We’d like to share with you a reading of Athena’s short story, “The Lighthouse and the Tugboat”. It tells of a short, stubbylighthouse that longs to be of use to someone and of ascrappy tugboat that fears the ocean’s great storms will one day swallow him up. In their partnership, however, they discover how much more each of them can be together.

Athena also recently completed this painting inspired by the story, which will be hanging as part of her Find Your Heart(h) art exhibit that will be on between August 24th to September 5th here in Calgary.

Thanks for listening!

Stefan

The post PODCAST: The Lighthouse and the Tugboat appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

Once upon not-that-long-ago, I secretly dreamed that if I were ever to find a romantic partner that that person would also be a creative partner as well. Never in my wildest dreams could I have anticipated the explosion of creativity that has continued to swell through the years that Stefan and I have been together. There’s been paintings, t-shirt designs, blog posts, podcasts, doodle collabs, the Horace & Abigail webcomic and Tilted Windmills itself.

Thus, as part of our upcoming marriage celebration, we will be hosting a two-week long, public art exhibition in the fourth floor gallery space of cSPACE King Edward in Calgary. The exhibition will feature acrylic paintings and digital artwork created by myself that celebrates our relationship and our lives as a disabled woman and a transgender man. We’ll also both be writing letters to each other to be displayed with the art that provide context and back story for these works.

Stefan and I will then be married in a very small, private ceremony with family at the end of August in a room that opens into the art exhibit space.

I am very excited to be shaping this unique creative celebration alongside our upcoming wedding and having it here in Calgary where, in many respects, this whole new chapter of our lives has begun to unfold. We also recognize that we are blessed with family and friends that stretch across the globe, so we will be finding ways to share the exhibit experience with everyone who wishes to participate.

If you are local to Calgary though, we hope you’ll come down to cSPACE in August and let us tell you our love story.

Tilted Windmills presents:
The “Find Your Heart(h)” art exhibit
Paintings & Digital Art by Athena Cooper
August 24 – Sept 5, 2019
cSPACE King Edward, 4th floor gallery
1721 29th Avenue SW, Calgary, AB (map)

The post Coming Soon: The Find Your Heart(h) Art Exhibit appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

Nature is a remarkable thing.

Take the phenomenon of “gynandromorphism,” which is where an organism is born with both male and female elements. It can be seen the most dramatically in creatures like birds, crustaceans and insects where male and female counterparts are so visually distinct. A Google search of “gynandromorphism” and “butterflies” yields a dazzling array of results and was the inspiration for my most recently completed painting.

In humans this expression of male and female elements can be more complicated. Sometimes it presents as something visible, but other times it does not.

Either way it is no less rare and remarkable than a bi-gender butterfly.

Athena

The post Bi-Gender Butterfly appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

Well, another year has drawn to a close. In the Tilted Windmills household, 2018 was full of late nights studying, early morning dog-walks, weekend coffee dates, and exploratory ventures along Calgary’s Bow River. Athena and Lola, with furniture in tow, made the big move from BC to Alberta in late July to join me as I enter the final year of my MSW program. The move was no small feat, and one that tested our mettle but that we managed with flying colours, thanks in large part to Athena’s most excellent organizational skills.

It has certainly been a year of surprises, challenges, and adventure – and continued growth! Can’t wait to enter 2019 with my two favourite persons next to me. Looking forward to my Master’s graduation and a somewhat Tilted Windmills inspired art exhibit for Athena — more details about this to follow at a later date!

To each and everyone, wishing you a 2019 that exceeds your wildest expectations in the best possible way. May you spend it living, loving, laughing and always learning.

Happy holidays!

Stefan (with Athena and Lola nearby)

The post Happy New Year from Horace & Abigail appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

STEFAN: Winter is coming.

And yes, we’re “Game of Thrones” fans. In fact, I’d say that watching our way through the entire HBO series thus far has played a fairly significant role in our courtship.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the beauty in this milder, chilly prelude to the deep, dire Calgary winter that everyone seems to insist on warning me about.

Athena

The post WEBCOMIC: Our First Calgary Winter appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

Yes, at the beginning of August we really did make our big move from Vancouver to Calgary and it seemed only right that our tortoise and mouse counterparts ought to do the same. We have no doubt that their adventure in this new city will be filled with surprises, challenges and laughs along the way. Stay tuned!

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Stefan and Athena

The post WEBCOMIC: We’re Going to Calgary appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

I mentioned to Stefan that, in the midst of all the packing and prep for our big move to Calgary, that I was starting to feel like we were becoming clan of our own about to set off on our epic adventure.⠀

His response: “We need a coat of arms.”⠀

With a prompt like that, how could I possibly resist?⠀

The finished result features our alter egos, Horace and Abigail, from our webcomic. I also wove in some personally relevant symbols from our relationship—and our dog Lola, of course.

The post The new coat of arms appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

When he’s home, I’ll find these patterns drawn on napkins or the back of grocery lists—all over the place—and they always make me smile. Now, with him being away in Calgary, we thought this would be a fun way for us to create something together even though we’re apart.

Here are a few of the collaborations we’ve created so far.

The post Doodle Collabs by Stefan & Athena appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

The idea is that orchid children are more sensitive to their environments than their dandelion peers. The article goes on to explore the role that genetics plays in kids’ capacity for resilience, and identifies one gene in particular that may have a critical role in the development of orchid children: CHRM2. Interestingly, this same gene is linked to alcohol dependence, and behavioural disorders. But more intriguing to me is what happens when orchid children receive the nurturing they so desperately need. Those rare yet sensitive children have the potential to become “a flower of unusual delicacy and beauty,” according to the authors of the original study, Bruce J. Ellis and W. Thomas Boyce. Ellis and Boyce are human development specialists from the University of Arizona, and the University of California, Berkeley, respectively.

Here at Tilted Windmills we believe in the power of diverse skill-sets, abilities, lived experiences, ideas, and ways of being in the world. When I read this article I thought about the many kids out there who are born with what society labels a disability, or kids who exist outside of typical gender norms. We focus specifically on issues around (dis)ability and gender nonconformity, because we have lived experience with them. With my partner Athena, I started to think of ways we could raise awareness and celebrate the wonderful diversity that makes up humanity, especially when it comes to these children. But of course this doesn’t apply to them alone – any child who has ever experienced being an outsider in one way or another can benefit from a loving and nurturing environment.

Athena, our resident artist, took the ball and ran with it, and the result is a beautiful design that captures something of the ideas I just described. Tilted Windmills’ Orchid Child campaign is about embracing the beauty and vulnerability all children represent.

The design is a layered, multimedia creation that includes Athena’s original acrylic painting of the dandelion field and digitally manipulated photographs of the orchid and child. It suggests a field of dandelions outside a greenhouse that shelters the delicate orchid and curious child.

Want to show your support? Buy your own “Cultivate Your Orchid Child” merchandise and let us know what you think!

Stefan

Cultivate Your Orchid Child

Concept by: Stefan // Design by: Athena

T-Shirt

Art Print

Coffee Mug

Stationary Cards

The post Cultivate Your Orchid Child appeared first on Tilted Windmills.

Dear friends,

Don’t know about you, but around here, 2017 came with many surprises, challenges, and memorable moments. Some of those memorable moments included my acceptance into the Master’s of Social Work program at University of Calgary, and Athena participating in her first two art gallery showings in Vancouver, both of them a rousing success. Lola, our furry four-legged partner-in-life, had a healthy year of belly rubs, and chasing squirrels.

The upcoming 2018 promises some big moments too, with Athena and Lola to join me in Calgary in the fall, as I enter my final year of graduate school. Until then, we are stuck in separate cities, an experience Horace and Abigail shares in our end-of-year webcomic.

Hoping 2018 is a year of laughter, love, and light, for you and your dearly beloveds.

Happy Holidays!

Stefan

The post Horace & Abigail wish you happy holidays! appeared first on Tilted Windmills.