You can also stream CBC Radio 1 from their website: http://www.cbc.ca/metromorning/

Update as of January 11th: The talk has been moved to room 7514, on the 5th floor.

Some information about the Toronto Wearables meetup:

The Toronto Wearables Meetup is a gathering of people interested in wearable technology, fashion, wearable electronics, soft circuits, electronic textiles, emerging materials, and other creative and innovative approaches to things that live on the body.  This Meetup is a gathering artists, fashion designers, industrial designers, textile enthusiasts, engineers, researchers, students, and anyone interested in these emerging and intersecting fields.

You can register for the talk on EventBrite.

Here is a link to the blog post on the official Toronto Wearables website.

I’ve added a project that I finished a few months ago and finally got around to taking photos of:

The Glowworm is an object that can be worn in many ways. It is commonly worn around the neck, similar to a scarf or a tie. It can also be worn around the waist, arm, or in your hair.

When the two silver parts of the Glowworm are touching, it will emit a soft glow. The battery is small and easily replaceable, and is held in by a magnet located at one end of the Glowworm.

I will be producing these in small batches, and I plan to begin selling them shortly after I relaunch my shop. It will be available in dark, earthy colors. I’m aiming to have the shop completed by July 2011. More pictures are available under the Textiles section, here is a link.

I’ve added photos and videos from my show to a website that I made specifically for the show, siphonophorae.com. The show went pretty well, although making the mannequins and setting up the hanging system was a lot more work than I had expected. Thanks to everyone who helped me set up in the gallery!

I’ve also added a new piece to the Textiles section called Mimicry. It was one of the pieces that was in my show. Here is a short description:

Some sea creatures, such as flounders and octopi, are able to camouflage themselves, mimicking their surroundings. This defense mechanism makes them invisible to their predators, allowing them to stay safe. Using this concept, I have created a dress that changes to match the color of its surroundings.

I’ve added video for Hybridization, Under the Surface and Mimicry, showing the interactiveness of each piece. I’m so glad to finally be able to share these videos for these pieces. My favorite video is definitely the one for Under the Surface.

Marisa Ranalli is a textile artist who incorporates electronics into her artwork. She works with human interaction and how it relates to themes of deep sea life, human biology, and light. Marisa uses felt and silk to create three dimensional, wearable forms. Siphonophorae is the culmination of Marisa’s research over the past 5 years.

Siphonophorae’s opening reception is on December 6th, from 5:30-7:00pm. The show is viewable from December 7-11th, from 11am-5pm daily at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, NS. I will be showing the Crumple Shirt, Hybridization, Under the Surface, and one other pieces that I have been working on that are not on the website yet.

I will be having an artist talk on Wednesday December 8th at noon, in the gallery.

Google Maps Link to the Anna Leonowens Gallery

Facebook Event

Many different types of creatures have innate defense mechanisms to help them to survive. My inspiration is drawn from sea creatures – most specifically, jellyfish, sea urchins, and puffer fish. Puffer fish are known for being able to fill themselves up with water or air to produce sharp spines that cover their bodies.

I have incorporated wool covered nitinol wire into this outfit to show how a person with a similar defense mechanism might involuntarily react if their personal space was invaded. When someone touches the spine or shoulders of the outfit, the ‘spines’ on the front of the outfit recoil.

This piece consists of two layered dresses. The dress underneath has been hand painted with dyes, mimicking patterns and colors found underwater. The dress overtop is translucent, but weighted at the bottom to cause the fabric to flow like a moving jellyfish.

The textile processes used to create this piece are dyeing, knitting, felting, and sewing. The dress underneath was sewn together and then hand painted by using a process called polychromatic printing. Parts of the dress overtop were knitted and then attached to the silk. The dress was then dyed and felted. The ‘spines’ are nitinol wire covered in wool. An Arduino powers the nitinol wire. The electronic components are powered by a rechargeable battery.

You can view more images and more information about this on the main site. I’ve also posted some extra pictures from the shoot, and process photos that didn’t make the cut on Flickr.

Photos were taken by me. My sister is modeling the dress, and helped quite a bit with figuring out a name for this outfit. My favorite part of the dress is definitely the layer underneath, it was hand painted using a polychromatic printing method.

This piece (as well as a few other of my pieces) will be shown at my solo show called ‘Siphonophorae’ at the Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax, NS)  from December 7th-11th, 2010. I will be making a post in a few weeks with more information about it.

I’ve made a few changes and added some new things. The Illustration section has been merged into the Design section. I’ve added an entirely new Web section to show my web development and design work. The shop has been removed temporarily. I added a new project to the Textiles section, which I will be making a blog post about shortly.

The shop is currently under construction as I work to create a better shopping cart system, one that will match the new layout of the site. Some older products will be removed to make room for newer ones.

Other than that, I have a lot going on currently. I’m graduating in December, and I have a solo show at the Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax, NS) coming up as well. Hopefully that means that this blog will be updated a bit more in the next few months.

I’ve been recycling beer bottles and making them into glasses. It’s been interesting. I just started using a vinyl cutter to make a pattern for the glasses so that I can sandblast a design into them. Hopefully I’ll have a set of them in the shop by the end of the month.

As of September, I’ll have access to a textile studio so I can work on screenprinted things (I wanted to make aprons and t-shirts and stuff like that).

How It Works
The skirt is turned on by a conductive velcro switch. When the velcro is fastened, the white lights on the skirt turn on. There’s a switch inside the left shoe. When you step with your left foot, it puts pressure on the switch and activates a wireless transmitter that sends a signal to the skirt to turn on red LEDs. Below is a video of the red LEDs turning on.

Artist Statement
There are several actions that typically signify anger, including clenched fists, yelling, and stomping. Ariela and Tashi’s character used the power of natural elements to defeat her enemies. The idea was that when she would stomp her feet, her wand would activate her elemental powers. As for Blake’s character, his tattered garb inspired the burned and worn aesthetic in the piece. Both of the students’ characters were superheroes ultimately fueled, to some degree, by anger. Working with the concept of stomping, I incorporated elements of the students’ work to create an outfit as dark and disparaging as anger itself.

My project will be up at the Textile Museum of Canada until the beginning of June :)

To the left is an invite for the Super Wired exhibition at the the Textile Museum of Canada. The opening reception is tomorrow night from 6-7:30pm and my piece will be on display until the beginning of June.

Last year, I was chosen to participate in a project called ‘Digital Threads’. In October 2007, I attended a workshop at the Interaccess Media Centre in Toronto about electronics and textiles. I was given a group of grade 10 high school students to work with, and I helped them to create a small electronic textile piece. The students were given an assignment to create Superheros. My project was to work from their images to create a textile-based artifact.

I didn’t snap any photos of it at the time because I was extremely rushed, but I hope to get photos of it at the museum tomorrow night. I’ll post them then, along with the artist statement I wrote up.