illustration programs with a stylus and tablet— being able to change direction on the fly, or undo things is a superpower I would like in real life.

3) So— you like coffee huh?

I'm ridiculously in love with coffee. It's my daily poison and I want to marry it.

Still, I try and be responsible about it and just have a few a day . . . But I struggle—especially since I found an insane deal on a really nice home espresso machine (a Rancilio Silvia). I like to lie to myself and tell myself that it's not so bad a habit to have. To keep it green and frugal I buy green beans in minimal packaging from a local company which buys directly from fair-trade estates and roast them at home. It's pretty awesome.

4) What other works/products do you plan on coming out with?

In the immediate future I have visions of ceramic pieces dancing around my head. Both useful kitchen things like mortars and pestles and salt-pigs as well as some fanciful and or delicate decorated vases and the like. Oh! And I think I have a couple of neat-o illustrations on the go for cards, as well as a nice fresh block of lino. Lately I am interested in going back to ideas about landscape and place. I want to strike that balance between useful (or everyday) and beautiful, but keep things whimsical (or failing that,  whimsicle?).

5) What are your goals for your artistic practice?

It's funny, you know, I was just reading an essay by an art instructor with a PhD the other day, wondering why so many people want to make a career in 'fine' art, despite the dismal economic prospects that such a career choice forecasts. She came up with a lot of really good insights, from prestige (ha!), job satisfaction, to (illusions of) independence— but I think what it really comes down to is wanting to make/create. I agree. I think we are all just looking to share a little something.

I'd like to make a real go of it, just by keeping on making things and doing 'stuff.' I do daydream about finding economic self-sufficiency somewhere along the line, but I don't really need to accomplish extravagant means. Currently, my student lifestyle has led me to a tiny (albeit comfortable and affordable) apartment, I suppose my first goal would be to be able to afford a larger studio space :D

This giveaway is open worldwide!

How to Win: 

Mandatory Entry (answer in first comment): 

Do you like birthday cake? What is your favourite kind? 

Also - Which of the 2 prints would you choose if you won?

Extra Entries (in separate comments, please):

 - Follow Being Tazim

 - "like" Studioahimsa

 - Follow on Twitter @beingtazim

 - Spread the word about this giveaway on twitter or blog it

giveaway ends July 9th. I'll email winner, who will be chosen by random.org.
The list of giveaways is here: 30 Days of Giveaways.