Typography: we see it everywhere and maybe we don’t even realize the impact it has. From road signs to store fronts to TV, this form of visual communication can set a mood and create a distinct identity, yet, it is often overlooked. Man vs. Mouse: A Typography Show brought letters into the spotlight at The Gallery on 17th Ave.

“Typography is quite prevalent in the design world,” said Aaron Ellard, owner of The Gallery and Understudy clothing stores. “You can build and entire identity around it.”

The twist with this show was how the artists created their piece. Four of them used their bare hands while the other three were armed with a computer mouse – hence the name of the show.“I was wanting to do a group show and looking at the roster of [local] artists, half were graphic designers and half were artists. I thought it would be a cool contrast,” Ellard said.

The show was varied and featured cleverly thought-out pieces from each artist. On the “man” side, Tiffany Wollman used wood to create an alphabetic typeface and plastic was used for a clever cutout of letter qualifications (MBA, Ph.D etc…)

James Deary really stepped up the complexity with his pieces. Each piece was done in fine-point black marker featuring a different arrangement of words. In one piece, he used leaves, logs and puffs of smoke to say ‘Peace, Love and High Fives.’ The digitally created art was just as varied.

Joey Camacho took a literal approach but with impact using a large ‘A’ ‘B’ and ‘C’ in different fonts. Done in grey, black and white, each font used was typed in a tiny font size at the bottom.

Graphic designer Ian MacFarlane had three distinctly different pieces. One was simply the letter ‘B’ but it was dressed up with jewel tones and sharp lines. Another piece featured a graffiti meets calligraphy style that read, “Insert cliché here.”

Each artist brought something different and showed the diversity and impact of typography. The work will remain up on the walls of The Gallery until November 24. Check it out at 113-1013 17 Ave SW, Calgary.

Words & Photography by Vanessa Conley

On May 26 (opening reception), local artist and designer Tiffany Wollman brought her youthful energy to her lively art work exposed at The Gallery as “Sunshine Property”. Calgary Fashion caught up with Wollman about motherhood, the parallels of designing clothes and creating art, and most importantly, the inspiration behind “Sunshine Property”.

CF: What was your main inspiration for this show?

TW: For “Sunshine Property” I wanted to create work that is playful, vibrant and full of wonder. I wanted to play with shapes, pattern and fluorescents. It was as much about the imaginative process as the ideas and feelings behind each piece. My intuitive focus was to explore signs and symbols, challenge the relationships of forms, and to produce “happy” art. For me, I associate happy with sunshine places and ideals of love.

CF: Your art, like your clothes use a lot of colour. What draws you in that direction?

TW: I do like to work in just black and/or white and sometimes “highlighter” pink. It only appears I more often work in colour. Working in colour can be more expressive and fun and can have possibly more challenges and opportunities. I think people have natural associations with colour and this can be interesting when working abstractly with ideas. I am also attached to creating the idea of youth. To me this is freedom of form, line, color and meaning.

CF: How has having a child changed the way you produce your art? Or changed your outlook towards your art?

TW: Having my daughter has not changed my view towards art, although it has affected my practice. I have art that is public and then I have private projects and idea books that reflect my thoughts on life and the world around me. Have my thoughts changed? Perhaps. But due to radical changes in circumstance. I am still the same person. Life and art go on. My art practice is who I am and always have been. Having to take on traditional woman roles is discouraging, but luckily my daughter is into exploring and spending time in my studio. I do have less time so I work quicker and in lots of small time periods.

CF: Do you find parallels between designing clothes and painting? What are they?

TW: There are parallels, but I don’t really want to get into it. I do feel the culture and expectations around fashion is different than that of the art world. Both are a means of creation. Just different materials, tools and ideas are used. Something worn vs. something lived with. I do find myself more concerned with historical reference and social context when creating under the “arts” umbrella. For some artists, they can put across their ideas very intellectually through words and have nothing physical to show. Fashion on the other hand is a product and selling lifestyle. At the end of the day, fashion and art speak of the times through the artist and we can not deny the shared influence of third party capital interests.

CF: What is next for Tiffany Wollman?

TW: I have been waiting years to build a proper website. I can not wait any longer so I am trying my best to build one that communicates what I do and archives a little of what I have done over the last decade or more. I am open to help with this. I am terrible with computers. I will continue to do select custom designs and build small collections for stores and events when I have time. My main focus is balancing my professional arts career and the responsibilities of being a mom/woman.

Visit Wollman at http://tiffanywollman.com

Interview by Vanessa Conley

Photography by Candace Vedres

Alberta Fashion Week Day 5 – Part 1 from Calgary Fashion on Vimeo.

On October 17th, 2009,Vancouver Fashion Week set it’s sights on some of Calgary’s up and coming designers. The fashion week, hosted a night of glamour at the Whiskey Night Club giving 9 designers a shot at runway stardom. Designers would be competing for a chance to show their Spring/Summer 2010 collection at the international affair next week Nov 3. – Nov 8. 2009.

A review of the Tiffany Wollman Spring/Summer 2010 Collection.

Photos by Oscar Lopez © 2009

Sponsored Post by Energy 101.5

Night came early during the Saturday afternoon shows as Estella, created and designed by Tiffany Wollman took centre stage. Wollman, not only a talented designer but a gifted painter and illustrator was inspired by butterflies in flight for this collection, a notion not lost on the audience.

Fantastic colours, purples, oranges, yellows and greens were definite reminders of the beautiful winged insects. Flowy fabrics furthered this image as did the ruffle detailing found on a few pieces.

The collection opened with a royal purple silk romper with spaghetti straps and a key-hole closure in the back. Other pieces worth noting were a yellow silk dress with a ruffle bib detail, and a pair of bright orange high-waisted shorts in raw silk, paired with a lace tank.

Finally, the audience was wowed with a dramatically detailed low cut intense green dress with an asymmetrical hem line, short in the front and a longer train in the back. The skirt of the dress looked like hundreds of feathers in the fabric, which fluttered as the model walked down the runway.

The only critique for Miss Wollman would be to fine tune finishing details such as with seams in order to ensure a more exact fit on the models.

But the stars were definitely shining for Wollman and Estella. It will be exciting to see what the designer is inspired by and comes up with for next season.

Words by Sandra Cross Bussoli

Photos by Faby Martin © 2009