Two people sitting at a table outside cafe pyrus in front of a window vinyl depicting sketches and descriptions of locations or sights in the neighbourhood

Laura Watson

CAFKA.21 | Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost

Things I Saw In…

Location: Cafe Pyrus, 305 King St W, Kitchener

June 21, 2021 - August 30, 2021

Laura Watson is an artist and a poet. She was selected to exhibit in the CAFKA.21 biennial because her practice, which centers around printmaking, bookmaking, and the combination of drawing and poetry, exists very much outside the traditional gallery space.

Her work is in some ways is the perfect illustration of the CAFKA.21 theme “Everything Not Saved will be Lost.” At first glance her graphic work may look gauzy and nostalgic, but on closer observation, each of her drawings and texts draws our attention to the darkness which lives within us all.

For CAFKA.21 Laura Watson has designed the visual identity of the exhibition. Watson’s illustrative work will be on public view throughout the summer in the window spaces of Cafe Pyrus, located at 305 King Street West, Kitchener.

 

Things I Saw… Educational Virtual Tour

Gallery

3/4 angle outside cafe pyrus a window vinyl depicts sketches and descriptions of locations or sights in the neighbourhood
Two people sitting outside cafe pyrus in front of a window vinyl which depicts sketches and descriptions of locations or sights in the neighbourhood

About the Artist

Laura Watson is an artist and writer from Georgetown, ON. Her practice includes drawing, printmaking, bookmaking, textiles, and writing. She disseminates much of her work for free through her international Mail Exchange project, a periodical subscription service of handmade, printed material, to which participants subscribe by sending her something of their choice for exchange. The Mail Exchange has so far manifested as 13 installments over six years, with more than 200 parcels sent around the world. Laura Watson is an operating member of the community drawing collective, The Society of Anonymous Drawers, and a regular zine fair vendor. Her poetry has been published in Contemporary Verse 2, Broken Pencil Magazine, and Call Out Comics, and her zine, Spell Book for an Attic Gardener, won the Broken Pencil Zine Award for best literary zine in 2017. Laura Watson has exhibited her work and participated in festivals and residencies across Canada, including recent exhibitions at ARTsPLACE in Annapolis Royal, NS, Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat, AB, and Centre3 for Print and Media Arts in Hamilton, ON. Laura Watson received her BFA from Mount Allison University in 2015. She currently makes her home in Sackville, NB.

CAFKA would like to recognize its in kind community site partner Cafe Pyrus