This Saturday I’ll be folding the pages of books into new configurations as the featured artist-in-the-window at Bird on a Wire Creations on Main Street. I’ll be in there working away from 11am to 4pm, so if you haven’t yet had the chance to visit this lovely little shop, now’s your chance.
As with last time, chocolate is always appreciated. 😉
Artist Window
11am to 4pm, September 24th, 2011
Bird on a Wire Creations
2535 Main Street, between Broadway & 10th
Vancouver BC
Chris Tyrell is the author of Artist Survival Skills: How to Make a Living as a Canadian Visual Artist, and he’s just published his second book. Next week he will be at Opus on Granville Island to celebrate the launch of this book, Making It! Case Studies of Successful Canadian Artists.
Making It! explores the professional experiences of various artists through interview and panel discussions. The book examines business practices that have significantly contributed to the development of visual artists’ careers. Chris will deliver a short presentation and be on hand to sign copies of his book and answer questions.
I am one of the artists he interviewed for the book, and I feel honoured to have been included. I met with Chris twice last year, once as part of a panel of artists, and then again for a one-on-one interview. It’s great to see all of his hard work come together in print form. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.
Date: Thursday, July 28, 2011
Time: 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Location: Opus Granville Island
1360 Johnston Street, Vancouver BC
Last week I was away on a three day retreat on Saltspring Island with the team I work with at Foodtree. It was an amazing, inspiring, and transformative experience and I really wanted to acknowledge this by writing about it here.
As you may know I was working full time as an artist for more than a year and in March I decided it was time to look for a part time job to support myself. I wrote a blog post about what I was looking for, put it out into the world through social media channels, and back came an opportunity to work with Foodtree.
Foodtree is an internet startup based out of Gastown in Vancouver. The basic concept of what we do is connect people with where their food comes from through web and mobile applications. Our goal is complete transparency in the food system, and our company motto is, “Know More. Eat Better.” The company was founded by Anthony Nicalo and Derek Shanahan, two awesome people who want to make a difference in the world and it all starts with food.
I’ve been working with Foodtree on a part-time basis since mid-April with the title of “Community Techknowledgartist” and responsibilities of supporting Derek as Community Manager. After the initial thrill and excitement about the job wore off I began struggling with what I was doing there and felt unsure about what I had to offer the company.
You see, Anthony is the kind of team leader/employer who gives you a role but leaves it up to you to define it, and that’s not an easy thing to do. There is no time for hand holding in a startup because it’s a fast paced environment, and it’s the responsibility of every person there to move the mission forward. You’re no longer an “employee” but a member of a team. I’ve never ever worked in an environment where I felt so empowered to perform the function I was hired to do. Or at least now I do after our retreat on Saltspring Island.
The retreat came just at the right time after a crazy couple of months of rebranding the company, refining the company’s mission, launching an iphone app, and new people joining Foodtree. I think we all left for Saltspring feeling uncertain about what we were in for, and came back from a very memorable experience that helped bring us closer together.
We spent the three days at Foxglove Farm with a group of facilitators who helped guide us through the process of clarifying the mission and developing our team. It was the first opportunity I’ve had to really get to know everyone and I couldn’t be more impressed by the intelligent, articulate, and amazing group of people I get to work with at Foodtree. The experience taught me that I belong there and that I do have many strengths/skills/ideas to offer our organization. This makes me happy.
The retreat was a huge investment of time, energy, and money by Anthony and Derek in the group of people they’ve brought together.
I’ve never experienced that level of investment from an employer. It demonstrates how much our team leaders value and regard the individual members of our group, and the importance of the role each plays in moving forward with our mission at Foodtree.
I’m very grateful to both Anthony and Derek for including me in the further development of Foodtree. It definitely feels like being a part of something special.
This coming weekend, June 25th & 26th, I am excited to be taking part in the premier of Maker Faire in Vancouver.
Vancouver Mini Maker Faire is a two-day celebration of making and creating. It’s an all-ages family festival promoting the ethos of DIY on a large scale. I will be on site for the full weekend demonstrating and sharing how to make altered books, and paper cut work.
Due to limitations of space and time at the Faire, I will not be teaching a full workshop but if you bring an old book with you I’d be happy to work one-on-one to demonstrate the techniques I use in creating altered books.
From the Maker Faire web site:
Maker culture grew out of the DIY movement and is based on the principle that ordinary people, given access to knowledge, skills and technology, can and will create extraordinary things. A maker can be any person or group who invents, designs, and/or builds objects or information systems with the goal of learning, teaching, inspiring or improving the state of the world.
Vancouver Mini Maker Faire will take you through an inspiring, energetic and captivating range of exhibits, including workshops, performances, displays, and a speaker series. Some of the features include pyrotechnics, kinetic sculptures, interactive musical installations, and 3d printers that can print themselves. Interaction booths stationed throughout will centre around education: teaching people how to complete a circuit, spin wool, or smoke bacon!
Vancouver Maker Faire
Dates: Saturday June 25th & Sunday June 26th
Hours: 10 am to 5 pm both days
Location: 555 Great Northern Way
Vancouver BC V5T 1E2
Google Map
Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance through eventbrite »
I was at Seymour Art Gallery this morning to drop off my work and meet with the other artists. It’s really wonderful to see everyone’s work together after months of working away on our own.
I took a few photos after everyone unwrapped their work. This is one of those rare occasions where I don’t have to hang the show myself and can leave it in the hands of the gallery.
I’m excited to see everything hanging together on the gallery walls tomorrow.
In June the Seymour Art Gallery is hosting a month long arts festival, which kicks off with a group art show on the theme of Fairy Tales ReMixed.
I am one of the four participating artists in the exhibition, and I will be premiering the fairy tale altered books I’ve been working on for the last few months. The show is only one week long, but there are two opportunities to visit the gallery and meet the artists during that time.
Artists:
Cynthia Nugent, paintings & automata, Robi Smith, drawings & paintings, Kirsti Wakelin, illustration, and Rachael Ashe, altered books & collage.
Opening Reception:
Date: Tuesday June 7, 7 – 9 pm
Meet the artists, enjoy a ‘remixed’ fairytale reading, and eat your way through a magical fairytale-inspired food display.
Afternoon Celebration:
Date: Sunday June 12, 1–4 pm
We invite you to come dressed as a fairytale character to meet the artists and hear them speak about their work. Nika Vaughan, an artist specializing in face painting, will be on hand to help transform you into your favourite fairytale character or animal. Puppeteers Sandy Buck and Chad Hershler will also be at the gallery to perform their version of Oscar Wilde’s “The Birthday of the Infanta”.
Fairy Tales ReMixed
Date: June 7th to 12th, 2011
Seymour Art Gallery
4360 Gallant Avenue
North Vancouver BC
In the heart of Deep Cove.
There is an event page on Facebook if you would like to RSVP »
I really enjoyed spending part of Saturday working in the window at Bird on a Wire Creations yesterday. I brought along a few additional finished altered books to share with people and worked away at folding the pages of a German Readers Digest to show people what I do. It was really nice chatting with people, and I made sure to entice window shoppers into the store with eye-contact and smiles to come talk with me.
Friends dropped by at different intervals to visit, and the chocolate I’d jokingly requested in my newsletter arrived in various forms (bacon chocolate chip cookies from Lauren!) It was a good window for Main Street people watching, and all the sunshine was glorious.
I’ll be back in the window at Bird on a Wire Creations at some point in the summer. In the meantime go visit the shop for all the lovely handmade items they carry. It was all I could do not to shop while I was there because there is so much tempting stuff I’d love to have.
For part of the day tomorrow I’ll be demoing my altered book work as the featured artist-in-the-window at Bird on a Wire Creations on Main Street. It’s a cozy little shop filled with lovely handmade and local items, so come on by for a visit and plan to stay awhile. I’ll be in the window working away on my latest altered book from 11am to 4pm. I’m hoping to bring some of the recent Fairy Tale altered books I haven’t yet shared publicly.
Please come see me and be sure to bring chocolate. 😉
Artist Window
11am to 4pm, April 16th, 2011
Bird on a Wire Creations
2535 Main Street, between Broadway & 10th
Vancouver BC
Awhile ago I read an excellent blog post about artists as employees, written by Chris Ashworth. The title of his post was, “My competitive advantage: I hire artists“, and in it he explains his hiring of an artist and the huge difference this made to his company. For the full story you should really go read it, but there are a few points I’ll highlight here because it got me thinking about what I’d like to see from a future employer.
Chris makes the statement, “Artists, as a species, are amazing people… Show me a good artist and I will show you a highly educated, highly creative, highly passionate, highly driven human being.” There’s more to the statement but the point of it is this: isn’t the kind of person described above exactly the kind you’d want to have as an employee? And as Chris says, all an employer needs to do is not destroy the whole reason you want to hire an artist. You do this by creating a job custom built to support their passion. Artists need flexible schedules and a base amount of money to keep doing what they do, and neither of these things are easy to find. All this segue’s nicely into talking about the next steps in my own art career.
I am just over a year into working full time as an artist, and while I have seen many tangible successes from this total commitment to my art, the most important thing I lack is a source of steady income. I dove into this phase of my life knowing I was taking a huge risk stepping away from a regular paycheck, but I really wanted to work on developing my career as an artist full time. The last many months have been very educational in building this artistic career, and I’ve figured out many of the pieces to make it work for me. I’ve always envisioned part-time employment as part of the plan and have taken my time to carefully consider exactly what I want from my next job. Most importantly I need an employer willing to embrace the fact that I’m an artist and view this as an asset to their company.
What exactly am I looking for in a job? Let me lay it out for you:
What I have to offer:
I’ve worked for a number of technology- and web-related businesses in the past, handling a number of tasks around project management, marketing, basic accounting, and office management.
Ideally, I’m looking for a position with what I can best describe as a creative technology company. Or perhaps a company that wants to use technology creatively.
The non-profit space interests me as well (especially if arts related), but I’d be looking for a fit with an organization that wants to evolve its use of the web and technology on both the marketing and internal process fronts. Translation: rather than an office paper shuffler, I’d want to help your organization better adopt the use of technology to accomplish your mission.
Please view my profile on LinkedIn for the full description of my employment experience. Contact me by email rkashe (at) gmail (dot) com, or by phone at (604).787.9237.
So do you want to hire an artist or know of an organization where I’d be a good fit? I would appreciate you spreading the word about this post. You can easily re-share or “like” this on Facebook as well.
Last month my friend Val Arntzen kicked off a series of open studio days happening on the first Saturday of the next few months until June. March 5th is the next date, and myself and a few other artists will be joining in by opening our own studios (or home in my case) for a mini studio tour through East Van.
Please drop in and join me. I’ll be serving tea, and perhaps something yummy for you to try. I’ll also be showing people how to make paper flowers. The 2011 yellow pages recently arrived and it’s crying out to be made into something else.
First Saturday Open Studios
Date: SATURDAY, MARCH 5th, 2011
Time: 12pm to 5pm
My Address: 1660 East Georgia Street
Studio Tour Map (for March 5th Only)
Participating studios:
Valerie Artnzen at AMP: 800 Keefer St. (at Hawks)
Assemblage & Photography
Robi Smith at Blue Lantern Studio: 1218 East Pender St. (near Clark)
Painting & Collage
Hungry Thumbs Studio: 223 Main Street (near Powell)
Glass, Sculpture, & Assemblage