Artist in Residence:
Big City Friends
By All Citizens (Serena McCarroll)
Tyler and I first met Becky Johnson (of The Sweetie Pie Press) and the Reverend Aitor (of The Misanthrope Specialty Co.) in June 2008 when they showed up at our door during one of their epic North American tours. They had a bottle of bourbon and very quickly became two of our favourite people. The crafty pair have been orchestrating such tours for the past 4 years. Their monumental trips vary both in length (1 to 6 months) and distance (they claim to have driven from Toronto to the west coast and back 3 times) and include activities such as participating in craft fairs, making various in-store appearances as well as Becky hitting improv festivals as one half of the comedy duo Iron Cobra. Becky first found out about All Citizens through her friend Jen Anisef who runs the Toronto Craft Alert. With Jen’s encouragement she read my blog and contacted me about selling her 1″ buttons and neck warmers in our teeny tiny art shop in the middle of nowhere.
Serena: I heard the first time you visited All Citizens it was a “highlight” of your North American tour. Can you confirm or deny this?
Becky: I can confirm these rumours. On our six-month tour of North America, it was a toss up between Bruno and Bisbee, Arizona. There was something so beautiful about the landscape around Bruno, and a surprising amount of wonderful stuff to do.
Rev. Aitor: Yes, I hereby confirm my first visit with you and Tyler falls snugly into the “highlights” category of that tour. All Citizens is a special place I was not exactly prepared for, in that I didn’t know what to expect…
Serena: I heard you thought the tourist attractions in and around Bruno were “amazing”. Confirm or deny?
Becky: I would also like to confirm this allegation. Here are some things we have done in and around Bruno: went to a ghost town, went to a buffalo ranch/radar base, got a tour of a local shopkeeper’s house, pointed orgonite at our foreheads during a trip to the nearby hamlet of Dana, visited an overpass over nothing and connecting to nothing, saw a shrine and went to a Christmas-themed town. I can’t think of that much non-shopping non-event stuff to do in Toronto.
Rev. Aitor: Indeed. I have a soft spot for the big skies and vastness of the Canadian prairies. The town’s diminutive size and absence of any building taller than three stories only amplified its surroundings. Meeting you and Tyler was also a big part of my fondness for Bruno. I think being so readily taken in by virtual strangers, becoming fast friends, and being shown around the place does a lot to influence my opinion of said place. There is a special place in my heart for Bruno, but I don’t think that would be the case had it just been another motel stop on our way from one place to another.
Serena: Was visiting Bruno novel for you?
Becky: Yes. It was amazing and a highlight of our tour. It also looks like the set of a film.
Rev. Aitor: I still tell people about the Totsky overpass, and often employ “amazing” among the adjectives in the relaying of my experience. Truly amazing is the sheer number of semi-secret attractions in so small a place.
Serena: How did your 2nd visit compare to the 1st?
Becky: On our second trip to Bruno, I discovered how much there wasn’t to do in Bruno. This was just as exciting as everything that one can do there. We got to spend almost a week at All Citizens recharging our batteries, making things, shipping things, writing things and clearing our heads. Also we got to see a band rock out there for the first time.
Rev. Aitor: Though the “novelty” has not yet worn off, the second visit was definitely a return to a familiar place, visiting familiar people. It was something I looked forward to; knowing I was in for a relaxing stay with our friend Tyler. We were there nearly a week, so there was definitely time to make ourselves comfortable. Of course, a few things had changed. All Citizens was now a music venue. That was a new thing. It was great seeing a band of young Toronto musicians roll in, still starry-eyed, on their first cross-country tour, and watch them experience Bruno and All Citizens for the first time.
(It’s worth noting here that during their second visit to All Citizens Becky & Aitor were bestowed a “Cross Canada Tour Award” for their work in-house which included Rev. Aitor offering unflattering portraits to the Bruno public and Becky creating a shop installation out of plastic shopping bags. Also she made amazing 3″ buttons.)
THE END
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Read about Becky’s first online encounter with All Citizens here.
Read her account of her first visit here and here.
Read The Misanthrope Specialty Company’s account of their second visit to Bruno here.
(Photo credits: Rev. Aitor works on an unflattering portrait during his residency at All Citizens – Photo by Becky Johnson. Becky photographs local skateboarder John Dunbar – Photo by Serena McCarroll.)
*Reader take note: Tyler’s currently in Vancouver working on this.
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So brings to a close All Citizens’ residency with Broken Pencil. Thanks BP! Not that this is going to be the last you’ll hear from Tyler and me. The roundtable discussion on small music venues I mentioned previously will be appearing in BP’s regular news blog. Stay tuned.
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
January 29, 2010