http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens/ Wed, 05 Jul 2017 12:08:32 EDT FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://drawger.com/_images/drawger_leo_logo.gif http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15870


The Heritage Prize selected eight classic Canadian albums and awarded prizes for this year's event. Each of the posters is limited to an edition of 49. You can order a print online here. I worked with designer Vanda Marasan, and was super excited to be included in this event. Here's a shot of Jim Cuddy accepting the award, the band loved the image.

You can read a more in-depth article on all of the posters and comments by the artists in this article on Passport 2017: Walls of Sound - Eight new posters by eight Canadian artists, made for the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, celebrate the best of Canadian music’s past

]]> Wed, 05 Jul 2017 16:08:26 EDT http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15807

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…" I opened this post with a personal piece called 'Disruptor', about the unpredictability of technology and politics, the feeling of seismic shifts beneath our feet.



This year felt like some kind of reallignment, or hiccup, or catastrophe, depending on your viewpoint or politics. I am hopeful for a new beginning in 2017, but frightened by the pace of change. Having said that, I have to put together some images from the fall. I've been super busy the past few months, always thinking about posting some work, so my first resolution for the year is right here. Above is a piece for Reader's Digest about understanding and treating Migraines. It's an interesting article and my son suffers from them, so I could really connect with the subject matter. Scientists are working on new strategies, getting a better understanding of triggers and brain physiology in the hunt for new insights and treatments. I got a little lost in the details on this illustration for Watershed magazine about perils and peculiarities of pipelines.  



Pour This Story Down Your Pipeline by Orland French. Terry Gilliam was a huge influence on me when I was growing up, I always loved his animated work and connecting all these pipes and random elements made me think of the great things he did for Monty Python. I had a lot of fun pulling this together.  

]]> Mon, 02 Jan 2017 21:59:02 EDT http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15776

Squeaking this update in on the last day of summer. Things ramped up quickly this September, I have some exciting news I am waiting to announce on a national poster campaign. More to come on that in the coming months! I started teaching again this semester at Sheridan, I work with third and fourth year students on courses related to information-based illustration. I have asked my fourth year students to consider where art and science intersect, and the workshop has been dubbed 'big data'. We are surrounded by big data and live in an age of information. Understanding and being able to communicate knowledge and ideas visually is critical in business and media. This workshop explores illustration, science, observation, and data visualization through a series of research-driven exercises. Students are encouraged to foster creativity and curiosity, defined accurately and effectively through different media. I took it upon myself to illustrate some technology-driven collages. How do we relate to our digital devices? How does it serve us and/or control us? All of our likes, searches, purchases and comments are tracked and quantified, packaged and traded. At what point does social media reward us for our patience and commitment? More and more, the fruits of our labour feels tainted. The new iPhone 7 was launched while I was working on these. Not much of a wave, or movement, or ripple. Just another costly upgrade. Here are some images from the series.





Here's a little doodle that sums things up nicely: Concept Engine



]]> Wed, 21 Sep 2016 01:33:32 EDT http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15763 I've had some time this summer to work on projects around the house, ride my bike, relax at the cottage and go swimming. But anyone in this business knows that the wheels don't stop turning, the flow of creativity doesn't shut off. Here's a piece that I created reflecting my creative wandering this summer.

This summer has been hot and dry, and trying at times, and the news cycle doesn't lift your spirits. I tried as best I could to ignore the election cycle in the U.S., but it never stops pounding away. So here's a series of images influenced by politics and power.







We suffered through an extremely long drought for our area, with leaves on the trees turning brown and dropping off. It's unnerving to see record temperatures across the board this summer. Here's another response, called Heatwave.

I will be putting together a number of screenprints for an upcoming show, but for now I 'm heading for the beach. Get outside and stay cool and don't forget the sunscreen. Summer is almost over! Here's a parting shot from the cottage dock. Wish I could have stayed longer.  



]]> Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:14:42 EDT http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15743


It's interesting how a theme or concept can manifest itself in different ways from completely different sources. I had another time travel assignment land on my desk, from Bill Hunter at Canadian Lawyer. This was a trip in terms of the complexity and depth of the image. The cover image tied future past and present concepts involving intellectual property issues from a legal standpoint. No problem.



The inside feature was based on three different articles about legacy and genetic heritage issues, educational copyrights and the frontiers of IP in areas like 3D printing and big data. These spots were used as lead-ins.



]]> Thu, 07 Jul 2016 18:00:55 EDT http://www.drawger.com/carlwiens/index.php?section=articles&article_id=15663


I am not a particle theorist, but I know this. Dr. McDonald and his team of researchers built an observatory 2 km deep in a mine shaft in Sudbury. What they discovered enhanced our understanding of physics and what we are made of, energy and the universe around us. The name of the observatory was SNOLAB, filled with heavy water and removed from man-made electric energy fields and interference. Every second millions of neutrinos pass through us, unhindered and non-reactive, generated from deep within the sun. So then, how can they be observed and quantified? Here's a very brief synopsis. 1.      Neutrinos are sub-atomic particles coming from the sun. 2.      There are three “flavours” of neutrinos: electrons, muon, and tau. 3.       Neutrinos switch flavours during their oscillation. 4.      Their oscillations prove that neutrinos have mass. The SNOLAB observatory was able to record the oscillation of neutrinos. During oscillation, energy is released in the form of a photon. Observing this phenomenon established the mass of neutrinos, and enhanced our understanding of the universe in terms of it's overall mass, which affects how we understand where we came from and where we are heading. The final illustration depicts a logorhythmic chain of images, from the sun to the earth to the SNOLAB sphere to the inner workings of an atom. A window into what we are made of. Thanks to Andrea Gunn, Dr. Arthur McDonald, and the people at Queen's. Keep up the good work!  







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