January 13 from 7-11pm you are invited to 126 James Street North, third floor studio for a fabulous art showing! My dear friend, photographer and artist John Haney will be showing some new work from the past couple of years, accumulated shots featuring scenes and places from his travels. I'm going to have one work in the show, a larger piece loosely based on this small sketch I produced for a friend last year. See you then!

This book will be released by Palgrave Macmillan at the end of January 2012. Edited by Hamilton Cravens and Mark Solovey (Assistant Professor at the Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, to which I also have a connection), the book examines American social science research and its part in making scientific the ideological war to win hearts and minds during the Cold War period. I was really excited to complete this project as it is my first illustrated book cover! The building featured in the illustration is the headquarters of the RAND corporation in Santa Monica, California. Art Director: Richard Bellis. Thanks to Mark Solovey for initiating the project.

Congratulations to the LRC on a really great-looking 20th anniversary issue. For a literary review magazine in a small country, the LRC has always taken itself seriously and accomplished much. I've been privileged to illustrate for the LRC a number of times, and my favourite piece for them was this cover for their November 2008 issue. However, the above illustration was one of two I produced for their most recent issue. Happy birthday LRC, bon fete, et bravo! Art Director: Alistair Cheng.

In the Globe and Mail, September 23 is this illustration appeared, to accompany a lovely story by Michelle Singerman about gardening in the fall season, and keeping warm with family memories. Art Director: Cinders McLeod.

Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of 9/11, my illustration of a 9/11 tattoo accompanied this affecting article by Juliette Kayyem in The Boston Globe. Writing about young Americans who have grown up since September 2001, Kayyem explores how wars and American foreign policy in the intervening years have shaped their view of America in the world. Art Director: Heather Hopp-Bruce.

In honour of labour day, this illustration accompanied a nice little essay about the difference between white and blue collar work by Hamilton Ontario native Matt Terry in The Globe and Mail. Whether the creative class will replace the working class in a city that is increasingly post-industrial, is a pre-occupation of many Hamiltonians at the moment. For this reason, Terry's story had particular resonance for me. Thanks to Art Director Cinders McLeod. If you want to see an enlarged version of this illustration, take this link.

In the August 5, 2011 Boston Globe, this illustration accompanied an opinion piece "Show me the light" by Joan Wickersham about the introduction of new regulations (the Energy Independence and Security Act) mandating the use of compact florescent light bulbs in the US. Art Director: Heather Hopp-Bruce. Thanks Heather for this one!

Two personal art pieces feature on the double cover(s) of the "Quarc" issue of The New Quarterly and Arc Poetry Magazine, a joint publication loosely organized around the theme of Art and Science. Contributors include Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Robin Sarah, Monica Kidd, Matthew Holmes, Danielle Devereaux, Shane Neilson, Thaddeus Holownia and Jim Johnstone, on topics ranging from environmentalist Rachel Carson, mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, to medicine and birds, viruses, entomology and different names of physical measures. Very flattered to be included. Art Direction: Kim Jernigan, Anita Lahey, Serge Duguay.

In today's Globe and Mail Henriette Levaseur writes about how her peace and love dress is donated to the Museum of Civilization. The process of donating it becomes a reflection on her participation in the hippe movement and what those values meant to her at the time. Read her story here on the Facts and Arguments webpage. Art Director: Cinders McLeod

This is a hommage to my now hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. In particular it is a view of the Stelco plant at the west end of Burlington bay, with the Queen Elizabeth Way Skyway bridge to the very left. To purchase note cards with this image on them, you can contact me directly (send me an e-mail at sylvianickerson (at) gmail.com) or buy them at Mixed Media in Hamilton, Ontario. Notecards are 4.25"x5.5", blank inside, come with an envelope, and are $2.50 each.