Printmaker wins bag design contest.
Tricia Johnson stands beside a mock up of winning design for the 2010 Parkdale Village BIA Shopping Bag.
Photo/PARKDALE VILLAGE BIA
The Parkdale Village Business Improvement Area (BIA) unveiled its newest artist-designed shopping bag June 16.
Of 10 finalists, the winner of the 2010 Parkdale shopping bag competition was Tricia C. Johnson for her design called 'A Look'.
From London, Ont., Johnson is a printmaker and fibre artist who teaches foundation studio and printmaking in the department of visual arts at The University of Western Ontario.
'A Look' is visually influenced by Felix Vallaton, a Swiss printmaker from the turn of the 20th century, who drew a lot of inspiration from street life in Paris.
"This linocut has always reminded me of my experiences of being in Parkdale Village," Johnson wrote of her design. "Of walking and being in a crowd and making eye contact with someone unexpectedly. That epitomizes 'local' and 'timeless' for me; walking along in a fascinating area and just looking, looking and looking."
The design will be printed on 5,000 reusable jute shopping bags, manufactured by Hey Jute.
The new bags will be available in September and will be given out at the Queen West Art Crawl on Sept. 18 and 19, Nuit Blanche on Oct. 2 and other events the Parkdale BIA is involved in over the next year.
The BIA plans to hold another shopping bag design competition in 2011.