Four local designers were asked to present one creation of theirs from the past year and offer some insight into the inspiration and process behind it. I spilled the secrets of the poster I did for a Sam Shalabi gig; take a closer look at some of the finer details here.

Hopefully this is one more step towards a full-time career in design. If not, it was just really fun to talk about the philosophy of my craft; unlike artists in more established media, designers are rarely given opportunity to pontificate…

I’m also quite honoured to share the page with Brent Nurse, Christine Jamieson, and Kevin Merritt,

Thanks to Jane Deacon for putting the story together, and Julie Fossitt at the City of Kingston and Greg Tilson at the Kingston Arts Council for connecting me with Kingston Life.

A lot of my time was spent on the internet, mostly reading about new music. I got really into Constellation Records. Their records really resonated with me, in an otherwise apathetic time. I think that’s why I still identify with them so strongly. They had a new artist name Sandro Perri, who happened to be coming to town on the 22nd of November, 2007, to play at a tiny house/gallery downtown.

I invited some friends, but ended up going alone. I sat down next to a guy sitting on the couch, who was paying a lot of attention to his knitting. I’d also just started knitting; it was a good icebreaker. I admired his hat; he was quick to point out that he wasn’t the one who had knitted it. His name was Greg (not Craig) and he had organized the show. Sharon, across from us, had done the paintings that were on exhibition on the walls – beautiful, enormous, neon-coloured cityscapes. It was a good scene. It was something I’d been missing since moving.

//

Two months later, I attended a screenprinting workshop at Made4You, an artists’ co-op and downtown storefront. It was the first time I’d really connected with any kind of visual art, and without a doubt it was the single event that led to my quasi-career in design. The workshop was co-led by a lady named Annie. I would later find out that she and Greg were dating, and they were in a band together called The Gertrudes.

Over the next few months I kept in contact with Greg, trying to maybe wrangle an opening slot for a show. We had dinner at The Goat. Actually I’d already eaten; he had shepherd’s pie and I scribbled new t-shirt ideas. They fell out of my head torrentially in those early days. We never managed to book a show, but I did volunteer at the Skeleton Park Music Festival, only in its 3rd year at the time. It was there, in one of the crafters’ booths, that I debuted my t-shirt designs. I only had three. The violin/rifle stole the show. I’ve never topped it, really.

Around that time I started going to a place called Next Church. That place would brighten up anyone’s life; it was (still is) packed to the walls with toddlers, doing/saying/wearing hilarious things. I met Josh and Jason – also part of this band called The Gertrudes. They found out I was a drummer, and soon enough got me playing drums at church.

//

Greg wanted to hear some tunes. We kept missing each other, but eventually arranged a jam. We met at the Newlands Pavilion in City Park, overlooking the water. Brought our guitars and traded a few songs. I think we attempted some Nick Drake. He said this band he was in, The Gertrudes, they were playing their first show out of town, in Toronto, and would I like to come along? It was being arranged by Sandro Perri. He knew I really liked Sandro Perri.

July 25th, I rode down to Toronto in a beat-up old Volvo with Chris, Ian, and Owen, all Gertrudes, who also happened to comprise the experimental/ambient group TimKnightUs. We listened to Eric Chenaux’s Dull Lights, then a live Bob Marley cassette where Ian pointed out how they all must have been really stoned because they played everything at about quarter speed, and then the final draft of TimKnightUs’s original (re)soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey, a presentation that was actually happening the next day at the Modern Fuel back in Kingston. No one seemed to think it was strange that I was going along. We just talked about Audacity and compression and how weird it is that the styli of record players, really good ones, are made of diamond. Like, wouldn’t that ruin your records?

They played the show. I sold their CDs. It was great. There was this magical moment at the very beginning of “Lonely Days”. I don’t know exactly what happened, but the whole bar, everyone, went silent. I was sitting next to my brother’s friend Joel. We’d been chatting about die-cutting and he stopped in mid-sentence just to say “whooooaaaa”.

//

Fall of 2008, school was back in session. I got my first elective; an interdisciplinary music-theatre class focused on sound production. It was taught by a guy named Matt – as it happens, yet another Gertrude. This guy who plays blazing guitar solos in a local country band has a PhD in electroacoustic composition.

Annie and I were hanging out at Made4You, where I was now a member. She mentioned that The Gertrudes needed a drummer for this upcoming Toronto show. They didn’t want to cancel, since it was only their second show out of town. Ian had moved out west, and his replacement, Pete, had a teaching stint in Indonesia.

November 1st, we had our first practice, in Josh’s basement. I played brushes on a borrowed snare and most of a hi-hat. We had tea. A sleepless Molly joined us, briefly.

//

November 8th, 2008. We played the Tranzac, opening for The Weather Station, part of Tamara Lindeman’s residency there. A full house came to see a band they’d never heard of. I didn’t expect Toronto to be so welcoming.

It was cold and snowy out, so we decided to play “Winter Cold”, which we hadn’t rehearsed. It has this weird 7-note walk up, and we finished perfectly. Greg turned to me and asked, “Did you even practice that song?”

“I think I heard it online,” I said. Playing it cool, or something. Actually, I’d listened to it non-stop for weeks. I was in love with this band.

Hi.  My name is Lucas Huang.  I’m a part-time graphic designer and screenprint artist.  For the moment, I’m working on building a portfolio with small jobs and a lot of work for non-profit groups.  Eventually, I’d like to make this my full-time job.

On the side, I’m part of The Gertrudes, work at The Goat, and play a lot of Go.

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep in touch.