Don't take 'a fence,' but CBC Arts has the best logo of all time

Every month, we feature a new take on the CBC Arts logo created by a Canadian artist. Check out our previous logos!

A few weeks back, Aless Mc uncapped a Sharpie and started sketching the CBC Arts logo. She couldn't predict where the project would take her. She drew flowers, a happy little snail — and, of course, the CBC gem. But ultimately, she landed on the image you see before you: a logo that reminds us of an unstoppable ball of creativity — one that's busting through a fence like the Kool-Aid Man. 

As Mc explains, however, her logo design began as a tribute to spring. "I felt very free in the assignment," says Mc, an illustrator and graphic designer who's currently working on a comic book for publisher La Pastèque (more on that below). And like much of her recent work, this spin on the CBC Arts logo is a mix of old and new media. Airbrush stencils and pencil drawings were stitched together in Photoshop, she says. "Everybody has the same tools when you work digitally, and I feel like a lot of things look alike," says Mc, explaining why she's largely abandoned the touchscreen stylus for an airbrush.

She told us more about her work when we reached her by phone last week.

Name: Aless Mc

Age: 34

Homebase: Laval, Que.

Let's talk about your logo design! Can you walk me through what we're looking at?

Yes! It's a manifestation of the glory of spring.

Basically, it's a fence, and in the background, there's a floral pattern that was executed using airbrush and stencil, which is a part of my practice. 

I use a lot of different mediums, but airbrush is one that I've started using in the past few years. There's supposed to be a contrast between the fence — the coarseness of the fence — and the airiness and colorfulness of the background, which is supposed to evoke the emergence of spring.

What's the project you're most proud of? 

There's a comic book I'm going to be pretty proud of, but it's not done yet (laughs). It's going to be a 200-page comic book that my friend Guillaume Saur is writing. 

If I look back, though, it's my personal projects that I'm most proud of. The 50 Shades of Green series I'm really happy with. It's like an illustrated encyclopedia of cannabis strains that I started making in 2018 — and I'm still working on it. My goal is to have 50 of them and I have 28 now.

It really permitted me to explore the medium of risography, but also to understand my style. It's a project that I've been doing for six years, and since it's a series, it helps me understand how my style can evolve.

What got you started on that project?

I was out of school and I wanted to start a project that would permit me to create new work, and at the time, weed was becoming legal in Canada.

So it was timely.

Yeah, well, also I was smoking a lot of weed at the time (laughs).

You mentioned a comic book that's coming out soon. I was wondering what's new in your world right now! Is that what you're working on at the moment? 

Yeah, the comic book is taking a lot of time. We don't have a title yet, but it's four short stories. They're all coming-of-age stories and it's for young adults between 11 and 17 years old. [The characters] live in different cities and face their own respective challenges with regard to different technological advancements. It's not a sci-fi novel, but it's set in a very near future, and Guillaume, when he wrote the stories, got inspired by technologies that are going to become readily accessible in the next few years. For example, the story has to do with DNA kits — which already exist — like, DNA kits that permit you to modify your DNA to change the colour of your hair or the colour of your eyes, the texture of your hair, the tint of your skin. 

Are there any arts events on your radar this April? What are you excited to check out?

I'm supposed to go to an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal with a friend: Georgia O'Keeffe and Henry Moore.

Later this year, I would also like to go to a zine fair in Toronto — Zine Dream. Yeah, I'd like to exhibit there if they do it this year.

Is there an artwork you wish you owned?

No, but I would like to have trees outside my windows.

Right now, they haven't grown leaves yet, and I only have one tree. At my house, we're surrounded by other buildings, which is what happens when you live in the city.

Where can we see more from you?

My website!

This conversation has been edited and condensed.