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Cyber Monday? Let me tell you about Cyber Monday. Back when I was a kid, every Monday was “Cyber Monday”! But… I guess it didn’t mean quite the same thing it means now. What was I talking about again?

Oh yes – our artists, they do not get paid for appearing in artpacks. But if you approve of their work, here you do have a timely chance (for there is a gift-giving occasion rapidly approaching) to become their patron or at least a collector of their creations. In some cases, you can get your hands on physical versions of their artworks – reproductions, or even occasional originals – and in other cases you can purchase the services needed to mint virtual goods to order, deliverable immediately upon completion with no shipping of electrons needed! (And in some final cases – curiously over-represented among the musicians – all you get is the opportunity to give an artist a tip in support of the work they’re creating anyway. But they may provide convenient legitimate MP3 downloads where the only free alternatives were streams and hassle.) I’m here to lay out the grand catalogue of Mistigris artpack participants with goods for sale this holiday season, and if you’re part of the artscene and have a storefront that could use a signal boost, let us know and we can fold you in here, as what you’ve got will probably be up the alley of any of our hypothetical customers also.

* Abstract painter Andrea Schmidt, last spotted in MIST1015, has micro and macro paintings for sale to suit a range of budgets, from $28-840… and not much in between!

* An Historic, whose accordion JRPG arrangements you’re still enjoying from MIST1116, is a musical genius engaged in several compelling projects. One donation gets you access to his entire vaults!

* Another feverish musical madman, Seattle’s Brad Dunn, gives you precious few opportunities to financially support his vital work. But here is one!

* For the love of God and all that is holy, please fund bryface, so he can give up his day job and become a full-time international chipmusic evangelist.

* They only contributed a single song to MIST1015, but the Creaking Planks have … a second song available by donation for you to further enjoy. They also have awesome T-shirts, but need to get their act together before they can send you one. But while on the subject of their music…

* You can enjoy $20 prints of Elin Jonsson’s perfectly gothy creatures from Afterland (which you can also play for free on iOS and Android devices – micropayments optional!)

* Mist Classic writer Eoanya is living the dream, and has a few books available for sale – including a brand new one not yet turning up on her Amazon page.

* Mist Classic visual artist Etana has her original paintings available for a song ($50-250), plus other goodies. (But I have the only Mistigris coffee mug she designed!)

* You can give Mist Classic mainstay Happyfish a tip for her award-winning filk music!

* The teletext genius known as Horsenburger, rockstar of the recent MIST1116, is not only taking £20 commissions for portraits, but he’s just branched out into wearables also!

* Production guru Ill-esha has a vast back catalogue and it is for sale, so load up!

* Tireless painter Jenn Ashton sells a wide range of both prints and originals as well as a variety of other goods.

* You only saw the drawings of Jenny Ritter in MIST1015, but you’ll thank me for having a chance to get an earful of her music!

* Jeremy Stewart also is a creative industry whose iceberg we’ve only been in a position to show the merest tip of.

* Self-publishing DIY guru Jim Munroe has books and ebooks, comics, movies and games, all available for sale and all eminently worthwhile.

* Kevin Bryce was the favorite musician of Mist Music when we revived in October 2014; maybe his tunes will catch your fancy also?

* Lord Nikon has graced our collections with insanely detailed typewriter art, which is also available for sale as prints and on T-shirts.(Also available for sale: shirts featuring his ASCII art designs, released elsewhere.

* The paintings and drawings of Mist Classic artist Maeve Wolf are available for sale on a casual basis: “Just email me to buy!”

* The vintage video game cover art designs of Marc Ericksen are available for sale as prints and on T-shirts.

* The textmode art designs of Blocktronics typography wizard Matt Matthew are available as prints and you would be exceedingly foolish to not take advantage of the opportunity to class up your house with his works on every flat surface.

* Melodia is just pivoting her “Paleotronic” shop from store to workshop, so opportunities to financially support her ventures there are up in the air… and her indispensible mobile apps are given away for free, so no luck there… but you can at the least show your appreciation by flipping her a tip on her Empress Play music page!

* It didn’t ever really occur to the Mythical Man that anyone would want to buy his paintings… but he was delighted when someone inquired, and is happy to sell his original pieces. Just ask him about the one you’d like!

* A selection of the colourful original paintings of Nick Lakowski are for sale at prices ranging from $360-1150.

* Mist Classic musician Onyx pivoted to writing sometime around the turn of the century, and you can purchase his books and ebooks through Amazon (or, if you like, in hardcover from Lulu.)

* Galza’s ASCII art (and now PETSCII) genius Otium has his textmode designs for sale as prints, garments and phone cases, with a secondary EU-based shop to help local consumers avoid import taxes.

* Phatal’s striking design “Two Minutes to Midnight” from MIST1016 is available in limited quantities as a print and on T-shirts. Inquire directly!

* When we say that Raquel Meyers delivers the goods, we usually aren’t speaking quite so literally, but her brutalist PETSCII and teletext are available for sale in book and fabric forms through her website.

* Drum ‘n bass producer Psidream has an enormous back catalogue of recordings, and they are all available for sale.

* Mist Classic artist Sentience is involved with the graphic design venture Heart Monsta, whose creations are available for sale today!

* Starstew’s latest offering is a book for the cat-lovers on your Christmas list, but he has other goods for sale through his Etsy page.

* Also on Etsy, you can find the Sculpey creatures that crawled out of the feverish brain of Theresa Oborn.

* A limited supply of the original fine art creations of Tom Heuckendorff are available for sale for budgets ranging from $30-300.

* Finally, you can flip Vordreque, the hardest working man in retrowave, a tip.

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I’m not even sure how Theresa Oborn and her creations got on to my radar – some overlap on the creative fringe of the punk accordion scene, from the looks of things – but her regular social media sharings of impossible evocative creatures from the strange realms of the imaginary, manifest here in concrete reality, were impossible to ignore… and naturally floated toward the top of my “if I release another artpack… if we finally make good on the ‘real world art’ division” list. And while sculpture was an uneasy devolution of 3D modelling as far as computer art goes (let’s face it, putting this kind of stuff into an artpack is well-nigh unpredecented), once she started posing them in animated .GIF loops, we no longer had to sweat the compromise between old mediums, new media and contemporary art. All that matters is that her pieces are awesome, and we made a nice welcoming space for them! The only hard part was narrowing myself down to four pieces and not just ransacking her portfolio wholesale. All that remained was to communicate to a total stranger what an artpack was and what the artscene was, and why she might be interested in participating. Well, OK: the communication was probably somewhat incomplete, but while all we had to offer was “exposure”, on the bright side: we weren’t asking her to do any new work, just to allow us to advertise her existing material!

(Anyhow, 3D sculpture is not an entirely unknown genre for enthusiasts of cathode ray entertainment: Clay Fighter aside, it was rarely better used than in Doug TenNapel’s graphical adventure game The Neverhood: a bold experiment that has gone virtually ignored since its release now 20 years ago (barring perhaps Squinky’s musical detective game Dominique Pamplemousse.) In my estimation any one of these characters would be well qualified to take a starring role in Neverhood 2: Electric Boogaloo. But I digress.)

Had I been curating more carefully, I might have been able to counter Catbones’ gratuitous nipplage (well, non-optional for a work entitled “SteamPink” I suppose) with some carefully crafted twigs & berries, laboriously formed through careful ministrations of a woman’s diligent hands. Not just decorative, in many of her sculptures they play a critical role of acting as a balancing counterweight – somewhat opposite to how things often work out in real life. But I digress further.

The reason I’ve taken it upon myself to expound upon the virtues of her work at this particular juncture, despite not yet having really taken the time to get to know the artist or learn more about her inspirations and techniques, is to revisit a popular theme at this time of year – to helpfully alert you fans and readers that she has Christmas bills to pay and consequently her soulful little Sculpey characters are for sale at a steep discount at her etsy store! Now go forth and empty her shelves!

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How many Mistigris alumni and special guests are vending goods available for your purchase this holiday season? Huh… probably quite a few. But they have not all brought the matter to my attention, and consequently I can’t offer up a complete gift guide for your enjoyment. Instead, locals please consider the following invitation from local artist Alexander Bell, who opened MIST1015 (appearing first, alphabetically) with some of his unique ASCII art-screenprinted oil paintings. And yes, the artist addresses the question on everybody’s mind: “I’ll have a number of textmode influenced artworks on offer as well.” (Not necessarily the one pictured; that’s just an example from MIST1015 8) Don’t wait for Boxing Day! Here are the details:

Dear friend,

I would like to cordially invite you to come to my studio this weekend for an open studio.

What: Open Studio Sale
When: This Saturday Dec. 19th, from 11am - 6pm
Where: #26 - 108 E. Broadway Street (the grey door next to the Burrard Arts Foundation Gallery)

It’s that time of year when I need to clear some things out, so prices will be discounted. I’ve pulled out a variety of work ranging from:

works on paper, panel, canvas, digital prints, screen prints,
very small to very large
watercolors, oil paints, drawings, sketches, photographs
new works and old works
$10 dollars and up
Come find a holiday gift for a friend, or perhaps something for your own home.


For more information please take a look at the facebook event page. Please feel free to forward this message to your friends if you think they would be interested.

As well, a number of other studios will be open in the building selling a variety of arts and crafts. Open studios also include:

Anita Sikma Design, Lacar, Kaw, Lindsey Hampton, Karenn La, noon, Daub + Design, Christopher Rodriguez, Rox x Rox, Locomotive Clothing, Feest, Brine Adams, + treats, hot refreshments, cheer

I would like to wish everybody the best of the season; health and happiness in the new year.

Uhh… what he said!