Chris Laskey, 44 (sheesh really... sigh), Oakville.
Interests
Just about everything, but I have an affinity for storing old things in
my brain. Arcane processes, and mystical things, new technologies, and
stuff other people tend to ignore. It's probably why I love Greek
myth, obsolete nautical rope work, and computers so much. Anyway, The
odd time I manage to weld some of these things together the result is...
well... pretty cool... and it makes me look smart too.
Education
Diploma of Technology in electrical/electronic engineering, Honours B.A
and M.A. in Communication Studies... and if those seem disparate to you
try adding craft and design in glass when I finish it this year. The
search for truth often takes a long and winding staircase.
Job
I currently work Part-time as a broadcast technologist for CHCH
Hamilton. Maybe I'm getting old, but it's taking me longer, and longer
to shift gears between engineering and art as needed. The two are
starting to intermix; I find myself arranging the boring black boxes I
work with in the TV station so the indicator lights form pleasing
patterns, and I want to update the sketches of my art after it's
produced to accurately reflect its in-operation status (an "as-built"
drawing it's called in the engineering field) .
Goals
I'd like to have a little shop of tools and engage in the cold-working
(maybe even hot too) of glass all day. If I could live off it at some
point I don't think I could be much happier... Well, maybe if my shop
was on a hill over-looking a beach. That would make break-times quite
pleasant, but probably be damn distracting while I'm trying to work.
Why art?
I spent much of my adult life building/maintaining/repairing very
functional, technical, required things. "Processes to complicated to
explain" if you would. It's all very demanding. This must be correct,
that must be with 5% of standard, if I don't do a thing right someone
foolish might very well get killed. As and engineer you have to design
in safety for the dumbest of people doing the dumbest of things, after a
while you start thinking all people are dumb. "How did you manage to
break that? Were you not familiar with the operating manual's
contents?" The day I said those words I knew something had to change. I
was ready to pop. And so I did...Pop... I started to draw and paint,
and oh man did I suck, but it had to be done. I did landscapes in
watercolour, and people seemed reasonably intelligent again. I drew a
sketch of my cat sitting on the window sill, and I thought technology
isn't as important as we seem to think it is. I finally realized that I
actually needed art to make me a whole and reasonable person. For me
art is a new territory, a new challenge, a new vista that helps me
understand the world in a new way. My search for truth, just got...
prettier?
Why this media?
I've always said that if I had been born 200 years ago I'd have been a
blacksmith. Glass making kinda satisfies that old and arcane knowledge
requirement... 5000 years old, Standing next to the furnace, working
with stuff that's too hot to handle... but it's much prettier. In fact
it's down right magical. It pulls you into with it's impossibility...
How can this thing be? Hot glass is like honey, and like honey it
traps you like you're a fly with it's possibility... it can be... anything.
Life/art philosophies
My philosophy... Oh God, it's like a quote book of old axioms. "Life
long learning". "To each his own, but all for the common good". "I may
be lying in the gutter but I'm looking at the stars"... It's funny I've
spent a good part of my life worried about whether or not I could live
it, but now I'm at the point where I can take on all comers (as it
were). I may not win, maybe next time I'll win, or two times from now,
or twenty... it doesn't matter, it's not about winning for me any more
it's the struggle... It makes us stronger. So "come at me bro", but
give it your best shot, or you're going home sad... and I'll feel for
you, because I was you not so very long ago.
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