Public Art: McLean Drive Mural Project

July 15, 2011

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.

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.

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

Revising the Tree of [Un]Common Knowledge

July 14, 20111 Comment

The Tree of [Un]Common Knowledge has been languishing away in storage since I last displayed it in November. I’ve always wanted to make it a few accessories from paper, like leaves, flowers, and birds. Last week I finally got around to creating the birds.

I picked up an illustrated bird encyclopedia from Value Village a few months ago with the intention of using the bird illustrations in collage work. Some of the birds are fairly close to the life-size, which made them perfect to use on the paper tree.

I cut out twenty-five birds from the encyclopedia. Each one is glued to a thicker cardstock and attached to the tree with a pin. I wanted to be able to move them around and not make them a permanent part of the tree. The birds are a delightful addition, and I wish I had somewhere in my apartment I could leave the whole thing set up for my enjoyment.

The Tree of [Un]Common Knowledge was supposed to be displayed in the lobby of the Sandbar Restaurant for ReVision @ Creekhouse, which is a show of artwork made from recycled materials. Unfortunately I decided to withdraw it at the last minute because the space I was given in the lobby of the restaurant wasn’t suitable and I felt the tree was at risk of getting damaged.

I’m hoping to eventually find somewhere else to show this, so stay tuned…

Forgotten Knowledge at Stone Age Art Company

July 14, 20112 Comments

The last week and a half has been such a whirlwind that I haven’t had any time to update the blog. I’m behind in mentioning the latest exhibition where you can see my work.

I have work on display in ReVision @ Creekhouse, which is a show of artwork made from recycled and repurposed materials on Granville Island. The show started last weekend and has just been extended one more week (due to popular demand) and will run until Sunday, July 24th.

The Forgotten Knowledge series of altered books that I created last year for Container Art is on display in the window of the Stone Age Art Company. It’s the prefect spot for the books and can be seen even if the shop is closed.

Boris helped me deliver my work to Granville Island last Wednesday and the hilarious thing is we used a smart car from Car2Go to do it. (It’s our only access to a car at the moment, because we don’t own one). Between the four boxes of books, large bag of paper flowers, and one giant paper tree, we were packed in tighter than a clown car full of clowns. (We felt like clowns too).

There will be more work added to ReVision this coming weekend, so if you’re down on Granville Island check it out. Details can be found on their web site.

My Weekend In Photos

July 4, 2011

The photos only hint at the awesomeness of my Canada Day weekend.

Yuuki visits the breakfast table.

Field strawberries and a horse on Westham Island.

Beautiful skies in Steveston.

Poppies on a side street off Commercial Drive.

Garlic at the Kitsilano Farmers Market.

A view of the water in New Brighton Park Pool.

I hope you had a good weekend too.

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire Was Awesome

June 27, 20111 Comment

The title says it all. I really enjoyed exhibiting my work at Maker Faire this past weekend. I talked to so many people the first day I thought I was going to loose my voice. Sunday was a bit calmer, but just as busy as the day went on.

I had many great conversations with people about books, and was glad to hear “book people” such as librarians love my work. It was a pleasure to hear people stop by and tell me they found my work beautiful. I’m glad what I do inspires people.

This is the set up of my booth at Maker Faire. I’m so glad I had the space to include my paper tree. It hasn’t gotten out much since I made it last November.

Congratulations to the organizers of Maker Faire for such a successful event. They did a terrific job of bringing everything together and having the whole experience run smoothly.

Many thank yous to the friends who stopped by to visit and give me a short break, especially to Kai and Boris for helping with the booth set up and tear down.

A Self Portrait-A-Day-For-A-Month: Week Three.

June 21, 20111 Comment

Day 14: What to do at the end of a busy weekend

Day 15: Red shoes

Day 17: While the city burned

These are my favorite self portraits from last week. Today I shared number twenty-two which will bring me one portrait closer to the end of this project, which is good because I’m running out of steam.

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire

June 20, 2011

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 »

More Self Portraits A Day

June 13, 2011

Day 9: Lovely bones

Day 10: Shadows on the wall

Day 12: Little black dress

Today I will be shooting a self portrait for day fifteen. Time sure flies and here I am already half-way through this thirty day project. Maybe next month I will do a second thirty day project of shooting a portrait a day for a month…

Fairy Tales ReMixed: A Virtual Tour

June 8, 20114 Comments

Last night was the opening of the Fairy Tales ReMixed exhibition at Seymour Art Gallery, and we had a really good turn out for the evening. I took at few photos in the gallery shortly before people began to arrive. I’m really pleased with how well all the work hangs together. It’s a really good show.

The exhibition is only one week long, so your last chance to see it is this Sunday June 12th. Come by and meet the artists, watch a puppet show, and have your face painted.

Beautiful Things At The Vancouver Farmers Markets

June 8, 2011

One of the things I do at my part-time job with Foodtree is take photos at the farmers markets. We’re really trying to promote local producers and connect people with where their food comes from. I use the photos to add to the Foodtree database, but also for things like blog posts. I thought I’d share some of the photos here as well.