In the newsletter: short reads from the long weekend

Hello! You're reading the CBC Arts newsletter, and if you like what you see, stick around! Sign up here, and every Sunday we'll send you a fresh email packed with art, culture and a metric truckload of eye candy, hand-picked by our small and mighty team. Here's what we've been talking about this week.

Hi, art lovers!

I just listened to the new Haim track, and now all I want to do is wander aimlessly around the city, possibly followed by mysterious sax player. But I'll try to keep it together, just for you.

Links! If you're actually still using Facebook, you probably saw photos of pink seesaws at the Mexico-U.S. border this week. (Visit the scene with Rolling Stone, and get to know the designer, Ronald Rael.) Elliot Page directed a documentary, and it's coming to TIFF. (Here's the list of Canadian features appearing at the festival.) If you struggle to understand the appeal of Jojo Siwa (or perhaps don't know what a Jojo Siwa is), this is an insightful read on the reigning queen of tween-pop.

Jojo doesn't have her own museum, but Rihanna's getting one — and here are all the things that need to go inside it. As for items that probably should have been in a museum ages ago, an original Egon Schiele was discovered in a New York thrift shop. How in the name of all that is mothballed did it get there??? Imagine if someone just accidentally bagged it up with a bunch of old pants?

Here, providing a dramatic interpretation of such a moment is Meryl Streep...screaming in an episode of Big Little Lies...as remixed by King Princess.

And because we promised you eye candy

Week after week, you guys can't get enough of artists who work with paper. Have you seen Yulia Brodskaya's stuff, yet?

This is like Spirograph on steroids. Follow James Nolan Gandy (@gandyworks) to watch more "mechanical drawings" in action.

Surreal sculptures by Johnson Tsang, which more or less capture how I feel after looking at the next link ...

... a roundup of Peter Kogler's immersive optical illusions.

Any readers in Edmonton? Who's visited Vaulted Willow in Borden Park? (The Marc Fornes piece got a shoutout on the Jealous Curator blog this week.)

You've got to see this

Seth Rogen's ashtrays are just the beginning - Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Ratjkowski: Stars love pottery. (At least those ones do.) So why is it having a moment? In Toronto, clay classes are selling out. And us plebes are getting the same thing out of it as the stars. So. Much. Chill.

A guide to falling in love with London — the one in Ontario - It's the place where Rachel McAdams grew up! We, uh, forgot to offer her this assignment, but writer Oliver Skinner has stepped in to provide a comprehensive guide for visitors. Find out why it's called the "Forest City." (And why Playboy dubbed Western a top 10 party school, too.)

Why the #GoldOpen movement matters - Remember that Simu Liu story from last week? Marvel's newest superhero (and the star of Kim's Convenience) bought out two Toronto screenings of The Farewell. And you can file that random act of kindness under the #GoldOpen movement, which you probably first heard about when Crazy Rich Asians premiered last year. Deanna Wong is the executive director at Toronto's Reel Asian International Film Festival. She offers a full explainer of the cause, and reflects on why she supports it.

Follow this artist 

Shalak Attack (@shalakattack) - You're looking at the new face of CBC Arts. (At least for the month of August.) Toronto-based artist Shalak Attack made it for us. She's probably best known for her murals, but Shalak swapped the spray cans for a needle and thread on this assignment.

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Until next week!

XOXO, CBC Arts