By Agnes » 6 Comments
Open Invite: Sunday Night Craft Jam – running weekly in June!
Organized by our Artist-in-Residence Heather Morton.

Who: All are welcome! (Free / Voluntary donation)
Where & When: at kwartzlab 7-10pm Sunday evenings in June, starting this weekend (June 2nd), hopefully going till the end of the month.
What: If you like crafts, come to our casual drop-in craft meetups in June – think a Stich’n'Bitch but any portable art/craft is welcome! paper, textile, fibre-based, beads, handwork, etc. If you do want to knit/crochet and don’t know how, we’ll have some books for that too.
Members can also consider this Artist in Residence Office Hours, so if you have any questions about how to use the space’s sewing machine or need sewing/textile-based advice on anything feel free to come and talk to me (Heather). I’m also hoping to have tea and coffee available at some point. If you’re too busy preparing for Maker Faire, it’ll be running the Sunday after Maker Faire too! Come join us and unwind from a crazy, but awesome, weekend.
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By Agnes » 1 Comment

Jennifer Gough, host of Culture Soup, Thursdays at 7pm on 98.5 CKWR
In case you missed the live broadcast of my interview from May 9th on 98.5 CKWR’s Culture Soup program with Jennifer Gough, here it is!
We talk about kwartzlab, our art programs, our Trillium grant, and the upcoming Mini Maker Faire Waterloo!
Thanks to Matthew McPherrin for recording it.
Podcast: Play in new window
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By Agnes » 3 Comments
Announcing our new Artist in Residence, Heather Morton. Heather was our monthly featured artist in April, and we welcome her back to the lab for the next 3 months!
Heather has been interested in arts and crafts since childhood, which has turned into a passion for fabric and fibre arts. Her fibre-related endeavors have included costume making, creative crochet, functional sewing and art quilting. Lately she is interested in experimenting with new methods of surface design. As an Artist in Residence at kwartzlab, she is hoping to explore using the laser cutter for more quilting and fabric-related experiments. Heather will also add to the diversity of kwartzlab’s programming by running some workshops in arts and crafts related areas.
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By Agnes » 1 Comment
We warmly welcome Charlotte’s beautiful ceramic tile paintings to the space. You’ve got to see these colours up front and personal. On display at the lab until the end of May. Charlotte will give her artist talk at the Tuesday Open Night on May 21st, beginning at about 8 pm.
Charlotte began her journey into art in the 1970’s creating pen and ink drawings with watercolour inspired by Aubrey Beardsley. In 2003, She attended a tile painting class which provided a whole new outlet for her creativity. Learning to manipulate the paint on a hard surface was challenging initially, but soon proved to provide the variety of expression necessary to keep going with it. She has always be drawn to bold colour contrasts and natural images. Charlotte especially enjoys painting on irregular shaped tiles and sometimes on glass tile as well. Recently, she is experimenting with combining the paint with coloured ink and watercolour on other surfaces such as paper and wood. She is also doing Collage. Branching out into these other mediums has been exciting, drenched in possibility. To quote a dear friend, Bernie Rohde, Art is a Verb.
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Tags: Ceramic Painting
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By Agnes » 4 Comments

Gift. 2013. Fabric, thread, basting glue.
“I often find the middle a lot more interesting than the end.”
Heather Morton is a local artist and designer whose current exhibition at kwartzlab highlights the process of her work. While there are a few “finished” works on display, the installation celebrates the journey of the making process. Beauty and inspiration can be found in a few scrap of materials, thoughtfully pieced together.
“I’ve always loved colour so I began to use fabric the way one might use paint; I liken my over-sized fabric stash to paint; each fabric is a “paint colour” so I have trouble throwing anything out. Most of my finished pieces are practical items (bags, costumes, quilts), so most of the work I still have are the experiments in between.”
We welcome you to join Heather next Tuesday, March 12th at kwartzlab where she will do a short artist talk about her work, starting around 8pm. Heather’s work will be on display in the lab until the end of the month.
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By Agnes » 3 Comments

Michael Hornyak is a master programmer who has been coding for over 25 years, creating graphics, 3D animation, 3D modeling, user interfaces, websites, sound engineering, music composition, multimedia, and pioneering an evolved virtual reality system that he calls Hyper Interactive Reality, or “HiR” for short.
HiR is a new paradigm in human-computer interaction, it will provide alternative ways to do work and have fun. It is 2D, 3D, 4D and beyond. Control of a computer is possible via motions of the body, voice control, sensors or traditional input devices. HiR is a graphical 3D environment that transforms your computer into an advanced “virtual reality” work-play-place in which your imagination can go wild. Complete control of your media in an outside-the-box kind of way.
Check out a video of Michael’s work in progress here: http://hyperinteractivereality.com/videos/
Michael will be demonstrating his HiR system at our grand re-opening party on Saturday, February 16th during our open house which runs 11am-5pm. And will also be giving a short talk at 1:45pm about his work and his plans for his residency with us, which will conclude at the end of April.
Posted in Announcements, Art Programs, Events | 3 Comments »