A Fruitful Experience at Vancouver Maker Faire

I’m exhausted today after spending the last few days sharing my work and talking with people at Vancouver Mini Maker Faire. This year I had two tables set up, one to display my work, and a second as an activity table with books for people to work on.

Vancouver Maker Faire

Vancouver Maker Faire

I taught a few people how to make paper flowers on the first day, then switched to encouraging book page folding on Sunday. By the end of it there were four books on the go that became collaborative projects with pages folded by many different people. A few people started their own book and took it home with them to complete.

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I really loved seeing parents sitting down with their kids to try different things with the books or pages, like this little girl and her father. I showed them my new favorite paper cutting technique and they made a tiny lantern from a book page.

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A few kids did origami with the scraps of book pages. I was really impressed with the paper crane folded by a young girl, as it’s a fairly complex set of folds that I find difficult to do. She made it look easy.

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Vancouver Maker Faire

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These final four photos are the collaborative altered books folded by many hands. They’re a wonderful mishmash of different folds, cuts, and sometimes crunched up pages. The books I had on hand were a donation from the librarians at Bull Housser, as they’ve been in the process of decommissioning some of their law books.

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I love being part of Maker Faire because it feels like a celebration of community and creativity that breaks down the silos. I will definitely continue to be a part of this event every year, and look forward to watching it grow.

A HUGE thank you to Boris, Monique, and James for their support and assistance in running my booth over the weekend.

Bowen Island Getaway

Boris and I have been lucky because for the past two weekends we’ve managed to get away from the city. We did a last minute trip to Galiano Island the previous weekend, and stayed on Bowen Island over the long weekend. I really needed the change of scene because it has energized me.

The view from Katherine's place

Tiny sailboat

Arbutus tree at the edge of the ocean

The Bowen trip was fun because we invited a pile of friends to stay with us, which led to much good food and plenty of laughter. The star of the weekend was Bosco the dog (pictured below) because he charmed and entertained everyone.

Bosco is sleepy

The Enchanted Forest

We had a few good days of almost summer weather, and then the rain came. I don’t think anyone really minded, because it was a good excuse to stay inside, read a book, play games, and cook.

The chalkboard at Artisan Eats, Bowen Island

Here’s to a promising summer full of excellent weekend adventures with friends.

Sakura

Early spring in Vancouver was cold and rainy, and it felt as if warmer weather was never going to arrive. But those precious warm blue sky days have come at last and I’ve been getting outside to make the most of it.

I snap an endless amount of photos of the beautiful flowering trees found everywhere in our city at this time of year. I cannot get enough of them, their beauty is always a magical sight to see.

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Cherry blossoms

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Intimate Studio Visit with Evan Broens

On Sunday I attended the latest in the Eastside Culture Crawl’s monthly series of intimate studio visits. The featured artist was Evan Broens, who works out of Railtown Studios.

While Evan’s work isn’t normally the style of art that grabs me, his talk about process and materials drew me in and convinced me to like his work. His opening line of being focused on shape and form is what did it because this is exactly what I am currently obsessed with in the paper cut work I’ve been doing.

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These bottom two photos were taken on the side of the studio that belongs to Evan’s studio mate. I was curious about the dried lizards and what he intended to do with them. Sadly, he wasn’t around to ask. I know exactly where you can buy these in Chinatown but I’d never seen anyone purchase them.

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It’s always a treat to get to poke around in an artist studio, and to hear them speak about their work. Next up in the series is an Intimate Studio visit with painter, Nicola Tibbetts. Registration is available through the Eastside Culture Crawl website.

Meet Your Makers at Museum of Vancouver Maker Faire Showcase

The Vancouver Mini Maker Faire is kicking off this year’s event with an information session and meet and greet at the Museum of Vancouver. It’s happening this Thursday, March 15th between 5pm to 9:30pm. It’ll be a fun evening of sharing ideas, getting inspired, and meeting one on one with an interesting cross section of Makers. The event is open to the public and is a great opportunity to learn more about what Maker Faire is all about.

I will be there with a display of my work, as well as demonstrating some of the techniques I use to create altered books. Bring a book with you and I’d be happy to get you started on making your own altered book project.

Maker Faire @ MOV Poster

The 2012 Mini Maker Faire is happening at the PNE this year on the weekend of June 23rd and 24th. The organizers are now accepting applications for participants, which you can find here.

Vancouver Maker Faire @ MOV
Date: Thursday March 15th, 2012
Time: 5pm to 9:30pm
Location: Museum of Vancouver
1100 Chestnut Street

Intimate Studio Visit with Hugh Kearney

On the weekend I attended the first in a series of monthly studio visits organized by the Eastside Culture Crawl. Hugh Kearney hosted our small group in his cosy Railtown studio and his colourful work was the perfect counterpoint to the dreary weather outside.

My friend Val and I were the first to arrive, and Hugh treated us to genmaicha in beautiful handmade mugs while we waited for the rest of our group.

Hugh Kearney is a mixed media painter creating very colourful landscapes, abstract work, and sculpture from found objects. I really enjoyed his talk because he spoke at length about the evolution of his art career and how this affected his process over time.

He mostly works on paper and is heavily influenced by his environment, both natural and handmade. He’s also a musician, as evidenced by the guitars and amps placed around the studio.

These intimate studio visits are a great opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the many artists in Vancouver. The series will continue once a month until June, so stay tuned to the Eastside Culture Crawl facebook page and website for details of these upcoming events.

Cape Roger Curtis, Bowen Island

Over the Christmas holidays we drove to the Cape Roger Curtis area of Bowen Island, and I was sad to see how much it’s changed. It was once a remote area of the island with a dense second growth forest that could only be navigated through on foot. Now visitors can drive on a paved road through the area and count the plots of land marked for future houses.

Lone Arbutus Tree

Arbutus Tree Spiral

Cape Roger Curtis

These photos were taken near the lighthouse, which on previous visits took about an hour or so to hike in to see. I suppose it was too much to hope that this part of the island would be left as it was and not end up as yet another subdivision.

Crows in Silhouette

I’m often pleasantly surprised at the images I can capture with the iPhone camera. It’s not exactly speedy but somehow this week I managed to time my picture taking well enough to catch crows in flight.

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Crows in silhouette

The above two shots of a juvenile crow were taken one after the other, and they are beautifully crisp images. I snuck up on this little guy because I know crows get antsy about having their photo taken. I was pretending not to notice it as I got the camera app opened up (which sometimes happens so slowly) and then I turned and took a few photos before it flew away. I am pleased I caught it as it jumped from the wire and opened it’s wings.

The photo below was taken yesterday morning on my way to work, again in the same area of Main Street in Chinatown. A large group of crows was flying back and forth over Pender Street between two trees, and I stopped to take a few photos.

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I’m so glad to have a camera with me at all times, thanks to the iPhone.

All three photos were taken with the native iPhone camera app and processed using Instagram.

Public Art: McLean Drive Mural Project

One of the things I love most about living in East Vancouver is that we have a staggering amount of public art in the form of murals. They make the neighbourhood a colourful place to wander, and in many ways they tell the story of life in East Van.

The latest of these murals is on a large stretch of wall behind Britannia High School along the McLean Drive bike route, between Parker and William Street. It depicts a flock of crows in flight, with decorative details of ferns, beetles, and other native flora and fauna. It’s a radical transformation from drab concrete wall to one with so much colour and life. I love it.

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The mural is a community project lead by artist Richard Tetrault, and is painted by an team of volunteer students and residents from the area. It was still in progress when I came across it last week.

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For more photos of the mural please visit Richard Tetrault’s web site.